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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.
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, but the remaining 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.
Aged 60y. Daughter of Harry and Bessie Gingold; wife of David Greenberg.
1868 |
July 25, 1868
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Russian empire
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1886 |
November 28, 1886
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New York, United States
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1886
- 1886
Age 17
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New York, New York, United States
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1887 |
1887
- 1908
Age 18
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Greenberg Home, Springfield, Illinois, United States
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1888 |
September 26, 1888
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Springfield, Illinois, United States
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1891 |
1891
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1894 |
1894
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1898 |
1898
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