Yetta (Jacha) was a half-sister to my great-grandmother, Hannah Wolfson Blieden. Yetta was born circa 1859, to Mishla Qait and Samuel Schocket, Mishla’s second husband.
Yetta married Bernard Blumberg around 1880. They had 4 children who were born in Zagare, Lithuania. In 1891, with her four young children, Yetta arrived in New York. (When did Bernard come?) On the ship with her, was her neice, Rose (Rosa) who was allowed to accompany her as a graduation gift from her parents.
They sailed from Hamburg on the ship Augusta Victoria and arrived in New York on July 20, 1891. The voyage had taken 10 days.
Their children were well-educated. In the 1920 Census, both Leopold and Meyer were listed as laywers, and their son, Henry, as a college teacher.
Henry Blumberg, 1886 – 1950
Their son, Henry, studied at the University of Chicago and then got his Ph.D. in mathematics from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany in 1912. In 1907, he was awarded the John Dash Van Buren prize in mathematics.
He was an instructor in mathematics at the University of Nebraska, 1913-1914, assistant professor, 1914-1918. He was then an Associate in mathematics at the University of Illinois, 1918-1919, assistant professor, 1918-1925. Then he moved on to be a Professor ofmathematics at Ohio State University, in 1925.
My father always told me that he spent some time with his Uncle Henry in Ohio.
Henry Blumberg has been listed as a noteworthy mathematician. by Marquis Who’s Who.
Yetta and Bernard’s son, Meyer Blumberg, was born circa 1884 in Zagare, Lithuania. Circa 1922, he married Ida Siminoff and they had 3 children: Miriam, Baruch Samuel, and David. Yetta and Bernard’s grandson, Baruch Blumberg (1925 – 1911), would win the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1976 for discovering the Hepititus B virus and then developing a vaccine for it.
In 2006, I emailed Baruch to ask for help in researching our joint family history. It took a few months, but I did hear back and he apologized and said that he had been traveling. He put me in touch with his son whom he said was the family historian. Both were very interested in my story that Meyer loaned my Uncle Arthur money to go to medical school. Both said that sounded like something he would do as he was very generous and supportive of family.
Hear Dr. Blumberg talk about winning the Nobel prize and learn bout his Hepatitis B Foundation:
Yetta died on August 27, 1929, in Beth ISrael Hospital and is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, New York. Her half-sister, Hannah Wolfson Blieden, is brued in the same section. From her tombstone inscription, we can tell that Yetta was very loved and respected.
Here lies A precious mother and bride of youth
Her sons and daughter will cry a bitter cry and the chief of her youth will carry on weeping and wailing because (of what transpired) from her sick bed to this tragic grave
Her house was a tent of Torah for her husband and she sat within it
Her words meriting nachas were direct and her ways were pure
YOCHEVED daughter of Mr. SHMUEL BARUCH, may her memory be blessed,
BLUMBERG Died on Tuesday 21 of AvIn the year 5689. (27 august 1929)
Her body has returned to dust and to God, her spirit and on this bed may she rest in peace and comfort
May her soul be bound in the bonds of life
