Benjamin & Lena Miller Stories

Stories Ben told Bob:

When I was in the process of doing the family tree I met with grandpa a few times in order to document his family. He would not even tell me the names of his brothers although he indicated during our conversations that he had 7 or 8 brothers and he was one of the younger ones. He said they were all communists and I could never get him to name anyone of them. He said his family owned a barrel making business and the property was about a Chicago city block long and wide and open in the middle; with animals in the center court yard. I would guess that would have made them upper middle class if true. He told me he was in a forced enlistment into the Czars army for a period of 17 years, he said that was normal. He told me he saw his first airplane in Russia. He told me he deserted and walked across Europe and made his way to Canada and then to the U.S. Once in Chicago he got a job at Basting & Blessing on Peterson Ave. and after a while asked the owner for a loan to bring Grandma over. They did not loan him the money and he said he saved enough to finally bring her over. He told me it took him about 7 years. <Note: Lena arrived in September 1920>  He never told me if he left alone or with a group but knowing what I know now I would guess he was not alone. Also I would think that if any Russian military came across them they would have been shot on the spot as deserters given that they were of military age. It is hard to understand how he got to Canada from the Ukraine speaking only Russian & Yiddish. I would guess he would also have some gold or gems on him to pay his way across Europe and for whatever it took to obtain passage from wherever. I should have made him tell me more but he could be very obstinate and got angry with me when I pressed him for his brothers names. Ben’s grandfather Gedalia Melamed started a 2nd family at an old age with a young wife; he had grown children at the time of his 2nd marriage.

Stories Bonnie recalls:
The story I heard, . . .  I thought there were letters from the brother or documents or something that showed he went back.  I remember being told, and I was very young when I heard this, that he went back because he hated it here, and he tried to discourage anyone from coming here.  When Grandpa and his brother wrote to each other, the letters went through censors and that the Russian government or someone had told Grandpa to stop communicating with his brother or they (the brother and his family) would all be killed. I had told the story about grandpa being told by the Russians not to write to his family or they would be killed.  Well,,,,,, that wasn’t right. This is what my dad said.  This happened after WWII.  My dad said that Grandpa’s youngest brother was a commandant or something, in the Russian military.  And he was a communist.  Grandpa was sending packages to his brother, because he loved his brother.  When the packages got to Russia his fellow soldiers were questioning his loyalty to the communist party, after all, if he was a communist, what did he need packages from America for?  The packages were getting him into trouble, so he asked Grandpa to stop sending packages.

I’m sure you all heard the story about the bullets before, because I remember this from when I was little.  He said he had gone to shul with grandpa to make a minyan so he must have been 13.  He said Grandpa started talking in Yiddish to his friends and he said he had bullets in his coat pocket and there were soldiers in the town who had beaten everyone up.  Grandpa knew if they caught him with the bullets he’d be shot, so he tore a hole in his pocket and kept walking, dropping the bullets in the snow.  When the soldiers stopped him and searched him, he had nothing, so they let him go.  I’m thinking this may have been close to when he left for the US because of something that you guys were talking about some army invading the villages.  I don’t have all the emails open, I only have yours, so I’m doing this by memory.

Someone here had written about Ben’s family owning a factory that made barrels.  My dad said they made sheet metal for the beer barrels or something that had to do with beer, which is why the Russians, I guess didn’t kill them, because they needed their beer. Grandpa knew how to work with sheet metal, from working there, so when he came to the US he was able to get a job with that company Basting & Blessing.

Dad said when Grandma got to Poland she had two pounds of salt, which was used like money.  It was stolen when she got to Poland so she had no money.  She had gone to some agency that helped people buy tickets to the US if they couldn’t pay, and that’s how she got here.  Grandpa had to pay them back.  I don’t understand how grandpa worked to save for the ticket before she came over, so it would seem as if she would have had it.  My dad also remembers his mother <Leah> saying something about the cows when I asked him about the daughter.  Grandma kept saying she (Leah or the daughter?) was scared of cows.  But, knowing how devastating the loss of child is, I can understand her not wanting to talk about something so painful.

Ellen remembers . . .   Grandpa Ben saying his family had Turkish roots . . . I was probably in my 20’s at the time.

Julius recalls . . . taking a road trip to New York with his dad (Ben) and his brothers Herman and Bernard to visit family friends, the Kapust’s, who were from the same town in Europe, Mozyr, and had taught Ben about the soda fountain business when the Kapust’s lived in Chicago.  The trip was when Julius was in grammar school, dating the trip to circa 1939. And he recalled that his grandfather was in the sheet metal business concerning beer barrels, but also build water towers that towns used, and also built steel bridges.

Herman recalls . . . when he was about 5 years old and Miriam ‘Mary’ MILLER died.  He was near the open casket and watched as orange colored pottery pieces were placed over her eyes and mouth.  It still was a vivid memory in 2017.    Herman recalls that his father’s brother arrived in the US prior to Ben, and returned to Russia.  Ben sent packages to the MELAMED family until he received word not to because they (the packages) generated ill will from the local government authorities.  Ben’s brother was a commissar – like a mayor.

WISDOM

It was an icy cold Saturday morning. Hermie (Ben’s son, Herman) called his father and said “Pa, I went for bagels this morning and the sidewalk is very icy; Don’t go out” His father replied, “I was already out and it wasn’t bad.” Hermie said, “What are you talking about, its terrible!” Ben replied, “When you go for bagels its icy. When you go to Shul its dry!” Now THAT’S wisdom.

HELLO

Coming or going, Ben’s greeting was always “Hello.” Don’t know if this was his variation of ‘Shalom,’ or another reason, but he never said ‘Good-bye.’ He said ‘Hello’ when he left, or when others were leaving. Ron Miller remembers.

TURKEY

I remember grandma having live turkeys in the basement (1023 N. Harding, Chicago) when I was about 8 years old. Ron Miller remembers.

BREAKFAST WITH GRANDMA

I also have fond memories as a child of going upstairs by myself to visit grandma, we lived on the first floor, and she would let me have coffee . . . poured into the saucer. It was bold and heavily sugared and milked. Quite a treat. . . . and, she would often pick-up a rye bread and carve a thick slice and put on a heavy layer of cream cheese topped with a thick layer of concord grape preserves. To this day I have this treat when I find true concord grape preserves. Ron Miller remembers.

GRANDPA BEN’S RAZOR & TOOTH POWDER

I remember grandpa and grandma used powered toothpaste. And he had a leather razor strop that hung in their bathroom. I knew he also had a straight razor. As a small boy I often wondered if I would ever be able to learn how to shave using it; I never did!    Ron Miller remembers.

BRYAN REMEMBERS

When I was a kid I went with my Dad to my uncle Julius and aunt Shirley’s house. It was just the four of us and everyone was acting a little strained. The adults were in the kitchen. At one point I heard my aunt Shirley say, “He eats onions all day long. Just onions.” And uncle Julius said, “Stop your blitching.” I guess he said “bliching” because there was a kid (me) in the house. Later I found out they were discussing Grandpa (great-grandpa) Ben. They were discussing putting him in a nursing home.

another one…

Whenever my grandpa Ben saw my sister Leila, his eyes would light up and he’d pinch her cheeks and coo, “boo-boo Shayna”. I thought he was saying “blue blue Shayna” with his thickly accented English. Ben’s mother’s name was Shaina and Leila’s middle name is Shayna. Leila’s eyes are blue like Ben’s eyes.

ARE WE SEPHARDIC OR ASHKENAZI?

Ben was a Shephardic Jew. Julius still wraps his prayer ribbon (Tallis) away from his body in the Shephardic manner he learned from his father. (Mentioned at Passover dinner 2008). Julius Miller remembers.  Ben’s Sephardic practice of Tallis winding could also be indicative of Hassidic  Jews since they, the Ashkenazi Hassidic, adopted many of the Sephardic practices.  That could explain why grandpa Ben was observant in the Sephardic mode, but was really Ashkenazi.   And, Bryan’s genealogy DNA report indicates the existence of the MILLER family having Ashkenazi DNA roots.  The most reliable indicator of our possible Sephardic origins is Ellen’s recalling that Ben told Julius (who told Ellen) that the Melamed family came from Turkey (that would have been the Ottoman Empire which covered a vast area extending to northern Africa).

When Bryan (Miller) visited Jerusalem, he went to the Sephardic Headquarters in the Jewish Quarter (JQ) – a museum with administrative offices actually. (Every Jewish derivative has offices and a museum in the JQ.) I showed a couple of the curators on duty the picture we have of Abraham Millard, Ben’s uncle, and the picture of young Ben with (probably) his sister. They said those are Ashkenazi wearing Sephardic headgear. I told them I thought that seemed strange and they said it wasn’t unusual at all in eastern Europe.

Ben MELAMED MILLER with child. Could this have been one of his sisters in Russia? Russia c1914

History of our family surname MELAMED and possible ancestor’s origin: The Ashkenazim

A speaker at a January 2014 genealogy meeting (jgsi.org) explained that the Sephardic practices of Tallis winding could also be indicative of Hassidic  Jews since they, the Ashkenazi Hassidic, adopted many of the Sephardic practices.  That could explain why grandpa Ben was observant in the Sephardic mode, but was really Ashkenazi.  Another mystery!

History of the family surname MELAMED and possible ancestor’s origin: The Sephardim

Source: www.sephardicgen.com/databases/MedievalSurnames.html

Sefarad is a Hebrew word that over time has come to mean Spain. So, in the strictest sense of the word the Sephardim (plural of Sephardi) are the Jews who came from the Iberian peninsula. Today however the word Sephardim has taken a much wider meaning and includes Jewish Communities in North Africa, Iraq (Babylon), Syria, Greece, Turkey and most Jews who are not Ashkenazim. The word Ashkenazi has had a similar broadening of its definition. Arising from a Hebrew word meaning “German” (actually ancient southern Germany and northern France) it has taken on a broader definition that includes not only German Jews but those of Eastern Europe and Russia as well.

Language origins: Everywhere, in medieval Spain included, Jews used Hebrew names. With the Muslim conquest of Spain, Arabic became the spoken language from the beginning of the 8th century until the 12th century – end of the Golden Age and beginning of the « Reconquista », the era during which Christian Kings enlarged more and more the Spanish Christian territory. From then till the July 1492 expulsion, Jews used Spanish. Jews’ surnames indeed reflect their history in medieval Spain.

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COUSINS CLUB:

Cousins Club: The Avrum and Miriam MILLER was the name of our cousins club, we would go there every Tuesday nite where my dad would pay our 25 cent dures that would eventually be loaned to those who needed the money. When Miriam died I remember standing next to the coffin as pieces of pottery were put in her eyes and over her mouth: Herman Miller remembers.

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COUSINS CLUB PICNICS:

Most summers the Cousins Club held a picnic in the Chicago Cook County Forest Preserves.  I remember attending as a child and playing many games:  Ron Miller remembers.

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If you have any memories or stories, or any similar stories, please share them.