Jewish history in Colonial America
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Jewish history in Colonial America begins with the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
[edit] Very early settlement
[edit] Joachim Gans
Joachim Gans, born in Prague, was a metallurgist in England. Gans became the first recorded Jew in colonial America when in 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh recruited him to join an expedition to explore the Virginia territory in hopes of founding a permanent settlement as well as meeting Queen Elizabeth I's desire of discovering copper, silver and gold, or at least finding a passageway to the Orient. When the Roanoke colony folded, Gans returned to England where, because he was Jewish, he faced persecution for "blasphemy."
[edit] Solomon Franco
The second Jew known to have lived in North America was Solomon Franco, a Sephardic Jew from Holland who is believed to have settled in the city of Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1649. Franco was a scholar and agent for Immanuel Perada, a Dutch merchant. He delivered supplies to Edward Gibbons, a major general in the Massachusetts militia. After a dispute over who should pay Franco (Gibbons or Perada) the Massachusetts General Court ruled on May 6, 1649, that Franco was to be expelled from the colony, and granted him "six shillings per week out of the Treasury for ten weeks, for sustenance, till he can get his passage to Holland."
[edit] Solomon Pietersen
Solomon Pietersen was a merchant from Amsterdam who came to town in 1654. In 1656, Pietersen became the first known American Jew to intermarry with a Christian; though there are no records showing a conversion, Pietersen's daughter Anna was baptized in childhood.
[edit] Jacob Barsimson
On July 8, 1654, Jacob Barsimson arrived in the port of New Amsterdam (in lower Manhattan where Wall Street is today) aboard the Peartree. Barsimon was employed by the Dutch East India Company, and had fled the Portuguese, who had captured a formerly Dutch settlement and established the Portuguese Inquisition there.
[edit] Asser Levy
Asser Levy (Van Swellem) is first mentioned in public records in New Amsterdam in 1654, in connection with the group of 23 Jews who arrived as refugees from Brazil, it is likely that he preceded their arrival. Levy was a Kosher butcher for the small Jewish community. Levy fought for Jewish rights in the Dutch colony and is famous for winning the right for Jews to be admitted as Burghers and to serve guard duty for the colony.
[edit] The Brazilian group
The first group of Jews arrived in the New World in early September 1654, shortly after Barsimson arrived. They were said to have met Barsimson at The Battery. This group was made up of twenty-three Dutch Jews (four couples, two widows, and thirteen children). Like Barsimson, they had fled from a former Dutch settlement; the group had emigrated from Pernambuco, Brazil (now called Recife), after the settlement was conquered by the Portuguese. Fearing the Inquisition, the Jews left Recife. They originally docked in Jamaica and Cuba, but the Spanish did not allow them to remain there. Their ship, Ste. Catherine, went to New Amsterdam instead, settling against the wishes of local merchants and the local Dutch Reformed Church. Colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant, upon complaint from these groups, attempted to have the Jews expelled. He wrote a letter to the directors of the Dutch West India Company dated September 22, 1654:
- The Jews who have arrived would nearly all like to remain here, but learning that they (with their customary usury and deceitful trading with the Christians) were very repugnant to the inferior magistrates, as also to the people having the most affection for you; the Deaconry also fearing that owing to their present indigence they might become a charge in the coming winter, we have, for the benefit of this weak and newly developing place and the land in general, deemed it useful to require them in a friendly way to depart, praying also most seriously in this connection, for ourselves as also for the general community of your worships, that the deceitful race—such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ—be not allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony to the detraction of your worships and the dissatisfaction of your worships' most affectionate subjects.
However, among the directors of the Dutch West India Company included several influential Jews, who interceded on the refugees' behalf. Company officials rebuffed Stuyvesant and ordered him in a letter dated April 26, 1655, to let the Jews remain in New Amsterdam, "provided the poor among them shall not become a burden to the company or to the community, but be supported by their own nation":
- We would have liked to effectuate and fulfill your wishes and request that the new territories should no more be allowed to be infected by people of the Jewish nation, for we foresee therefrom the same difficulties which you fear, but after having further weighed and considered the matter, we observe that this would be somewhat unreasonable and unfair, especially because of the considerable loss sustained by this nation, with others, in the taking of Brazil, as also because of the large amount of capital which they still have invested in the shares of this company. Therefore after many deliberations we have finally decided and resolved to apostille [annotate] upon a certain petition presented by said Portuguese Jews that these people may travel and trade to and in New Netherland and live and remain there, provided the poor among them shall not become a burden to the company or to the community, but be supported by their own nation. You will now govern yourself accordingly.
Upon the capture of the colony by the English in 1664, the rights enjoyed by the Jews were not interfered with, and for twenty years they appear to have lived much as before the British occupation, though with slight increase in their numbers. Jews had previously been barred from settling in English colonies as they had been banned from all English lands for 400 years. Oliver Cromwell lifted this prohibition and the first major Jewish settlement soon followed in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1672, Rabba Couty attained prominence by his appeal to the King's Council, in England, from a decree passed against him by the courts of Jamaica, as a result of which one of his ships had been seized and declared forfeited. His appeal was successful and resulted in establishing the rights of Jews as British subjects, and his appears to be the first case in which a colonial grant of naturalization was recognized as valid.
[edit] Shearith Israel
In 1685 the application of Saul Brown to trade at retail was denied, as was also that of the Jews for liberty to exercise their religion publicly. That they did so privately in some definite place of worship would appear from the fact that a map of New York, dated 1695, shows the location of a Jews' synagogue in Beaver Street, also that Saul Brown was the minister, and that the congregation comprised twenty families. Five years later the site of the synagogue was so well known that in a conveyance of property the premises were referred to as a landmark. In 1710 the minister of the congregation, Abraham de Lucena, was granted exemption from civil and military service by reason of his ministerial functions, and reference is made to the enjoyment of the same privileges by his predecessors. The minutes of the Congregation Shearith Israel of New York begin in 1729, when it was located in Mill Street, and refer to records dating back as far as 1706. This congregation established on Mill Street, in 1730, on a lot purchased two years before, the first synagogue in the future United States.
It would thus appear that the religious rights of these early Jewish settlers had been secured in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and that they enjoyed also many political rights. An act passed by the General Assembly of New York on November 15, 1727, provided that when the oath of abjuration was to be taken by any British subject professing the Jewish religion, the words "upon the true faith of a Christian" might be omitted. Three days later an act was passed naturalizing one Daniel Nunes da Costa. A bitter political controversy of the year 1737 resulted in the decision by the General Assembly that Jews should not be allowed to vote for members of that body.
In 1740 Parliament passed a general act permitting foreign Jews to be naturalized in the colonies. Previous to this date, however, the New York Colonial Assembly had passed numerous special acts of naturalization, some of which were applicable to individuals only; others, more general in character, under which Jews could be naturalized without taking oath "upon the true faith of a Christian," were also put upon the statute-book. Between this time and the Revolutionary War the Jewish community in this colony increased by slow stages, the principal immigrants coming from Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies.
During the French and Indian War, Jacob Franks was the royal agent, in association with a British syndicate, for provisioning the British forces in America; his dealings with the crown during this period exceeded £750,000 in value.
[edit] In the American Revolution and after
Before and during the American Revolutionary War the Jews had representatives of their faith upon both sides of the controversy, though the majority joined the colonial side. On the Non-Importation Agreement of 1769 the names of not less than five Jews are found; this is also the case with respect to other agreements of a similar nature. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War dissolved the congregation in New York; and upon the eve of the British occupancy of the town the majority of the congregation, headed by Gershom Mendes Seixas, took all the belongings of the synagogue and removed to Philadelphia, where they established the first regular congregation, the Mickvé Israel, in 1782. The small number who remained in New York occasionally held services in the synagogue.
At the close of the war most of the Jews who had gone to Philadelphia returned to New York, which was rapidly becoming one of the most important commercial cities of the country. From this time on the community grew slowly, so that by 1812 it is estimated there were not more than 500 Jews in New York. However, a number of Jewish soldiers participated in the War of 1812, and the prosperity of the community was ever on the increase. The great tide of emigration from Germany that set in toward the beginning of the first quarter of the nineteenth century brought with it many Jews. They were in sufficient numbers by 1825 to establish the first German Jewish congregation. During the next forty years the German congregations increased rapidly, so that by 1850 no less than ten had been organized. Charitable and relief organizations were established; and a considerable number of Jews took part in the Mexican War and entered the public service. The large influx which followed in the late forties and early fifties laid the foundation for the great community which afterward developed. Previous to 1881 the emigrants came for the most part from Germany, Bavaria, and Poland. Since the latter date Russia, Romania, and Galicia have furnished the greatest numbers.
[edit] Haym Solomon
Haym Solomon or (Salomon), (1740 - 1785) was possibly the prime financier of the American side during the American War of Independence against Great Britain. He was born in Prussia/Poland and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[edit] Up-State New York Settlements
Though most of the earlier emigrants settled in New York City, a few wandered beyond its limits, some even as far as the confines of what now constitutes the state of Pennsylvania. In 1661, when Albany was but a trading-post, Asser Levy, owned real estate there, but between that date and the early years of the nineteenth century there are no records of any settlers in that town. They were not there in sufficient numbers to form a congregation until 1838, and they had no rabbi until 1846.
Buffalo attained prominence in 1825 through the scheme of Mordecai Manuel Noah to establish Ararat as a city of refuge for the Jews. The cornerstone of the projected city was laid in one of the churches of Buffalo in that year; but, as is well known, this scheme attracted no settlers, and the first religious organization was not established until 1847. The number of Jews there increased gradually from that time, and many members of the Jewish community have held distinguished political office.
The first settlement of Jews in Syracuse probably antedates 1839, and a permanent religious organization was established in 1846.
[edit] Rhode Island
Next in historical importance to the settlement of New York City is that of Rhode Island, at Newport. Established by Roger Williams upon a basis of toleration for persons of all shades of religious belief, the Jews were among the first settlers. Though the earliest authentic reference to Jews at Newport bears the date 1658, no doubt a few stragglers arrived as early as 1655. Fifteen Jewish families arrived in 1658, bringing with them the first degrees of masonry. They established a congregation almost immediately, and in 1684 had their rights to settle confirmed by the General Assembly.
There is record of the purchase of a burial-place in February 1677. Between 1740 and 1760 a number of enterprising Portuguese Jewish settlers from Portugal and the West Indies arrived, and by their activity established Newport as the seat of the most extensive trade of the country. The most prominent of the settlers during this period were the Lopez, Rivera, Pollock, Hart, and Hays families. Aaron Lopez (or Lopes) was one of the leading merchants of his time, and owned as many as thirty vessels. With the advent of Jacob Rodriguez Rivera, a native of Portugal, in 1745, the manufacture of spermaceti was introduced in America. In 1762 the erection of a synagogue was begun, and was completed and dedicated in the following year. From 1760 until the outbreak of the Revolution the Rev. Isaac Touro, who had come from Jamaica, was the rabbi of the congregation. In 1763 there were between sixty and seventy Jewish families in Newport. The first Jewish sermon which was preached in America, and which has been published, was delivered in the Newport synagogue on May 28, 1773, by Rabbi Haim Isaac Carigal. This was delivered in Spanish, and was afterward translated into English. Carregal was a most interesting personality; he appears to have come from Palestine, and was on terms of intimacy with Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale College. The first Jewish club in America was formed in 1761 at Newport, with a membership limited to nine persons. Just before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War the Jewish population of Newport must have numbered nearly 1,000. The war dispersed the community, which never regained its importance. The Jews for the most part espoused the colonial cause, and lost the greater part of their property when the town was captured by the British.
In 1790 the congregation presented an address to George Washington on the occasion of his visit to the city. The letter of welcome is still preserved. Abraham Touro bequeathed a fund to the city of Newport to maintain the synagogue as well as the cemetery; this fund is still in existence, though no representatives of the original families now live in the city.
[edit] In New England
In other parts of New England there were probably occasional stray settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but the intolerance of the Puritans rendered impossible the establishment of any religious communities. An interesting personality is that of Judah Monis, who became a convert to Christianity and filled the chair of Hebrew in Harvard College from 1722 until his death in 1764.
Mention is found of a Jew in Connecticut on November 9, 1659, and of another in 1670. The first Jewish family to settle in New Haven came in 1772, though a few individuals who had become converts to Christianity dwelt there a few years before. The first congregation was established about 1840, the congregants being members of about twenty Bavarian families. From that date on the community increased by slow stages. There are Jewish settlements also in Bridgeport, Ansonia, Derby, Waterbury, New London, and Hartford. The first congregation in Hartford was established in 1843. Since 1891 a number of Jewish farmers have been settled in various parts of the state.
The earliest mention of a Jew in Massachusetts bears the date May 3, 1649, and there are references to Jews among the inhabitants of Boston in 1695 and 1702; but they can be regarded only as stragglers, as no settlers made their homes in Massachusetts until the Revolutionary War drove the Jews from Newport. In 1777 Aaron Lopez and Jacob Rivera, with fifty-nine others, went from Newport to Leicester, and established themselves there; but this settlement did not survive the close of the war. A number of Jews, including the Hays family, settled at Boston before 1800. Of these Moses Michael Hays was the most important. In 1830 a number of Algerian Jews went to Boston, but they soon disappeared. The history of the present community begins with the year 1840, when the first congregation was established.
The Jewish immigrants to Vermont and New Hampshire have never been very numerous, though there are congregations in Burlington, Vt. and in Manchester, Portsmouth, and Nashua. Little of importance can be said about the communal life of the Jews in New England, and their numbers increased but slowly until after the beginning of the great Russian emigration in 1882, when the overflow from New York as well as the emigration through Canada commenced to stream into New England.
The opening up of the West and the resulting unprofitable nature of farming in New England drew away from this part of the United States many thrifty farmers, who abandoned their unfruitful fields for the more attractive opportunities in the Western States. Of interest in connection with this shifting of the population is the fact that many of these abandoned farms, especially in Connecticut, have been taken up by Russian Jews, who, principally as dairy farmers, have added a new and useful element to the agricultural community.
[edit] Maryland
It would seem that only a few Jews found their way to Maryland during the first half of the seventeenth century, and that the first settlers of this colony came as individuals, and not in considerable numbers at any time, as was the case in New York, Newport, Savannah, and Charleston. To judge by the names alone it would appear that a few Jews were resident in Maryland from the earliest days of the colony. The most prominent figure, who was unquestionably a Jew, was a Dr. Jacob Lumbrozo, who had arrived January 24, 1656, and who, in 1658, was tried for blasphemy, but was released by reason of the general amnesty granted in honor of the accession of Richard Cromwell (March 3, 1658). Letters of denization were issued to Lumbrozo September 10, 1663. Besides practising medicine, he also owned a plantation, engaged in trade with the Indians, and had active intercourse with London merchants. He was one of the earliest medical practitioners in the colony, and his career casts much light upon the history and nature of religious tolerance in Maryland. By the strength of his personality he was able to disregard nearly all the laws which would have rendered his residence in the colony impossible, and he seems to have observed his faith even though this, under the laws, was forbidden. The unfavorable environment rendered the admittance of Jews to Maryland difficult, and until the Constitution of 1776 established the religious rights of all, few Jews settled in the colony. Beginning in 1797, by which time a considerable number of Jews had arrived there, the history of the Jews of Maryland is of special interest. By the terms of the constitution of 1776 none could hold office in the state who was not a subscriber to the Christian religion. In the year just mentioned Solomon Etting and Barnard Gratz, and others, presented a petition to the General Assembly at Annapolis asking to be placed upon the same footing with other citizens. This was the beginning of an agitation, lasting for a generation, to establish the civil and political rights of the Jews. As this first effort failed it was renewed at almost every session of the Assembly until 1818. During the succeeding seven years the Cohen family, which had come to Baltimore in 1803 from Richmond, Va., took an important part in the attempt to establish their rights as citizens.
[edit] Jacob I. Cohen and the struggle for religious liberty
The most active member of the family in this struggle was Jacob I. Cohen, who was ably assisted by Solomon Etting. Their persistent efforts met with success in 1825, when an Act of Assembly was passed removing the disabilities of the Jews; and in 1826 both of the above-named were elected members of the city council.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Maryland, although remaining in the Union, numbered among her citizens a large body of sympathizers with the Confederate cause. Owing to the pronounced antislavery attitude assumed by Rabbi David Einhorn, the conflict of opinion was especially severe among the Jews. For the most part the history of Maryland is the history of Baltimore, where Jews had settled in small numbers prior to the Revolution. The most prominent of these settlers was Benjamin Levy, who, in addition to being a prominent merchant, had the distinction of being appointed one of the committee to arrange the celebration in Baltimore of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The first cemetery was procured as early as 1786, and the beginnings of communal organization date from 1826, although the congregation was not regularly organized until 1838. The Jews of the city have participated to a considerable extent in the civic life of the town and state, and have taken some part in national affairs. A number have been members of the Assembly; Isidor Rayner was a United States Senator in the early twentieth century.
[edit] Philadelphia
It is on record that Jews from New Amsterdam traded along the Delaware River as early as 1655. There were probably some settlers in the southeastern portion of the territory of which William Penn took possession in 1681. A very considerable number of the early Pennsylvania colonists were German Jews. The first Jewish resident of Philadelphia was Jonas Aaron, who was living there in 1703. Another early pioneer and one of considerable prominence was Isaac Miranda. He was the first to settle at Lancaster, at which place, as also at Shaefferstown, there was an early Jewish immigration. Miranda became a convert to Christianity and held several state offices. A number of Jews settled in Philadelphia in the first half of the eighteenth century, and became prominent in the life of the city. Among these were David Franks, Joseph Marks, and Sampson Levy. The Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765 contained the signatures of eight Jews, an indication of the importance of the Jewish community at this time. As early as 1747 a number of persons held religious services in a small house in Sterling alley, and afterward in Cherry alley—between Third and Fourth streets. They were mostly German and Polish Jews; and their differences as to the liturgy to be followed prevented, at the time, the formation of any regular congregation. Attempts, indeed, were made in 1761 and 1773 to form one, but none was established until the influx of Jews from New York during the Revolutionary War, with the arrival of Gershom Mendes Seixas, gave the community sufficient strength to carry out this cherished object. A lot was purchased and a synagogue erected, the dedication occurring in September 1782. A number of Philadelphia Jews served in the army of the Revolution; and the inestimable services rendered by Haym Salomon to Robert Morris in the finances of the Revolution make his name stand out as the most prominent character in American Jewry. The Congregation Mickvé Israel adopted the Sephardic ritual, and the most important minister of the congregation after Seixas was Isaac Leeser, who arrived in 1829. He was the leading Jewish minister of his time, and few others have left such an impression upon American Jewish affairs as he. As minister, teacher, organizer, translator of the Bible, editor, and publisher he was a man of indefatigable energy and rare ability. Prominent also were members of the Phillips family, chief among whom were Zalegman Phillips and Henry M. Phillips.
[edit] Mickvé Israel and Rodeph Shalom
The latter was one of the leading lawyers of Philadelphia, a politician of importance, and a member of the 35th Congress. Leeser's successor as minister of the Mickvé Israel congregation was Sabato Morais, a native of Leghorn (Livorno), Italy, who, from 1851 until his death in 1897, was a leading figure in American Jewish affairs. It was due to his efforts that a Jewish theological seminary was established in New York.
The first German congregation was the Rodeph Shalom, which was organized in 1802, but which probably had meetings at an earlier date. The most prominent of its rabbis was Marcus Jastrow, who was succeeded by Henry Berkowitz. The best-known cantor of this congregation was Jacob Frankel. During the Civil War he acted as chaplain of hospitals under the U.S. government. The first leading Reform minister installed in Philadelphia was Samuel Hirsch. Many other congregations have been formed, especially since 1882, when the Russian emigration brought large numbers to the city. Next in importance to the settlement at Philadelphia was that at Lancaster, where Jews were to be found in 1730, before the town and county were organized. Joseph Simon was the best known of the first arrivals. Meyer Hart and Michael Hart were among the earlier settlers at Easton, where they arrived previous to the Revolutionary War. A synagogue was established there in 1839. Shaefferstown had a few Jewish settlers at an early date, and a synagogue and cemetery in 1732. For a considerable number of years preceding the Revolutionary War a number of Jews of Pennsylvania were engaged in the exploitation and sale of western Pennsylvania lands. Among the more prominent of these were Jacob and David Franks, Barnard and Michael Gratz, Joseph Simon, and Levy Andrew Levy.
There is an important Jewish settlement in Pittsburgh, where Jews arrived in considerable numbers as early as 1830, organizing a congregation in 1846; in Harrisburg, where a congregation was established in 1851; and in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Reading. As elsewhere, the Russian emigration of 1882 largely increased the number of Jews in Pennsylvania.
[edit] The American South
The Jewish settlement in Georgia dates almost from the very foundation of the colony; and the early history of Georgia is practically the history of the growth and development of Savannah, Jewish life centering in that city. It would appear that a movement was set on foot in London to settle some Jews in the colony even before James Oglethorpe, in June, 1733, led his first band of followers to the point which soon after became the city of Savannah. The second vessel which reached the colony from England (on July 11, 1733) had among its passengers no less than forty Jewish emigrants. Though their arrival was unexpected, the liberal-minded governor welcomed them gladly, notwithstanding that he was aware that the trustees of the colony in England had expressed some opposition to permitting Jews to settle there. These first settlers were all of Spanish and Portuguese extraction, though within a year of their arrival others, who were apparently German Jews, also took up their residence there. These two bands of settlers received equally liberal treatment from Oglethorpe, and were the progenitors of one of the most important communities of Jews in the U.S. Many of their descendants are still living in various parts of the country. The first male white child born in the colony was a Jew, Isaac Minis.
Among the first immigrants was Dr. Nuñez, who was made welcome because of his medical knowledge, and because he, with a number of others, brought sufficient wealth to the colony to enable the immigrants to take up large tracts of land. A congregation was organized as early as 1734. Three years later Abraham de Lyon, who had been a vineron in Portugal, introduced the culture of grapes. The cultivation and manufacture of silk and the pursuit of agriculture and of commerce were the chief occupations of these early settlers. A dispute with the trustees of the colony respecting the introduction of slaves caused an extensive emigration to South Carolina in 1741, and resulted in the dissolution of the congregation. But in 1751 a number of Jews returned to Georgia, and in the same year the trustees sent over Joseph Ottolenghi to superintend the somewhat extensive silk-industry in the colony. Ottolenghi soon attained prominence in the political life of his associates, and was elected a member of the Assembly in 1761 and in succeeding years. There seems to have been little if any distinction made socially between the Jews and the other settlers, and educational and philanthropic institutions seem to have been supported by all alike.
[edit] In the Revolution and after
Though the Jews participated prominently in the events leading up to the Revolution, it would appear that even in the midst of absorbing political discussions they were able, in 1774, to start another congregation. They were not all, however, to be found on the colonial side during the war, for Mordecai Sheftall, Levi Sheftall, Philip Jacob Cohen, Philip Minis, and Sheftall Sheftall were in the first days of the Revolution disqualified by the authorities from holding any office of trust in the province because of the pronounced revolutionary ideas which they advocated. The community was dispersed during the Revolution, but many Jews returned immediately after the close of the war. In 1787 the congregation was reestablished, largely owing to the energy of Mordecai Sheftall, and it was incorporated on November 30, 1790, under the name of Mickvé Israel of Savannah. The charter, with the minutes of the congregation of that date, still exists. On May 6, 1789, Levi Sheftall, on behalf of the Hebrew congregation of Savannah, presented an address to Washington on the occasion of his election to the presidency, to which Washington made a gracious reply. The community does not seem to have prospered in the last days of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, but in 1820 began to increase in importance; and on the occasion of the consecration of a new synagogue in July, 1820, Dr. Jacob de la Motta delivered an address which was printed, and which is still a document of great value to American Jewish history. The synagogue was destroyed by fire in 1829, but was replaced by a substantial brick structure ten years later, and was consecrated in February 1841, by Isaac Leeser. In 1878 the old synagogue, having been outgrown, was closed, and a new edifice was consecrated on the same day. The community prospered, and a number of its members held important political office. Herman Meyers held the office of mayor of the city of Savannah for a number of years.
After Savannah, Augusta appears to have been the next town in the state in which Jews settled. In 1825 one Florence, accompanied by his wife, was the first arrival. Other families came the following year from Charleston, though a congregation was not organized until 1846. Atlanta, Columbus, and Macon have quite extensive communities, and congregations are to be found in Augusta, Albany, Athens, Brunswick, and Rome. They were all established after 1850, and most by the end of the nineteenth century. At Atlanta there was a home for orphans founded and managed by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith.
[edit] Jews in other parts of the South
The liberal charter which John Locke drew up in 1669 for the governance of the Carolinas should have operated to attract Jews there at an early date, since "Jews, heathen, and dissenters" were by the terms of Locke's charter granted full liberty of conscience. Though political changes modified Locke's original plans considerably, the spirit of tolerance was always retained. Nevertheless no Jews in any numbers appear to have come to South Carolina until the exodus from Georgia from 1740 to 1771, already referred to. However, one Simon Valentine is mentioned as living in Charleston in 1698, and probably arrived there three years earlier. A few others followed him, for in 1703 a protest was raised against "Jew strangers" voting in an election for members of the Assembly.
In 1748 some prominent London Jews set on foot a scheme for the acquisition of a tract of 200,000 acres (809 km²) of land in South Carolina. Nothing came of this, however, though on November 27, 1755, Joseph Salvador purchased 100,000 acres (405 km²) of land near Fort Ninety-six for £2,000. Twenty years later Salvador sold 60,000 acres (243 km²) of land for £3,000 to thirteen London Sephardic Jews. This land was known as the "Jews' Lands." Another of the Salvadors (Francis, the nephew of Joseph) purchased extensive tracts of land in the same vicinity in 1773-74. Moses Lindo, likewise a London Jew, who arrived in 1756, became actively engaged in indigo manufacture, spending large sums in its development, and making this one of the principal industries of the state.
During the Revolutionary War the Jews of South Carolina were to be found on both sides; and the most eminent of the revolutionists was Francis Salvador, who was elected a member of the First and Second Provincial Congresses which met 1775-76, the most important political office held by any Jew during the Revolution. Two-thirds of a company of militia commanded by Richard Lushington was made up of Charleston Jews.
After the fall of Charleston in 1780 the majority of Jews left that city, but most of them returned at the close of the war. The Sephardic Jews established a congregation in 1750, and the Jews of German descent another shortly thereafter. In 1791, when the Sephardic congregation was incorporated, the total number of Jews in Charleston is estimated to have been 400.
At the opening of the nineteenth century the Charleston Jews formed the most important community in the U.S. A number of its members held important political office, and Mayer Moses was a member of the legislature in 1810. About this time it was due to the Jews that freemasonry was introduced into the state. A large number of Jews from New York went to Charleston at the close of the Revolutionary War and remained there until the commencement of the Civil War. The Jews of South Carolina participated in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, and were in considerable numbers on the Confederate side during the Civil War. Many South Carolina Jews moved north during the Reconstruction period.
A congregation was organized at Columbia in 1822. Communities also existed at Darlington, Florence, Orangeburg, and Sumter. The first Reform movement in any congregation in America was instituted at Charleston in 1824 and another in 1840.
The first settlers in North Carolina seem to have come to Wilmington before the end of the eighteenth century, and appear to have been an offshoot of the Charleston community. In 1808 an attempt was made to expel a member of the General Assembly because of his Jewish faith. The community grew slowly, so that in 1826 it was estimated that there were but 400 Jews in the state. No considerable augmentation of their numbers occurred until after the immigration of 1848. Wilmington continues to be the leading community; a congregation was established there in 1867. There are small communities in about ten other cities.
To judge by names alone, it would appear that a few Jews wandered into Virginia as early as 1624. A small number seem also to have been there before the end of the seventeenth century, but for nearly 100 years no traces of Jewish settlement are found. At least one Jewish soldier—possibly two—served in Virginia regiments under Washington in his expedition across the Allegheny Mountains in 1754. It is probable that Jews drifted into the colony from Baltimore and other points in Maryland at an early date. By 1785 Richmond had a Jewish community of about a dozen families of Spanish-Portuguese descent, which organized a Sephardic congregation in 1791. This congregation remained in existence until 1898. The migration of German Jews to Richmond began early in the nineteenth century; and in 1829 they were in sufficient numbers to organize a congregation. In 1870, when the public-school system was established in Richmond, the first sessions were held in the rooms of the German Jewish congregation. Over one hundred Virginian Jews saw military service during the Civil War.
The most prominent early figure in the history of the Jews in Louisiana is Judah Touro, who went to New Orleans about 1801. The community increased but slowly during the first half of the nineteenth century, but has grown rapidly since that time. The first congregation was established about 1830, and since that date, and especially during the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, a number of additional congregations were formed and important charitable organizations established. Martin Behrman was mayor of New Orleans in 1905.
The Western wave of migration which took place in the early years of the nineteenth century carried with it a considerable number of Jews to Kentucky. Among these was one Salamon from Philadelphia, who established himself at Harrodsburg about 1808. In 1816 he was made cashier of the Bank of the United States at Lexington. Shortly after the War of 1812 the Jews began to go to Louisville. The first congregation there was chartered in 1842, and a synagogue was built in 1850. Another congregation was organized in 1856, and since the Russian emigration, beginning in 1881, a number of others have been established. In 1901 Louisville had six congregations and numerous philanthropic and educational institutions.
A few Jews were among the traders who settled in Tennessee, near the Holston River, in 1778, but they were mere stragglers and made no permanent settlement. About 1845 some Jews began to arrive in Memphis, where they had been preceded by Joseph J. Andrews. In 1853 a congregation was organized, and an Orthodox congregation in 1862. At Nashville a congregation was established in 1854. Jews have been prominent also in Chattanooga; from 1894 to 1898 George W. Ochs was mayor of the city.
Of the remaining states of the southern group east of the Mississippi River the principal Jewish settlements have been made in Alabama and Mississippi. An occasional Jew made his way into the territory which is now Alabama during the early part of the eighteenth century. One Pallachio became prominent in 1776. Abraham Mordecai came from Pennsylvania and settled in Montgomery County in 1785; he established trading-posts, and dealt extensively with the Indians, and in October, 1802, with the aid of two Jews, Lyons and Barnett, who had come from Georgia, he erected the first cotton gin in the state. Of the other early settlers Philip Phillips was the most prominent. He moved to Mobile about 1835, from Charleston, and held prominent political office; in 1853 he was elected to Congress. He afterward resided in Washington, and became known as a leading attorney there. The first congregation in Mobile was formed in 1841. A number of other congregations were established about the middle of the century, notably at Montgomery.
It is likely that there were a few Jews in the Natchez district of Mississippi before the close of the eighteenth century, but no congregation was organized until that of Natchez was established in 1843.
[edit] The Midwest and Southwest
Of the Western States of the southern group none has such Jewish interests as Texas, and with the early development of no states other than Georgia and California have Jews been so intimately associated. They were among the first of Austin's colonists in 1821, when Texas was still a part of Mexico; and Samuel Isaacs, who served in the Army of the Republic of Texas, received 320 acres (1.3 km²) of land in Fort Bend County for his services. Many of the earlier settlers came from England. When Abraham C. Labatt arrived in Velasco in 1831 he found that several other Jews had preceded him. Between 1832 and 1840 quite a number of Jews settled in the Nacogdoches district, serving the government in civil and military capacities. An unusually large number of Jews were attracted by the stirring events which preceded the annexation of Texas to the Union, and many took part in the military expeditions. Several were with Sam Houston's army in the Mexican War, and were present at the storming of the Alamo in December 1835. A number received land and property for services rendered to the short-lived republic. Jacob de Cordova, a native of Jamaica, came to Galveston from New Orleans in 1837, and during the next thirty years was prominently identified with the development of the country. The real-estate operations in which he engaged in the early days became known far and wide. He published a newspaper, introduced the Order of Odd Fellows, was elected to the legislature from Harris County in 1847, and in 1849 laid out the city of Waco. Another of the prominent early pioneers was Henry Castro, a native of France, who had seen service in the French army and had gone to the U.S. in 1827. He lived for a time in Rhode Island, but went to Texas about 1840. In 1842 he made a contract with Sam Houston to settle a colony west of the Medina. Between 1843 and 1846 he sent 5,000 emigrants from the Rhenish provinces to Texas—a remarkably organized emigration for that early period. Castroville and Castro County, in northwest Texas, serve to perpetuate his name. On the admission of Texas into the Union, David S. Kauffman, a Jew, was elected a member of Congress and served until his death in 1851. The first congregation was established at Houston as early as 1854, and others followed in Galveston and San Antonio shortly thereafter. Other important communities are at Dallas and Waco. Capt. L.C. Harby played a prominent part in the defense of Galveston during the Civil War.
Though no congregation was established in Michigan until 1850, a number of individual Jews played a prominent part in the settlement and early history of the territory as Indian traders. The principal settlement has been at Detroit, where the first arrivals were from Germany. Since 1882 there has been a large influx of Russians, who have grown to be an important element of the community. In 1883 a colony of Russian Jews was established near Bad Axe, which met with some success.
The first Jewish settler in the territory now comprised within the state of Wisconsin was Jacob Franks, who went to Green Bay from Canada as early as 1792, and who two years later was granted by the Indians a tract of land on Devil River, about four miles from Fox River. He carried on an extensive trade with the Indians. In 1805 he was known far and wide among them, and established a high reputation for integrity, fair dealing, and hospitality; he erected the first saw- and grist-mill ever put up in that region, and returned to Canada in the same year. Other traders followed in his wake, but none came in sufficient numbers to establish any congregation until shortly before the middle of the nineteenth century. The principal settlement was made in Milwaukee, where a congregation was organized in 1855.
The important community of Cincinnati, Ohio, is the oldest west of the Allegheny Mountains. From the middle of the nineteenth century its Jewish community played a significant part in Jewish affairs in the U.S. The Jewish pioneer of the Ohio Valley was Joseph Jonas, who went to Cincinnati from England in March, 1817. He attracted others from his native country a few years later, and in 1819 they held the first Jewish service in the western portion of the U.S. Previous to 1830 considerable additions to the community came from England, and in 1824 the first congregation was formed. Beginning in 1830, a large number of German Jews made their way to Cincinnati, and the first synagogue was erected in 1836. The community was of significance as early as 1850, and contained capable and public-spirited members. Isaac M. Wise, who went to Cincinnati in 1854, and Max Lilienthal, who arrived in 1855, helped materially to enable Cincinnati to impress indelibly its individuality upon Judaism in America. These two men aided in making Cincinnati a center of Jewish culture, and assisted in the development of a number of movements that were national in scope. Cincinnati is the seat of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Central Conference of the Reform Rabbis of American Judaism, and the Hebrew Union College, and its graduates occupy many pulpits throughout the country. The Jews of Cincinnati have always shown great public spirit and have filled many local positions of trust, as well as state, judicial, and governmental offices. Julius Fleischman was mayor of the city in 1905. Next in importance to Cincinnati is the community of Cleveland, where Jews settled as early as 1837, and established a congregation in 1839. The history of the Jews in Ohio during the first half of the nineteenth century is confined to the cities just mentioned. After that date congregations grew up throughout the state. About 1,000 Jews of Ohio saw service during the Civil War; a number only exceeded by the Jewish contingent from New York.
The largest community of Jews in America, outside of New York and Philadelphia, is to be found in Chicago. It is probable that there were Jewish settlers in the Illinois territory when that country was still under French control. John Hays seems to have been the earliest Jewish pioneer, and he held the office of sheriff of St. Clair County from 1798 to 1818, and was appointed collector of internal revenue for the territory by President James Madison in 1814, but no Jews appear to have followed in his footsteps until twenty years later. Considerable numbers of Jews found their way to the rising city of Chicago previous to 1850, and the first congregation was organized in 1847. In 1842 the Jewish Colonization Society of New York sent Henry Meyer to select a tract in the vicinity of Chicago for a Jewish colony. He succeeded in attracting a considerable number of settlers, though only a few became farmers, the remainder removing for the most part to Chicago. After Chicago the next town to be settled by Jews was Peoria, and after the middle of the nineteenth century they settled in considerable numbers in most of the important towns in the state. Through the endeavors of B. Felsenthal, who went to Chicago in 1858, the Reform Congregation Sinai was established in 1861. He played an important part in the history of the development of the community. After the great fire of 1871 the community grew rapidly, and it has become one of the most prosperous in the country, its members being actively interested in the political life of the city and state. Some of the most important manufacturers of the state are controlled by Jews. Samuel Altschuler of Aurora was a Democratic nominee for governor in 1900 and Henry Horner, a member of Chicago Sinai Congregation, served as governor from 1933 to 1940. The Jewish community of Chicago has many notable educational establishments and relief institutions, and has furnished distinguished members to the legal profession, as well as renowned architects, notably Dankmar Adler, and musicians. Among its prominent rabbis, besides B. Felsenthal, have been Liebmann Adler and Emil G. Hirsch.
In the southern and northwestern group of states Missouri stands out in special prominence. Between Chicago and San Francisco there is no city in which Jews have settled where they have formed so prosperous a community as in St. Louis. The pioneer Jewish settler in the state was Wolf Bloch, a native of Bohemia, who is reported to have reached St. Louis as early as 1816. A few others followed shortly thereafter, but their identity has been lost. They were not in sufficient numbers to hold services until 1836, and in the following year the first congregation was established. Two other congregations were organized before 1870. During the Civil War, Isidore Bush attained prominence as a delegate on the "Unconditional Union Ticket" to the convention which decided that Missouri should remain in the Union. St. Louis harbored a number of refugees from Chicago after the fire of 1871, and since that time has grown rapidly in numbers and wealth. Representatives of the community have attained distinction politically and commercially. Moses N. Sale has been judge of the circuit court, and Nathan Frank was elected to the Fifty-first Congress. Next in importance to the community of St. Louis, is that of Kansas City. At St. Joseph Jews began to settle as early as 1850, and a congregation was organized nine years later.
The first Jewish congregation in Kansas was established at Leavenworth in 1859; another was organized at Kansas City in 1870.
The first Jewish settlement made in Nebraska was on the site of the present city of Omaha in 1856, but it was not until ten years later that the first congregation was organized. There is also a congregation at Lincoln and communities in several smaller cities.
Jews are recorded as having lived in the river towns of Iowa, especially at Dubuque and McGregor, as early as 1847-48. These were the main shipping- and stopping-points for the far West, and attracted settlers on this account. As the population moved westward small Jewish communities also found their way to Davenport, Burlington, and Keokuk. The first congregation was established at Davenport in 1861, another at Keokuk in 1863, and that at Des Moines in 1873.
[edit] The Far West
The gold discoveries of 1849 on the Pacific Coast proved not less attractive to some Jews than to other adventurous spirits, and to such an extent that as early as 1850 two congregations were organized in San Francisco. A striking characteristic of California Jewish migration is the cosmopolitan nature of its early Jewish population. Every country, even Australia, was represented among these pioneers. Another significant feature of the early settlement in California was the number of congregations which were organized in the fifties, when the gold fever was at its height, and which soon dwindled to insignificance, and during the course of the next ten or fifteen years passed out of existence. Noteworthy also is the high character of these early settlers, and the leading part they played in consequence in the political as well as the commercial development of this new country. Among the most distinguished was Solomon Heydenfeldt, who had gained prominence in Alabama before he came to California, where he attained the rare distinction of being elected chief justice of the state, a position which he held until his resignation in 1857. Subsequently he took a leading part in the politics of the state. Henry A. Lyons was one of the first three justices of the Supreme Court of California. A number of other Jews occupied prominent political office; in the commercial world the Jews have been among the pioneers in the development of the state. Some of the leading Jewish bankers of New York came from San Francisco, where Jews are still a decided power in financial and commercial undertakings. Nor have they failed to develop on cultural lines; and the name of Peixotto is one of distinction in art and scholarship. Emma Wolf was a distinguished author. M. H. De Young was proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle, and Max C. Sloss was prominent as one of the judges of the Superior Court of San Francisco. Julius Kahn represented the San Francisco district in Congress.
The overflow from California made its way into Oregon, where Jews were to be found as early as 1850; the first congregation was established in Portland in 1858. As in California, they played a prominent part from the very beginning in municipal and state politics. Solomon Hirsch was in 1889 appointed minister to Turkey by President Benjamin Harrison, he having previously made himself one of the Republican leaders of the state. Joseph Simon has the distinction of having been one of the few Jews who represented a state in the United States Senate (1898-1903). Others, notably D. Solis Cohen, were active in local politics.
Jews first settled in Utah in 1860, but there is no record of religious services before 1866. The first congregation was established in Salt Lake City in 1880. A few Jews held important political office.
It would appear that there were a considerable number of Jews among the first settlers of Colorado. The principal community is that of Denver, where the congregation was established in 1874. One of the prominent philanthropic institutions of the city is the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, founded in 1890 (now the National Jewish Medical and Research Center). Leadville is said to have established its congregation in 1864.
The states of Montana, Washington, Idaho, and North and South Dakota have not failed to attract Jewish settlers, though for the most part they did not arrive previous to the Russian immigration.
[edit] Characteristics of Jewish social institutions
Jews have penetrated into every state and all the territories of the Union, so that at this time practically no settlement of any significance in any part of the U.S. is without its Jewish community, small though it may be. Certain phases in the development of the Jewish communities throughout the U.S. have been common to all. The high holy days have always brought them together, often from far distant points, for religious worship. These occasional meetings soon resulted, when the communities grew greater, in the organization of congregations, which was often preceded, sometimes followed, by the purchase of a place of burial. As the communities grew the need for care of the sick and poverty-stricken resulted in the establishment of philanthropic institutions of various kinds. These were followed by the creation of various social organizations, many of which had beneficial features; and closely following in the wake of this development came the establishment, as prosperity became more enduring, of educational institutions; and practically no organized congregation ever failed to care for religious instruction.
[edit] See also
- Jewish American
- Jewish history in the United States (pre-20th century)
- Jewish history in Pennsylvania
- Jewish history in Philadelphia
- List of Jewish Americans
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Joachim Gaunse." Jewish Virtual Library. [7]
- ^ "Judaism in the Boston Area." The Pluralism Project. World Religion in Boston. Harvard University. [8]
- ^ Hertzburg, Arthur. The Jews in America. Columbia University Press: 1997 (p. 21-22).
- ^ Hebrew Printing in America (ISBN 1599756854)
- ^ Hertzburg, The Jews in America. (p. 9-10).
- ^ Sarna, Jonathan D. "American Jewry at 350: Struggles of colonial Jews foreshadow later history." JTA. November 11, 2004. [9]
[edit] Sources
- This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
- Hertzburg, Arthur. The Jews in America (Columbia University Press: 1997)
- Pool, David and Tamar de Sola. An Old Faith in a New World (Columbia University Press: 1954)
