Thread by @lifesafeast

Speaking of genealogy and family lore: tell me the oddest or coolest fact from your family’s history.

My favorite relative was Uncle H. When he was born they hadn't decided on a name for him so Baby Cohen was put on his birth certificate and never changed. The day he died he as still legally Baby Cohen. He didn't marry until in his 70s (he dated a lot including Peter Falk's

and Kirk Douglas' sisters. He lived with one woman until she passed away and she left him lots of money. He married in his 70s and 6 months later he got up one day and said "yeah, marriage isn't for me" and left her.

Best story he told me: he enlisted for WWII. During his

training he went up to his Captain and said " next weekend in Rosh Hashanah and I have to go celebrate the Holy Days with my family." His request denied...he went anyway. When he got back he was sent to (I think) Governors Island as punishment where he remained for the rest of

the war. He was put in charge of guarding the Italian prisoners. He learned Italian. He also would have the Italian prisoners make Italian pastries for him and he would steal a jeep, take a box of pastries, and run up to see his family in Albany. The kids (mom's cousins) remember

him coming with pastries.

At the end of the war, the army (or navy? makes more sense) wanted to give him an honorable discharge but he hadn't done his mandatory miles in a ship so put him on a ship and he got a free trip to Italy and back. LOL. I have a photo of him from back

then. I'll find it because he was really handsome.

I have a relative - I'd have to check my research notes - who was given money & bottles of vodka and sent to walk through Russia to the border to escape. The money & vodka was to bribe the border guard who accepted it and said "I wish I was coming with you."

Another fun story - my great-grandma Tsivia (Celia) - pictured below in Zeludok, Russia in about 1911 with her youngest daughter Mary in better days - arrived in the US in 1922. She lived a time with her parents and then her eldest daughter before moving in with my grandpa, her

son to help take care of his 6 children when his wife died in childbirth with their 7th child. While staying with her daughter - this story was told by my cousin - grandma Celia turned her head and spit on the kitchen floor. Her daughter yelled "Ma, you can't do that here!". Why

did she do it? See the photo? Floors in houses, even elegant houses, were often dirt and it was customary just to spit on the dirt floor when the need arose. Grandma Celia didn't give it two thoughts and just spit as she was used to doing 😂

Another story they told about her

brother Benjamin. Soon after Benjamin arrived as a young man in the US, he went out to Staten Island to answer a job announcement. He was obviously expecting to get the job because he didn't have enough money for the return trip and a meal. He hadn't eaten all day and was walking

back (home or to the ferry) and was really really hungry. He found himself in front of a tomato patch - or a field where tomatoes were growing. But in Russia, tomatoes were not eaten because they were thought to be poisonous. He stood there for a while not knowing what to do.

Risk dying by eating something poisonous or try one because he was so hungry? He finally...dared and ate one. He lived to tell the tale.

The nephew of my paternal great-grandma was supposedly jailed in Russia for being a socialist then jailed in the US for being a communist.

There are 2 copies (rare) of my cookbook left on Amazon.

Though make sure you have my free e-cookbook from Apple Books too (link in my bio).

amazon.com/Orange-Appeal-…

My great-grandpa David was, like all Jewish boys, drafted to serve the army when he was 12. He served as waterboy so when the soldiers did their 20-mile training hikes he went with them with the water. When my uncle was a kid, he had lunch with his grandpa David & a friend,

another old man. At some point the man turned to my uncle and said "your grandfather saved my life. We were boys in the Russian army together and he had just come back from the 20 mile hike and I had to go out on the next but I had an infection in my foot. If I'd gone I wouldn't

have made it back. Your grandpa offered to take my place so he got fresh water, turned around and did the next 20 mile hike."