Jennie Sperling

Jenny (or Jennie) Sperling was born on February 28, 1898, in Magdeburg, Germany, the daughter of Gustav Sperling. She was well-educated, having completed four years of college, and over the years her career was described variously as "orthopath", "orthopedic assistant", "masseuse", or "nurse".

She came to the United States as a single woman, traveling alone on July 2, 1923, from Bremen, Germany to New York City on the S.S. Muenchen. Jenny's original destination when she entered the U.S. was an uncle- Otto Cordts, who lived in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Her description at that time was given as, "5'5", fair complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes." When she petitioned for U.S. citizenship in 1924, she renounced her allegiance to "the German Reich."

In 1930 Jenny was living and working at the Sanitorium for Hebrew Children at Beach 110th St. in Rockaway Park. This facility provided care and comfort for "poor, destitute and sick Jewish children."

By 1940 Jenny was employed as a nurse at the Hebrew Convalescent Home in Queens.

Prior to her death, Jenny lived in the Far Rockaway community in Queens. Jenny Sperling died October 14, 1990, at St. John's Episcopal Hospital. She was buried four years later, February 16, 1994, on Hart Island.

Sources: U.S. Social Security Death Index; 1930 and 1940 U.S. Federal Censuses; New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; Selected U.S. Naturalization Records; www.leimanlibrary.com/far_rockaway_postcards.