The Tailor Trauerspeil

A Jewish Immigrant story and another story

This is a story about a Galicia immigrant who was there. Where? Well, that's the outline of several stories. And there is a second story...about someone who was also there -- or a catalyst for change in the lives of those who were and are there.

How do we tell a story about stories? How do we encourage strangers to read the story? Do we want to?

This book begins with Grandpa smoking his cigars and telling tall-tales about things that happened at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. It began with a teenager and a tape recorder sitting and listening in 1960... Tall tales. Just grandpa's stories. Sixty years later, the internet and access to the Harvard library allowed the stories to be verified...

Strange coincidences -- of all the children who were his siblings, only he had a birth record that could be found. A tall tale about meeting a historic figure over dinner, and it was reported in a minor newspaper article. A family story that said a grandma died approaching 100 and in perfect health -- the details were never mentioned but appeared in a newspaper article during Prohibition. Paths crossed, time spent, history touched upon -- a story and another story, with stories still emerging as history unfolds.