That’s what I used to ask Grandma Katy, my father’s mother when I was a little girl. Katy (know also by her Yiddish name Geitl) was born in 1896 in Odessa. Her parents made the wise and brave decision to leave Odessa with their four young children and settle in London.

Tomorrow will be the yahrzeit of grandma Katy who died in April 1991 aged 93

I have have just found an two page essay that was written by one of Katy’s sisters, Jenny, after we went to visit her in The Nightingale Jewish old age home over 30 years ago. She filled in some of the family history. I will quote from her words. The life of immigrants everywhere has almost always been difficult and their family was typical of Jewish immigrants to Great Britain at the turn of the last century.

“What can I tell you about our ancestry” Jenny wrote, “I only know the Russian version what my mother told me. Her father had a butcher shop. Mother had four brothers they all emigrated to the U.S.A. She had two sisters deceased now. Father’s mother had a small factory that employed young girls to make ladies underwear they wore calico in those days snd my mother was one of the girls. I don’t know about the romance of my father and mother, all I do know is they married in Odessa and had four children, Sarah, Harry, Kate snd Sam. Father was a cigarette maker, not very lucrative, hard work, poor pay. His employer opened a factory in Glasgow and it wasn’t successful so he came to London snd my father came with others to London so the Russian period ended.

Starting with London after a lot of difficulty they found a flat in Brunswick Buildings, Aldgate – my birthplace, top floor about 100 stairs. I don’t remember living there. I do remember living in Dunstan Houses Stepney Green. I don’t remember Tony being born but I do remember Abe. One of the neighbours took me for a walk because mother was giving birth to Abe. I was a young child then and children didn’t know much about life then. Everything was a secret. We weren’t told and we were not allowed to ask questions.

I know we lived in Dunstan Houses for some years but all my memories are of 36 Cressy place a small 2 up 2 down where we were all brought up. Father, Sarah, Kate and myself were all cigarette makers. We learned the trade at home because father had to work at home to make ends meets. We all had to “chip” in snd do our share, the boys too were taught to do their share. Life was hard, money was scarce and we struggled along, no hundreds of pounds a week, wages were counted in shillings . The modern young person doesn’t know hardship, thank goodness”

That’s an extract from Jenny’s letter. Jenny looked after her bedridden and blind mother snd married late in life and was the only one of the seven siblings who did not have children.