This is my paternal grandmother Nikhama aged 65: I got my name in honor of this grandmother.
The picture was taken in 1922 in Rogachyov.
Grandmother wears a head kerchief and there is a medallion on her neck.
Grandmother Nikhama came from a rich family. She married grandfather in 1880s. My paternal grandfather's name was Meyer Khlevner.
He also came from Rogachyov. Everybody called him Meyer-der-the water-carrier, because he delivered water in a barrel. At first he was a rope maker; but fires often occurred in Rogachyov where all the houses were wooden, so grandfather Meyer once lost a house in the fire. And all his rope business also burnt.
He was a very proud man. He had very rich cousins and they wanted him to ask for help in order to restore his business. He said that he did not want to ask them for help. So they bought him a horse and a barrel, so that he could deliver water from Dnepr river. Water was delivered like that to houses at that time.
Only in 1930s the water supply system was constructed and water-pumps were placed in the yards. People in Rogachyov sad that Meyer was too proud.
When he arrived and saw that there was no container prepared for water, he poured the water out and left. That is why everybody considered him an evil man, though my father told me that grandfather was a very kind, but independent man.
People wanted him to wait for the containers to be brought and the money to be paid. But he did not like to wait and plead. That is why he was humiliatingly called Meyer-the water-carrier.
Nikhama’s parents were against her marriage with Meyer, because they also considered him an evil man. But Nikhama loved him and wanted to marry only this man.
Grandmother did not keep in touch with parents, brothers or sisters after marriage.
Nikhama and Meyer had two sons, my father Lev and Mordukh; and two daughters, Khesya and Basya. Nikhama was sick most of the time, I believe there was something the matter with her heart.
She died in 1924 before my parents got married. I do not know anything about her childhood, youth or her family.
