Barbara was born in Hungary in November of 1902. She arrived to the United States through Ellis Island on November 21, 1906 with her mother and siblings, joining her father who had arrived earlier. In 1915, she lived with her family at 219 East 3rd Street in 1915. Her father John was an electrician and her mother Julia stayed home with the children. She had an older sister named Julia, after her mother, and a yonger brother named John.
By 1930, she was living with her mother and brother at 209 East 77th Street in Manhattan and she made a living as a dressmaker.