A visiting card of Inna's grandmother, Feiga-Tsipa Elkonovna Shif

This is the visiting card of my paternal grandmother, Feiga-Tsipa Elkonovna Shif, nee Borishanskaya. Grandma moved in the type of social circles where it was customary to have a visiting card. My Uncle Ekona Shif kept this card safe in his file. My grandmother was born in 1867 in Minsk. She had many sisters and brothers, but I don?t know their names. After the Revolution some of them emigrated to the United States, but unfortunately the family lost contact with them. I myself never knew my grandmother; she died when my father was 14. Her family was quite wealthy: great-grandfather was a merchant. Everyone was remarkably kind; they brought up not only their own children, but supported other, poor families. I remember hearing about one family that they supported greatly - the Mazel family. All the children in my grandmother's family, especially the girls, had their schooling at home: their parents hired tutors who came to the house. One of those teachers was my grandfather Iosif Ilyic Shif.