You can hear Ruby Caplan speak her own story by clicking here
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Part 1 :

My Father, Simon Goldberg, was born in Lithuania in 1880. His mother courageously took her four sons...Isaac, Philip, Abram, and Simon to London. And on arrival, left them at the station and went to look for her husband's brother who was in a good position and made hunting outfits for the aristocracy. Armed with a piece of paper with his name and address, she set out to look for him and by chance, met the man she was looking for. He found lodgings for them in the East end of London, and Simon went to a public school. At the age of 20, he emigrated to South Africa. He took on all sorts of work...waiter, barman, etc.
In 1903, he met my mother at a party in Graaff Reinet and that was the start of their romance in spite of opposition by her brothers who thought he was an English no good. They, however, persisted, and were married on January 6, 1908.



We lived in Mclaire at the Central Hotel for about 8 years and then my father bought The Grosvenor Hotel in Umtata, Transkei. My father was good to his family and brought out Jack and Maurice Price, his nephews, Flora Glassberg, his sister's daughter, Sadie Price, his second sister's daughter, Lily Price, and also Isaac Goldberg, his brother. He found employment for all in his hotels. I went to school in Mclaire, Umtata, and later on in Queenstown where my father bought the Hexagon Hotel. At the age of 13, I was sent to boarding school in Grahamstown. It was a long tedious journey and I had to change trains at a junction called Sterkstrom. I stayed at the Weslayan High School for two years and due to unhappiness there, my parents agreed to send me to King Williamstown. There I met friends called Mankiewitz and was great friends with their daughter, Leah. They were marvelous to me. Leah and I remained lifelong friends. From King Williamstown I came back to Queenstown, stayed there for awhile and then went to the College of Music in Cape Town to try and make a career on the piano but it was not to be and I ended up taking shorthand and typing and came back to Queenstown. In 1929 my father saw that the Luchis Langham Hotel in Johannesburg was to be sold by auction and my mother literally pushed him onto the train and he bought the hotel for 17,000 pounds. He did not have enough to pay for it but luckily received a telegram from Harry Olshwang who had a hotel in Cradock and they became partners. I became a receptionist at the Langham and worked there even after I was married in 1940 on the 30th of October.
I met Oscar through Reform Congregation friends, Doris and Mott Franks. We lived in Bellevue, Sharp Street and Oscar, at that time, was working for his brother, Isaac. However, for some unknown reason, Isaac terminated his job and we struggled to make ends meet until O started out on his own as an estate agent and the rest is history.




In 1943, we moved to 2 West Street, Observatory. Roger was born in November, 1943 and Jill was born in December, 1945. As lives go, ours was contented and mainly uneventful and I cannot complain although there were a fair share of ups and downs. I leave it to you to continue the rest of the story. Love, from Mom.






Part 2 ...More to the Story click here for the audio by Ruby

My father was very enterprising and bought the Luchis Langham in Johannesburg, the Edward in Durban, The Bencorum in Durban, The Beach Hotel in Durban, The Empress Hotel in Durban and The Killarney Hotel in Durban, The Assembly in Cape Town and The Elizabeth in Port Elizabeth and for a short time he had Deals Hotel in East London. The Kruger families consisted of my grandfather, Jonah, Robert, Leopold and Annie, the sister. Jonah Kruger went to America, Robert Kruger got married to Hannah Spieg and went to Belfast in Ireland. They took the grandfather with them. They lived there for a few years and raised three children, Gertie, Julius and Willie. Leopold came to South Africa and landed in Port Elizabeth. Then Jonah Kruger left America and also came and landed in Port Elizabeth. Then Robert heard that they were here so he also went but Hannah remained behind to look after the grandfather. Hannah wouldn't leave before she saw that the grandfather had somebody to look after him. Then she also came to South Africa, landed in PE. From there they went to Bethesda Road and bought a farm. Their children went to convent in Graaff Reinet near Bethesda. Annie Kruger also went to a seminar in Graaf Reinet (that's my mother). In the meantime, another child was born to Robert and Hannah, Rebecca, in Graaff Reinet. In the meantime, a man from Cedarville was (giggle) in love with their sister and they didn't approve but then they gave in. In the meantime, Robert and Hannah moved to a place called Koekerdrift. Robert bought a trading shop there and another child arrived, named Mike.

In the meantime, this man from Cedarville, whose name was Simon Goldberg, was courting Annie. She also liked him so they decided to let her marry him. The wedding took place on January 6th, 1908 at Robert and Hannah's home in Koekerdrift and from there Simon and Annie went to a place called McClare. He ran a small hotel there called The Central. Then Annie had a child named Ruby. She was born on the 30th October, 1908 in Elliott. Then Robert and Hannah went to McClare to help as Annie was not too well. Then as time went on, Annie had more babies. Beatrice was born in Queenstown. Annie nearly lost her life. She was so ill but Hannah was there to help. Later she had twins, Millicent and Ralph. Millicent nearly died, she was so delicate. They fed her on donkeys milk and afterwards, Simon and Annie left McClare and went to a place called Umtata where Simon had a brother and sister-in-law, Isaac and Florrie. Florrie saved Millicent's life and literally brought her up.