The Oliver Family

A big Rubinstein welcome to Michael Oliver of Manalapan, NJ and his family - wife Jennifer, son Ryan, and daughter Sabrina. Michael sent a brief email to Peter Rubinstein to let him know about the recent death of his uncle Bernie. After an exchange of condolences, a remarkable email exchange followed which has grown to include Peter, Larry & Joe Rubinstein and Judy Prigal. Joe says that he remembers playing with Bernie and his brother when he was a child on East Broadway, and says that Michael is a second cousin, once removed.

I couldn't begin to summarize the 17 emails that landed in my inbox, but suffice it to say that the topics included detailed attempts to reconstruct relevant genealogy, reminisces of visits to the Tave egg farm in Englishtown, NJ, old photos and much more. The Rubinsteins, Olivers and Taves are all related and Judy Prigal shared this memory of a visit to the Tave farm:

"I have photos of our visit at the egg farm in Nov. 1946 and it is marked "Tave's Farm, Englishtown." The visit left me with a lasting memory and I remember so many details: the cow (have photos of it with one of Tave's sons, about 7 or 8), the mechanized feeding of the chickens, the need for absolute quiet when looking in so as not to disturb their laying habits, candling the eggs, tasting a raw egg, etc. Sam seemed to be so happy at this work and it was the first time I had ever thought of a farmer as being Jewish."

It is a joy to learn more about this branch of the family tree and to get to know the Oliver family. I predict we will hear more about this at our reunion next year!