Treasure Chest Thursday: John and Sarah Gitel (Frank) Broida
Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)
John Jacob or Zelig, whose surname originally was Karklinsky, changed his name to Broida after arriving in the United States about 1874. John and his wife Sarah Gitel Frank (1859-1901) were originally born in Lithuania. At that time, Lithuania was a part of Russia, and the town he came from was called Eišiškės (AKA Polish: Ejszyszki, Russian: Эйши́шки/Eishishki, Belarusian: Эйшы́шкі/Eishyshki, Yiddish: אײשישאׇק/Eyshishok). The Jews were the largest percentage of the population until World War II, when the Jews were massacred. Thankfully John and his family had escaped prior to that time.
Gertrude (Broida) Cooper, granddaughter of John Broida through his son Phillip Broida, told the story that John Broida always had a thick Yiddish accent- the family spoke Yiddish at home per a number of censuses- and that he wanted to go be with his own as Palestine became a “national home for the Jewish people.” This was part of the British Mandate for Palestine in the 1920s, after World War I, through the League of Nations. John emigrated around this time, possibly with his second wife, Fannie. (Gitel died in 1901.)
Notes, Sources, and References:
- Family oral history.
- Wikipedia
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