Sarah Lederman Caplan had moved in with her husband’s family when they were married. When Aaron left for America, Sarah was left behind with the baby Sam. Sarah may have also had twins who died. But Sarah and the baby remained with Aaron’s family during those years that Aaron was gone. She did not return…
Before the kinder (children) could listen to stories from under the dining room table, first the derwakseners (adults) sat above. In this undated photo — probably from the 1930’s or 1940’s — we see around the dining room table some of the Zeidensteins, Gerbers, Silvermans, Perlmans, and Caplans who had come from Russia in the…
Aaron Caplan wore a suit, white shirt and tie every day to his store in the produce yards because he was the owner of the business, not just a laborer. On May 1 every year, he bought a new straw hat and wore that all summer. _______________________________________________________ Part of the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Produce Yards, c1936.…
Our Mothers did not have washing machines. They washed the clothes in double wash basins in the cellar. They rubbed them over a scrubbing board. There was a wringer on the edge of the tub that they could run the clothes through to get most of the moisture out. For diapers, underwear and sheets, they…
In the early 1930’s, when we were children, women bought the chicken, the butcher would kill the chicken for them, but they had to scald it so they could defeather it, cut it apart so they could kosher it, use the fattest parts for chicken soup, and of course we ate all the parts, including…
Under The Dining Room Table 
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