Fannie Segall, A Strong Woman

"She is such a Strong Woman." That seems to be a phrase we use often today. But the meaning has changed over the years. It seems in some of the reading I have been doing since this topic came up there is almost a generational meaning. But for my purposes now, for this entry, I want to go back to what it must have meant to a young woman who came to this country, married and for most of her life, was a working wife and mother. We don't find that so uncommon now. But let's think about the early 1900s. Much of the work done by women was menial in nature, poor pay, terrible conditions, and often they were really children. Those were Strong Women who worked hard to survive.

Then there were another group many Strong Women of that period. Those women who may have traveled alone or with a friend or a cousin and came to America. I know little about my MGM's life before she came to this country. Her brother, Moritz, arrived in 1896. She arrived from Romania in 1905. I do not know how much English she spoke or how long it took her to become fluent. And because I was not smart enough to ask the right questions growing up and did not become interested in genealogy until I retired from my own working life, there is a lot of conjecture, but will share what I know and why I admire her greatly.

I do not know how they met or if they knew each other in Romania. I am not even sure when he arrived but that is a story for another time. Fannie and Isidore probably met as many of the time did, at some event for others who had come from Romania.  Given they time frame it may also have been an arranged marriage. We, who were not smart enough to ever ask questions, will never know. Fannie and Isidore were married on March 24, 1907. He was employed as a checker is a grocery store and along the way they owned their own grocery store. Knowing that they did not have a lot at the time I believe,this photograph may be another of the 'ways of that time'. I cannot help but wonder if this handsome young couple are dressed in clothing that was available from the photographer. But, I never asked, so I will never know.

I am sure he must have worked for others until they finally had their first store. He was the butcher and she was the 'front woman'. And that is where I begin my story of what a strong women, she and others like her, must have been. When she and my MGF began life together, they lived as they had in Romania. She was developing her own kosher Jewish home. She was still keeping a kosher home when she began to have her children. Her first child, my mother, was born in 1908. During that period, from what I hear, they still kept a kosher home at that time. Three years later her brother Leo was born. She was working daily now with her husband. Then, as some of us also learned, you cannot always always keep things the way they have been. She had to hire help to take care of the children. Now she was a young mother of two and working with her husband full time for long days that required some travel to and from work. The women she was able to hire for child care were not familiar with working in a kosher household. There was no choice and they had to give up the way they had been raised and had thought they would live throughout their lives. Their third son, Jack, arrived and all the while she continued to work in the store. I cannot end this without saying one more thing about the story. When my brother and I were young, quite young, it was a special treat to go and visit the store with our mother, Sally, from time to time.

As I understand it there were several moves as they changed store locations with the changing communities but they always worked together. Her story was not unique. Many of us had grandmothers like my Grandmother Fannie, women who left their homes, learned new languages, began new families and were models of what strong women do when they must make new lives. My grandmother outlived her husband by many years. It is really special that she lived long enough for us to take a four generation picture of  three strong women and one more who grow to be a strong woman some years later as well, at my brother's wedding