ORAL HISTORY: Personal Recollections

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Stories told by Selma Okun Schefman, granddaughter of Harry Levine, to Jane Levine Lewit on February 14, 2013

Oral History = a family member's recollections of what happened in the past.  Lore. Tales.

 HENRY LEVINE and THE UNION

Selma’s mother, Ida Levine Okun, was a high school graduate.  Her first job was with Levine and Kalikow, a business run by her uncle, Henry Levine and some in his extended family. This business making/selling pants was located on the Lower East Side.

Around March 1916, in the era before or during World War I, union organizers came to unionize the workers. Henry Levine never let them in. So, the organizers called on some thugs who suddenly appeared and "beat the hell out of Henry."  Badly beaten, Ida rode with Henry as he was taken to a nearby hospital. 

Henry declared, “I’ll fix them.”  He closed the store and went out of business. Later he moved to Borough Park and went into another business with the Kalikows.


REAL ESTATE TALE FROM RICK LEVINE, HENRY'S GRANDSON

"an addendum to the story about Henry and the unions.  The business that Henry and the Kalikows went into was real estate.  They developed a number of properties in the Bronx in the Fordham Rd area and beyond and were very successful. Some time in the mid 40s, Joe Kalikow went to Henry and said that he had found some promising property in Queens and they should sell all their stuff in the Bronx and buy in Queens.  Henry told Joe that he was nuts and bought him out.  Joe invested in Queens in a swamp called Forrest Hills and wound up owning 1/2 of the borough.  One thing about Henry was he had the reputation of being stubborn."

HOW THE LEVINE FAMILY GENEALOGY SEARCH AND RECONNECTIONS BEGAN based on stories from Selma Schefman, Doris Levinson, Helaine Feldman

It all began with a family gathering of Harry Levine descendants. In 2003 in NYC, Selma Schefman was in town for the 50th birthday of her son, Andrew Schefman, a great-grandson of Harry Levine.  

As Helaine Feldman recounted “We reconnected through (Selma’s) son Andy, with whom I worked for many years when he was in NY.  We didn't even know we were related at the beginning.  But that's what brought me back into the family after almost 30 years.  My father died in 1965 and that was the last time I saw any Levines.”  Their business connection was through AFTRA – the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Who were some of the guests at this first big gathering of the Harry Levine descendants, which took place, as Doris Levinson recalls, at Ruth Chris's Steakhouse. 

     Selma Schefman, Helaine and Chet Feldman, Howard Landis, Herbert Okun

(note how many descendants had names starting with H in memory of their grandfather, Harry Levine).  By chance, Helaine had bumped into her cousin, Dave Levinson, at a local restaurant and invited Dave and Doris to the dinner.

The lore goes that Doris Levinson, inspired by this interesting and wonderful set of Levines, later decided to undertake some Levine family history research. And that’s how it all began.

Unbeknownst to Doris, beginning in about 2006, Michael Levine, JM’s grandson, was exploring the Levine family through ancestry.com. Later, this Michael Levine called Henry Levine’s grandson, Michael, to gather more family data firsthand. At that moment, a link was made, because Michael knew that two family members were working on the same project and he put them in touch with each other.  As a result, Michael, JM's grandson, and Doris Levinson each could gain from the research of the other.

Now several things are going forward for the Levines

1.    Reunions, the next one scheduled for April 6^th in Slingersland, NY

            2.  The Levine family blog    www.levinesandmore.blogspot.com

            3.  A Levine family photo and geneaology album currently being compiled by Carol Levine Bluestein

            4.  Family trees – derived from the work of Michael and Doris.

Newest known member of the Levine family -- Shaun Bennett Hochberg, born 1/23/2013.