THE BRAFMAN FAMILY

THIS IS HOW WE CAME TO TOMS RIVER

In 1903 times were very bad. My father Morris Latterman was a house painter. When he had work, all he made was $2.00 a day. It seems he had co-op farming on his mind, so he organized a group of painters, carpenters tailors and  shoemakers (but none of them knew about farming) and they bought a farm in South Carolina. The  land was poor, and they had no experience, so after two years, it fell apart. Some of the people went back to New York, others went out with a pack on their backs, peddling. My father became a share-cropper and stayed on a farm working hard for two years. My mother, with a bag on her back, picked cotton in 90 degree heat. I was a little girl of 7 who helped my mother picking cotton. Finally my parents couldn't take it anymore and came back to NY. But my father always wanted to work on a farm. He decided the first chance he will have, he'll go back on a farm. After 12 years in the painting business, he saved a few dollars, and said it is time to go back on a farm. On July 7, 1925 they bought a farm on Hooper Ave. and Chestnut St. My parents came here with my grandmother and sister. There was only six or seven Jewish Farmers. They had 1000 chickens and 1000 pullets. The first cold spell he was hit with chicken pox and it almost wiped him out.

But that didn't stop him from being active in the Jewish Community affairs and also being on the  executive boards for 15 years working to build co-ops in Toms River like the FEPCO (Federated Egg Producers Assoc.), White Oak Co-op, and the first Credit Union in New Jersey . It is worth mentioning that when my father started to think about a credit union in Toms River, he found out that a law had to be passed in Trenton to allow credit unions to operate in New Jersey. So he got hold of people who represented Ocean County in the Assembly and Senate. It took a lot of time and hard work, but finally a law was passed that allowed us to have credit Unions in NJ. That is how Ocean County Farmers Credit Union was the first in the State.

Farming was hard work, 7 days a week for fourteen years.

My mother got sick and died in 1939. She was the first one to be buried on the Toms River Jewish  Community Cemetery,  After a while my father left Toms River to live in Florida.

What brought the Brafman's to a farm? Every summer I came here with my children to help my parents and breathe in the good country air. We were always thinking about settling on a farm. It was during the depression, jobs were very scarce. Finally in 1933, we followed our parents to Toms River, and bought woodland, cleared it and started a farm from scratch.

You could imagine how good it was when the farmer, got 19 cents per dozen for eggs. But we were young, and could take hard work. There was no automatic-feeders, no feed carriers and no water fountains , but we made a go of it. We were farming 27 years until times got so bad we had to give it up. Ten years later we sold the place. We moved into a retirement  community  and  are  still  living in Toms  River.   As  the  saying  goes, "when you get the Toms River dust on your shoes you stay put."

We raised two children with a good education in our Toms River school system.  After high school they left Toms River for higher education.

Also  my father's  sister , the  Cabapes,  settled  in Toms  River on a farm.       The Paul Brafman's family settled in Toms River on a farm.

The Brafmans