EIN GANTZEH MAIDELEH

A friend who wishes to remain anonymous wrote me this adventure.

     My grandmother Sonia lived in a shtetl in Belarus, Russia, in early 1900, a volatile and difficult time for Jews.  The family — she was the oldest child at age 14 — lived in a hut with a dirt floor. There came an opportunity to emigrate to America.  Sonia was chosen to be the first to go, with the hope that other family members would later follow. . . but she never saw her family again. God knows what the czar did to them and their village after Grandma left.
     She was placed on a crowded and terribly uncomfortable ship to America and expected to land at Ellis Island, but a few immigrant ships were diverted to Houston, Texas.  Apparently some politically influential merchants and businessmen there needed cheap immigrant labor for their stores and factories.
     In the days nearing the end of the voyage, Sonia was told she would not be allowed to leave the ship at port as a single woman because she would surely be destined for prostitution.  An enterprising 14-year-old, she arranged with another teenager on board, Maurice, to be married at sea a few days before the ship arrived in port around 1914.
     When they disembarked they were told they were required to work for very low wages at a mercantile establishment in order to repay the substantial cost of their passage to America.  Instead, they fled Texas and ran as far away as possible so that the feared Texas Rangers would not find them.  I don't know how, but they got all the way to Minneapolis without any funds or familiarity with America.  The Texas Rangers never found them, and they eventually moved to Illinois and lived (almost) happily ever after, taking part in the American dream.
     Grandma Sonia, a very strong person, was the absolute matriarch of our family. She and Grandpa were dedicated Orthodox Jews and kept a kosher home.  My children never met their great-grandmother, but her legend lives on as a tribute to her, Judaism, the courage of immigrants, and the wonderful promise of America.