Emma Streib Block grew up in Steinsfurt, a small German village. The Streibs were a large family, with eleven children; Emma had three brothers and seven sisters. Their mother had died, at the age of forty-two, when the youngest boy was born. Most of the children, when they reached the age when they could leave home, came to America looking for a brighter future. They came, two or three at a time, found work and saved their money, then bought tickets for the next ones to make the crossing. Eventually, their father made the voyage also.