- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- Interview with Morton Taller
Interview with Morton Taller
Description only — contact the archive8
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- May 11, 2005 (indexed as 2005)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Morton Taller discusses his family background: his father and mother, Jacob and Ethel Taller, came from Russia and were first cousins (their fathers were brothers). Jacob Taller arrived on Ellis Island, New York in 1900 by boat, and was met by a Jewish Agency who brought him to Ottawa and set him up with a house and a job in 1901. He worked on the railroads 90 miles away from Ottawa, and brought Ethel and their daughter over around 1905. Despite having never been farmers, they rented 300 acres from HB Billings and opened a dairy farm, selling milk on the market downtown until 1916. Ethel was very involved in running the farms, as she was known to milk the cows and breastfeed her children at the same time. Jacob and Ethel also brought all their family over from Russia, including their siblings and cousins. They all moved to a farm in the United States until around 1921, at which point they sold the farm and returned to Ottawa. They bought a house on Wellington St., and Jacob got into mattress manufacturing. Morton had 9 siblings, Edith, Moses (“Mosey”), Faye, Elizabeth (“Lizzie”), Sam, Norman, Archie, Ava, and Annie, whom he references throughout the interview. In 1926, his sister Edith married Morris Staslav, a cattle drover whose family was in the meat business; his sister Faye sewed the mattress covers in their fathers manufacturing business; and his brothers Norman and Archie were in the medical unit of the army. In recalling his childhood, Morton mentions details such as always keeping a kosher home, his father having a Model-T and a Chevy truck, and attending King Street Shul. Morton passed his government exams and worked in the Department of Transportation before joining the army at the age of 21. In 1941, Norman was sent overseas in July, Archie in September, and Morton in December of the same year. Morton remembers that when he left, his mother had black hair, and when he returned three years later, she had gone completely grey, which he attributed to the stress she underwent with her three sons in the service. With the hopes of becoming a pilot, Morton joined the airforce and was stationed in England, near London. He graduated LAC, which allowed for a 10 cents per day raise, as only 2 people out of their 60-person squadron had this qualification. He then started to drive the big trucks, including ambulances, fire trucks, tow trucks, and the bus. In his leisure time, he played cards and learned to shoot craps, drove the bus of soldiers into town, and wrote home every couple of months. He recalled some instances where men in his unit made disparaging remarks about Jewish people, and how the war had an effect on how he felt about being Jewish. During his service, he had little knowledge of the atrocities occurring in Germany, but remembered the leader of their bombing command, Butcher Harris, tried to get them to bomb a concentration camp, but it never happened. Morton returned to Ottawa in 1944 on the Queen Mary, and discusses how much of a change it was to adjust to his new life. He went to work at Morris’ butcher shop briefly, then returned back to the government but could not handle it and quit. He then worked some more in butcher shops, and even returned to the government briefly, before he and Archie went into business together. They opened their own butcher shop and had several locations. They later took over Morris’ business on Albert St., and bought a building on Williams Street via public auction in 1953, as a second location. The business was very successful and after 2 months the Dominion store across the street closed down due to not being able to compete with them. They introduced a self-serve counter to great success, had 30 employees, and never had to advertise.
- Location
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Where
More details
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn