Right after my grandfather Joseph Rosenbaum passed away in
1976, his hand-written memoirs were found on the top of his
refrigerator. In these pages, he recounts his childhood in Galicia and
then go on to describe his life in America. Below are some excepts from
his memoirs. My comments are denoted by [italics]
within square brackets. Biography of Joseph Rosenbaum, born in Austria May 1894 or
1895, to parents Hersh and Meta Rosenbaum. We were ten children, five
brothers and five sisters. The names of all of them Sarah, Fanny,
Minnie, Rose, and Mollie, Morris, Sam, Joseph, Louis, and Charles. The town where most of us were born was Swerskofce [Svezhkovtse], Austria,
Galicia. My father took care of cattle as a veterinarian. He was
a religious man, and so was my mother who kept a Jewish home according to
Jewish tradition. We had our own home consisting of three rooms = 1 large room
which was a combination dining room and bedroom and across the hallway was 1
large room which was a stable for the cattle consisting of two cows. We
had enough milk for our family. Our mother used to make churned butter,
sour cream, pot cheese, farmer cheese, and sour milk. In summer the cows used to be out in the pasture, which was
about 1 1/2 miles from the house. It was my job to care for the cows
taking them to and from the pasture twice a day. I would take them out
in the morning at 7 A.M. and bring them back at 12 o'clock for milking.
At 1 P.M. I would take them out again for pasture and bring them back at 6
P.M. six days a week. On Saturday every person and every animal
rested. We would just feed the cows. I used to go to another town on Saturday mornings with my
father to a shul, a small place about one mile away from my home to pray
Shabas. My father was a well built, good looking, clean cut, blond, a
full beard, small curls you could hardly see them. He was a respected
person by all regardless of race or creed. We had about one-half acre of land and an orchid consisting
of sweet cherries, prunes, pears, large berries all around the rear of the
house, 1 tree of walnuts. On the land we planted potatoes, onions,
carrots, garlick, pickles so we had plenty for the entire winter. We
used to sour the pickles in large wooden vats and kept it in the basement
entering from the inside of the house. Our heating consisted of a flat stove special built for
heating water, cooking and baking. We used wood as fuel. My oldest sister Sarah got a job as a domestic in a small
town Krwilika [Krivoluka, or modern day Kshyvoluka, Ukraine]
and this is where she met her husband. The both of them
after a number of years emigrated to America and were married here. I remember as a child in Europe, that my brother Sam and
I went to a Chedar which is a religious school. I was 8 years old, and
Sam 10. The city was known as Yazlowee [Yazlowiec, or
modern day Pomortsy, Ukraine], which was about 20 miles from
our house. We were boarded in the teacher's home. He had about 15
students, none older then 11 or 12 years. My brother and I looked so
much alike, we were taken for twins. We loved all kinds of
buttons. After school, we used to walk around this small city and sing
a song we made up, the payment being a button. The song was about two
brothers, living under one roof, abe being rich and the other, poor. In
Jewish it sounded very nice. The people use to stop us and offer us a
button from their shirt or coat, just to hear the song. The entire city
knew us as "Fye Bidilach". As all young children, we talked
and sang with a lisp. When our parents use to come, once every two or
three weeks, the inhabitants knew them as the parents of the Fye Bidilach..... I had caught the chickenpox and was sent home from the Cheder.
I remember my older sister Fanny carrying me, wrapped in a blanket, to the
home of a old grand uncle, to stay until the disease cleared up. After two or three years, my parents took us out of the
Chedar, and sent me to another town, 2-4 miles away, for a higher
education. We use to go in the morning, and come home at night.
This was a larger town, known as Beremen. Enroute home, Sam and I use
to be chased by men on horses into the forest. When they got tired of
looking for us, we would have to find our way out of the forest. Many
times we got lost. These towns contained many people who were anti-Semitic
and would pick on Jewish children. The town in which I was living with
my parents, all the people were respectful to each other. My town had
only one school, with one room and one teacher. Sam and I attended this
school. The prient would come to the school to teach Christian
religion. He would always send Sam and me home, and if we did not go
home, we would tell us to set in our seats, but not to cross ourselves.
The Priest was my father's customer, buying fertilizer from him. My
mother would cook for the teacher and we would carry it to school. We kept a small room at home as a store, selling sugar broken
up from large sugar blocks, and oil for burning lights, in addition ro other
small items. My parents were respected in the community. On Friday evenings, our table looked beautiful. All the
children were clean and sat around the table waiting for my father to make
the Kiddish over a little wine. On Saturdays, my father wore a
beautiful fur hat and a long silk coat. This page is hosted at no cost to the public by JewishGen, Inc., a non-profit corporation. If you feel there is a benefit to you in accessing this site, your
JewishGen-erosity is appreciated. Last updated 04/12/03 by ELRExcerpts from the memoirs of Joseph
Rosenbaum
contributed by Edward Rosenbaum
Copyright © 2003 SRRG