Isadore Nathan Cornman was the oldest child of the 5 children born to Miriam (Meryl) and Soloman Cornman.  Izzy, as he was affectionately called, was born 5 days before Roshashona  in 1894.  An exact birthday was never calculated as he always referred to his birthday as 5 days before Roshashona, and so it was a different date every year.  The family migrated to America from Odessa, Russia (in 1909) with Solomon coming first followed by Meryl and the children (Isadore, Pearl, Anna and Israel). The youngest child, Bertha, was born in the United States.  On arriving in the US, they took the maiden name of Solomon's Mother (Corenman) because they couldn't figure out the English spelling of their last name of Kakolvi.  Later Izzy dropped the "e" in Corenman to spell it as it was pronounced, "Cornman".  In Russia, Izzy was only allowed to go through 2nd grade in school because he was Jewish.  However, he became a self-educated person and loved to read.  His favorite past time was reading and studying the world atlas.  He knew the location of every country, city, river and lake in the world.  He also had very strong opinions on politics and it was a subject most people tried to avoid with him for they were certain to end up in an argument.  The family settled in New Orleans because of the climate and also they had some "landsmen" that had already settled there.  One of the families that they knew were from the "old country" was the Handelman family.  David and Edith Handelman had moved from Odessa prior to the Cornmans.  They first lived in Philadelphia for about 12 years.  The Handelmans had 9 surviving children.  Sarah was their 5th child and the first born in the U.S.  She had a twin sister who died of pneumonia at age 6 months.  The Handelman family moved to New Orleans in 1906 when Sarah was 10 years old.

        In 1913, when Isadore was 19 years old, he was introduced to Lena Handelman who was Sarah's younger sister.  After Izzy met Sarah, he asked Lena to bring her sister and so the 3 would go out together during their courtship.  It soon became clear that he was really interested in Sarah.  The 2 sisters were very close and had a strong resemblance to each other, but they were extremely different in personalities.  Lena was very outgoing and Sarah was quiet and easy going.

        Sarah Handelman and Isadore Nathan Cornman were married January 2, 1916.  They had 10 children of which 3 died at a young age.  Of the 7 who survived to adults, there were 6 daughters and 1 son.  As Izzy would often say he had "a girl for every day of the week and a boy for Sundays".  Izzy had a very successful retail business until the depression.  From then on, due to a combination of factors, they were never again to enjoy financial security.  He became a traveling salesman and would travel to the small towns in Louisiana and Mississippi, selling to the stores along the countryside.  His customers loved him and would look forward to his visits.  He enjoyed these long drives through the towns as an opportunity to listen to his radio, view the country scenery and see his regular customers.  He particularly enjoyed when he could get one of his children (and later grandchildren) to go with him on these trips.  It was at this time that he would love to tell and retell his many stories about his growing up in Russia.  He had happy memories of his youth and it was difficult for most people to understand how he could romanticize a place they left, looking for a better life.  None the less, for what ever reasons, he truly loved Russia and often spoke of the beauty he remembered.  He was always aware and appreciative of the contrasts and changes he had witnessed in his lifetime.  He told of training wild horses in his youth in Russia, of driving a horse and buggy, of riding a motorcycle and of later driving automobiles.  These were some of the stories you would hear on a drive through Louisiana and Mississippi.  Politics was another "marathon" and you would want to avoid that subject by all means.  However, some day you would long to hear all of his stories again.  Though you may not agree with him, you would realize that there was much to learn and understand from his liberal lectures.

        Sarah helped financially by working through the years as a saleswoman in a woman's clothing store.  She had more than her share of problems but showed great strength and ability in facing every situation.  Her pride and joy was in talking about her children and grandchildren...and she had many, many to talk about.  She is most remembered by the love and affection she gave each and every one of them.