Stories of Prohibition

Since the Purim Pandemonium Committee picked this year’s theme (Gin & Jews: Speakeasy Style), I have become somewhat obsessed with the Prohibition era.  I’ve watched documentaries, read books, scoured the internet and even delved into my family history.  And I’ve found some great stories, which I will now pass on to you.  At the end I’ll include some links to sites that can help you figure out what to wear to Purim Pandemonium this year.

I’m going to start the post with a Prohibition story from my own family.  The family members involved in this story were not Maryland Jews (they were in fact French New York Catholics), but I love this story so I have to share.

The picture above was taken in the late nineteen-teens or maybe early nineteen-twenties.  The girl on the right is my great grandmother (Marie Louise), in the middle is her grandmother (also Marie Louise and my great, great, great grandmother), at the left is her aunt, referred to by all of the family now as Great Aunt Mal.  This story is about Great Aunt Mal.

Great Aunt Mal (and all the rest of that side of my family) lived in a little town up in New York right across the border from Canada.  They owned multiple barges that they used for shipping and they could and did move the barges between the two countries.  In addition to cargo space the barges, or at least Great Aunt Mal’s barge, had living space. So picture my Great Aunt Mal and her husband on their barge moving between Canada and the US.