Chaya Ruchel's family, the Farbers, came from the Ukrainian city of Uman. She was the daughter of David Farber. Chaya Ruchel and her first husband, Hillel Shabsis, settled in Uman and had five children. After Hillel Shabsis died of TB at 37 around 1894, Chaya and her children seem to have moved closer to the Shabsis family in the town of Balta and the nearby shtetl Peschana. Chaya Ruchel's second husband's last name was Gitar, and they settled in the town of Olgopol, where they had one son, Shulum Gitar. Chaya died of breast cancer when she was around 42. Elka Shabsis Cushing, eldest daughter of Chaya and Hillel Shabsis, raised her half-brother Shulum Gitar before she emigrated to America. Shulum Gitar's fate in not known. Chaya Ruchel's brother, Yussel (Joseph) Farber emigrated to the U.S. earlier, July 2, 1907, and was one of the people who sent money and otherwise assisted his sister Chaya's eldest son, Froika Shabsis (Frank Sigal), when Frank emigrated to the U.S. in 1913. Joseph Farber was a successful furrier and lived in Brownsville (Brooklyn), New York. When the rest of Frank's family came to America in 1921, Frank's children (Alex, Anna, Becky, Abe, Max and Lee) were close to their American cousins, the Farbers (Adeline/Ida, Herman/Hymie, Al and Murray). For several years Frank Sigal and his family lived in South River, New Jersey and the Farbers lived in Westfield, New Jersey.