Dear Ruthie,
Thank you for your letter, and I’ll try and tell you all you want to know. My mother's name was Annabelle, in Hebrew it was Channah Beila, her maiden name (surname) was Salit. She had three brothers and one sister. Her father died aged 22 and left her widowed mother with three young children and another baby on the way. I don't know anything about her mother's family, but her father had four sisters, and after the last baby was born her mother went to live in the home of a wealthy family to be a wet nurse for their new baby -- and the three older children were taken care of by the four aunties. My mother went to a different auntie every three months, and she was very unhappy in the home of three aunties. She loved her Auntie Malka, and Minnie was called after her. Her oldest brother, my Uncle Melechr, was apprenticed to a tailor when he was 12 years old and never had any real education except cheder. Jewish children of this sort of family couldn't afford to pay for school.
Mama’s elder sister, Sara, also went from one aunt to another. And my uncle, Tevye, the younger brother, actually went to school because the auntie and uncle he lived with didn't have any children and could afford to send him to school. They lived in a small village near Vilna, and eventually Uncle Tevye went to university. Vilna was the capital of Lithuania then and had a famous university.
Uncle Melech eventually got married, and managed to leave Lithuania and come to England and settled in Hull, and as soon as he could be sent for Mama who was 16 years old. I think that must have been about 1894. It must have been very difficult. No education. No English. She used to tell me about the journey and how they were all packed like sardines on this awful ship. She was seasick and ill all the way, and how delighted she was when she found Uncle Melech waiting for her. He was her big brother and she adored him. Her stories of her life in Lithuania would make a good book, and her experiences when she first came to England, and had to find a job and go to work and earn her living. It's all too much to write in a letter. But she did quite well -- made a lot of friends and soon learned to speak English.
My father came from a very different background. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, and his family were quite wealthy. They owned brewery in a little village near Warsaw named Chogiska(1), and employed the whole of the village population and more. His mother also came from a very wealthy family. Her maiden name was Channa Salitski -- almost like my mother. I didn't know anything about his relatives. His mother had a big problem in her early married life - very much like my own. She kept having a series of miscarriages, and after many years she decided to adopt a baby boy which she did. When that little boy was three years old, she became pregnant and managed to produce my father.
Well to cut a long story short -- eventually my father had a good education and went to university. By the time he finished his studies the elder boy was working in the brewery having done his Polish army service. His parents decided to give him the advantage of a world tour (my father I mean) hoping he would be away long enough to miss army service. He travelled to America, where he spent two years -- to Europe – Italy, France and England. It was in Hull where he was supposed to be joining the ship to journey home, that he met my mother. He had gone to the home of a lady called Mrs Marmer, who had been a cook in his family home, to take her a present. This lady was a cousin of my mother's, and she was with some of her girlfriends and they were going to Hull Fair, which was a big event in Hull in those days, and my father was invited to go with them. Well that’s how he fell in love with my mum, and he never went back, and they never forgive him.
They married in 1897. He'd never earned a penny in his life. My uncle Melech taught him to be a tailor machinist, and that's how they managed to live. He was very intellectual. He was a real socialist, and was the first chairman of the Garment Workers Union which he organised. He was a very good public speaker, and a trustee of the Grand Order of Israel Friendly Society. He used to tell us lovely stories about his travels and he was greatly loved and respected by everyone. He loved books and music, and adored my mother. Every time we had a new baby he was over the moon.
Unfortunately he worked too hard. Everything he did had to be 102%, and he grieved about his parents. They didn't answer his letters, and he stopped writing. During the First World War he received a letter telling him his parents had died, and I remember how he sat shiva and cried a lot. He was ill after that for 10 years and died aged 58. I was 21 years old that year -- one of the saddest years of my life.
It was pretty tough going for all of us then. However we managed. Uncle Joe was already married -- Moishe got married the following year, and only Edie and I were earning money. The following year Joe went to London, and in 1929 we all left Hull and settled here. Pop-pop (Ed: Ziggy) and I met in 1930, got married in 1933 and lived happily ever after. Clive got himself born in 1941, Steve in 1944, both events during the Blitz of the Second World War. I was laid up in hospital for six months to keep Clive where he was supposed to be -- Steve didn't need it -- he was nice and comfy and stayed put.
And about school: I went at age 5 to Hull Hebrew School for girls. This was attached to the Hull Western Synagogue. The Jewish part of the education was okay, we were taught to keep a kosher home, all the rules etc of kashrut, all the mitsvot, the service of the synagogue, we knew not only the order of the service but also the weekly sidra. We learned to translate as well as read the Torah – we said morning prayers, night prayers etc etc etc. But the history of England and geography of the world didn't play a very large part in our education.
If it wasn't for the fact we were all avid readers we wouldn't have known very much. We didn't have radio or television in those days -- but we all went to the library every day on the way home from school. We did learn music and choir music -- and we learned a lot of poetry. Edie and Minnie had a much higher education at their non-Jewish schools, and they both had scholarships to grammar schools. Edie was the top scholar and won an educational bursary. I would probably have got the booby prize. But I think that the Jewish part education that I had has stood me in very good stead just the same.
Anyhow Ruthie, I hope I've made it clear. In conversation I could probably have told you more. I’ve sorted out some pictures, I hope they're okay for the project.
ps. the family name is Davidowitz, changed to Davidson during World War I. My father's name was Avram Chaim ben Leib, born 1867, died 1925.
All our love,
Grandma.
Family Tree
My Parents:
• Avram Chaim ben Leib Davidovitz born 1867, died in 1925.
• Channa Beila Salit born April 1878, died 1958
Children:
• Joseph (Reuven Yossef)
• Maurice (Moshe)
• Sophia (Tsipporah Frumma)
• Solomon (Shloma)
• Geoffrey (Guttman)
• Edith (Chaya Rochel)
• Minnie (Malka)
• Cyril (Saul)
• Lionel (Leib)
Notes (added by Editor,2015)
1 We now think that the village was called Hordzieżka, as was referred to in a letter to Avram Chaim by his brother David in the 1920s (found amongst Lionel’s papers).
No comments:
Post a Comment