Remembering Grandma Minnie 123 Years After Her Immigration

Born on November 10, 1886, my maternal grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz was the second child (oldest daughter) of 11 children of Moritz Farkas and Lena Kunstler Farkas. She celebrated her 15th birthday on the SS Amsterdam in 1901, en route from Hungary to her future home in New York City.

Growing up in Hungary

Minnie and seven of her siblings were born in Hungary, in an area now known as Berehove, Ukraine. Minnie was sent to school to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, plus fine needlework. 

Her father Moritz supervised vineyard plantings for his wife's family and also leased land for his own crops. Minnie sometimes rode along with him on his rounds of the vineyard--she loved the outdoors. The family wasn't wealthy but they weren't poor either.

Weather changed everything

One year, Moritz failed to insure his crops and a heavy hail storm destroyed everything before the harvest. He was financially ruined. To make a fresh start (and probably to avoid creditors), Moritz sailed to New York City in 1899. He found work in the garment district, like many Jewish immigrants, and always lived in a tenement or an apartment building, very unlike his former life.

At the end of 1900, Moritz's wife Lena sailed to New York City, leaving their eight children with her family. One year later, Minnie and three siblings were put on a ship to rejoin their parents in New York. The last group of four children who waited in Hungary were finally reunited with their family in New York in 1903. Moritz and Lena had three more children born in the Big Apple. The baby of the family was 20 years younger than the oldest.

Where Minnie lived in the big city

In 1910, Minnie lived with her parents and siblings at 645 E. 6th Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. According to the 1940 New York City tax photo, which I found using Steve Morse's One-Step search form, it was a large apartment building on a street corner, with stores on the ground floor.

In 1920 and 1930, married to immigrant Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965) and the mother of three children, she lived at 651 Fox Street in the Bronx, NY. It was a smaller apartment building located in a more residential area. Grandpa Teddy owned and operated a small neighborhood dairy store, which helped them get through the Great Depression.

In 1940, Minnie and Teddy and their children lived at 672 Beck Street in the Bronx, a nicer apartment building. All their children had graduated high school and the oldest two were in college and working part-time, their youngest child working as well. The couple stood on their feet helping customers at the dairy store day after day, including weekends.

In 1950, Minnie and Teddy lived at 600 East 178th Street in the Bronx, an apartment building with the main entrance on the side street. Two children were married and had families of their own. By this time, Minnie had heart problems and Teddy had hired an assistant for the store. This man eventually bought them out so the couple could retire after a lifetime of standing on their feet for long hours.

Minnie's life and legacy

Minnie grew up to be a capable, complicated woman who defied her parents in order to marry the man of her choice. In a later era, she herself would have had many more opportunities to use her intelligence, talents, and determination. She was an expert with a sewing machine, and made fabulous Hungarian dishes from scratch, including apple strudel with an impossibly thin pastry crust. Though she lacked a warm and fuzzy way with her grandchildren, she worked extremely hard, made her children's education a high priority, and always put family first.

Grandma Minnie died 60 years ago, in 1964. Saddened and physically weakened, Grandpa Teddy died the year after. May their memories be for a blessing.