Description

Sonia Truere Rothschild, in a follow-up interview, considers the possible avenues for genealogical research, presented by Interviewer Dale Rosengarten, with regard to her maternal relatives, the Scherrs, in Baltimore, Maryland. Sonia talks about how she met her first husband, Saul Berry, whose mother and stepfather, Daisy and Max Abramson, owned Jasper's Groceries in Charleston, South Carolina, not far from the Truere family residence at 256 Coming Street. She describes the neighborhood and how she accompanied her mother, Ida Truere, on walks down King Street on Saturdays to visit friends who were shopkeepers. Ida catered the meetings of the Kalushiner Society, a mutual aid organization founded by immigrants from Kaluszyn, Poland. Sonia's father, Joseph Truere, known as Jew Joe, was a well-known, colorful character in Charleston, and a number of stories had reached the interviewer. For example, Dale had been told of an African-American men's club known as Jew Joe's Invincible Hall in the Maryville neighborhood, where Louie Armstrong was said to have entertained. Sonia notes her father was a "legend" and even though he died in 1948, "people will still talk about this man." The interviewee touches on the distinction between Uptown Jews and Downtown Jews, as they are locally known. Sonia married Saul Berry in 1951 and they raised their children Michael, Jeffrey, Marty, and Sharon in Charleston. Two years after they married, Saul took over running Jasper's Grocery. Then he bought Robert Kahn Wholesale, which sold beer, wine, candy, cigarettes, and soft drinks to bars and restaurants, and...

Record Contributed By

College of Charleston Libraries

Record Harvested From

South Carolina Digital Library