Ida Silver

Ida's Hebrew name was Chai Rifka.

Ida was the youngest of 4 children - 3 brothers, Elia, David and Baruch. Ida's mother (Esther Malki) had given birth to other girl babies that died before the age of one. When my mother became pregnant with me, my father said, "Dear G-d, if this is another girl please let her live and take me instead." When I turned one, my father died. I was the only girl born to them that lived beyond the age of one year.

Berel (Sam's father) met Esther Malka (Ida's mother) during some business dealings and was taken with her daughter, Ida (Chai Rifka). An arranged marriage followed between Ida and Sam. Ida and Sam saw each other only twice before they were married.

Esther Malka lived with her daugher Ida and son-in-law Sam and their children.

A year after the marriage, the children started coming - Irving Joseph (Itzak Yosel), Louis (Lazur), David (Duvid) and Rose (Rawchel).

In 1914 Sam (Ida's husband) joined his brothers David, Elia and Barach in the U.S. to escape the draft in Poland. Ida was pregnant at the time with her youngest child, Albert (Abbe).

Upon Sam's brothers' urging, Sam took on Ida's last name (Silver) upon entering Ellis Island because his given name was Monkash which translated to monkey and too hard to say and spell.

On May 30, 1920, Ida arrived at Ellis Island in the U.S. on the U.S.S. Rotterdam to be processed. She weighed 90 pounds when she arrived. She boarded a train with her children for Chicago where Abbe, at 7 years old, met his father for the first time.