Source B: Excerpts from the autobiography of Rachel Calof, originally written in Yiddish

Reprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
14 (Fall 1999). ISSN 0882-228X
Copyright (c) 1999, Organization of American Historians
 

Note:
All sources have been shortened to make them more accessible. Italicized text is from the author. Some short paragraphs from the original were consolidated.

Source:
J. Sanford Rikoon, ed., Rachel Calof's Story: Jewish Homesteaders on the Northern Plains (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995), 9-24.

Background:
Rachel Calof was born in 1876 in the Ukraine, then part of Russia. She lost her mother at age four. After an unhappy marriage to another woman, her father emigrated to America, leaving his four children with different relatives. Thus at age eight, Rachel ended up with her grandfather's family. At age seventeen she fell in love with a young butcher whose proposal was seen by her family as socially unacceptable and disgraceful.

...So time passed. I reached my eighteenth birthday and my prospects for the future were now very poor. Most girls of eighteen were married in those days, and here I was a servant girl in my aunt's home without resources. I was ashamed of my status as a menial. I had no dowry to enable me to marry anyone of status. My future seemed hopeless. I secretly hoped that my father had reached America and would send for us children. But this hope was crushed when news was received that the ship in which he had sailed had sunk. I never learned whether he had been saved and I never heard from him again.

Meanwhile God sits above and sees all that happens below, and God finally understood that He had to do something in my behalf. His plan for me was quite complicated.

[Through some relatives, Rachel got to know a woman named Chaya.] One of her brothers was in America and had no wife. He had written to Chaya, commissioning her to pick a wife for him and prepare the prospective bride for the passage to America.

[Originally another girl had been chosen to travel to America, but she decided against it after all.] My great-uncle was quick to recognize the opportunity of disposing of my embarrassing presence to my relatives....In all justice, he probably felt that this move might also be favorable for my future as well. My great-uncle described to Chaya all my good characteristics and, I am sure, was careful to omit anything detrimental. In short order the decision was made to send me if I was able to pass personal inspection. I was dispatched to my great-uncle's house where Chaya waited to look me over. What an inspection. She checked me out as one does a horse. Apparently I passed muster because it was decided that my picture should be sent to the boy in America. His name was Abraham [born 16 July 1872]. He was requested to send his picture in return....

I hoped that I would be accepted. I realized that I had to take the chance of going to a stranger in a strange land. No other avenue was open to me. I was already eighteen years old and time was against me. Finally the exchange of pictures was made. I liked his looks and he wrote that he was pleased with my appearance as well. I then corresponded with him, and although he eventually became my husband, the way was neither quick nor easy.

Chaya now decided to examine me in greater detail. She said she wanted to know me better and to visit her for the next Sabbath....I spent three days under close observation and undergoing various kinds of testing. As an example, I was handed a ball of tangled yarn to unravel. I didn't understand the purpose for this, but I succeeded in unraveling all the yarn. My future sister in-law was quite pleased. She explained that this was a way of testing my patience and good nature. She said that had I become angry or frustrated in attempting to unravel the thread I would have lost the opportunity of marrying the boy in America....God was watching over me and I won Chaya's approval.

Chaya wrote to Abraham that I was a treasure of a girl and recommended me to be his wife. In return, my unknown and unseen fiancee sent me what passed as a passport in those days of open immigration. It was actually a passage fare and it cost him twenty-one dollars. This was for steerage passage, which was the best he could do....

My American boyfriend had arranged with an agent in Brescatovaski to plan my journey to the Russian-Polish border.... I had to raise money for food and other essentials, at least until I reached the ship. This proved to be a tough job.

[In the end, her relatives helped Rachel out, because it was in their own interests to provide the means to dispose of this troublesome girl who was an embarrassment to them all.] The reward of getting rid of me permanently won out over their avarice, and they got together fifty dollars which was presented to me with great reluctance....

I made my farewell visit to my dear little personal family, my poor brothers and little sister. I was completely broken up. I felt as though my very soul was being torn from my body. Words cannot describe my anguish at our parting....As the train got underway, I was overwhelmed with a complexity of emotions, the most dominant of which was the aching sorrow at leaving my brothers and sister, knowing that in all probability I would never see them again....[M]y welfare was in the hands of a man half a world away whom I knew only by name and a photographic picture. Who knew what this boy really had in mind? Maybe he intended to lead me into dishonor. God alone knew what awaited me....But finally my thoughts settled into a firm resolve that I would face up to my future and do my best to make it a good one. I made up my mind that the boy in America and I shared a common future, and that I would go to him in faith and trust....

Abraham's letter of instruction also informed me that the agent who would meet my train at Brest-Litvosk, at the Russian-Polish border, was named Sarven....Mr. Sarven did arrive, identified himself, and showed me the telegram which I had sent him. I stayed at the Sarven home for a week until the agent made the necessary arrangement to transfer me over the border, and I eventually arrived in Hamburg, Germany without further incident. I was becoming an experienced traveler....

We had hardly left sight of land when I became violently seasick and, unfortunately remained so for the first twenty days of the twenty-two-day voyage. My good neighbors in the steerage carried me to the weather deck each morning and returned me to my bunk in the evenings.

On the twenty-first day the ship entered calmer waters and I quickly began to feel better. We were told that we would dock in New York harbor that evening, but we did not arrive at Ellis Island until the following day. In the morning, tense with apprehension and at the same time anticipation, I dressed in the housedress which I had been saving for this all-important occasion....Suddenly I saw my husband-to-be approaching the desk where the officials sat. I recognized him at once from the photograph which he had sent me....The name Rachel Chavetz was called out and I tried to get through, but I was prevented until my friend approached and, recognizing me from the picture which had been provided him, claimed me and led me into the promised land.

We greeted one another in quite a friendly manner and he presented me with a gift of two oranges. Soon we were on a streetcar heading for his living quarters....By the time we reached Abraham's boarding house I felt weak and tired from the effects of the long sea voyage and the impact of my new surroundings. Even though all the people in the boarding house treated me warmly I felt a rising tide of panic. I was successful, though, in not revealing my feelings. I was fed and a woman showed me to my bedroom. This turned out to be the dining room cupboard [pantry] with no doors and windows. I learned to my alarm that Abraham's sleeping place was a couch in the adjoining dining room....I lay down on my bed fully clothed and fell into a fitful sleep.

[But except for an attack of cockroaches, from which Abraham rescued her, nothing bad happened that night, so Rachel managed to calm herself.] So I rededicated myself to our common cause, and by the time Abraham returned from his work I was indeed glad to see him. After supper he suggested that we go for a walk. I instinctively resisted this proposal. Although I was determined to try to build a future with Abraham, I meant to do so only if I could be assured that he proved to be a man of acceptable character....We walked to a park and sat on a bench. Abraham began to speak to me in a friendly but earnest tone of voice. He said that although he had provided the passport and passage money, I was not to consider myself obligated to him. He said that he could understand my distrust of him, and that if I was unable to believe in him and didn't want him, he would still remain my friend and would help me find employment and thereby be independent of him. I was so relieved to hear him speak so, and believing now that he was a man of good character I responded that I was satisfied to marry him. We were both happy at the way things turned out. Our affection for each other grew in the following days....

Abraham's family had come to America three months before my arrival. The family...had gone on to North Dakota which had become a state five years earlier....Abraham was convinced that our best chance to make something of ourselves was to avail ourselves of the offer of the free land....I had no idea where North Dakota was or what the country was like, but I was prepared for the challenge....

We left the train in the town of Devils Lake, North Dakota. We were met there by Abraham's brother, Charlie....I felt a sinking feeling when I saw this man. He was quite dirty and badly dressed with rags on his feet in place of shoes....Included in the group were Abraham's father, younger brother, Moses, and the two nieces, Doba and Sarah. The appearance of these girls was truly shocking. They wore men's shoes and a rough looking garment. Only common peasants wore such clothes in Russia. I was dismayed to see such attire worn by Jewish women. It was indecent.

Even this dismal spectacle was inadequate to prepare me for the scene inside the miserable shack which was this woman's home. As we entered my heart turned to ice at what greeted my eyes. This was my first sight of what awaited me as a pioneer woman. The furniture consisted of a bed, a rough table made of wood slats, and two benches....Shock and deprivation were no strangers in my young life, but seeing what faced us in this new and hostile environment I could hardly choke back my tears of grief.

Epilogue:
Enduring many hardships, Rachel and Abraham farmed in North Dakota for twenty-three years and had nine children. They moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1917, where Abraham became a salesperson. Rachel died at the age of seventy-six in Seattle, Washington.

In your group, discuss and write down answers to the following questions:

1. What reasons does Rachel give for going to America to marry Abraham?

2. Why do you think Abraham entrusted his sister Chaya to look for a wife for him?

3. Briefly summarize the process of finding the bride. What costs were involved for both sides?

4. What kinds of emotions does Rachel mention? Can you explain why she was feeling that way? What was her greatest fear?

5. Based on what you read, what kind of person was Abraham? Give reasons for your answer.

6. From the information at the end of the text, how would you describe the living conditions Rachel and Abraham found in North Dakota? What would you have done in their place?

7. Roleplay Exercise (optional): Imagine and set up a scene in which Rachel explains to her siblings why she intends to leave for America. Present this to the rest of the class.