Sunday, May 11, 2014

It is difficult to determine where to go if you do not know where you have been

One hundred years ago, William Golberg landed at Locust Point in Baltimore, after sailing from Hamburg, Germany. He came with his mother, Dora and three siblings, Sophie, Goldie and David. It was necessary that immigrants be sponsored by someone living in the United States and the Golbergs were sponsored by Simon and Manye Malkin.  Manye was Dora’s sister.

The Malkins had previously immigrated and established a hardware store at Pratt and Central Avenue. William was the man of the Family; his father, Constantine died earlier in the Ukraine. The Golbergs lived on the third floor above the hardware store and William worked in the store to support the family. He was 16 years old; only Sophie was older.

The Malkins were called Uncle Malkin and Tante Manye. Tante is Yiddish for aunt and fetter is Yiddish for uncle. I have no idea why we did not call him Fetter Simon. They had two daughters; Sarah, who was adopted and Phyllis. Sarah married Harry Shpritz, a dentist and had two children, Gloria and Norton. Phyllis married Eli (Ginny) Paul and had one daughter. Ginny Paul was an accomplished softball player and played second base for a world championship team sponsored by Jack Pollack, a political Baltimore 4th District leader. The hardware store relocated to Liberty Height Avenue and was renamed the Liberty Paint and Hardware. Ginny Paul worked in the hardware store and it existed until his retirement.

William had a house built at 3326 Ingleside Avenue and married Esther Poloway in 1924. Dora and Sophie and Goldie moved in with the newlyweds. William worked for the Independent Lock Company until his retirement in 1963. Kenneth arrived in March, 1925, Ruth in June, 1929 and Marvin Bennett in January 1931.