Raissa Yasvoina's mother Maria Minkovskaya

This is my mother Maria Minkovskaya. Photo made in Ekaterinoslav in 1910. My mother was probably visiting somebody there. My mother Maria Lvovich had her second husband's name. My father was her third husband. My mother's maiden name is Minkovskaya. My mother was born in Kiev in 1894. She was the 4th child in the family. Iosif Minkovskiy, her father and my grandfather, born in 1855, was a merchant. They lived a very good life. They had a house of their own in Podol . Their big family lived in this house. My mother told me everybody in the family had a room of his own. The family got together in the dining room each evening for dinner, after my grandmother closed his store, which located on the ground floor of the building. He owned five or six stores in Kiev, selling fabrics, footwear, clothing and haberdashery. There was beautiful furniture, a piano, a lot of china and crystal in the house. My mother told me that my grandfather's family was very religious and he went to the synagogue every day. I knew about Pesah, Purim, Hanukkah, etc. from what my mother told me. My mother told me that during these holidays they had lots of delicacies and sweets on the table besides traditional and mandatory dishes. My grandfather didn't quite like it because he was a very religious man and he thought that holidays were to raise thee children into real Jews but not for pleasure. But my grandmother was not so religious and she always tried to convince my grandfather to make a real holiday for the children and make food that the children liked besides what was supposed to be on the table during these days. My mother actually got no education. She studied at the primary Jewish school (4 years). My mother spoke Russian with an accent and at home she always spoke Yiddish. My mother had few memories of her childhood, because her childhood ended very early when her mother died after giving birth to the 7th baby. This happened around 1905. My grandfather Iosif sent the children to the relatives after my grandmother died. It was difficult for him to handle the children. He never remarried but he wasn't interested in his children. He died shortly after my grandmother's death - approximately in 1908. After my grandfather died my mother inherited his shop. It was a garment store. My mother worked there.