Of course, I'm also told my paternal great-grandfather on the non-Irish side ran "all the beer in New Jersey", so I guess it was good times for all of the enterprising types.
My great-grandfather's first cousin was the first person in NJ convicted under Prohibition. The conviction was overturned, in what seems from all the records to be a case of someone bribing the judge, when it was ruled that, although he owned a tavern and had a basement full of alcohol, no one had actually proven that he intended to distribute it.
He was also a witness in the Lindbergh Baby trial, testifying that he'd seen a man carrying the baby the night of the kidnapping, and pretty much all the other evidence says that he was lying.
May I pimp Last Call by Daniel Okrent, which I'm reading on my lunch breaks? It's a fascinating study of Prohibition. And by coincidence, today I was reading about the spiritual and medical exceptions.
Wine for sacramental purposes was made largely from alicante grapes. They made lousy wine, but they were nice and dark, so the wine at least looked good. (Jewish rabbis also had authority to buy wine, and the number of rabbis and at least nominal members of synagogues exploded during Prohibition.)
My great-grandfather's first cousin was the first person in NJ convicted under Prohibition.
When I googled, I discovered my great-grandfather was killed by Jewish mafia - maybe our great-grandfathers knew each other...though not to, like, hang out or anything.
Hey now, let's not get any blood feuds going up in here.
Hey now, let's not get any blood feuds going up in here.
Easy for you to say--
my
great-great-grandfather didn't look at
your
great-great-grandfather funny.
By the way, I apologize to anyone who had relatives in Baltimore, Ireland, when my many times great-grandfather Murat Reis invaded in the 1600s and dragged off most of the population to Morocco to be sold as slaves. (I honestly do feel just a bit weird about it and would not mention the connection if I ever found myself in Baltimore, Ireland.)
small sample, but:
[link]
heart disease drug may combat racism?
(I honestly do feel just a bit weird about it and would not mention the connection if I ever found myself in Baltimore, Ireland.)
I've been to Baltimore, Ireland! It's beautiful, and a port town on the southernmost tip, so probably ideal for enslavinating Corsairs.
I do really want to go to Rabat, Morocco, and see the old quarter of Salee, where the Salee Rovers sailed from and where Murat Reis, ne Jan Jansen of Harleem of the Netherlands, ended up an Admiral of the Sultan's Fleet.
