Meet my paternal grandmother Sarah Hannah Ehrenberg nee Zwick, if I someone was to come to me today and say which of your ancestors would you like to meet right now, I would have to pick Sarah I think she was an amazing lady and did some pretty amazing things. She was born in Poland
10 Feb 1848 she was the daughter of Ziv Zwick, she married Woolf Ehrenberg probably in Poland and had 4 children, Mordicai (died an infant probably of SIDS) Harris, Rosie and Leah (my grandmother). Sometime in the late 1800s they imigrated to England before that they lived for awhile in France where my grandmother was born. Woolf died in 1905 by this time all of their 3 children were married thier son Harris was a Rabbi and had 3 children, his wife after the birth of their youngest daughter Sophia, was commited to a mental instituation and he emigrated to America where he became a Rabbi in Zanesville Ohio and eventually remarried and had 3 more children.
Sarah meanwhile was raising his 3 children in England in Aug 1906 she came to America with her 3 grandchildren the voyage took 24 days the chilren were ages 7, 5 and 3, Sarah was 55 years old, can you imagine being on a steamship for 24 days with three little ones, difficult enough for a Mom but even harder for a grandmother, her intentions were of staying only to long enough to get the children settled in, she never left and died in Zanesville 10 April 1926.
When I first started researching Sarah's life I had a hard time as a mother understanding why she would go off and leave her two daughters and never see them or her grandchildren again, Leah was happily married and Rosie for a time was too, but in 1907 her husband of 7 years died leaving her with 4 children to raise, two were twins. I really had a hard time understanding her reasoning...until I met David Manners a grandson of Sarah's who lived with Sarah for 12 years, this is what David told me of Sarah, " I would say Bubba (Yiddish for grandmother) had a strong sense of duty and responsibility, she always had a hard life and knew how to cope, she was the one who got up early in the morning and cooked breakfast for her grandchildren so they could go out and deliver newspapers, she was the one that did the dishes and emptied the water from under the ice box, my sister Sophia found her sweet and lovable, they always shared a room. I found Bubba to be crabby and puzzling, I didnt understand why after living so many years in England and then America she never spoke English, I dont recall her ever riding in an automobile or going to a movie she never listened to the radio, I often wondered what was stored in the chest that she had bought over from England with her on the "Cedric" I was bemused by the rise I got out of her when I bought up the subject of "Bismark" she was very fluent with Yiddish Obscenties! On several occasions she talked of buying a ticket to return to England but she never did, we were all very attached to her especially Sophia"- David Manners.
I have been told that Sarah was very short 4" 7 I think all my kids inherited her short genes! and fluent in several languages.
The above photo was taken in 1915 Kelly Street, Zanesville, Ohio
Rivkah is another of my great grandmothers on my father's side of the family her name was Rivkha or Rebecca Levene nee Minion, I know nothing of her parents. She married Nathan Levene in Russia, the photo is of her with her youngest daughter Jessie. There is a date stamped on the back of the photo, "November 1898" Although the clothing that Jessie is wearing is not of that time period but closer to 1910 or 1912. By May 1912 Jessie was in England. So the photo was probably taken between 1894 and 1912. The photo was taken in Smorgan, Grodno Gubernia, Belarus.
