Sylvia Guggenheim, birth name Sara Schmierer, was born in the village of Tovste, Ukraine in 1892. Prior to their emigration to the United States, the Schmierer family relocated to the village of Gorishnya Vyhnanka, in the Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine.
Sara Schmierer sailed from Belgium on the S.S. Kroonland with parents, Hirschel and Klara, and younger brother, Bernard. They landed in New York on the 17th of October 1921 and were met by another brother, Hyman, who was already living and working there. In addition to her two brothers, Sylvia had several sisters: Taube, Sophie, Brunya, and Tanya.
In 1926, Sylvia married Morris (Moritz) Guggenheim, a native of Germany who first landed in New York as part of a ship's crew in 1921. Morris and Sylvia had one child, a son named Frederick, or Fred, born in 1927.
The 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census shows that Sylvia found work as an operator in the drapery business, while Morris was employed as a furniture upholsterer.
In 1935, Sylvia petitioned for citizenship. He brother, Hyman, now in the wholesale butter and egg business with brother Bernard, was a witness to the petition.
Hirschel Schmierer died in 1930 and Klara in 1950. Sylvia's husband, Morris Guggenheim, died in 1959. Sister Sophie Schmierer Tropauer died in 1964 and brother Hyman in 1968. All are buried in Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens. Brother Bernard died in 1984 and is buried in Falls Church, Virginia. Death dates of siblings Taube, Brunya and Tanya are unknown.
Sylvia Guggunheim, nee Sara Schmierer, died at the Long Island College Hospital on the 23rd of March 1985 and was buried on Hart Island on the 4th of February 1987.
