Finding More Sam Breakstones

Previously on Finding Sam Breakstone, we had examined three candidates and looked at a picture of Dianna Agron from Glee.  And now the thrilling conclusion:

Babe Ruth died in 1948, too.
Did Breakstone ever see him play?
How the hell should I know?

Sam Breakstone #4 was born in 1903 in New York City and died in 1948 in New York City. His father, Jacob, was born in Poland in 1864.  There are no records of this Jacob Breakstone's family.  Sam #4 never married and had no children.  Records for his four siblings are incomplete.

Is this our Sam Breakstone?

Pros:

• He lived his life in New York City
• And that's about it.

Cons:

• He doesn't seem to be related to the rest of the family.
• His birth in 1903 is too late to have had a meaningful impact on the beginnings of the Breakstone Bros. brand.
• Dying at only 45, he seems to have passed too young to have made a lasting impact on the history of value-added dairy.

Chance of being our Sam Breakstone:  0.031%

He missed out on inventing sour cream, but he got to
see the trial of Leopold and Loeb.  So ... fair trade, I guess.

Samuel Breakstone #5 was born in Poland in 1874.  His father Selig, though, was a Lithuanian Breakstone.  In fact, Selig was the younger brother of Nisaniel.  That may not mean much to you, but that makes this Samuel Breakstone the first cousin of Breakstone Bros. founders, Joseph and Isaac.  Samuel emigrated in 1885, at the age of 11, although it's unknown who took him over.  By 1891, he was in Chicago.  He married in Chicago in 1908 and died there in 1955.

Pros:

• He's the first cousin of the founders of Breakstone's.
• It is almost certain that Sam #5 worked for his cousin's growing businesses as a young teen.  Thy were notorious for hiring relatives.
• Breakstone's did have products in Chicago by 1920.

Cons:

• Sam left New York before the Breakstone Bros. started distributing dairy.
• He left for Chicago almost thirty years before Breakstone's had products there.
• Even then, Breakstone's contracted with existing dairies to make their products, and did not have their own factory in the midwest.

This Sam may have worked in the dry goods shops of his cousins.  He may even have distributed Breakstone's in the midwest.  But he didn't create any recipes or products.

Chance of being our Sam Breakstone:  17.5%

And now, for the sake of completeness,

Also born in 1987 - Ellen Page.
  So, yeah, she's pretty young.

Sam Breakstone #6  was born Samantha Allyne Breakstone in 1987.  Not 1887 ... 1987.  She's currently 24 and in law school and I seriously think this is her.  She is the daughter of Jay Breakstone, son of Allen, son of Bernard, son of Hyman, son of Abraham, who was brother of Nisaniel, the father of Joseph and Isaac.  That makes her the 1st cousin, four times removed, from the founders of Breakstone Bros.

Pros:

• Her great-great-great-great grandfather was just the regular grandfather of Joe and Isaac Breakstone.
• How cool is that?

Cons:

• She was born long after the Sam Breakstone commercials ended.
• She didn't return my Facebook friend request.

Chance of being our Sam Breakstone:  0.0% but close to 3,500% in our hearts.

We've gone through six Sam Breakstones so far.  Only two remain.  Subscribe to the RSS feed, get the emails, listen over short-wave, just stay tuned for tomorrow's thrilling conclusion which I realize I promised you at the top of this article but it turns out I was just stringing things along!