Kantrowitz, Samuel_1968/10, Oral History, October, 1968

Item — Box: OHC-1, Box: 3, Box: 2

Identifier: 6

Scope and Contents

Subjects of interview include: Life in Russia, America, furrier, marriage. Jewish education.

Sam Kantrowitz discusses his immigration from Russia first to New York then to Hartford to join his sister. He left because of violence and pogroms. He became a furrier, which had been his family's trade in Russia and was the owner of Connecticut Furriers into the 1960s. He met his wife Gussie in 1910 and they married in 1912.

Dates

Creation: October, 1968

Creator

Cohen, Emma Perlstein (Hartford, CT) (Interviewer, Person)

Partial Extent

From the Collection: 21 Linear Feet (43 boxes) : Compact cassette tapes, VHS, CD-Rs, Microcassette tapes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

GREATER HARTFORD JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION

Tape No.: 6 No. of Tapes: Name of Interviewee: Samuel Kantrowitz Date of Interview: October 1968 Occupation: Furrier Date of Birth: Circa 1897 Place of Birth: Pinsk, Lithuania Transcript (yes/no): yes No. of Pages: 8

Abstract: Mr. Kantrowitz has been in the furrier business known as Connecticut Furriers for 50 years in partnership with Israel Neiditch. He came to America in 1906 at age 17 because of the pogroms to join his brothers and sisters in New York City. He had experience in Lithuania as a furrier and was able to get a job in the same factory as his brother at $3.00 a week. When his sister married and moved to Hartford, he joined her. He worked at the New England Furriers owned by Bassowitz and Glotzer from 1909 to 1912 and then left to form his own business with Israel Neiditch on Church Street. He married Gussie in 1912 and they have one son.

Subject Index: Business – Furriers Oral History