Daughter of Abraham and Ida Trube. She was born in Vinitsa, Russia (now Ukraine) in 1864. As told to me by Pearl Gray, her 3 younger siblings all died of disease, presumably Cholera. Per my conversation with Pearl, Bertha (her grandmother) got her name in a strange way. Bertha was the 4th child of her mother, Ida Trube . The first three died of Cholera. In about 1862, when her infant (birth name unknown) contracted Smallpox, Ida took her to the local Rabbi to save her life. He said, "If we change her name, God will be mixed up and forget to take her". So they renamed the child "Brucha" meaning "blessed" or "blessing" in Hebrew. Brucha lived and was followed by two brothers, who came with her to America in 1883.
[My notes are dated June 20, 2000.]
Bertha (known as Bubby in our family) came to the United States at about age 18 (in 1883). She had been married unhappily in an arranged marriage to a man from a nearby village. They had a baby boy, but soon separated, and Bertha took her baby home. As told to me by Pearl, one day she briefly left the baby in his carriage outside while she went back in the house for someth ing. When she returned, the baby was gone. Bertha and her parents discovered he had been abducted by his father. Fearing trouble if they tried to reclaim him, and fearing other possible actions by the father, they fled with Brucha to America.
Years later, the story goes, the boy was brought to America by a relative, maybe an uncle. It appears he joined the US Navy and found his way to San Diego. Along the way there was some kind of connection, but he was essentially estranged from his mother. Bertha did learn of his death, but the circumstances are unknown.
We did find an Isadore Ominsky, pictured here, but were unable to verify his identity.
Bertha married Shmuel, (Simon or Samuel) probably in St Louis in 1883, and bore daughter Rebecca , their only child, who became Pearl's mother.
Her father owned a secondhand home furnishings store in St Louis in 1887.
Abraham died April 13, 1916, by which time he had retired and was living at 1927 Biddle Street in St Louis. Ida, his wife, inherited the duplex pictured below.
We know they also owned real estate at 1116-24 North 21st Street (now an industrial area), because we have a copy of Ida’s will made the previous year.
In 1920 she was still living in St Louis with Simon and her 3 granddaughters, Pearl, Ruth and Goldyne Weinhouse pictured here left to right.
After her husband's death, Bertha came to Chicago to live with Eddie and Pearl (1920s). During my childhood, she lived with us at 76th & Chappel in Chicago. Her last years were spent at the Drexel Home on Chicago's southside operated by Jewish Charities. She didn’t petition for citizenship until 1942, shortly before her death in 1943.
I remember you Bubby.
Melvin Gray
August 2020