FAMILY MATTERS

he was younger, including that of a trainman on the Hartford to New Haven trolley and a deli worker on Houston St., NYC. We MISS LUFTIG LOVED

have a picture of him in his trolley car.

His sister Bessie came from Russia over with him. She was known in the family as “Red Headed Bess,” and Morris didn’t (Hartford Courant, May 23, 1899)

like her either, perhaps with reason. I was told he would slam the door in her face when she came to visit him. I never met her, and my father saw her only once, though she was reported to have had three husbands. She survived all but the last one. Dad blamed it on her chicken soup, which he said, she poisoned. Then he’d laugh. My uncle Buddy once told me that they had a baby sitter But Now She Is In The Industrial School At Middletown.

who would regularly beat them. I asked what happened to her. Buddy said my father put some poison in her soup one day and she Bessie Luftig, the 15 year old daughter of L. Luftig, a watchmaker on Front Street, was sent to the Industrial School for never came back. Then Uncle Buddy laughed.

Girls in Middletown last week at the request of her father. Bessie, who is a pretty Hebrew girl, fell in love with an Italian Interestingly, there is an article from the Hartford Courant from just before 1920 which said that a Bessie Liftig was being about 18 years old, who lives on North St. The Italian likewise had a strong liking for Bessie and intended to marry her.

investigated in a “wife for hire” scheme, and was arrested on a steamship bound for New York.

A few weeks ago, Bessie’s father saw her on the street rather late at night with the Italian, and when she got home an The following is a different article from the Hartford Courant which describes another Bessie, daughter of Louis – but not the altercation followed. The girl then openly told her father that she was in love with the Italian and was going to marry him, Louis the Thief. It hints at the Liftig family’s temperament, and the ease at which they can surrender to lust:

even if she had to renounce her religion, her father, and her mother. Mr. Luftig kept close watch on the girl after that.

One day last week Mrs. Luftig wanted some tea, and, seeing the teapot full of what she thought cold water, she placed it on the stove to boil. The teapot was full to the brim and the jarring of it as she placed it on the stove spilt some of the liquid through the nozzle and it immediately lit up as it struck the hot surface. This surprised her and then she smelled the contents and discovered that the pot contained gasoline. She found that her daughter had purposely poured the gasoline into the teapot, possibly thinking it would poison her parents, or perhaps that when her mother put it on the stove, the pot would blow up. Mr. Luftig immediately took steps to send his daughter to the girls’ institution in Middletown.

Morris’ grandfather was named Samuel, and settled in Ansonia, where his first cousin, Samuel, had founded Samuel Liftig Enterprises – originally a scrap metal business which later expanded into other projects

The Ansonia branch rose to local prominence in the Naugatuck Valley, with Harry Liftig becoming Sheriff, and his

brother George, also prospering in Woodbridge, CT. and a third brother Mitch (aka “Rich Uncle Mitch”) becoming a Major in the Army Intelligence Service during WWII, and later a “player” in arbitrage as well as an “angel” for Broadway productions.

There is said to be another male Liftig buried just outside the old cemetery in Orange (the three brothers are buried next to each other in Westrocks). This Liftig had abandoned his wife and twins in Connecticut and hit the road for parts unknown – then was located on a street in New York by another relative, who turned him in to the cops.

My father told the story about my Uncle Sammy Berg, who was driving through Tucumcari, New Mexico sometime in the

1940s and spent the night in a motel there. In the phone book was a “Liftig” – and he was certain he was the father of the abandoned twins. He called the house and identified himself to the woman who answered, but after a short muffled conversation with somebody, she hung up on him.

When the fellow died, his body was sent back to Ansonia – and was buried, but outside the border of the cemetery, because his reputation did not place him among the Righteous any more. I have seen his gravestone, but I don’t remember his name.

Perhaps he had left another child behind him, because 10 years ago on one of my very first “Googles,” I noticed that a “Liftig”

girl had been inducted into an all black honor sorority at Tulane.

Not all Liftigs have hard luck all their lives, however. Note this curious announcement from the same year Morris arrived in New York.

LIFTIG-LUFTIG (Hartford Courant , March, 1906)

Miss Sarah Luftig, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Luftig of this city, and Harry Liftig of Ansonia, NY ( sic-should read

CT), were married at Germania Hall last evening. The bride was given away by her mother and father and her brother and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Luftig. She wore lace over white silk, trimmed with chiffon, and was attended by Miss May Kummel, who wore light blue crepe de chine, and by Miss Ida Forer of Meriden who wore white crepe de chine. Miss Forer was accompanied by her brother and Miss Kummel by A. Blank. Rev. (sic) L. Asovovsky performed the ceremony at 7 o’clock and a reception followed with dinner and dancing.

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