מאגר סיפורי מורשת

אוצר אנושי מתוכנית הקשר הרב-דורי

My Family's Special Chuppah

Layla Barnett & family at Beit Hatfutsot
Layla Barnett's entry to the program.
Katz's, Barnetts, and Segals

The Barnett saga as remembered from anecdotes and stories told to me by my late mother-in-law, Mary Barnett (Katz) born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

The Katz's Mary's maternal grandmother, Liba Plain lived to 103. Her sister Rose Kramer lived to 101. In fact she was still alive in 1969 when Issy and I visited the USA. However, due to Ida's (Mary's sister) jealousy and idiosyncrasies, she would not take us to visit her or even give us the addresses of the family in New York. Rose's daughter, Mollie Moran and her husband built one of the roller coasters at Coney Island. Mary was born May 23, 1897 and brought up in Baltimore. Her mother Freda apparently was quite a character and was married five times. She ran an eating house on the docks in Baltimore. There she learned of ports of call from the sailors who patronized her establishment. She was intrigued by the duty free port of Lourenco Marques, Mozambique, previously known as Portuguese East Africa. Being an adventurous and fearless spirit she decided to go and investigate the possibilities there. On the way there she stopped in both Capetown and Durban, South Africa but found those places too staid for her liking. She had placed her children in an orphanage in Baltimore pending the outcome of her decision about Lourenco Marques. When she decided to settle there in 1904, she sent for her brood of five. Ida and one brother, Louis were with her first husband, Mr. Share. She adopted a son with her second husband, Mr. Levine – 2 that son died at a young age. Mary, Molly and a brother Israel were with her third husband, David Katz. Her fourth husband was Mr. Lustig with whom she had no children. Freda’s fifth husband, in later life, turned out to be Reuben Barnett (Judah’s father), after his first wife Rachel had died. Life there was very primitive – hard and unlike the orthodox upbringing in Baltimore, very unsettling for her family. One by one the older children went back to the USA and only Mary, the youngest aged 11 remained with her mother. Her life was difficult as her mother was very strict and hard on her. In 1915, Mary at age 18 married Judah Barnett (Morris), whose family had emigrated there from London, England. Mary and Molly were the only ones to have children of their own.

Read the rest of Layla's Family Story Here: Barnett story 

Layla Barnett participated in My Family Story in Chabad of the West Side, New York, in 2018. My Family Story is a meaningful and fun Jewish heritage program that involves Jewish youth from 30 countries around the globe. Students research their roots and use their creative skills to design original, artistic installations that capture the essence of their family history. Top entries are selected for display in an international exhibition in Memory of Manuel Hirsch Grosskopf, displayed at Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People.

הזוית האישית

Layla Barnett participated in My Family Story in Chabad of the West Side, New York, in 2018. My Family Story is a meaningful and fun Jewish heritage program that involves Jewish youth from 30 countries around the globe. Students research their roots and use their creative skills to design original, artistic installations that capture the essence of their family history. Top entries are selected for display in an international exhibition in Memory of Manuel Hirsch Grosskopf, displayed at Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People.

 

מילון

Steerage
A compartment on a ship used for cheaply accommodating passengers

Staid
marked by settled sedateness and often prim self-restraint, sober, grave (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

ציטוטים

”They landed in Capetown with £5 each. Simon immediately sent £3 back home“

הקשר הרב דורי