Albina Schwartz was the 10th child of Joseph and Sophie (Loika) Schwartz. She was born on February 29, 1904, a leap-year baby. Albina milked five or six cows every morning and evening, storing the milk in the pantry in large pans. She did housework, fieldwork, picked peanuts, shelled corn, picked cotton and fed chickens.
As a girl, Albina, learned quilting – the tradition handed down from generation to generation. Piecing quilt tops gave her a lot of satisfaction through life.
She stayed with and cared for her mother in Moravia until she died on March 31, 1939, of pleurisy. After her mother’s death, Albina came to San Angelo to visit her siblings. She didn’t have time for dating, for she’d become passionate about being a caretaker of nieces and nephews.