Roots - Zig

Dear Ruthie, 
I'm writing this for Pop-Pop. He calls it the Noble Saga.
Our original name was Knobel. My father was born in Karlisch (Ed: Kalisch), a city in Poland. His father was born in a village called Paradise which was about 14 miles from Karlisch where he died at a very young age. His name was Mattiyahu (Ed: Mattitiyahu) and his wife's name was Channa. They had three sons -- one died very young and the other two were my dad, Shlomo, and my uncle, Martin. When Mattiyahu died, Channa with the two sons went back to her parents’ home in Karlisch. There was no free education in Poland, so all the boys learned was at cheder. When they grew up they learned the tailoring trade. Martin, the eldest son, left Poland with his young wife Mary -- both aged 17½ to go to New York, and shortly after my dad (Shlomo) decided to follow him. He sailed from Hamburg on a crowded ship, and when they reached the London docks the captain told them they were in New York, and they all disembarked. Fortunately he had the address of a cousin called Gershon Wright who gave him a job as a tailor for 2/6 a week (Ed: two shillings and sixpence, now twelve and a half pence, but then worth a lot more.) When he decided he would stay in England, he went to night school to learn to speak English.. The teachers there advising him to drop the K in the Knobel which he did. It was in London, at the age of 20, that he together with some friends organised 3 penny dances which were a great success, and it was at one of these dances that he met my mum.
Her name was Elka Reisa – Rachel -- aged 20 and Dad by this time was 28. They got married in 1903. Her family name was Schotness, and her father was a cabinet maker and there were four girls and one boy. Uncle Levy, Mum, Auntie Leah, Auntie Becky and Auntie Jessie. My booba’s name was Martha, and she was a real matriarch. My mum and dad lived near the family who were all very close.
Lou was born on 22 January 1904, Ziggy was born April 12, 1907, Charlie was born 21st of March 1910, and Bernie was born on 19 August 1913.
I started school at the Westminster Jewish free school and my cheder every night and Sunday morning was at the Bet HaSefer at 26 Soho Square. At the W.J.F. school I got a scholarship to Stanley Central School in Camden Town aged 11 years, and stayed there until I was 14, when dad needed me in his tailoring workshop where I worked for two years. When I was 16, dad took over fish and chip shop in the West End, and I worked there until 1933, when I married Sophie Davidson. I met Sophie through the AYZS a young Zionist society and we opened a shop in Battersea on March 17, 1933, and got married on June 21, 1933. I forgot to mention that my mother was born in Odessa in Russia, as was Uncle Levy. But Auntie Leah, Becky and Jessie were born in London. My mom was five years old when her parents came to England, and she went to school in the East End Jews Free School.
Uncle Levy also lived with his wife Sara in the East End all his life. They had four boys. Haimie (now known as Jock) he is an accountant, Benny (the tycoon with ½p in his JNF box), Leslie and Cecil. Auntie Leah had two boys, Alf and Doodie, and two girls Rosie and Gertie. Auntie Beckie didn't marry. Auntie Jessie, now aged 87, has one boy, David, and two daughters Doris and Celia. The American Nobles’ offspring of uncle Martin are Sam, married to Ree, they have two daughters, Judy and Margie, Sidney has two sons named Neill married to Janet and Freddie married to Hazell.
I had a lot of hobbies when I was a youngster, but stamp collecting was my favourite. Also coins. That's all I can remember. All my love from pop pop (and from his social secretary too)
xxx