Abstract:
Around the turn of the twentieth century, several members of the Kaplan family of Stakliskes, Lithuania, immigrated to America. Among them were three brothers who settled in the central Massachusetts town of Ware. Initially peddlers, two later became prominent Main Street merchants, and developed part of the business district. Drawn from contemporary documents and records, this chronicle of the family’s many contributions to commercial, civic, and religious life in Ware illuminates the vitality of its economy, the dynamism of the community, and the spirit of its citizenry during that period, thus painting a picture of small-town New England.