[1] The Greenbergs immigrated from Odessa in 1891, joining a growing community of Russian Jews in Boston; Carlos worked first as a pedlar and then established a poultry market downtown.
At some time in the 1910s most members of the family changed their surname to “Greene.” Mary's brother William enlisted under that name and died in World War I on August 3, 1918; in 1921 a square in Boston was renamed in his honor.
The O’Donnells thrice went to Europe, in part to visit William Greene's grave;[6] and in 1922 Mary started a business in imported fabrics, first with co-performer Arthur Astill and later with her sister Hattie (Hannah).
[7] The sisters may have been joined by their father, Carlos, still in Boston; in the 1930 census he gave his occupation as “clothing.” Timothy O’Donnell died on January 29, 1932, and was buried in Kensico Cemetery.
May Greene (Mary Greenberg) maintained a home in Boston during the years that the two worked together, and when she settled in New York in the late 1910s her song-writing ceased.