Fannie talks about herself

[Q = Len]

Fannie's father and eldest brother Sam came to America and established themselves in business in Omaha, buying used burlap bags from farmers and grocers, then cleaning, sorting and selling them. When they had sufficient funds, they sent for the rest of the family.

Fannie's stepmother Yocheved ["Baba"] had with her at that time 4 stepchildren and two children of her own including a baby. A woman with little education but a good deal of intelligence and drive, she shepherded this large brood through several European countries and half of America.

Fannie says that the family came into the United States through Castleguard, which is part of Ellis Island. I was unable to find their names in the Ellis Island immigration lists except for Max, who had an eye problem and was not allowed in for fear of trachoma. He returned to Chon and then came to America a few years later.

[TAPE INTERRUPTED]...so, sorry, but I had nothing to do with it. When we came to this country, we went to New York first, you know. We stopped at that time, Castleguard, So we never...It was hard...where would you look for him? She had the address but...

Q. This is Baba

A. Yeah. She could have tried, but it was hard, you know, with the kids, and Minnie was a baby, So we didn't get to see him.

Q. Who's "him?"

A. Shlaimeh. The one that made the candles.

Q. Oh, I see.

A. We used to call him Rav Shlaimeh.

"Rav" means Rabbi. It may indicate that he had received smicha (that is, was certified by a yeshiva). On the other hand, it was sometimes used as a mark of respect.

Q. You never got to see him after he left...

A. No. He was out there... No. When we went away, he went away to this country cause he had two girls unmarried yet. He left a daughter out there too and a son.

Q. Do you remember anything about the ship coming to this country?

A. Yes.

Q. How was it?

A. Terrible.

Q. Why was it terrible?

A. It was terrible because we were on the bottom floor, and there wasn't...and it smelled bad all the time. And the food we got...of course, the food we got was good food. It was good meat, and the bread was...the German bread I don't know it was the black bread or something. We never had that kind of bread, so we didn't like it. Then we didn't like their cooking. And it wasn't kosher, so the Baba wouldn't eat it. But they told us we could eat it, but I couldn't...I tasted it once. I couldn't stand it. I didn't eat it. But there were other things.

In the days before refrigeration, live cattle were transported to Europe in ships, which were then cleaned and used to transport immigrants to to America. Hence Fannie's comment that "it smelled bad all the time."

Q. How long did the trip take?

A. Oh, it took about two weeks. It was a long trip.

Q. Yeah. It was slow in those days.

A. Slow...such a funny ship.

Q. How do you mean funny?

A. Well, I suppose that there was...it shouldn't have taken so long cause first of all my father said he got an American ship because those are the best, and they give us that one [i.e., the one they were actually on].

Q. What kind of ship was it?

A. It was a nice ship.

Q. No, I mean...

A. It took a long time..

A. No. I don't know what the American was like, but I understand my father paid a lot of money. He wanted us to come with the American ship. But they called out our name, so Yocheved, she didn't fight for it. We shouldn't have gone on the ship. If we'd been left, they would have sent us on another ship. Well, another ship how we know it was any good? But, anyway, so we went with this ship, and we didn't like it. My father (?) [inaudible] was really mad. Write him up in the papers, and he was going to complain, but he never did anything. He got too busy. You know, he had to make a living for our family. He rented a house before we came, and our baggage didn't come.

Fannie once told me that Yocheved was aware of the switch, but chose not to delay the trip.

Q. Like modern times.

A. Yeah (laughs). No, our baggage didn't come for a long time. And the reason it didn't come is because my father wanted all his books. He built a...He asked these carpenters to come, and they built a box. It was from this wall to the end of the door. That's exactly how long it was. They put all those books in there. I suppose they couldn't manage to carry the box, so they let it stand, let it stand. Then we got a lawyer, and he wrote this way, that way. It took about a half a year till we got it.

Len's Mother

Fannie talks about herself

America

Coming to America

Kellom School