My father Arthur was born in 1912 in the Catskill town of Liberty, NY some years after his folks, my grandparents Esther and Sam, had emigrated to the States from Ukraine.
At first they settled among other Eastern European Jews in New York’s lower eastside where my grandfather worked as a cutter in a garment district sweatshop. But Sam developed emphysema and was advised to leave the city for the cleaner air in the country.
And so they resettled in the Catskills in a small town that was more like the Russian shtetl they had left. There they tried their hands at dairy farming, and my dad often reminisced about his boyhood on that farm.
One of his earliest memories was of a cold night in November 1918 when he was six and his parents took him and his older sister Frances to a large open field.
There the townspeople had built a roaring bonfire, and he remembers them all holding hands as they danced around it to celebrate the end of the Great War!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Love your little stories.
(And learning about my family!)
💖
Thanx Deb!
Lovely story!
Had not known these parts of Fleischman family lore before!
Thanx Cuz, delighted to share them with you!
Thank you Dana. Too short. My maternal grandfather went AWOL from Russian army in Kiev to Odessa by train, then ship to Ellis Island. Lower East Side Taylor. To The Bronx where my mom, one of 7 was born. Made their wedding gowns yada yada. Hope ICE doesn’t read your Blog. You look familiar. Maybe the Catskills.
Thanx for your story Phil, it’s not inconceivable that my grandparents and yours may have crossed paths in the old country or in the new!
I love all these family stories! I am so grateful you have this blog and our history is being recorded in such a wonderful way- thank you Dana!
Thanx Cuz, how I wish we had asked Steve and Arthur to tell us more of them.
Another wonderful memory! I love reading your stories. Thanks Dana.
Thanx Karen, my friend and faithful reader!
I can just imagine that joyful celebration! Thanks