HERSH GELBOYM

HERSH GELBOYM (January 1891-January 7, 1954)

            He was born in Satenov (Sataniv), Podolia region.  He descended from a middle-class commercial family.  He emigrated to the United States in 1908, and there he began writing.  In 1916 he published his first story in Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York, later contributing to Shriftn (Writings) and Di naye velt (The new world) in New York, and to a number of other newspapers and magazines.  In 1926 he published stories in the periodical Bukh (Book) in New York.  Under both his own name and under the pen name of Dr. S. Milgroym, he published novels in Forverts (Forward).  He was a talented author of fiction and portrayer of American Jewish life.  In his stories, he depicted types of Jews, who in their immigrant years tried to settle down on American terrain as craftsmen, shopkeepers, and farmers in and around New York.  “Recounting the simple things, the author captivates us with the fate of his protagonists,” the Warsaw literary critic of the time esteemed his work.”  Among his books: Mortkhe etinger, roman (Mordechai Etinger, a novel) (New York: Grohar-Stodolski, 1926), 384 pp.; Di mishpokhe shtaynberg, roman (The family Steinberg, a novel) (Warsaw, 1939), 509 pp.  He supported himself by running a summer resort hotel in Armonk, New York.  He died in a hospital in Mount Kisco, New York.

Sources: M. Ts. Doryan, in Bikher-nayes (Warsaw) (May 1934); Ab. Cahan, in Forverts (New York) (October 9, 1935); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Tog (New York) (April 22, 1939); Y. A. Rontsh, Amerike in der yidisher literatur (America in Yiddish literature) (New York, 1945); obituary notices in Forverts and Tog-morgn-zhurnal (January 8, 1954) and Hadoar (New York) (January 15, 1954).

Zaynvl Diamant