Jacob and Anna Schwartzberg: From Russia to America
by Marc Silverman
My report is on my great-great-grandparents, Anna and Jacob Schwartzberg. The Czar in Russia did not let any Jewish people leave. But, in 1905, the Czar and his wife had a baby. He decided in honor of the baby, he would let people go.
Anna Wolinsky and Jacob Schwartzberg lived in Wolkovisk which is in Grodna, Russia. They were childhood sweethearts. Life was very hard in Russia, especially if you were Jewish. In the early part of 1906, Jacob Schwartzberg left behind his family and his girlfriend and looked for a better life in America. He heard all about the great life in America and wanted the best for his family. It took six long weeks aboard a ship to get to the United States. He was traveling steerage. Steerage was the cheapest way to travel and the conditions were far from good. Jacob finally arrived on Ellis Island in April, 1906. Friends helped him get a job and housing.
Jacob took a job in a sweat shop as a tailor. They made you work up to 18 hours a day for minimal pay and terrible working conditions. As bad as this sounds, this life was better than his life in Russia. Only one thing was missing, his girlfriend, Anna. He sent for her and within months Anna Wolinsky had joined Jacob in America. Immediately they were married.
They lived in an apartment on the East Side of New York. I believed it was South 2nd Street. Many immigrants lived in this area. It was always a struggle, but to both of them, freedom was worth it. Within a year of their marriage their first child, Bea Schwartzberg, was born. Bea is my great grandmother. Anna and Jacob and two more children, Ruby in 1910, and Rose in 1914.
Anna and Jacob stressed education. Anna went back to school to learn the English language. Education was a goal for their three children. Bea graduated Girls Commercial High School as a secretary and a bookkeeper. Ruby graduated Boys High School. Rose graduated high school and went on to New York University and graduated as a teacher.
Anna and Jacob encouraged many people to come to America from Russia. Jacob's sister Tillie finally came to America. When she came on shore at Ellis Island a doctor examined her as they examined all immigrants. The doctor noticed that Tillie had an eye disease called trachoma. The doctors sent her back to Russia. A year later she returned to America.
Jacob and Anna became citizens of the United States and moved to a larger apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Jacob opened up a tailor store in Flatbush with an uncle named Samuel. After a few years the business was not doing well and they had to close the store. Jacob went back to the sweat shop until 1925 when he opened another tailor shop. This store lasted a few years, but then he had to close it because it was not doing well. For the last time he went back to the sweat shops.
The sweat shops were much better because of the unions. The only problem was you might work five months and be out of work seven months. This was called a stall season. Because of this money was always scarce. Jacob worked at these shops until he retired. My great-grandmother Anna was a suffragists. The suffragists were a group of women trying to get the right to vote. In August 1920 the 19th Amendment was approved. Anna Schwartzberg died in 1956, and Jacob died in 1965. Both are buried in Springfield Gardens, Queens.
