l few dollars could be added to the earnings of the heads of families. Since the schools were free and there were day schools for the children and night classes for the adults, they acquired the English language, and were happy to make the New World their permanent home.
On the other hand, a number of Boiberker small merchants, and also what we call white collar workers, come to America only to remain a few years, save up some money and return to Boiberke, to open a store, (naturally) in competition with the local storekeepers. Frequently they used up the money they had saved and were compelled again to leave for the New World. This time most of them brought over their families and they too made this their permanent home.
First Boiberker Arrivals
Since there is no record of the first arrivals, I tried to get information by leafing through a pamphlet at the New York Public Library, issued in 1898, by Dr. Michael Singer, who was then the representative in America of Dr. Theodor Herzl. This pamphlet led me to a source on the Lower East Side of New York, where I learned that in March 1898, two fellow Boiberker, Moishe Spitzbard, the son of Kalman, an intellectual of the town, and Abraham Fruchter, son in law of Mordchi Itzik Stein, organized the Yehudah Halevy Zionist society in New York. Spitzbard then held a responsible position in Yarmelowskies Bank on New York's lower East Side, while Fruchter was negotiating at the time for an important post with the Standard oil interests. Since they organized the Yehudah Halevy Zionist Society in 1898, they must have been in the United States for a number of years at that time. I presumed therefore that they were among the very first Boiberker who immigrated to the United States.
Recently I met a schoolmate of mine, with whom I had attended public school in Boiberke, by the name of Mendel or Emil Bromberg (on his mother's side). Speaking of old-time Boiberker in the United States, he advised me that as early as in 1882, his mother's brother, Itche Bromberg, was married to a girl from Rohatin, another small town in Galicia. They left for the United States right after the wedding, which indicates that Itche Bromberg was the first Boiberker who emigrated to America.
In 1890, another of Emil Bromberg's uncles, Yehudah Halweil or Yide Kokler came to New York. After a sojourn of several years, he returned to Boiberke, but again he couldn't better his economic condition and when he learned that the Brazilian Government had sent a commission to Galicia to lure working people to Brazil, he joined the group and went there. However, he couldn't stand the hot climate of the country and returned again to Boiberke. This time he tried hard to remain there, but again he couldn't better his economic condition. By this time he had very little money, not even enough to pay his passage to the United States. He managed however to go to England, settled in London and brought over his family. Several years later he immigrated to the United States where he settled for good.
During those years many other Boiberker immigrated to America. Among them were Isaac Korn and Yidel Geier, who later brought over his father Moishe, who was known in Boiberke as Moishe Heker. The last three established themselves in the butcher business.
Between the years 1890-1897, the immigrants from Boiberke included several who were determined to remain strict Sabath observers. Abraham Paget, Hersh Schneider and his brother Dovid, Shmuel Josel Fechter, Shloime Drezen, and several others. They organized themselves into a Sabath observing group, Am Kedoshim of Boiberke. In later years, when their number dwindled, they joined the then outstanding Galician Synagogue on the lower East Side in New York, the Dukler Mogen Avrohom Shuhl which is still in existance [sic].
In 1901, a large group of Boiberker gathered at the home of a fellow Boiberker, Nissan Katz, by trade a house painter, and organized the Boiberker Sick and Benevolent Society for the purpose of acquiring burial grounds and to pay to its members weekly sick benefits. Among the 