Max Brown - Original Notes
Info written down by Margo 1982
-from Opreshena town in Bukovena
-a pop. of about 2000 people
-5 Jewish families lived there
-family name was Zuckerman
-they had/there was? a vegetable stand in town
- there were 11-12 children in the family
-he was the 2nd oldest child
-when he left there were 5 boys and 5 (?) girls
-his brothers and sisters, but some died
-his mother’s family came from Bucharest
-he never served in the army
-was given 2 years army grace
-he left with a false passport
-why did he lose contact with family?
-he stopped sending money to them and correspondence stopped
-left by horse and wagon
-the family took him to the train
-he took the train into Austria, Germany
-from Germany he went to Halifax, arrived May 10, 1910
-he was approx. 15 years old
-he had to be out before 17 or else had to serve in the army
-were called up at 17, 19, 21 years for army physical exams, therefore he left
-came over on a cattle boat with a false passport with name Marcus Brun
-his real name is Marcus and his family called him Marcus
-Hebrew name is Mordechai
-went from Halifax to Montreal
-youngest brother named Avrum, was a twin to Toba
-also a younger brother Yossel
-his mother’s name was Toba (Toby)
-her maiden name was Bloom
-mother came from capital city of Bukovina called Czernowitz
-mother from a small family
-they had a little shul in their rown on the property of a neighbour
-Jews from surrounding towns walked 4-5 miles to come to that shul
-name of owner of land and building where shul was located was called Paris
-they were religious Jews, were kosher, dovened
-a Melamed taught them, a woman from the city
-Franz Joseph was the ruler at the time, and the area was controlled by Austria
-Bukovina was part of Austria then
-his father’s name was Aaron
-father was born in Bukovina
-his paternal grandfather was from Russia
-his father was an interpreter at the courts, spoke many languages
-father also was a farmer
-he rode horses, liked horses
-had a family store – groceries, tobacco, wool, etc.
-someone in the store called him a dirty Jew, and his father knocked him out
-liked Franz-Joseph, granted equal rights
-spent a couple of weeks in Montreal, then went to Toronto
-worked in a can making place on King Street for $6.25 a week
-first saw Becky at 6 years old
-first Jew in Oakville in 1912
-never liked Toronto
-he pretended to be Christian when leaving and the whole time on the boat over
-was born January 1, 1895
-it took one month from leaving the home town to arriving in Halifax