David Greenberg

There is an African saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” That was true in our family, in the early 20th century, as our first Americans were born to immigrants David and Fannie Greenberg. They settled in Springfield, Illinois, where Fannie’s sister Edith Goldstien and later brother Isaac Gingold also settled. Their eleven surviving children were raised enmeshed in a large and loving network of family. The Greenbergs quickly assimilated to the Midwestern lifestyle and prospered and multiplied. Family legend states that Fannie “had 23 pregnancies and 13 children”. David ran Greenberg’s Department store and employed numerous family members. Their photos left behind tell the story of many happy family gatherings and parties.

Great-granddaughter Sunny Dubinsky Pervil has been told that David Greenberg left Eastern Europe after his father was killed in a pogrom. On the 1910 census, they report arriving in the USA in 1886.

Grandson Bob Cohen shares the following history passed down by his mother Nunie:

“David Greenberg and perhaps his wife came from Romania, then Rumania. (ADDENDUM: We now think he came from "Yampol/Yampil, once in Russia, now NW Ukraine. The town was devastated by pogroms and holocaust.)

He was peddling, selling wares in Romania on foot and he passed a homestead,

saw his future wife on the porch or whatever, was attracted to her and

vowed to get to know her. Allegedly they came to this country and when

they disembarked in New York he had what amounted to 50 cents in his

pocket. Their sponsor to come to Springfield was John Oberman, whom

David knew from the old country. He found an apartment for them and got

her a job sewing buttons on clothing in a clothing factory. Employed and having quarters for her he boarded a train alone for Springfield and left her there until he could send for

her. In time he became a peddler on foot selling wares over the

countryside until he prospered enough to buy a horse, then a cart, then

a storefront and so on. The house they purchased or built (1150 North 5th Street) was in a

gentrified area of Springfield, at the time in a predominately Catholic

neighborhood in St. Joseph Parrish. The children passed Catholic homes

on their way to school and were harassed by Catholic kids because they

were Jewish. David Greenberg called upon the priest at St. Jo and all

the harassment immediately stopped. “

The Greenberg name is no longer in the family because none of their three sons left descendants. Abe and Marshall didn’t have children; Morris died in 1907 at age three. Their three eldest daughters, who married and left Springfield were Bess Goldblatt, Ethel Dubinsky, and Sarah Hutner. The middle group of girls, who remained in central Illinois, were Rose Cohn, Gert Spiegel (the only one outside of Springfield, in Shelbyville, Illinois), Sadie Sherman, and Ida (Nunie) Cohen. “The Babies” Cecile (Rubin) and Marshall lost their mother before they were grown, and sister Ethel helped raise them.

Bess died as a young woman in 1929. Her mom Fannie followed shortly after., The remaining seven Greenberg sisters provided David and Fannie with 109 descendants in St. Louis, Houston, Chicago, Las Vegas, California, Arizona, Colorado, and Florida. Only Bob Cohen remains in Springfield near the old Greenberg homestead.