In 1898, my great-grandmother, Maria, immigrated to New York City from the mountainous village of Jablonca, Torna-Abauj, Hungary. She was following the man who would eventually be her future husband. He was working in the mines of Pennsylvania and while she waited for him, she lived in New York City. Her residence was on Attorney Street which is, luckily, still quite intact in its 19th century aura. There is a Jewish tenement history museum which portrays the Jewish immigrants' lives on the Lower East Side. Although it was not built until 1913, the original synagogue is still active around the corner from Attorney Street. The building she lived in is still standing, nicely restored in it's brick and iron railings. It had red flowers in the window when I went there to visit. I imagine she slept in the children's room or in the upper story as she was only 19 years old and in charge of the Klein children until she moved west to marry my great-grandfather in Michigan.
If you want to read about the Stanton Street Synagogue, there is a great description of the people who are trying to save this 20 feet wide historic building on New York's lower East side from being gobbled up by the New York urban real estate market: http://www.placematters.net/node/1516
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