TEE EARLY JEWS OF HOUSTON

A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Easter of Arts

by Helena Frenkil Schlam, B.A.

The Ohio State University 1971

Approved by

Adviser Department of History TABLE OF CONTENTS

rage

Preface , . . . . , , ...... iii

I - Earliest Settlers , , , ...... , 1

II - Demographic Growth, Economic and Social Life . . , , , . , , , , . 22

III - Communal Development ...... 38

Conclusion ...... 56

Notes to Table . . . . , , ...... 61

. . . 62 Table 1 ......

...... 63 Table 2 ......

...... 64 Table 3 ......

...... 65 Table 4 ......

. . . 66 Table 5 ......

Table 6 ...... 69

. . . . 71 Table 7 ...... , .

. . 78 Table 8 ......

Bibliography ...... , 79 PREFACE

Until recent years the study of American Jewish history has centered on outstanding Jewish personalities and their achieve- ments, and most of the serious work on Jewish communities has concentrated on the larger communities of the eastern United States.

Thus, the study of the development of Jewish communities in Texas has been ignored just as such studies generally have been neglected west of the Mississippi River.

Little has been written about the Jews of Texas except for a few articles, and most of the research done has been very limited.

Therefore, a study of any of Texas' early Jewish communities would have proved fruitful, but I found Houston particularly interesting.

Jews were among Bouston's early settlers in the 1840's and

1850's, but hardly any historical interest was shown in the community until after 1870, even though Houston Jews were thought to have established the first Jewish communal institutions in Texas before

the Civil War. No prominent Jewish figures were written about in

Houston as they were in Galveston and other places in Texas. Indeed,

little seems to have been known of the early Jews of Houston, and

they remained in the shadow of the more distinguished Jews of

Galveston. This is because none of the early Jews of Houston left

remarkable records, with the exception perhaps of Jacob De Cordova,

iii and he was most often thought of simply as a Texan. Nonetheless, these early Jewish settlers established themselvesin Houston and

growth and development played a small, quiet role in the economic of Houston that led to the city's becoming one of the great urban centers of Texas. At the same time, these Jews formed themselves

institutions and created into a Jewish community with traditional

the foundations from which the Houston Jewish community grew,

iv I

There were some Jews among the early settlers in Texas.

There even seems tohave been one Jew, Samuel Isaacks, among Stephen

F. Austin's first group of colonists, the Old Three Hundred, who came to Texas from the United States in 1821. However, one of

Texas' main attractions for new settlers was the availability of good, cheap land, and according to Jacob De Cordova, writing in 1858, the limited immigration of "the children of Israel" to Texas was due to the fact that Texas was "emphatically an agricultural country."2

While it is true that Jews did not come to Texas to become farmers and ranchers, they were attracted to Texas, and they came and settled.

Instead of cultivating the land, they became the marketers and sup- pliers for those farmers and ranchers who settled on Texas land.

The Jews thus tended to settle in the young towns which began to develop in Texas following Texas' independence from Mexico. One of the most important of these early urban centers was Houston.

Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836 after a decisive victory at, the battle of San Jacinto on April 21st of that year.

Soon after, only 18 miles from the scene of that battle, the city of Houston was laid out, with lots being presented for sale by late

August.3 Houston was named for the popular hero of the battle of

San Jacinto and the first president of the newly founded Texas Re-

public, Sam Houston. The city thus began with a psychological

advantage, and it was probably that which gave Houston the lead in

1 2

November 1836. being voted the capital of the Texas Republic in because it had been The new city then became a boom town largely government.4 there were other designated as the seat of Still, though the capital reasons for the growth of Houston, and even only temporarily to Houston was moved to Austin in 1839, returning

an important city from 1842-1845, Houston,continued to develop as

in Texas.

The site of Houston was chosen because of its location, fifty miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico and at the head of dependably Buffalo Bayou, the only stream in Texas which proved where land and navigable. Houston was thus located at a point be- water transport could meet, and so it was a likely choice to commerce.5 The city was able to serve come a center for trade and and the Brazos River the rich farmlands of the Gulf Coast area shipment and, in return, by bottom by receiving their products for outside through selling the farmers supplies brought in from the this in his Houston the port of Galveston. Gustav Dresel described

Journal in 1840 as follows: removal of the Houston had lost a good deal by the government. However, many strangers still congre- main gated here because it was traversed by the roads from the interior to Galveston, the place of embarkation. Its trade, too, was considerable. No source of supply was situated more conveniently for the planters. Wagons from the country, therefore, with country produce and, came and went daily loaded requirements.6 on the home journey with household

considered and Other sites for cities along Buffalo Bayou had been 3

them even begun as settlements, but for various reasons none of succeeded as Houston did.

Houston's real growth and development began after 1845 when Texas was annexed to the United States. jgy| Houston Directory of lfá6_ tells us:

The effect of annexation upon the industrial interests of the new State was electrical, new was the tide of immigration rushed life infused; states.8 in from the southern and western

The United States Census of 1850 showed Houston as the

third largest city in Texas, and it remained so in the 1850's and 1860's, later becoming even larger than its competitors, Galveston

and San Antonio.* Hith the coming of the railroad to Texas in the

1850's, Houston's importance as a commercial center was enhanced,

and by the eve of the Civil War, Houston was the railroad center

of Texas.10

Houston, then, was attractive both to new immigrants from

abroad and to settlers who moved along with the frontier into

Texas, particularly those who were interested in business and trade. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that Jews settled early in Rouston.11

The first problem is how to ascertain who were the Jews in

Houston. This is difficult since the United States census made no

record of religious affiliation, and name alone is not sufficient of as an indication of Jewishness, both because of the popularity Jewish Biblical names among Christians gud because many of the early

settlers in Houston had German surnames, as did an even larger the his- number of Christians who settled in Houston. Therefore,

as a beginning torian is dependent on Synagogue and cemetery records those Jews point to identify Jews. This naturally must mean that

or be butied in a Jewish who did not choose to join the synagogue

in a few cemetery will not be dealt with in this study, except uncovered.12 have been cases when special circumstances or other sources 1854, Records of the first Jewish cemetery in Houston begin only in even in and the synagogue minutes which are preserved begin later,

1861,13 but there were Jews in Houston much earlier. consider Some accounts of the history of the Jews of Houston

and report that Eugene Joseph Chimene to be the first Jew in Houston,

1835.14 because Houston was not he settled in This is not possible Beth yet in existence in 1835. /However, the interment records of

was buried October 4, Israel Cemetery do show that Eugene Chimene Chimene might have ac- 1875, having been born March 4, 1820. Thus,

a fact not tually come to Texas in 1835 as a youth of fifteen,

a record of impossible in those days. Nonetheless, we did not find although the Cen- him in the first census of Houston, taken in 1850,

who was born in France, as sus of 1860 does register a J. Chimene

Under the household of J. Chimene we was his wife. (See Table 5.) appears find Alfred Chimene, age 12, who was also born in France. It since there are that he is the oldest son in the Chimene family, were also three other children listed, aged 10, 8 and 7, but they of Eugene born in Texas. It is possible that Alfred was a brother more that Chimene and immigrated from France later, but it is likely 5

Eugene Chimene came he is the oldest child in the family, and that born to Texas some time in 1850 as the ages of the other children Houston, in Texas indicate. If Chimene settled in Texas, and perhaps him to be the first no earlier than 1850, then we can not consider

Jew in Houston.

Jew come to We do not really know who was the first to

Houston because in most cases it is difficult, if not impossible,

to determine exactly when Jews arrived. Nevertheless, we do know

of several Jews who were in Houston before 1850, some of whom even

settled while Texas was still a Republic. It will be revealing these for us to look at the personal histories of some of early

Jewish settlers in order to understand the specifics, as well as

the general background, of the settlement of.Jews in Houston before

the Civil War. Houston "As early as 1839 Michael Seeligson had a store in landing,"15 Houston near the steamboat but Seeligson only remained in

Galveston where he became a a short time before moving to nearby successful politician, being elected Alderman in 1840 and 1848, and

mayor in 1853.16

Jacob De Cordova reversed Seeligson's order of settlement;

a short time there bet he found Galveston unsatisfactory, and after became involved in politics. in 1837, he moved to Houston, where he too of his involvement Jacob De Cordova was a Jew, but the extent dispute.17 in Judaism is in Unlike his half-brother, Phineas De

whom Jacob had a close Cordova, who also settled in Texas and with

a Jewish relationship, Jacob De Cordova was not even buried in 6

cemetery.18 His wife was not Jewish, nor do his descendants identify about themselves as Jews. Nevertheless, much has been written

and pioneer, Jacob De Cordova as an outstanding Jewish personality with at least part of the traditions surrounding him seeming to be folklore.20 because based on no more than This is understandable

who could easily cap- De Cordova was a colorful and exciting figure ture the imagination.

For our purposes, Jacob De Cordova is interesting as an organizer and leader in early Houston. He was one of the original members of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, formed in 1840, and one

the constitution for that of a committee of three appointed to draft

organization.21 He was instrumental in founding the Independent

Order of Odd Fellows in Houston and introducing it into the state

generally.22 In 1844 De Cordova was elected to be one of two Alder-

he was re-elected men representing Houston's third ward, and in 1845, the vacancy to that position. In 1848 De Cordova was elected to fill from Harris County left by the death of one of two representatives

to the Texas Legislature. However, when he ran for re-election to defeated.24 that position in the following year, he was

was in busi- Jacob De Cordova's first undertaking in Houston

ness. In 1840 he went into partnership with a Thomas Davison in a

general trading company which sold items as diverse as whiskey and

candles,25 but it was in 1845 that he began his most important in-

bought and volvement; he ppened his general land agency. De Cordova

sold land in all parts of Texas, and to handle this business he 7

established offices with agents throughout the state. He became partners with his half-brother Phineas in 1848, and in 1852 the Austin.26 main office of De Cordova's Land Agency was shifted to "controlled According to one estimate, at one time Jacob De Cordova counties.u27 over a million acres in a hundred

To promote his business, De .Cordova became interested in publicizing Texas with the aim of attracting new immigrants to come

Resources and Her and settle. He published the book, Texas: Her

purpose, as well as several editions of Public lËTE in 1856 for that Texas. The former J. de Cordova's New and Correct l291 of the State of

us contemporary in- will serve as a valuable primary source, giving formation on the Jews of Houston. De Cordova also toured the eastern potential.28 United States and England in 1858 lecturing on Texas' great

What Jacob De Cordova was an active figure in early Houston. part his Judaism played in this, if any, is difficult to say. We do know that when De Cordova went bankrupt, another Jew in Houston,

as Lewis A. Levy, was appointed by the chief justice of the county case.29 of one of three trustees in his bankruptcy Perhaps this, with Judaism. all things, indicates a recognition of his link chose not to In some ways it seems strange that De Cordova community direct any of his many talents and energies into the Jewish

of Houston. Perhaps the fact that he was a Sephardic Jew, born in Jewish Jamaica, played some part in keeping him on the fringes of the German Jews community in Houston, as that community was dominated by

until the 1880's. Eugene Chimene, mentioned earlier, was also a 8

Sephardic Jev, being born in Bordeaux, France, and he, too, seems to have had little to do with the Jewish community other than being cemetery.30 buried in the Jewish However, what seems more likely

the oppor- is that Jacob De Cordova typified the Jew, who, finding tunities of general society open, had no further need to actively

the Jewish identify as a Jew. Most such Jews are lost to historian, and Jacob De Cordova serves as an example of one of those few early

Jews of Houston whom we know about from sources other than affilia- institutions.31 tion with Jewish

De Cordova and Seeligson could represent two types of Jewish settlers in Houston's history, the first putting down roots in the city,32 the second settling briefly and moving on to some other place con- in Texas. We also have record of a Jew passing through Houston, sidering settling, but not finding work, moving on and not settling anywhere in Texas.33 August Bondi arrived in Galveston about

December 10, 1851, seeking employment. Failing to find work, he de-

a of German cided to try Houston so he joined a steamer taking group immigrants there. Bondi was not impressed with Houston, telling us seen.u34 only that "the town was the muddiest town I have ever He to the was unable to find employment as he had hoped, so he returned

steamship to work as its barkeeper. Soon thereafter, he left Texas.

Probably, there were other Jews like August Bondi, who passed through

Houston but did not find good circumstances under which to settle.

see immigrants on We know that it was a common sight in Houston to West.n35 their way "to seek homes in the However, it is to those 9

formed a Jews who came and settled more permanently and eventually comreunity that we must turn for the history of Houston Jewry.

an Lewis A. Levy was a Jew who came to Houston at early

6 date. In 1842 he appears in the Deed Records of Harris County, but his arrival before the first of that year is shown by the fact

that on January 6, 1845, Levy received a third class headright certi-

ficate for 640 acres from the Harris County board of land commission-

ers.37 Such grants were only given to those people who had arrived

in Texas between October 1, 1837 and January 1, 1842. by.dealing Levy was interested in land and began in Houston

in land certificates,39 but he never became involved in it to the

a of land extent that De Cordova did. In 1843 Levy purchased tract Houston,40 from President Sam and in the next year bought .57 of an

acre where he built his home, later in 1847 adding 15 1/2 acres

it.41 home the ad which Levy adjoining We learn more about this from

placed in the Telegraph on February 24, 1854, in which he advertised

to sell his private residence known as the "Oak Grove',' because he

business.42 as follows: needed money to invest in his He described it

The property consists of a 30 acre lot all enclosed w,th cedar posts and picard fens. The house is 80 feet front by 45 feet deep all ceiled inside, with galleries all around.

For a healthy and pleasant location it can not be surpassed by any in the vicinite as a 10 years residence has amply tested.

and in general we How Levy felt about that home and about Texas land

May 24, 1850, in learn from a letter he wrote to the hygggggg dated

which he advised persecuted Jews of Europe to come to the United 10

States and to Texas. He wrote as follows:

...thousands of acres of land can be bought, within the settled portions of the State, for the small sum of from 25 cents to $1 per acre; good arable, fertile land, where a man can make his living to his liking, and more independent than the Autocrat of Russia, or the Emperor of Austria themselves. Indeed I would on not exchange my fifteen acre lot, with the house it, and the garden around it, which I possess near Houston for all the thrones and hereditary the city of persons...43 dominions of both those noted

It is interesting to note just how strongly an urban-oriented Jew could respond to the possibility of owning land, and as we shall see

in Chapter II, many Jews who settled in Houston also seemed to have

shared Levy's feeling as to the importance of land ownership,

Besides dealing in land, Levy was a merchant and operated

1852 to August 1, a store in downtown Houston from about August 1,

1857.44 one of As a merchant, two suits were brought against him, Adler.45 and them involving a firm owned by Jews, L. Hohenthal Joel

Lewis A. Levy was apparently an educated and involved Jew.

the In 1850 he wrote two letters to the editor of the Asmonean, first concerning the plight of Eastern European Jewry quoted in part

above and the second an essay on "the punishment and blessings of Israel," particularly addressing the Christian doctrine that the

Jews are no longer the chosen people of God. Levy shows the extent

of his concern at the end of the first letter when he says:

Excuse my writing at such length, I know it is not "manners" for a newspaper, but indeed I am thinking about it so much, that I had no idea that my broken sentences would take up so much room.

In both letters Levy exhibits a knowledge of Jewish history and a 11

keen awareness of the Jewish position all over the world. The second letter is very didactic, almost a sermon. It would be interesting to know what prompted Levy to write it, whether it came from general thought and observation about the fate of Jews living

grew out of in a world with a Christian majority, or whether it specific Christian attacks and hostility toward him as a Jew in

Houston. The latter does not seem implied in the letter for Levy maintains that those nations who favor the Jews are blessed, and as in the first letter, he praises the opportunities for the Jew in the United States

...in whose constitution and legislative records no stain can be found, made by an enactment against the Jews as such, where will we set the bounds to their prosperity, or who shall prophecy the extent of the light, knowledge, and riches, which shall emanate from them and bless the world? 7

In September, 1856, the Occident records that L. A. Levy

subscriber,48 a $33.00 was was a and even earlier, that donation of Hebrew made by L. A. Levy and other Israelites in Houston to the

Benevolent Association of New Orleans during their yellow fever

epidemic of 1853. This simple notice of a donation is the first Although not reference to a Jewish community existing in Houston. officially organized in 1853, the Jews of Houston expressed them-

selves in communal terms by responding to the needs of fellow Jews

in distress. This is a very traditional response, and of particular

interest in that it came from a young Jewish community yet without structure.50 communal The notice would also seem to indicate that

Levy was actually the first unofficial leader of the Jewish community

in Houston. 12

Cordova is "through In fact, we learn from Jacob De that it association has been the exertions of Lewis A. Levy a benevolent Houston,51 and the Houston formed" by the "Jewish denomination" of Telegraph, telling of the organization of the Hebrew Benevolent President.52 Writing Association, lists Lewis A. Levy as its first

the same but much later, in 1912, B. H. Carroll tells us story,

from a different slant. He writes:

In the very early days the leading representative of the Hebrews in Houston was the venerable Rabbi than Levy. No man stood higher in this community esteem of he and none enjoyed the respect and all classes of citizens more than he. He was known whole among the people as "Father" Levy and his and confidence. life was such as to warrant this love and was He was an old man, had a long white beard the living picture of an old Patriarch. For many needs of years he administered to the spiritual in the late his people and when he passed away, community.53 fifties, he was mourned by the whole

functioned as one. There is no evidence that Levy was a rabbi or even of the ÿoung Houston However, since he did serve as the first leader

came to be known as Jewish community,it seems not improbable that he

"Rabbi" or "Father."

own account Another early settler in Houston according to his

and Texas Register of January 14, was Henry Wiener. In the Telegraph

auctioneer and added the 1853, Wiener advertised his services as an credentials: following as part of his

Having been engaged in the business almost from the period that the city of Houston was founded, his claims to public patronage are well known. Wiener's early residence. Ee We do not know anything about Henry in 1847 in the is said to have fought in the battle of Buena Vista 13

certain.54 Mexican War, but this is not However, we do know that time Henry Wiener was in Houston by July 29, 1847, because at that Levy.55 he married Hannah Levy, the daughter of Lewis A. Henry

was about twenty-two at the Wiener was about twenty-nine and Hannah population like time. (See Table 1) In places with a small Jewish

Houston, there were not always such opportunities for marriage.

a or Often young men returned to their native country to find wife Jews also they turned to other cities with Jewish populations. Many found mates outside the Jewish religion. Therefore, it is interesting Houston already in 1847. to find a Jewish marriage of two residents of the Probate On October 29, 1849, Henry Wiener applied to bankruptcy,u56 Court for "discharge-in but he made a business come-

he was back as we have seen in his ad of 1853, and still advertising in 1866.57 In 1860 his real estate was worth $500 and his personal estate $350. (See Table 5)

Henry Wiener also became active in the Jewish community. He Association,58 was one of the original officers of the Hebrew Benevolent synagogue, Beth and in 1866 he served as President of the first Israel.59

were Isaac Coleman Two other early Jewish settlers in Houston Levy.60 in Houston in the early and Maurice Isaac Coleman settled

1840's, after first establishing himself by peddling in the Texas Jewish immigrants countryside. This was a very typical way for young

a partnership to make their beginning at that time. Coleman formed

under the name of with Maurice Levy, and they opened a general store

an was one of Houston's Ccleman & Levy. According to 1895 source, it 14

"early mercantile establishments" and "for years did a very success- Isaac Coleman ful business."61 This same source also tells us that in the city of Houston, was known for taking a personal interest further informa- frequently serving as Alderman. We have not found

he was not as tion about Maurice Levy, perhaps an indication that civic minded as Coleman. established. About 1852, the house of Coleman & Levy was well

It was considered to be Houston ...one of the leading business concerns of business carried and in addition to a large retail with smaller on a very respectable jobbing trade merchants in the interior of the State.

why Houston attracted This description _gives a good indication of

Not only was Houston merchants, and, among those merchants, Jews. expanding population to serve, but a fast-growing city with an ever supply center and it was also making its place as an important trade mart for Texas. 15

Notes - Chapter I

1Walter Prescott Webb, and others, eds., The Handbook of Historical Association, 1952, vol. 1, Te>g _, Austin: Texas State p. 912. 2Jacob De Cordova, Texas: Her Resources and Her Public glen, Philadelphia: J. E. Lippincott & Co., 1858, p. 64.

3W. A. Leonard, compiler, Houston City Directory flor_ 1866, Houston: Gray, Strickland & Co., 1866, p. 95.

Marilyn McAdams Sibley, The Port of Rouston: A History, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968, pp. 35-36, p. 45.

Ibid., p. 59.

6 Gustav Dresel, Gustav Dresel's Houston Journal: Adventures in North America, 1837-1841, Max Freund, ed., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1954, p. 100.

Sibley, p. 15, p. 33, . 46. Harrisburg, Houston's main and rival, was founded earlier,in 1826, at the junction of Buffalo Bray's bayous, was nearer the Gulf of Mexico and faced fewer problems of navigation than Houston, but it was burned to the ground by the Mexican forces in 1836. Thereafter, Harrisburg was involved in litigation until 1839, and after falling behind Houston's development during that time, it was never able to successfully utilize its natural advantage. Besides Harrisburg, Lynchburg and New Washington on Buffalo Bayou were potential rivals to Houston, as were more than the half a dozen speculative ventures to set up settlements along bayou, but they all failed. 8Leonard, Houston City Directory fca: 1866, p. 96.

9 Rupert N. Richardson, Texas: The Lone Star State, New York: Prentice Hall, 1958, pp. 285-286.

10Sibley, p. 74.

11Some of the Jews who came to Texas came directly from Europe to the port of Galveston. We know that advertisements of steamship companies appeared on the cover pages of the Oesterreichisches Cyggggi- Organ für Glaubensfreiheit, Kultur, Geschichte und Literatur der Juden in 1848, and they advertised passage to New Orleans and Galveston in the spring and fall. Guido Kisch, "The Revolution of 1848 and the Jewish 'On to America' Movement," PAJHS, KXXVIII, March, 1949, p. 215. 16

12 as an Even burial in a Jewish cemetery has its limitations accurate source for identifying Jews because the tradition is that enforce Halachic the first Jewish cemetery in Houston did not strictly For example, law with respect to only burying Jews in the cemetery. be buried there together with a a non-Jewish husband or wife might Jewish spouse. Nevertheless, unless there is evidence to the con- as an identifi- trary, we will accept burial in the Jewish cemetery cation of Jewishness. 13The interment records of the cemetery and the synagogue minutes are both located in the archives of Eeth Israel, Houston, Texas. 2, Henry Cohen, "Settlement of the Jews in Texas," PAJHS, and later 1894, pp. 150-151. Cohen bases himself on family records, accounts are based on Cohen. Cohen also says that Chimene fought Joseph Chimene in at San Jacinto, but there is no record of Eugene and Louis Wiltz The Heroes of San Jacinto by Sam Houston Dixon comprehensive work Kemp, written and compiled in 1938 and the most to be complete. on those who fought, even though it does not claim wrote American Jews felt the need to defend their At the time Cohen articles loyalty and prove their patrioti'sm. They did so by writing among the early on American Jewish history to show that Jews were such work was pioneers and soldiers in the United States. One New Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen, Henry York: Brentanos, 1895. The part in it on Texas was written by Sam Houston Cohen and listed Eugene Joseph Chimene as serving with in the Texan War, p. 72. 15.M_orning Star (Houston), April 22, 1839; May 20, 1839, as Nerchant of quoted by Andrew Forest Muir, Lewis A. Levy: Pioneer American Houston (unpublished article under Lewis A. Levy in the Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio), p. 1.

16Earl Wesley Fornell, The Galveston Era: The Texas Crescent Texas Press, 1961, on the Eve of Secession, Austin: University of Isaac Leeser on p. 83. M. Seeligson wrote the following letter to to election as mayor: 19 June 1853, describing the background his

"Dear Sir: Your kind notice in your last gecident of my elevation to the Mayorality of this city has grati- to ride fied me in one sense, as I never was inclined into public notoriety. I accepted the office not for the sake of lucre, but merely to thwart the designs of a certain clique who, by the by, were preaching publicly the crusades against our nation. This is certainly an evidence, if our people would only sustain their rights and privi- 17

leges in this republican country, and demean themselves accordingly, they can be eleyated to any office they aspire." (published in "Trail Blazers of the Trans- Mississippi West, AJA, October, 1956, p. 74.)

The letter would seem to indicate that there was some hostility toward the Jews in the Gulf Coast area, but it is difficult to know or whether this was simply the opposition's dirty election tactics whether Seeligson was referring to a group that was antagonizing against the Jews before he ran for office. Seeligson did win the election, so apparently the influence of the group was not decisive, and Seeligson himself did not feel that being a Jew was a limitation. Still, that there was hostility is of note.

17Bertram W. Korn, "The Haham De Cordova of Jamaica," AJA, XVIII, 2, Nov. 1966, pp. 145-146 and note 14 in particular. Korn says refutes the statement of a granddaughter of De Cordova which were that Jacob "was not a member of any specific church, neither his father or grandfather."

18James (M.A. Thesis, M. Day, Jaco_b g Cordova: Land Merchant, The University of Texas, 1958), p. 115. Jacob De _Cordova was buried Bosque on Jan. 26, 1868. in a cemetery near Kimball's Bend in County of This was located near Nander's Retreat, his home at the time his death. In 1882 his wife, Rebecca, was buried beside him and on Dec. 17, 1935, both their bodies were removed for special honorable burial in the State Cemetery in Austin. The state legislature had passed legislation to honor "the men and women who contributed much to the early days of the Republic and later to the state of Texas." Texas. Phineas De Cordova is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Austin,

19Ibid., p. 5.

20See Henry Simonhoff, Jewish Notables in America, 1776-1865, "He Brought New York: Greenberg, 1956, pp. 301-305; Harold Preece, Families to Texas," Congress Weekly, vol. 23, no. 22, Aug. 20, 1956, pp. 11-13. Several articles from Texas newspapers are available under Jacob De Cordova at the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the folklore referred to appears in Henry Cohen, "The Jews in Texas," PAJHS, 4, 1896, p. 12, as follows:

"He was well versed in the Jewish religion, wrote the Hebrew language with great facility, and several Ketuboth (marriage contracts) written by him are still preserved in Cincinnati. His memory was wonderful. He could repeat the greater part of the.Sabbath and Holiday services, and chant them after the manner of the different Readers he had heard."

we found He have been unable to substantiate any of this, nor have evidence of De Cordova's being active in the founding of the first 18

Jewish cemetery or synagogue in Houston as the following two articles state without giving sources: J. B. Lightman, "Houston," Tij; Uni- versal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. V, p. 475. Richard Younger, "The Amazing Story of Jacob De Cordova," Real West, VIII, 42, July, 1965, p. 28. The last article simply quotes Preece, "He Brought Families to Texas" but does not give credit.

21Morning Star (Houston), April 6, 1840, as quoted in Day, pp. 15-16.

22Day, pp. 12-13.

23Cohen, "The Jews of Texas," p. 11, says that his election "was duly heralded by the press to show the liberal feelings of the people as_regards religious belief." However, the only reference we found to De Cordova's election in searching the Democratic Telegraoh uvi Texas Register (Houston) from the month preceding through the month following the election, January through March, 1848, is as follows:

"The election in this county for representative excited little interest. The full returns have not been received from the distant precincts; but it is ascertained beyond a doubt that Mr. J. De Cordova is elected by a small majority." Feb. 10, 1848.

24Day, pp. 20-22.

25 Telegraph ggjl Texas Register, Sept. 19, 1840. Advertisement as quoted by Day, p. 17.

26 Day, p. 3, p. 44.

27De Cordova text from exhibit of Jewish Histo-Wall prepared by The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio.

28Day, p. 129.

29Probate Records of Harris County, D. 220-225; Deed Records of Harris County, H, 248-249, as quoted by Muir, p. 4, note 18.

30Bordeaux, France, is given as Chimene's birthplace on his tombstone.

31 Another such case might be Henry Sampson, also a merchant in Houston before the Civil War. He is noted as one of two Jewish Grand Masters of the Masons of Texas in Albert M. Friedenberg, "A of List of Jews who Were Grand Masters of Masons in Various States this Country," PAJHS, 19, 1910, p. 100. According to the article, the Jewish origin or affiliation of any persons named in it is not 19

evidence as to be doubted, but we have not found any corroborating to Sampson's Jewishness.

32Although De Cordova eventually left Houston for other parts of Texas, he lived in the city about fourteen years.

33August Bondi writes about his travels, which include a Texas experience, in his autobiography, a segment of which appears Jewish in Jacob Marcus, Memoirs of American Jews, Philadelphia: The Publication Society of America, 1955, vol. II, pp. 166-170.

34Ibid., p. 168.

35Th_e Houston Republic, Nov. 21, 1857.

36 Ms.. Deed Records in County Clerk's Office, Houston, I, Bertram Wallace 406-407 as quoted by Muir, p. 3, note 10. See also American Korn, Eventful Years and Experiences, Studies in 19th Century Jewish gsty, Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1954, p. 23.

37Harris 3rd Class (Ms. in General Land Office, Austin), file 381/2 as quoted by Muir, p., 2, note 5. 38The land policy of the Republic of Texas legislated that 1, heads of families who came to Texas between Oct. 1, 1837, and Jan. 1842, would receive 640 acres of land. Citizens who arrived after March 2, 1836, were required to reside in Texas for three years 116. before their title was completed. See Richardson, p.

39Deed Records of Harris County, I, 405-406, 406-407: K, 138- p. 3, 139, 288-289, 289; N, 210; F, 704; R, 314 as quoted by Muir, note 10.

40 Ibid., I, 104. See also I, 438-439; J, 587 as quoted by Muir, p. 3, note 11.

41Ibid., I, 287-288; M, 344 as quoted by Muir, p. 3,.note 12 and 13. home. 42We have no record as to whether Levy actually sold his Jan. 6, 1853, according He seems to have entered the advertisement to to its date. Muir does not mention the advertisement and seems think that Levy lived there for the rest of his life. See Muir, p. 3.

43A_ggogeT1, II, No. 10, p. 76, June 28, 1850. See also Muir, pp. 1-2; and Korn, Eventful Years and Experiences, p. 3.

Census 1850 and Levy is listed as a merchant in both the of County, Q, 161, 1860 (See Tables 1 and 5). Deed Records of Harris as quoted by Muir, p. 4, note 15. 20

45L. Rohenthal and Joel Adler vs L. A. Levy, Claimant (1856) in Minutes of the 11th District Court, H, 319, as quoted by Muir, p. 4, note 14.

46Asmonean, II, 103. 10, p. 76, June 28, 1850.

.A_s22RRE1, II, No. 18, p. 138, Aug. 23, 1850,

480ccident, XIV, Sept. 1856, 2A.

O_ccidejat, XI, 1854, p. 581. This donation was comparatively gave $130.00 through small. The Israelites in Brownsville, Texas, L. B. Cain, Esq.

50The threat of Yellow Fever was a real one in Houston as well epidemics in Houston in 1839, 1844, as in New Orleans, there being 1867. See David G. 1847, 1848, 1854, 1855, 1858, 1859, 1862 and of Texas Press, McComb, Houston: Tlu¿ Bayou C).t);, Austin: University was probably 1969, p. 88. The response of the Jews of Houston, then, one of particular empathy.

51De Cordova, p. 64. 520cegent, XII, 1855, pp. 199-200.

53Benajah Harvey Carroll, Jr., Standard History of Houston Knoxville: H. W. Crew Texas from a Study of; the Original Sources, Carroll does not give us his & Co. 1912, p. 162. Unfortunately, source, although his tone suggests that his information is based on oral history. There were other Levy's in Houston at this time, but the Census of the description fits Lewis A. Levy. M. Levy listed in M. A. Levy 32 years old (see Table 5) would be too young. 1860 as president of is not mentioned before 1859 when he became the first H. P. Levy in Beth Israel, and he only took over the business of 52 old in 1850 1866 (ace Chapter III). Lewis A. Levy was years man" as Carroll describes (see Table I), and so would have been "an old the him. Carroll also says that Levy passed away in late fifties, Eeth Louis A. Levy and according to the interment records of Israel, Census of died Jan. 28, 1861. (This spelling was also used in the Levy died in 1862 because 1850, see Table 1.) Muir says that Lewis A. to probate his widow filed his will petitioning that it be admitted 20. S. O. Young, A on Nov. 10, 1862. See Muir, p. 4, note 219ylygggi the Year Hism of the City of Houston, Texas, from its Founding to p. 117, gives an Houston: Press of Rein & Sons Company, 1912, 1912, of almost identical, if shorter, account of Levy and the early Jews from Carroll. He also does Rouston as does Carroll and may be derived also not list his source. Henry Earnston, a rabbi of Beth Israel, Jews of Houston about 1910 wrote a brief three page History of the (manuscript in the archives of ßeth Israel), and he did not mention, either Lewis A. Levy or M. A. Levy. 21

54 Cohen, "Settlement of the Jews in Texas," p. 151. Wolf, name was p. 75. This is based on family records. Henry Wiener's not on the roster of soldiers.

55Marriage Records of Harris County, E. 26, as quoted in Muir, p. 4, note 17.

56Democratie. Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston), Oct. 4, 1849. 57Leonard, Houston City Directs for 1866, p. xliv.

58See Chapter III.

59Leonard, Houston City Directory for 189, p. 113.

60 Coleman. There is an inconsistency in the spelling of the name and the inter- In the Census of 1860 and 1870 it is spelled Coleman, Coleman. How- ment records of Beth Israel show the spelling as Isaac ever, in the History of Texas tog_ether with a Biographical History 1895, the of Houston and Galveston, Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., following two spellings are usede Coleman, p. 366, Colman, p. 482.

611)(bl., p. 482.

62 Ibid., p. 366. II

It is difficult to say just how many Jews were in Houston estimates before 1850, but from 1850 on, we can make more reliable because there are census returns available. Examining the Census women) and twelve of 1850, we find nine Jewish adults (six men, three children. (See Table 1) Neither Isaac Coleman nor Maurice Levy the were found in the Census of 1850, although they do appear in

Census of 1860 (See Table 5). However, as we have indicated earlier,

a census they were in Houston before 1850, and this would seem to be

error.2 They would make the count eight Jewish men, who, along with

Jews of both sexes in the three Jewish women, bring the total of the

Houston in 1850 to eleven." There are at least three additional

Jewish (-see Table names listed in the Census of 1850 that are probably

2). Including them and their families would add six more Jewish to our count, adults (three men, three women) and three children seventeen making the 1850 Jewish population of Houston a possible

was 1,863 adults. The total white population of Houston in that year

--999 males and 864 females. in the An 1852 letter from Galveston that was published Houston were Occident gives us the sense that these few Jews in probably not untypical of Texas then. The letter said:

There are not many Jews in the state; but still you will find a sprinkling of them in every some are adhering to our faith, others village; gentiles.5 again are intermarried with

22 23

By 1855 more Jews had come to Houston, as the organization

(See Chapter III) of a Hebrew Benevolent Association indicates.

the names of The list of the new officers for the society includes at least four more Jews who did not appear in the Census of 1850 or discussed.6 Henry were not previously We also know of another Jew, of adjuster S. Fox, who came to Houston in 1852. He took the job of claims for the firm of Coleman and Levy for three years before other parts of beginning his own business, first with branches in 1857.7 the firm Texas and then in Houston in In the fall of 1852,

the opening of their new variety of Hohenthal & Brother advertised Houston.8 From store, they having just arrived from New York to Houston news- 1856 to 1860 many new Jewish names appeared in the

& Retail Dealers in Dry papers. We find: "Cramer & Wolf, Wholesale

from Mr. H. P. Goods;"° "Groceries, provisions can be obtained cheap St.;n10 Wine, Levy, Main S. Meyer, Dealer in Fancy Goods, Tobacco, Green etc.;11 "The copartnership heretofore existing of the firm of

by mutual consent....Isaac Green, Samuel & Fox, is this day dissolved

Fox;n12 "The undersigned having recently purchased the entire stock

& Fox...announce of Dry Goods and Groceries of the late firm of Green

to the citizens of this and the adjoining counties that they are the prepared to furnish every article usually kept in their line on Co.)"lS co-partnership hereto- most reasonable terms. Posner & "The day fore existing under the name of Hohenthal, Adler & Co. is this

be carried dissolved by mutual consent. The business of the firm will

Solomon L. Hohenthal on by Solomon L. Hohenthal at the old stand.

and well-assorted has just returned from the North with a magnificent 24

the firm of stock;a14 "The co-partnership heretofore existing under

has this day been dissolved by Gerson & Ephraim in Houston, Texas, continue mutual consent of the undersignedparties.../EsejI will Ephraim;n15 "Otto business each under his own name...G. Gerson, I. co-partnership beg leave Nathusius and Bennett Cowen having formed a that they are to inform their friends and the public in general stock of Staple and Fancy now receiving an entire new and splendid Ephraim's old stand, Dry Goods, Groceries...see for yourselves at Gerson;n16 & Jacobs, North side of Main street, opposite G. "Fox Boots and Shoes, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Dry & Fancy Goods,

Texas;n17 S. Rosen- & Waco, "J. &. Hardware, Groceries, & c., Houston

J. &. S. Rosenfield, field, Dealers in Fancy & Staple Dry Goods, Auctioneers;n18 "S. Raphael, Cigars, Fruits, Fancy Groceries, Nuts, next door Confectionery, Tobaacco, Snuff, etc, etc. Perkin's Corner, Auction;n19 "H. R. Marks, to Saloon, Lately occupied by Rosenfield's etc...;n20 ...Fine Clothing and Men's Furnishing Goods, Hats, Trunks, Dry Goods, & Dealers in Clothing, Meyer & Altschul, Wholesale Retail Furnishing Goods, Tobacco, Roots, Shoes, Hats & Caps, Gentlemen's Wines, Brandies, Whiskies, Liquors, Cigars, Fancy & Staple Groceries, Jews in Houston grew etc....u21 We see, then, that the number of similar economic rapidly from 1850 to 1860, and they were employed in with each other in their activity and also were very much involved business dealings.

we find Consulting the cemetery interment records before 1860,

We find another dimension of Houston's ante-bellum Jewish population.

children or a total there the names of eight men, five women and five 25

and whose names of eighteen who were buried in the Hebrew Cemetery,

We do not had not appeared in the Census of 1850. (See Table 4) know if all these people were residents of Houston, or if they were, are of for how long they remained in Houston. Nevertheless, they

Jews Houston and note, as they show a somewhat larger number of in also give us a further sense of the community.

The 1860 Census then shows according to our calculations sixty-eight Jewish adults, forty-two males and twenty-six females, children.22 These figures together with forty (See Tables 5 and 6)

for the Jewish population of Houston in 1860 are in general agreement

R.23 He reported with an 1859 letter written by a Houston Jew, M.

to the Occident that:

The number of Israelites of both sexes is about sixty, consisting almost exclusively of Yehudim from the opposite side of the Atlantic; they are all, thank God, comfortably situated, and many of them, by dint of hard work, have reached that point which renders them independent in worldly considerations.24

Examining the place of birth of the sixty-eight Jewish adults that

see but two of the we found in the Census of 1860, we also that all wives.25 (See men were foreign born, as were all but four of their

these Jews as foreigners in Tables 5 and 6) How distinctive were

Houston?

Houston was In 1850, 32% of the total free population in were foreign born. Of this percentage, which numbered 598, 425

German born. This means that Germans made up 71.1% of the foreign

born in Houston in 1850. In 1860, 35.7% of the free population was

foreign born, with the Germans numbering 816 of a total of 1,350 26

population.26 foreign born, and so making up 60.4% of the foreign born Therefore, before the Civil War, about one-third of the population

was German. of Houston was foreign born, and the prevailing nationality of the How do the Jews fit into this picture? A majority total Jewish population in Houston in 1860 was also German born, even number of though these Jews made up but a small part of the large

German born.27 Forty-three of the sixty-eight Jews found in the

Census of 1860 in Houston listed a German state or city as their birthplace.28 Thus, the Jew as German born shared the common back-

ground of the majority of the foreign population in Houston. What

significance this had is difficult to judge. There seems to be little evidence for Jewish participation in the formation of the

German Clubs in Houston, the Deutscher Verein für Texas, organized 1854,29 although in 1840, and the Houston Turnverein, organized in Order Jews were active in such societies as Masons and Independent Houston.30 origin of Odd Fellows in Jews shared the same national

as Jews with Germans, but most often they were probably thought of

or perhaps even German Jews, but not simply as Germans. Certainly through Texas, Frederick Law Olmsted, writing in 1857 on his trip

German Jews, showing great made a distinction between Germans and

admiration for the former, but describing the latter as follows:

There are a few Jew-Germans in Texas, and, in Texas, the Jews, as everywhere else, speculate in everything--in popular sympathies, prejudices, and bigotries, in politics, in slavery. Some of them own slaves, others have captured and returned fugi- tives. Judging by several anecdotes I heard of them, they do not appear to hav made as much by it as by most of their operations. 27

represents There is no reason to think that Olmsted's comment general attitudes about Jews in Texas, but it does show what must

a German Jew have been true in Houston: being a German and being also were quite different. Still, the circumstances in Houston suggest that the German Jew must not have seemed totally strange cultural heri- and alien to the non-Jew, since at least part of his foreigners in Houston. tage resembled that of a majority of the other

That the German Jews predominated in the Jewish population pattern of of Houston in 1860 is also a reflection of the national the Jewish immigration to the United States in that period. From the 1830's the German Jews had been immigrating in large numbers to European immi- United States, and from then until the Jewish Eastern gration that began in the 1870's, the German Jew dominated the scene.32 in American Jewish So, too, the German Jew was the force

the early history of the Jews in Houston. of Jews were active in some aspects of the social life

Houston, even if they did not participate in the German clubs. As establish- mentioned earlier, Jacob De Cordova was responsible for

ing the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Texas and beginning a in chapter in Houston, and there were other Jews who were active

Jews served as the Odd Fellows as well as in the Masons. Several societies,33 officers of both and it is of note that they were also

the leaders in the first Jewish society, the Hebrew Benevolent Benevolent Associ- Association. Of the eight officers of the Hebrew

one of ation, six were active in either Masons or Odd Fellows, and

organizations,34 as was these, Abram G. Levy, was active in both 28

Fox.35 of Holland Lodge, Henry S. Of seventy-five Master Hasons listed.36 y :Da seven Jews were No. 1 in Houston the year 1856,

Jews were accepted would seem from this, then, that at some levels had the possi- socially, and those Jews who had leadership qualities Jewish bility of finding outlets for them in both non-Jewish and organizations, or both, as they wished.

What were the professions of those Jews of Houston who the were "comfortably situated" according to the 1859 writer of

letter quoted above? Of the forty-two Jewish men identified in merchants,37 the Census of 1860, twenty-seven listed themselves as also one carpenter, and nine listed themselves as clerks. There were listed. one druggist and one H. Chruch P. (Hebrew Church Pastor?)

5 The Jews in Three men listed no profession. (See Tables and 6) to Houston in 1860, then, were largely merchants, and going back that economic the Census of 1850, we find that they already exhibited profes- pattern in 1850. Of the five Jewish men identified who had

sions, all were merchants except Jacob De Cordova, and he had

those names thought to previously been a merchant. Even examining four merchants, one be Jewish, we find the same economic picture,

confectioner. (See Tables 1 and 2) merchants in The newspaper advertisements of these Jewish

and Houston tell us that they dealt in all manner of wholesale groceries.SU indi- retail dry goods and Their advertisements also successfully. cate that they often shared partnerships, if not always Jewish partnerships,39 We have already mentioned eight cases of 29

which we can add the following three: Hohenthal, Reichman & Co.,

Auctioneers and General Commission Merchants; Wiener & Rottenstein,

General Auctioneers and Commission Merchants; G. Gerson, R. Angel- Goods.40 mann, Dry & Fancy

We can also see other relationships among the Jews in the ways by which they managed to establish themselves in business.

Older, already established Jewish firms often gave employment as clerks to family members and other young Jews until they were able to be independent and set themselvesup in their own businesses.

Such was the case of Henry S. Fox, who was adjuster of claims for

a merchant with Coleman & Levy in 1852, and by 1860 was himself several stores. In 1860 Louis Coleman, a younger brother or

1870 he was listed as relative, was a clerk for Isaac Coleman. In Grocer.42 case L. Sanders, a Wholesale Retail This is also the of of Louis who in 1860 was listed as a clerk under the household Peddlar.43 Census Cohen, and by 1870, he was a Dry Goods The in

1860 showed nine Jews who listed their professions as clerks, two who of whom have been discussed. Another example was Isaac Levy,

apparently worked for his father L. A. Levy in 1860, but was a such bridge builder by 1870. Alexander Rosenfield was another

been a clerk. He worked for Solomon Rosenfield and seems to have

younger brother or relative.45 Four of the remaining five Jewish firms.46 clerks also seem to have been employed by Jewish Looking

at the ages of these clerks, we find that all but one of them was

under twenty-six years old, but it is also true that of the twenty-

seven merchants listed in the Census of 1860, only seven were over 30

a of forty years old. (See Tables 5 and 6) This is reflection immigration to Houston being a young community, and German Jewish the United States being dominated by young people in the first part of the nineteenth century.

In 1860 the Tri-Weekly Telegraph reported that Houston had

150-175 mercantile establishments which included twenty-five dry goods houses, thirty retail groceries, five hardware stores, ten warehouses, fifteen commission merchants, five drug stores, twenty stores.48 mixed wholesale and retail merchandise houses and three book

The Jewish merchants must have owned about twenty-two of these mer- cantile establishements.49 However, it is difficult to estimate because the Jewish businesses often seem to fit more than one of the

categories mentioned, such as dry goods and groceries together, and it is difficult to know just how the Tri-Weekly Telegraph made its computations.50 Still, even though our numbers of Jewish mercantile

establishments are only estimates, it seems fair to say that the

Jews were not insignificant in the ante-bellum business community

of Houston.

Were most of the Jews in Houston "comfortably situated" or

even "in a prosperous pecuniary condition" as Isaac Leeser reported 1860?S1 on March 15, On the eve of the Civil War, Houston was well-

established as the major center for wholesale goods in Texas, and

the major center for wholesale goods in Texas, and Houston merchants

showed ever expanding business. Many of the merchants became very

wealthy very rapidly. According to the 1860 Census, there were over $250,000.00.52 six merchants who valued their taxable possessions at over 31

although we do None of the Jewish merchants were in this league, $25,000.00.53 more than find three who valued their possessions at

worth as There were also six other Jewish merchants who gave their 1860 shows that $9,000.00 or more. Nevertheless, the Census of spectrum, with some there were Jews at both ends of the financial

estate. (See Tables 5 and 6) listing no personal estate or real

an indication of recent settlement, It may be that sometimes this is estate of only $150.00, and such as Zacariah Emmich with a personal 1860.54 the spring of On the who we know only arrived in Houston in successful. other hand, some Jews were probably just not so by 1860 showed their Many of the Jews who settled in Houston interest in being land owners, even though they did not respond to Leeser "to encouragement from national Jewish leaders such as Isaac

tradingn55 or ranchers. The Census of give up and become farmers from personal estate, and 1860 shows worth of real estate as separate sixteen held real estate, of twenty-six Jewish heads of household, all but four being valued over $1,000.00. (See Tables 5 and 6) foreign born During this period, about one-fourth of the total

as property population in Houston, or 294 foreigners, were listed the Jews holders.56 Thus, the percentage of property holders among

than among the general foreign in 1860 was higher, just over 60%, Houston and population.57 In one sense, then, the Jews did come to

Texas for land. from 1850 to 1860, the As we have seen, in just one decade,

from as Jewish population of Houston increased at least four fold, sixty-eight in 1860. This decade many as seventeen in 1850 to about 32

of Houston. The white was also important for the general growth 1860.58 population had grown from 1,863 in 1850 to 3,768 in gy Jews the mid-1850's, in less than twenty years of settlement, the of Houston were ready to become organized communally, and one by of one they established the traditional Jewish institutions burial,

charity and worship. 33

Notes - Chapter II

lUnited States Census, 1850, Texas. Schedule 1, Harris was not County, Houston (microfilm). Jacob De Cordova's wife and so they Jewish and his children were not adherents of Judaism have not been counted.

2Even today the census is not always accurate, and the Perhaps that Census of 1850 was the first census taken in Texas. could account for the omission.

3 we can This does not include Eugene Chimene because not possible that show that he was in Houston by 1850, although it is he was. See pp. 4-5.

4 Statistics of the United States. Seventh Census, 1850, Washington, 1853, p. 504.

5 Occident, X, 1852, pp. 58-59.

60ccident, XIII, 1855, pp. 199-200. They are: Abraham and T. Veltman. G. Levy, Joseph Rosenfield, G. Gerson

7 History of Texas, pp. 365-366. 8Telegraph (Houston), Nov. 26, 1852.

9 Telegraph (Houston), Feb. 6, 1856. According to The Business Industries of Bouston, Her Relations as a Center of Trade, Houston: J. M. Elstner & Co. Houses & Manufacturing Establishments, established in 1855, and 1887, p. 29, the firm of Cramer & Wolf was A. Cramer came to Houston in 1851.

10Telegraph (Houston), Oct. 8, 1856.

11Telegraph (Hpuston), Oct. 23, 1857,

12 Telegraph (Houston), Feb. 6, 1856.

13Telegraph (Houston), Feb. 20, 1856.

14 11Àeggagh_ (Houston), March 24, 1856. An earlier ad of the Telegraph advertising a Hohenthal, Adler & Co. appeared in "sale because of death of brother and partner M. L. Hohenthal... purpose: to settle estate." Telegra2(ll (Houston), Feb. 6, 1856. This might well explain the dissolution of the partnership. We should also note that Nayer L. Hohenthal was buried in the Jewish of Galveston. See A. Stanley Dreyfus, Hebrew Cemetery cemetery B'nai Israel, No. 1 of Galveston (unpublished article), Archives, Galveston, Texas), 1965, p. 12. 34

152graph (Houston) , July 21, 1856. be cc M eu h- Maved 16 Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), Dec. 22, 1858. Otto Nathusiusis probably not Jewish, and he is not counted.

17Ad Texas Almanac of 1859, Galveston: A. H. Belo & in C Company, 1859. This Fox is probably Henry Fox, who is distinct us there was from Henry S. Fox, because a newspaper ad tells that Jacobs and S. Meyer under the a partnership of Henry Fox, Manheim was _T_ri-Weekly Telegraph name of Fox, Jacobs & Co. which dissolved. (Houston), Jan. 30, 1863. 18 Tri-Weekly Telegrapla (Houston), Dec. 20, 1860. S. Rosen- appeared as an officer of the field is a new name. J. Rosenfield Hebrew Benevolent Association.

19 T_ri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), Dec. 20, 1860.

20 -Weekly Telegraph (Houston) , Dec. 20, 1860. 211_ri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), Dec. 20, 1860.

22 United States Census, 1860, Texas, Schedule 1, Harris County, Houston (microfilm). This includes nine men and two women as such. See thought to be Jews but not positively identified Table 6. Anni Souza is not counted because she was probably not Jewish, this being based on the fact that Victor Souza actually Wallace Korn: converted to Catholicism in New Orleans. See Bertram Jewish Historical The Mr Jews of New Orleans, Waltham: American Society, 1969, p. 166. member of 23The initials fit Moses Reichman, a future active Beth Israel. See Table 5.

240ccident, XVII, 1859, p. 144.

25 L. H. P. Levy was born in South Carolina and Isaac Levy, Fox, wife the son of Lewis A. Levy was born in Texas. Elisabeth wife of M. of H. Fox, was born in Mississippi. Hortense Jacobs, wife of H. Wiener, Jacobs, was born in Louisiana. Hanna Wiener, F. was born in , was born in Virginia. Betty Wolf, wife of Wolf, these native born Louisiana. See Table 5. It is of note that all who came to Jews are from the south, as the majority of settlers Texas from the United States came from the southern states.

26R. A. Wooster, "Foreigners in the Principal Towns of Ante- Bellum Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterli, LXVI, p. 209. percentage of the foreign born population which the Germans The Wooster's comprised in 1850 and 1860 are our calculations, using totals. 35

27 German Jews made up about 8.3% of the German born popula- tion of Houston in 1860 according to our calculation.

28 and one Two Jews listed Bohemia as their place of birth, listed Austria. They can be considered within the German cultural sphere. It is also of note that Isaac, Rosalio and Louis Coleman Census of 1860, but listed Poland as their place of birth in the 7. changed it to Prussia in the Census of 1870. See Tables 5 and 29 Moritz Tiling, gisjgigt of the German Element in Texas from and Historical Sketches of the German Texas Sinjµgy 1820-1850 Published League and Houston Turnverein from 1853-1913, Houston: any statement by the author, 1913, p. 49, p. 163. We did not find find Jews in excluding Jews from membership, but we also did not a Jewish the first membership lists. However, in 1905, there was President of the Turnverein, Dr. Max Urwitz. See p. 172.

30See pp. 27-28.

31 Frederick Law Olmsted: A Journey Through Texas, New York, 1857, p. 329. New York: Dix, Edwards & Co.

32Jacob R. Marcus, "The Periodization of American Jewish History," Stg in American Jewish History, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1969, p. 8.

33 Lone Star Lodge No. 1: Dr. A. G. Levy, N.G., I.0.0.F., Telegraph Henry Wiener, Treas., J. Rosenfield, P. Sec., Notice in (Houston), Feb. 27, 1856; I.0.0.F. Houston Lodge, No. 50: S. L. Hohenthal, V.G., Webb Encampment No. 13 I.O.O.F.: S. L. Hohenthal, Scribe, Notice in Tri-Weekly Telegraoh (Houston), Oct. 13, 1858; I.O.O.F. Lone Star Lodge No. 1: A. G. Levy, Sec., H. Wiener, Treas., Notice in Trg.-Beekly Telegraph (Houston) Oct, 13, 1858.

34The five others were: Lewis A. Levy, Isaac Coleman, Joseph Rosenfield, G. Gerson and Henry Wiener.

35HistorY 91 jguston, p. 367. 36A. Grand Lodge of S. Ruthven, comp., Proceedings of the A.D. 1g3_7 to Texas from its Organization in the City of Houston Dec. Richardson the Close of the Grand Annual Communication, Galveston: The seven were: I. Colman, J. De & Co., vol, I, 1857, p. 205. A. Abraham G. Cordova, G. Gerson, Sol L. Hohenthal, Lewis Levy, Levy, and Sam Myers.

37 This includes W. Cohen, a merchant tailor and H. Miener, an auctioneer.

38 See pp. 23-24. 36

& Green & Fox, They were: Coleman & Levy, Cramer Wolf, & Ephraim, Fox & Jacobs, J.&S. Rosenfield, Hohenthal & Adler, Gerson

Meyer & Altschul. 40 (Houston), Dec. 20, All had ads in the Tri-g<11 Telegh_ 1860. Rottenstein was probably a Jew.

History of Houston, pp. 365-366.

42 See Tables 5 and 7.

43 See Tables 5 and 7.

See Tables 5 and 7.

45 See Table 5. under 6See Table 6. C. Treyfus and M. D. Cohen were listed under the house- the household of S. Meyer. S. Friedberger was listed under the household hold of G. Gerson. Philipp Tobias was listed of A. J. Raphael.

47Bernard D. Weinryb, "The German Jewish Immigrants to America, Straus and Jews from Germany in the United States, New York: Farrar, Cudahy, 1955, pp. 116-118. 48 Houston: Bayou City, As quoted by David G. McComb, y Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969, p. 22. The number of mercantile establishments enumerated only addsup to 113.

49 Twenty-seven Jews listed themselves as merchants in the one Jew was a druggist. As far as we know, Census of 1860, and with not more than twelve of these were involved in partnerships counted other Jews mentioned in the Census of 1860. Two of the Jews they were had partners who were probably Jews judging by name, but not listed in the Census of 1860. They were Rottenstein, the of G. Gerson. (See partner of H. Wiener and Angelman, the partner number of Jewish Table 3) This would not change the estimated establishments. the 50At the most the Jews could have owned about 20% of mercantile establishments in Houston in 1860, and at the least 12%.

Sloccident, XVII, 1860, p. 306. Beginnings of 52Kenneth Wheeler, To Wear A City's Crown: The Urban Growth in Texas, 1836±86, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968, p. 113. 53 $28,000. I. Coleman, $41,000; M. Levy, $26,500; H. P. Levy, See Table 5. 37

54 Occident, XVII, 1860, p. 306.

55 Occide_nt, XIII, 1856, p. 513. Leeser printed a letter from and on a farm M. Seeligson (see p. 5) who left Galveston settled Jews. He near Goliad, Texas, as an example of new possibilities for can make also wrote that "if five or six / ews go together they arrangements at once to keep the ceremonials of our religion fully pp. 270-271) as well as in cities..." Earlier (Occident, IV,1846, would be to Leeser had suggested that a solution for Russian Jews a in settle them on land as farmers or raisers of stock in colony the United States, Canada or Texas.

56 Wooster, pp. 215-216.

57Ibid. showed that 22.9% of the Germans in Houston rea1¯property,Wooster held this being the second highest percentage, since 24.2% of the French in Houston held property.

58Statistics of_ tjut Population of the United States. Ninth p. 272. 91pyyy , 1870, vol. 1, 1872, 38

III

The first step toward communal organization that Jewish settlers generally took was the establishment of a cemetery in order to bury their dead according to Jewish law. Oscar Handlin tells us that:

Among all immigrants there was a dread of dying alone, of isolation in the final moments of life on earth. The few who came together quickly made provision that they would give each other proper buiral in the foreign soil on which they met. And for Jews, for whom this last human care had a reli- gious significance connected with the hope for resurrection and for a future life, the cemetery needs.2 ranked high in the list of communal Jewish A Jew could remain a Jew any place without an organized

were buried in a community, a synagogue or a rabbi, but if he not

properly consecrated cemetery, he lost his place as a member of the

house of Israel. This was often very important to even the most

non-observant Jew, since even dormant religious traditions have a

way of asserting themselves in periods of crisis, particularly at

time of death. Non-religious and uninvolved Jews seem to have un-

expectedly expressed their desire and need to be buried according fathers.3 to the tradition of their

In Houston, we also find that the first step toward communal

There are no organization was the setting up of a Jewish cemetery. place,4 primary sources describing how this took nor is a deed to the

cemetery plot available, but all secondary sources assume that the

cemetery was founded in 1844 and was the first Jewish cemetery in

the state of Texas. Without any evidence or sources, except perhaps 39

tradition, this date has become standard encyclopedia information cemetery.5 However, for the founding of the original Houston Jewish examination of material not used before sheds some new light on the establishment of the issue, if not giving us an exact date for the cemetery.

The earliest burial recorded in the Beth Israel cemetery list of interments is that of Herman Jacobs who was buried on 1854.6 seems December 10, However, this record book of interments

record or made from the to have been either recopied from an earlier because the information already on the tombstones in the cemetery the end of the entries are not in chronological order. Also, at given according list of interments, nine undeciphered tombstones are need not to their lot number in the cemetery. Thus, the 1854 burial

we have no earlier have been the earliest Jewish burial even though

one recorded. Hebrew According to Jacob De Cordova, writing in 1858, the

Benevolent Association established and controlled the burial-ground of in Houston,7 but the newspaper notice announcing the formation

that Hebrew Benevolent Association on March 7, 1855, also tells us that: Their /the Hebrew Benevolent Association/ first business was to subscribe as a voluntary contri- m build a bution a sufficient amount of ney to fence around their grave-yard. before the This indicates that there was already a Jewish cemetery formal founding of the Hebrew Benevolent Association, and is supported record of cemetery by the earlier date of December 10, 1854, in the interments. 40

founded as Is it not possible, then, that the cemetery was

we also find that early as 1844? If we read De Cordova carefully when Speaking of Jewish development in Texas in 1858, he tells us that the Jews

...have established two burial-grounds. The oldest of these burial-grounds is situated in Galveston, and was donated by Joseph Osterman, Esq.9 and was consecrated with appropriate ceremonies and a most eloquent address by the 1852.10 Rev. Mr. M. N. Nathan, in Occident This is confirmed by an 1852 news article appearing in the which describes the ceremony of the consecration of the Galveston the correct cemetery and duplicates De Cordova's account, even to naming of the rabbi who dedicated the cemetery. It also reprints the address given by Rabbi Nathan which begins as follows:

This, I believe, is the first public assemblage and in a quarter, so remote from the birth-place cradle of our religion, of persons born and reared therein, met, to lay the foundation-stone, as it may be termed, of the edifice of Judaism.... At some distant date, when, as may be safely, and, I trust, truly predicted, large congregations of our brethren will abound in this giganticState of the Union, curiosity will naturally be excited to ascertain who first unfurled and raised the standard of Judaism in this section of the West. Let, then, the particulars of the occasion be justice to your- duly registered and recorded, in generations.11 selves, and a chronicle for coming

to be This seems to indicate that Rabbi Nathan believed himself

presiding over the dedication ceremony for the establishment of

the first Jewish institution in Texas. 1852, If there had been a Jewish cemetery in Houston before known of the Jews in Galveston, only fifty miles away, would have it,

as the and Jacob De Cordova, the Jew and the journalist, as well 41

resident of Houston, would not have overlooked such a fact in writing information about the Jews of Texas in his book. What now seems clear, then, is that the Jewish cemetery of Houston was not founded accepted. Rather, it was as early as 1844, as has been previously December 1854. established some time after 1852 and by or before 10,

cemetery to be Also, it was the second and not the first Jewish established in the state of Texas.

The Hebrew Benevolent Association of Houston was founded organiza- in the early spring of 1855, and the Oc]:Lge]1t_ heralded its the state of Texas," tion as the first "regular Jewish Society in from the Houston Telegraph and reprinted the following as extracted

of Harch 7th, 1855:

A large number of the citizens of our town, professing the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the name have formed themselvesinto a body under of the Hebrew BenevolentAssociation of the City of Houston, for the purpose of mutual assistance and of their relief, as well as to render aid to all poor church, whether in pecuniary or physical distress.

Their first business was to subscribe as a money voluntary contribution a sufficient amount of The to build a fence around their grave-yard. second was to organize themselves into an associa- tion, by electing the following named gentlemen as the first officers of the fraternity, viz:

Lewis A. Levy, President; G. A. Simon, Vice- President; Abraham G. Levy, M. D., Secretary; Isaac Coleman, Treasurer; Joseph Rosenfield, G. Gerson, Henry Wiener, Trustees; and T. Veltman, Marshal.

They have also adopted a set of rules and regulations, which were ordered to be printed. acquainted We have the pleasure to be personally with several of the above-named gentlemen, and know them to be among the most kind-hearted, humane, and high-minded business men of our city; and we hail with pleasure the organizing of such societies before the 42

speed.n12 sickly season sommences, and bid them "God

was to This article tells us that the main intent of the society

those Jews of Houston provide a source of charity and assistance for

common and being formed who needed it. Similar societies were quite

all over the United States at that time, as even a limited reading

of the Occident shows.13

The Houston Hebrew BenevolentAssociation also apparently

assumed the responsibility of maintaining the Jewish cemetery, a

a Indeed, duty which was often part of the purpose of such society.

same the Jews who first established the cemetery were probably the had Jews who founded the Hebrew BenevolentAssociation, but they

not formally organized themselves until they founded the society.

was The style in which the society was organized already

notably American, from the election of the particular officers of This the fraternity to the printing of the rules and regulations. were of is of interest as the majority, if not all the members,

European background and had only settled recently in Houston. of The last paragraph of the announcement of the formation

the Hebrew Benevolent Association offers a bit of insight about the probable general attitude in Houston to the formation of this Jewish

group. If such comments were written today, they might easily be

considered apologetic and indicative of underlying doubts about the

integrity of Jews, particularly Jewish businessmen. However, the

flowery style and the character evaluation and praise are quite

typical of the journalism of the period, and might have been used

to describe the members of any society. The formation of the Hebrew 43

than Benevolent Association seems to have been reported as no more Houston. That the part of the institutional religious growth of several of the Jews editor comments on his personal acquaintance with

shows involved in the society is perhaps of more significance. It established in the community, that some of the Jews were known and even by 1855. Hebrew More insight into Houston's attitude toward the town Benevolent Association can be gained by noting the way the

organized its 1856 Fourth of July celebration. The Houston Lyceum,

and military societies to a study group, invited the town's civic

appoint conmittees to meet and plan the celebration. At a meeting reported of the committees, the Houston Telegraph of June 11, 1856,

the following resolution: Resolved: That the Hebrew Benevolent Association the Sunday be invited to participate with us. Also schools of the city and the religious societies generally.

the citizens of Houston and Harris A second resolution also invited

County to participate in the celebration. Benevolent Association From this we can see that the Hebrew institution, but it was also was thought of in terms of a religious

was necessary to single recognized as unique. Apparently, it felt

but this was it out from other "religious societies generally," Most perhaps only to insure that it be included in the celebration. had probably had of the people involved in Houston's civic affairs Jewish organizations until little or no experience in dealing with Hebrew Benevolent that time and were unsure just how to categorize the Association, which had been in existence in Houston just over a year.

The Hebrew Benevolent Association was included in the 1856

Fourth of July parade in Eouston, and the Telegraph of July 2, 1856, gives us the order of the procession. The Hebrew Benevolent Associ- ation came next to the last, preceding the citizens on foot. It did-not follow the Sunday Schools or the Temperance Society, but came just after the Lyceum, the organizer of the celebration. This might mean that the Hebrew Benevolent Association was considered then the to be a more fraternal than religious organization, but

two prominent fraternal organizations in Houston at that time, the

Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, do not seem to have

participated at all in the parade. We can not know whether the Jews

themselveswere largely responsible for instigating the extending of

the original invitation to participate in the celebration, but none

of the articles reporting the organization procedure mentioned any

Jews, and this does not seem to have been the case. The deliberate

inclusion of the Hebrew Benevolent Association in the Fourth of

July festivities seems to indicate a positive recognition of the

Jews in Houston, along with a willingness to accept them into the

social and civic life of the community.

The history and functioning of the Hebrew Benevolent Associ-

ation thereafter is obscure, although the ËíSELË11 City Directory for

1866 indicated that:

The Hebrew Benevolent Society has not been reorganized thorough since the close of the war, but will be shortly. 45

This might well mean that the society functioned until or even throughout the Civil War, although the first Jewish congregation the in Houston was in existence by 1859, and 1861 minutes of fence of the congregation speak of a committee for repairing the graveyard, indicating that the maintenance of the Jewish cemetery synagogue.15 had been taken over by the Beth Israel minutes of the benefit of January 17, 1864, speak of a "Mutual Aid Asso' for the Jewish needy families," and that might have meant the Hebrew

Benevolent Association, and minutes of December 16, 1866, show that Association.16 Beth Israel paid two bills for the Benevolent The the Hebrew Benevolent .latter reference is probably an indication that

Association did function until it faced financial problems some time during or just after the Civil Nar.

The actual date of the founding of the first congregation years in Houston, called Beth Israel, is problematic. 1854, ten

after the founding of the cemetery,has been generally accepted, of the cemetery, but as is the case of the date of the founding

this.17 However, we do there is no existing evidence to confirm

A from have other sources from which to establish a date. letter

Houston, Texas, dated August 27th, 1859, reveals the following:

...on the eve of this last Sabbath, we were privileged by our heavenly Father to witness the dedication of a house to be hereafter devoted to the worship of His divine name; and though it was not attended with the pomp, the soul-stirring chant, and the loud halle- I believe lujah from a large congregation; yet that all felt the presence of the spirit of Divine Providence as they entered for the first time the first house of God in this, the Lone Star State. This is the Pioneer gregation of Texas, and is but the shadow of the many to 46

M. A. Levy, be there established hereafter. Mr. formerly Vice-President of the congregation Shearith Israel, of Charleston, S. C., is our President, and to this gentleman, we are indebted for the liberality to and ceaseless exertions which he made in order bring about this happy result...

The name of the congregation is Beth Israel, the House of Israel. The heavy expenses we are under will preveñt us for this year from engaging to a Hazan. The prayers are to be said according the Polish Minhag, with some changes, which will not conflict with strict orthodox principles18 synagogue of the This establishes the date of the dedication of the organization of the congregation as August, 1859, but the actual date from another congregation was somewhat earlier. We learn that article in the Occident of March 15, 1860. It informs us that: of The congregation...was established on the 8th con- May of last year, and comprises now thirty tributing members.19 Congregation Beth Israel, then, The actual date of the formation of previously thought.20 was May 8, 1859, and not 1854 as of Beth Israel refer to Minutes of a June 17, 1866, meeting legislature of the state an Act approved December 23, 1859, by the chartered. of Texas which made Beth Israel a body corporate duly

information as The Rouston Directory of 1866 also gives us that follows:

was chartered The Hebrew Congregation of Houston Legislature on the 28th of December, by the state organization.21 1859, a short time after its synagogue, Thus, CongregationBeth Israel was founded, dedicated its the of Texas, all in the and was given official recognition by state

year 1859. organized,22 Beth Israel numbered twenty-two members when it was 47

members.23 Since and by March, 1860 it had thirty contributing showed our count of the Jewish population of Houston in 1860 forty-two men, it would seem that most of the Jews chose to affiliate with the new synagogue. synagogue The 1859 letter telling of the dedication of the

did not describe the building, but fortunately we do find such a description later in the Occident:

The congregation owns in the middle of the city several adjoining lots; on which there has been erected a wooden structure, the front of which portion as a is used as a Synagogue, the back meeting room. The Synagogue is handsomely fitted up...25 even Thus, Beth Israel arranged for a place in which to worship

a rabbi or a before the congregation was able to afford either

was attirubted largely hazan. The organization of the congregation President.26 to the efforts of one man, M. A. Levy, the This was

not unusual. Strong leadership was necessary to form a congregation,

common pattern and unlike many Christian denominations, the most trained. among the Jews was that such leadership was not religiously

have a rabbi or hazan con- It was desirable, but not necessary, to

duct services. Synagogues could be organized several years before

was often due to the they acquired an official rabbi or hazan. This Ëhat-time in the scarcity of men qualified to hold such positions at pressures, United States, and it was also frequently due to financial of existence. as was the case for Beth Israel in its first year

Z. Emmich for one By February, 1860, Eeth Israel had hired from year to serve as hazan, shochet and mohel. He was originally 48

Baòen,27 Leeser noted but was living in the United States. Isaac having met him in 1855 in Lafayette, Indiana, and being "favorably principles."28 impressed with his manner and his ready defence of orthodox two years because Emmich only held the position with Beth Israel for

9 There seem to have his contract was not renewed in February, 1862. the membership been some unpleasant incidents, and at least part of

position.30 Emmich re- thought he was not qualified enough for the mained in Houston, however, and became a merchant, a "Dealer in Groceries.n31 Glassware, Crockery, Cutlery and It is interesting to occasions note that Beth Israel continued to call upon him on special did have anyone such as the High Holidays and Passover when they not

to officiate.32

Soon after Z. Emmich took over his position at Beth Israel,

case because he rendered his services as mohel. This is interesting

it reveals something of the way Jews accommodated themselves to the frontier conditions in Houston. The Occident reported that: years On Sunday, the 25th of March, a boy of eight old was initiated into the covenant, in the pre- sence of the congregation. He had been prepared for the act for four weeks previously, and the ceremony was performed with such solemnity and with such composure on the part of the boy, that by-standers. it made a deep impression on all the The circumstances of the parents had not before this permitted them to send for a Mohel, on account of the attendant heavy expenses, but the presence enabled them at once to fulfill the of Mr. Emmich neglected...33 duty hither to

available was in Until Z. Emmich came to Houston the nearest mohel

Occident tells us. An 1852 New Orleans, as an earlier report in the

Jews dealt with letter from nearby Galveston described another way 49

the problem of circumcision:

E. Cohen, lately from England, having a A Mr. praiseworthy son born to him, concluded with a courage to perform the circumcision himself, as we People en- have no Mohel nearer than New Orleans. deavoured to persuade him to wait till the child for. could be taken thither, or a Mohel be sent performed But he replied, that our Father Abraham he not do this duty on the eighth day, why should contemplated, in it also? He therefore did as he the child is doing the presence of a surgeon, and we11.34

years in Texas and in Houston re- Living as a Jew during the early possible. quired some flexibility, but it was synagogue according Beth Israel was established as an orthodox ritual.35 This is curious because the majority to the Polish Minhag or background.36 German Row- of the Jews in Houston before 1860 were of congregation is particularly ever, since the orthodox position of the

probably a means of dis- stressed, the use of the Polish Minhag is orthodox ritual. tinguishing between the German reform ritual and the Beth Israel, After all, the main force behind the organization of South Carolina, where M. A. Levy, came to Houston from Charleston, and Shearith Israel he had been Vice-President of Shearith Israel, formed in 1847 by unhappy orthodox members was a splinter congregation, reform.37 of Beth Elohim when it began moving toward testifies to the ortho- The Occident of March 15, 1860, also us: doxy of Beth Israel. It tells prosperous Most of our brothers there are in a pecuniary condition; several are well educated men, and keep the Sabbath and Festivals strictly, and do no business on the sacred days.

there was an attempt Minutes of the Congregation also inform us that 50

Sabbath. They drew by some members to enforce the keeping of the

and reveals just how they up a petition for all members to sign, it thought. It said in part:

...concerning the imperative duties incumbent upon every Israelite, which unfortunately have been neglected in our midst namely, observing the Sabbath .... Do not Gentiles do so.... Let us keep the Sabath holy, let us close our Homes and places of business, let us perform the duties we owe to Him, to ourselves and to our fellowmen, let us set an Example to the world, that religion is the true happiness and comfort in this world, that we giggy; strictly to the prin- ciples and teaching of our ancestors, we will then have the happiness in ourselves, we will be respected by our fellow man and be loved by Him--who calls us his children and who or /sig/ descendant of the chosen people.38

of those who A resolution was then passed revoking the membership violated the Sabbath by keeping their businesses open, and allowing

only those Israelites who closed their places of business on the were Sabbath to be eligible for membership. Thereafter, charges brought against five members for violating the Sabbath and several suspended.39 of mer- of them were Such orthodoxy for a congregation

chants is impressive, but it is actually impossible to say how long

Charges do re- the keeping of the Sabbath was actively enforced. not

appear in the minutes after the initial fervor, and it is difficult

were no further to believe that all observed the Sabbath and there violations.

The establishment of Beth Israel should be seen in the light

a rough of the general religious atmosphere in Houston. Houston was for frontier town known for its drinking, gambling and violence, not that: its piety. The Morning Star of October 14, 1839, noted 51

...in a city like ours with more than three thousand inhabitants and with so much wealth, there is no place for public worship and not one resident minister.40 1841,41 The first church was not opened in Houston until and by

1866 the Houston iŠly; Directory listed only ten churches, of which

Beth Israel was one. Considering the small proportion of the total population that the Jews were, this is of note. It is not very

likely, then, that the Jews in Houston felt much outside social pressure to establish and be part of some religious institution,

although their Sabbath observance petition shows that they were

sensitive to some religious forces in Houston. It would seem that

the establishment of Beth Israel grew more out of internal spiritual

and communal needs. 52

Notes - Chapter III

18ertram Korn, "American Jewish Life in 1849," Eventful Abierican Years and Experiences, Studies in Nineteenth Century Jewish Archives, 1954, p. 29. Jes ish History, Cincinnati: American

2 Oscar Handlin, Adventure in Freedom, Three Hundred Years p. 64. of Jewish Life in America, New York: McGraa-Hill, 1954,

3 been born a Such an example was Benjamin Leib who had he.called'in the Jew. On his death bed in 1821 in Cincinnati, Jewish surprised Jews of the town and asked to be buried with resulted in the purchase rites and in a Jewish cemetery. This David Philipson, "The Jewish of a plot for a Jewish cemetery. Pioneers of the Ohio Valley," PAJHS, VII, 1900, pp. 43-57.

4 Beth Israel Cemetery is located at West Dallas Avenue in Houston. It is adjacent to the Old City Cemetery, currently known to p. 1, note 1, as Founder's Memorial Park, and according Muir, is no record the Old City Cemetery was begun informally and there of the land. Muir showing how or when the city acquired possession as the thinks that the Jewish cemetery probably began as informally public cemetery did.

5The basis for all these secondary sources seems to be Henry P)ghjs, 2, 1894, p. 152. Cohn, "Settlement of the Jews in Texas," The Universal Cohen repeats himself in an article on Texas in One Hundred Mrs Jewish Encyclopedia, and in a pamphlet entitled committee for the Jewry in Texas published by the Jewish advisory fj; Barnáhon, an Texas centennial religious program in 1936. Dr. Renry Beth Israel, repeats the date of 1844 as the important rabbi of unpublished foundation of the first Jewish cemetery in Houston, in an which must have article called ))y; History of the Jews of Houston about 1910. It is located in the Beth Israel Archives, been written Congre- Texas. Atme Nathan Cohen, Centenary Histori of Houston, Beth gation ßeth Israel oji Houston, Texas, 1854-1954, (published by sources. Walter Israel), quotes Cohen and Barnsbn as secondary Texas, Austin: The Prescott Webb and others, eds., The Handbook of also accepts Texas State Historical Society, 1952, vol. 1, p. 912, on Houston in Cohen's date. Only J. B. Lightman in the article give any date for the The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia does not De Cordova with establishment of the cemetery, and he connects Jacob its founding.

6These records are located in the Beth Israel Archives, Houston, Texas.

and Her Public Men, Jacob De Cordova, Texas, Her Resources p. 64. Philadelphia; 3. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858, 53

80ccident, XIII, 1855, pp. 199-200.

A. Stanley Dreyfus, jggggy Cer:etery No. 1 of Galveston, 1965 (unpublished article of Archives ß'nai Israel, Galveston, Texas), Dreyfus says that the Dyers probably gave the land for the Galveston cemetery, but he also says that we do not know for sure. Joseph Osterman's wife, Rosanna, was a sister to the Dyer brothers. we have showing De Cordova's statement is the first primary source who donated the land. that it was Joseph Osterman, and not the Dyers,

10De Cordova, p. 64.

11 Occident, X, 1852, pp. 380-384.

12 Occid nt, XIII, 1855, pp. 199-200. We were unable to secure the original article in the Houston Telegraph.

13For example, the article in the 0

14Leonard, Houston g Directory _for 166_, p. 113. 15 Minutes of August 4, 1861, Beth Israel Archives, Houston, Texas. See also Anne Nathan Cohen, p. 1.

16See also Anne Nathan Cohen, p. 7.

17 The basis for all the secondary sources on the dating of the founding of Congregation Beth Israel seems to be the same as that for the founding of the cemetery, Henry Cohen, and the date of 1854 is repeated by the same articles as mentioned in note 4 above.

18 Occident, XVII, 1859, p. 144.

19 Occident, XVII, 1860, p. 306. 20An article in the Occident, XIV, 1856, 410 did report that: "In Texas, we believe, there is a congregation in Houston, and one in San Antonio; but we are not aware that a regular officiating minister is engaged in either place; in Galveston we believe they have only a burying-ground; but we lack positive information." This information is not definite and seems to be based on hearsay, although the part about the burial-ground in Galveston is correct. B. San Antonio only seems to have had a cemetery in 1856. J. Light- man in the article on Houston in The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia a synagogue, did write that in the year 1856 a home was converted to but he did not give any source, and it is impossibic to accept this 54

at face value, particularly since he also says that Beth Israel was founded in 1860.

21Leonard, Houston Cg Directory_ of _1b 6, p. 113. There December 23 and December 28, is a slight discrepancy in the two dates, 22Ibid.

230ccident, XVII, 1960, p. 306.

24

25 Occident, XVII, 1860, p. 306.

26See p. . Occident, XVII, 1859, p. 144. M. A. Levy was Houston Jewish no relation to L. A. Levy, the earlier leader of the the community. He is also not the same as M. Levy who appears in Census of 1860 (See Table 5), and who seems to have been the partner of Isaac Coleman. M. A. Levy might be the same as Morris Levy in the Census of 1870 (See Table 7), but he probably is not. It seems that H. P. Levy, M. A. Levy probably came to Houston under the influence of 5) because we who was also originally from South Carolina (See Table find the following notice and advertisement in the _T_ri;2eekly Telegraph (Houston), Sept. 1, 1866:

"See notice of M. A. Levy, who has for many years been the active manager of the house of H. P. Levy, one of the most popular provision and family grocery houses of the city."

"M. A. Levy, successor to H. P. Levy will carry on a General Commission Business. Shinplasters issued by H. P. Levy will be redeemed as heretofore by M. A. Levy."

27 See Table 3.

280ccident, XVII, 1860, p. 306.

29Hinutes Beth Israel, October 19, 1861.

30Minutes Beth Israel, February 2, 1862.

31Advertisementin Leonard, Houston City Directory of 1866, p. xlii.

32 Minutes Beth Israel, April 13, 1863.

33 Occident, XVIII, 1860, p. 24.

34 Occident, X, 1852, pp. 58-59. 55

35 See p. 46.

36See Chapter II, p. 26.

37"Charleston, South Carolina," The Universal Jewish Encyclo- dia, vol. 3, p. 117. 38 Minutes Both Israel, October 19, 1861.

39Minutes Beth Israel, November 4, 1861.

40As quoted by McComb: Houston the Bayou C2, pp. 70-71. 41Ibid. CONCLUSION

Jews came to Texas and to Houston as they did to other new, developing areas in the United States, in order to find new oppor- tunities to settle and build a better life. They were generally young. Some were new immigrants straight from Europe, others had tried other places before reaching Texas. In Houston, they found economic possibilities suitable to their talents and inclinations, so they owned settled and became clerks and merchants. These urban pioneers

and and operated stores selling a variety of commodities: clothing

groceries, luxuries and necessities. They dealt in wholesale and

retail goods, sold for cash and on credit. Many of them became

property owners, and some of them became involved in the civic and social life of Houston, although there were probably some aspects of

it that were not open to them as Jews. decade As the Jewish population of Houston increased in the

from 1850 to 1860, the Jews began to organize themselves as a com-

munity. They set up the traditional Jewish communal institutions Benevolent Association in 1855, of a cemetery about 1854, a Hebrew

was soundly and a synagogue in 1859. The Houston Jewish Community

been the established by the Civil War, and although it may not have

largest Jewish community in Texas, it was the only one so organized.

The Jews who settled in Houston seem to have accepted the

standards of the society around them quite readily. We know that

56 57

slaves,2 several of the merchants sold and some Jews were also probably slave owners. With the coming of the Civil War, Houston overwhelmingly supported secession, and the Jews, it seems, shared

those sentiments as the following letter indicates:

Houston, March llth 1862 Mrs. Robert Brewster, President of Houston Hospital Society Madame--The Israelite ladies of Houston have the pleasure to forward to you the sum of $131 for the benefit of the sick soldiers in the hospital. We are desirous, by prompt and united action, to afford, all the relief in our power to the sick and wounded of our army, and have resolved: That, in view of the necessity which now exists of affording aid and relief to the wounded and sick of our army, and of providing for the future, in the course of the most savage war, made against us by a malignant foe, we have concluded to adopt measures by which means may be raised to afford, at all times, such succor and relief as may be required for the sick and wounded of the army; and that a committee is hereby appointed, whose duty it shall be to solicit subscriptions to a fund to be devoted to that object during the war; and at the close of the war, whatever funds remain in their hands be divided among the widows and orphans of the soldiers from Texas, who may fall in battle or die while engaged in the service of the country. We shall forward to you, from time to time, the amounts collected. We remain respectfully, Mrs. S. Rosenfield Mrs. S. Hohenthal Committee Mrs. J. Posner

26, This letter was published in the I'ri-Weekly Telegraph of March

1862, perhaps an indication that the Jews were concerned with making

public their position on the war, and demonstrating their loyalty.

There were cases of Jewish merchants in the South who were accused

as Jews of profiteering and extortion during the Civil War, but this Houston.5 does not seem to have occurred in 58

Jews of Houston were By the time of the Civil War, then, the

and as part of the larger, established both as a Jewish community general community of Houston. 59

Notes - Conclusion

There are no Jewish population figures of Texas available until 1877, when the Board of Delegates of American Israelites and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations sent out census reports. and Jewish Organiza- According to H. S. Linfield, Statistics of Jews p. 39, in tions, New York: The American Jewish Committee, 1939, 1877 the Jewish population of Galveston was 1,000, while that of had a larger Houston was 461, which might well mean that Galveston Jewish population than Houston in 1860. However, in 1860 the Jews communal development did of Galveston had only a cemetery, and other not take place until the end of the decade.

2 Henry Wiener and his partner William Anders announced in the Feb. 24, 1854 issue of the _TelegaEh and Texas Register that and would they had "associated themselvesin the Auction Business" "attend to all kinds of sales--Real Estate, Negroes and Merchandise." a rate M. Reichman advertised "one negro boy aged 13 years, first house servant, fully guaranteed" for sale on April 15, 1863 in the Tri-Weekly Telegraph, and earlier on March 20, 1863, he ran the following notice in the Tri-Weekly Telegraph: "Wanted: negroes, horses, mules, to fill orders. The highest prices will be paid."

3We were unable to check the 1860 slave census returns which are separate from the general census, but the 1870 census returns Jews. These show Negroes listed under the households of a number of were Negroes are generally listed as domestic servants, but they employment of probably former slaves who technically remained in the the household after they were freed. This seems to be indicated by appear to be the listing of many young Negro children and what even whole families of Negroes.

88% Wheeler, T_o_Wear a City's Crown, p. 153. In Houston favored secession.

5 War, See Bertram Wallace Korn: Am_erican_ Jewry; and the Civil of hostile New York: Atheneum, 1970, pp. 175-188 for a discussion attitudes towards Jewish merchants in the South during the Civil War. In examining the Houston newspapers during this period, we high prices and the be- found a number of editorials complaining of Jewish merchants havior of merchants, but we found no attacks on the in Houston. The following statement, with its reference to Shylock, that appeared in the April 15, 1862, issue of the Tri-Weekly Telegragh is the nearest thing we found to an anti-Jewish statement:

"The Lord will not shower down his blessings on those who charge one dollar for a paper of pins, that never cost more than a picayune. We know how you Shylocks put it up. You think you will sell out your stock, at your own prices, pocket the money and then reform and be blessed and saved." 60

6Margaret Dorthea Bright, The Social Develonment of Texas, 1836-1860 (M.A. Thesis, University of Texas, 1940) had the following si about the Jews of Houston:

"The Jewish element now so conspicuous in the city, was not so much in evidence in the first quarter of of this a century of Houston's life. The proclivities race to linger in the more populous trading centers and their lack of pioneering enterprise made this period in the city an unpromising field for their activities. To say that there were no Jews in early Houston would be an error, but to point out that they were much later in acquiring their present prominent position is more in keeping with the facts. How they would have merged into the picture at that time is problematical." -pp. 46-47

A number of Jews We maintain that this study has shown otherwise. found Houston quite promising for their economic activity before the Civil War. It may be that they were not among the wealthiest and most prominent of Houston's citizens during that period, but To they made the basis from which the Jewish community was formed. count them out of Houston's early development is to show an incom- p1ete picture of Houston before 1860. 61

NOTES TO TABLES

*head of household

Under Evidence for Identification as a Jew:

A indicates burial in Beth Israel Cemetery

B indicates membership in Congregation Eeth Israel (not necessarily at date of Census) Association C indicates membership in Hebrew Benevolent hŠÊiËional Information:

A name in parentheses indicates an alternate spelling, or the name for which the initial stands, as derived from a source other than the census.

Children are counted in a household if they are age 18 or under. However, if someone under 18 has a profession, then he is listed separately. There are also a few other cases when clarity necessitates the listing of children under 18 separately.

A wife is considered a member of the Congregation indicated women's by B if a seat was purchased in the section.

Unless there is some evidence for thinking otherwise, wives of Jews will be included in the counting of Jews, even when there is no available evidence for identification as a Jewess. TABLE 1

CENSUS OF 1850 JEWS IN HOU3TON FOUND IN THE

No. of Evidence for Worth Children Identification as Jew Name Age Birthplace__ Profession "The Haham De Jamaica Land Agent 10,000 See: Korn, *De Cordova, Jacob 42 Cordova of Jamaica," pp. 145- 146.

6 A, B 40 Germany Merchant *Gohlman, Henry A Gohlman, Sophia 32 Germany Merchant 1,000 4 A, B, C *Levy, Louis A. 52 Holland (Lewis A.) ß Levy, Mary A. 50 England Levy, Jacob A. 19 Louisiana

Merchant C Simon, J. A. (G. A.) 53 Germany (resident in hotel of Mary H. Wilson)

2 B, C *Weiner, Henry 32 Prussia Merchant (Wiener) A Weiner, Hannah 25 Virginia (daughter of L. Levy, above; see note 55, p. 21) TABLE 2

JEWISH NAFES FOUND IN THE CENSUS OF 1850 THOUGHT TO BE

No. of Evidence for Identification as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession Children

name 3 Probable Jewish *Fox, Jos. C. 36 Germany Confectioner

Fox. Eliza 30

Probable Jewish name *Levy, John France Merchant

Levy, Elisabeth 34 Ohio

Levy, Elisabeth 15 Nissouri

Probable Jewish name. In *Mandelbaum, Simon 30 Prussia Merchant the lŠ70's three Mandelbaum brothers, but none was named Simon, had stores in Bremond, Kosse and Bryan, Texas. See: "Texas Merchants After the Civil War," AJA, XII, April, 1960, pp. 71-74. TABLE 3

BUT NOT FOUND IN EITHER CENSUS I. JEWS IN HOUSTON BETWEEN 1850 AND 1860,

Identification as a Jew Name Evidence of Beth Israel Cemetery reads: Green, Isaac Tombstone in Jetta Benjamin/ died Aug. 14th, 1859/ aged 58 years/ wife of Isaac Green (See Table 4) BenevolentAssociation Levy, Abraham G., M.D. Secretary, Hebrew BenevolentAssociation Veltman, T. Marshal, Hebrew

BUT NOT FOUND IN II. PROBABLE JEWS IN HOUSTON BETWEEN 1850 AND 1860, EITHER CENSUS.

Identification as a Jew Name Evidence of (relegraph, Adler, Joel Partner of M. L. Hohenthal May 24, 1856), probable Jewish name

Gerson (Tri-Weekly Tele- Angelman, R. Partner of G. JU]EÁl, Dec. 20, 1860).

Emma Angleman buried in Beth Israel Cemetery, Nov. 3, 1859 (See Table 4, note discrepancy in spelling) Tombstone in Beth Israel Cemetery reads: Miss Emma/ Daughter off S. & C. Anglemann/ Died/ in Houston Nov. 3, 1859 os Rottenstein Partner of Henry Wiener, probable Jewish name (Tri-Weekly Telegraph, Dec. 20, 1860) TABLE 4

INTERMENT BURIALS IN THE HEBREW CEMETERY BEFORE 1860 AS TAKEN FROM THE RECORDS OF BETH ISRAEL, EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE INDICATED.

Other Information Year Name Age Date of Burial Prussia (copied from tombstone) 1854 Jacobs, Eerman 23 Dec. 10, 1854 Native of 1855 Heyum, Adolph 18 Sept. 18, 1855 Copied from tombstone, not in synagogue 1855 Jameson, Elizabeth infant Feb. 15, 1855 interment records. 1855 Rosenfield, Joseph Hm. 22 Nov. 14, 1855 1858 Block, A. 20 Nov. 9, 1858 Colman (coþied from tombstone) 1858 Colman, Theresa 18 Sept. 7, 1858 Wife of Isaac 1858 1858 Colman, twin infants Dec. 30, 1858 Born July 8, 1858 Colman, Adolph 14 Sept. 23, 1858 1858 Rosenfield, M. 42 Dec. 30, 1858 M. Rosenfield (copied from tombstone) 1853 Rosenfield, Rachel 43 Dec. 24, 1858 Consort of of S. & C. Angleman (copied from 1859 Angleman, Emma 20 Nov. 3, 1859 Daughter tombstone) Isaac Green (copied from tombstone) 1859 Green, Yetta Benjamin 58 Aug. 14, 1859 Wife of 1859 Fuchs, Sarah 18 June 26, 1859 1859 Jacobs, Isaac 35 Oct. 5, 1859 1859 Levy, Haskel 1 Oct. 13, 1859 1859 Lewis, Simon 24 Nov. 5, 1859 1859 Souza, Emanuel 1 Dec. 9, 1859 1859 Straus, David 42 May 16, 1859 TABLE 5 JEWS IN HOUSTON FOUND IN THE CENSUS OF 1860 Worth Real Personal No. of Evidence for Estate Estate Children Identification as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession

Carpenter 600 5 A Chemene, J. 41 France Chemene, Matilda 30 France 6,000 3,000 A, B R. (Robert) 34 Prussia Merchant *Cohen, A Cohen, Rosalia 22 France

A, B Merchant- 500 5 *Cohen, W. (William) 32 Prussia Tailor A, E Cohen, Theresa 30 Prussia 26,000 15,000 1 A, B, C *Coleman, I. (Isaac) 33 Poland Merchant B Rosalio 19 Poland Coleman, A Coleman, Louis 25 Poland Clerk 9,000 B *Cowen, Bennet 27 Poland Merchant 1,000 Cowen, Bertha 18 Poland 2,000 B *Cramer, A. 29 Bavaria Merchant 2,000 2 Cramer, Dora 20 Prussia 500 3 Cramer, I. (or J.) 26 Bavaria Merchant 150 4 B Zacariah 42 Baden H. Church P. Emmich, 3 Emmich, Tille 26 Prussia 500 1,200 A, B *Fox, H. 27 Prussia Merchant A, B Fox, Elisabeth 18 Mississippi B Fox, A. (Alex) 16 Prussia Fox, Pauline 18 Prussia

2 A, B Jacob 42 Bohemia M.D., Druggist Freund, A Freund, Julia 32 France TABLE 5 -- Continued

Worth Real Personal No. of Evidence for Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession Estate Estate Children Identification as

*Gerson, G. (Gustave) 34 Prussia Merchant 2,500 7,000 .2 A, B, C Gerson, Augusta 23 Prussia

Hohenthal, S. L. 32 Bavaria Merchant 4,000 1,000 2 B Hohentha1, Charlotte 22 Belgium

*Jacobs, M. (Manheim) 27 Prussia Merchant 300 1,200 A, B Jacobs, Hortense 20 Louisiana (married within the year) B

*Levi, L. A. (Levy, Lewis A.) 3,000 8,000 See Table 1 Levi, Mary Levi, Isaac A. 19 Texas Clerk listed as child in Census of 1850 Levi, Christiana 22 Bohemia

*Levy, H. P. 52 S. Carolina Merchant 3,000 25,000 B

*Levy, M. (Morris H.) 32 Poland Merchant 25,000 1,500 2 B Levy, Adelaid 26 Poland B

*Mark, M. 44 France Merchant 11,000 1,200 B Mark, Cornelia 30 Nassau

*Meyer, S. (Saling) 43 Bavaria Merchant 2,500 8,000 4 A, B Meyer, Sarah 34 Bavaria

*Raphael, A. J. 29 Austria Merchant 1,000 1 A, B Raphael, Sarah 25 France

*Reichman, M. (Moses) 22 Frankfort, Merchant A, D Germany -- TABLE 5 Continued

Worth Real Personal No. of Evidence for Estate Children Identification as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession Estate

6,000 A, B Rosenfield, J. J. 25 Prussia Merchant B Rosenfield, Paulina 22 Prussia

9,000 1 A, B *Rosenfield, Solomon 29 Prussia Merchant B Betty (ßertha) 22 Prussia Rosenfield, A Rosenfield, A. (Alexander) 19 Prussia Clerk

B Sanders, L. 16 Prussia Clerk (listed under household of Cohen, Louis; see Table 6)

500 2 A *Schlesinger, I. (Isaac) 29 Baden Clerk Schlesinger, Joanna 19 Prussia

C *Simons, G. A. 50 Saxony Merchant

2,000 1,000 2 A *Souza, V. (Victor) 65 France Merchant Not counted as Jewish; Anni 45 France Souza, see note 22, p. 34. A Souza, Alfred 28 France

500 350 4 B, C H. 45 Prussia Auctioneer *Wiener, (Henry) A Wiener, Hannah 32 Virginia

2,000 2,000 1 A, B *Wolf, F. (Felix) 30 Bavaria Merchant A, ß Wolf, Betty (Bertha) 18 Louisiana TABLE 6

THOUGHT TO BE JEWISH NAMES FOUND IN THE CENSUS OF 1860, Worth Real Personal No. of Evidence for Estate Children Identification as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession Estate Listed under household of S. 21 Bavaria Merchant 2,500 Altschul, S. Meyer, also from Bavaria and a Jew; partner of S. Meyer. See ad: li-Weekly Telegra£n, Dec. 20, 1860. See Table 5.

Listed under household of W. Solomon 18 Prussia Barnum, Cohen, also from Prussia and a Jew. See Table 5.

1,000 Listed under household of A. I. 34 Baden Merchant Billig, Cramer, a Jew. See Table 5. He is listed as a Jew in the Confederate army, see Wolf, p. 384.

3,000 1 L. Sanders, a Jew, is listed 26 Prussia Merchant *Cohen, Louis under Louis Cohen's household. Cohen, Rachel 20 Prussia 2,000 See Table 5. Could be the same H1enander, I. 24 Prussia Merchant as Leib Cohen, a member of Beth Israel.

Listed under household of S. 34 Berlin Clerk Cohen, M. D. Meyer, also from Prussia and a Jew. See Table 5.

Listed under household of G. Friedberger, S. 23 Bavaria Clerk Gerson, a Jew. See Table 5. -- TABLE 6 Continued

Worth Real Personal No. of Evidence for Identification as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession Estate Estate Children

1 under household of Josephson, Hanna 20 Prussia Listed W. Cohen, a Jew. Also from Prussia. See Table 5 Listed under household of Tobias, Philipp 24 Prussia Clerk A. J. Raphael, a Jew. See Table 5.

Listed under household of S. Treyfus, C. 24 Bavaria Clerk Meyer, a Jew. See Table 5. TABLE 7

JEWS IN HOUSTON FOUND IN THE CENSUS OF 1870

there will be a reference to it, and (Nhen a name from a previous census repeats, only that information which is new will be given) Worth Evidence for Real Personal No. of Identification Estate Estate Children as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession

16,500 3,200 See Table 5 *Cohen, Robert 40 See Table 5 Cohen, Rosalie 40

1,800 6 See Table 5 William 66 Tailor Cohen, See Table 5 Cohen, Theresa 44 Child in 1860 Cohen, Isaac 18 Louisiana Clerk house Child in 1860 Cohen, Solomon 17 Louisiana Clerk, auction

2 *Coleman, Isaac 40 Prussia Wholesale Retail Grocer Coleman, Rachel 28 Prussia

See Table 5 35 Prussia Wholesale Retail 1,400 Coleman, Lewis (Louis Coleman) (Res. Hutchins House) Grocer

Goods 4 See Table 5 *Cramer, Adolph 39 Retail Dry 8,000 Merchant See Table 5 Cramer, Dora 29

Goods A Cramer, Joseph 35 Rhine Retail Dry (Res. Dissen House) Province Merchant

7 See Table 5 *Emmich, Zanah 59 Retail & Crockery Dealer Emmich, Cecilia 39 -- TABLE 7 Continued

Worth Evidence for Real Personal Identification Estate Estate Children as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession

Dry Goods See Table 5 Fox, Alexander S. 28 Retail

4 B *Fox, Henry 37 Prussia Wholesale Dry Goods B Fox, Rachel 35 Prussia

20,000 1,500 2 See Table 5 *Fox, Henry S. 37 Fox, Lena (probably 24 Texas

a second wife, because Elizabeth Fox (see Table 5) died Sept. 2, 1861)

5 A *Fox, Samuel 34 Prussia Retail Dry Goods Fox, Betty 30 Prussia

1,000 400 3 See Table 5 *Freund, Jacob 51 See Table S Julia 38 France Freund, A Levy, Solomon 28 France Retail Dry Goods

*Gans, Samuel 37 Prussia . Auctioneer Commis- sion Merchant 6 B Gans, Jane 28 Prussia

3,000 1,000 4 See Table 5 *Gerson, Aguita (Augusta) 31 Province (must be wife of Point, Fr. G. Gerson who died May 14, 1870) -- TABLE 7 Continued

Worth Ë$idence Zor Real Personal No. of Identification Profession Estate Estate Children as Jew Name Age Birthplace

Russia Retail Grocer 2,500 1,000 4 A *Gilbert, Henry 39 Daughter of 36 Louisiana Gilbert, Cecilia L. A. Levy, child in 1850; see Muir, note 16 Wiener, Robert 14 Texas Clerk (son of Hannah Levy Wiener (Table 5), nephew of Cecilia Levy Gilbert)

. A, B *Half, Solomon 33 Prussia Retail Dry Goods Merchant

Clerk A Haber, Abraham 34 Bavaria Dry Goods (Res. Hutchins House)

54 Prussia Keeping house *Harris, Harriet A Jacob 21 Prussia Clerk Harris, A Harris, August 16 Prussia At home Harris, Mary 13 Prussia At home Wholesale Dry B Harris, Adolph 29 Prussia Goods Store -- TABLE 7 Continued North Evidence for Real Personal No. of Identification Estate Estate Children as Jew Name Age Birthplace Profession

Dry *Hirshberg, Aushel 25 Prussia Retail Goods A Hirshberg, Marian 18 Kentucky

A *Jacobs, Isaac 33 Prussia Retail Clothing Merchant (Res. Hutchins House)

See Table 5 Dry Goods 3,000 3 *Jacobs, Hanheimer 35 Prussia Retail Merchant See Table 5 Jacobs, Hortense 30

6,000 300 5 A *Jacobs, Samuel 49 Prussia Tailor Jacobs, Mary 47 New York

1 Son of L. A. 28 Texas Bridge Builder *Levy, Isaac Levy; see Table 5 Texas Levy, Mary 22 Wife of L. A. 70 England Levy, Mary A. Levy; see Table 5. Children,Hannah Texas Weiner, Pauline 12 Levy Weiner; see 9 Texas Weiner, William Table 5. Hannah Weiner, Delia 7 Weiner died Weiner, Jacob 5 Jan. 24, 1869.

Dry Goods 3,000 800 3 B *Levy, Morris 35 France Retail Merchant Levy, Eliza 27 Louisiana

See Table 5 Dry Goods 4,000 7 *Levy, Morris H. 43 Russia Retail Merchant See Table 5 Levy, Adeline 33 Prussia -- TAßLE 7 Continued

Worth Evidence for Real Personal No. of Identification Profession . Estate Estate Children as Jew Name Age Birthplace

Table 5 Dry Goods 5,000 400 3 See *Meyer, Samuel 54 Bavaria Retail Merchant See Table 5 Meyer, Sarah 47 Bavaria Child in 1860. 20 Louisiana Benedict, Jennette See Table 5; A - Daniel Benedict 3/9/1869

3 Keeping house 2 A, *Raphael, Hannah 58 Austria Raphael, Emanuel 22 England Moses 21 England Raphael, 5 See Table 5 38 Austria none Raphael, Abra. Jr. See Table 5 Raphael, Rosea 23 France

B *Reichman, John 26 Frankfort Clerk Reichman, Mary 21 Texas Wholesale Retail 5,000 2,000 1 B *Rich, Levy M. 36 Prussia Grocer Rich, Fredericka 31 Prussia

See Table 5 none 3 *Reichman, Moses 29 Frankfort Reichman, Amelia 26 Texas Dry Goods 3 A *Roos, Louis 24 France Retail Merchant Roos, Rosalie 28 France Retail Dry Goods *Roos, Samon .28 France Merchant A Roos, Pauline 29 France -- TABLE 7 Continued

Worth Evidence for Real Personal Identification Jew Birthplace Profession Estate Estate Children as . Name Age 5 A, B; see Table 5 35 Prussia Clerk *Rosenfield, Joseph B; see Table 5 Rosenfield, Pauline 33 Prussia Wholesale Retail A, B *Rosenfield, Mitchell 30 Prussia Dry Goods Merchant Rosenfield, Mary 17 Louisiana

Goods 800 5 See Table 5 27 Prussia Retail Dry *Rosenfield, Sol Table 5 Merchant See Rosenfield, Bertha 33 Prussia Keeping house 6,500 4 A *Sam, Caroline 43 Hesson Saddler Sam, Jacob 17 Louisiana

3 B 45 Prussia Dry Goods Peddlar *Sanders, Louis A Sanders, Sophia 30 Prussia Siegle) *Sigle, Joseph (or 1 B 44 Poland Clerk-in store B Sigle, Isaac 32 Poland Tailor Sigle, Loena 22 Prussia

500 4 B *Solomon, Chas. (Charles) 41 Prussia Huckster Solomon, Henrietta 30 Prussia - 1,000 See Table 5 75 France *Souza, Victor See Table 5 France Souza, Chnaince (Anni) 55 Child in 1860; Louisiana Clerk in store Souza, Joseph Lewis 14 not counted as Jewish. o -- TABLE 7 Continued

Worth Evidence for Real Personal No. of Identification Estate Children as Jew Name Age Birtholace Profession Estate

A, B *Sterne, Samuel 40 Bavaria Retail Dry Goods 4,000 500 Sterne, Pauline 25 Prussia See Table 5 Fox, Alexander S. 24 Prussia Retail Dry Goods Sterne, Horris E. 21 Pennsylvania Clerk in store

5 See Table 5 Wolf, Felix 40 Germany none Wolf, Bertha 28 Louisiana

2,500 500 1 Bought a seat *Wolf, Ben 40 France Retail Liquor Dealer in ßeth Israel E Wolf, Mary 20 Texas Cotton Wolf, James 17 Louisiana Works in Factory TABLE 8

BE JEWS NAMES IN THE CENSUS OF 1870, THOUGHT TO

No. of Evidence for Profession Children . __Identification_as_Jew . Name Age Birthplace

. Resident in household of Rachel 16 Prussia Alexander, Levy M. Rich; see Table 7

Probable Jewish name *Cramer, Adolph 34 Prussia none Cramer, Sarah 24 Louisiana Resident in household of 30 Prussia Retail Dry Heilborn, Max a Jew; Goods Merchant Robert Cohen, see Table 7

of Seamstress Resident in household Rachel 40 S. Carolina Hyams, Aushel Hirshberg; see Table 7 Resident in household of 13 Texas Jacobs, Fanny Levy M. Rich; see Table 7

S. E. Dry 3 Probable Jewish name; *Loeb, Moses Jr. 35 Hessian Retail Goods:Merchant Loeb bought a $5 seat at Beth Israel Aug. 29, 1865.

Loeb, Delphine 23 Louisiana Retail Dry Loeb, Abraham, Jr. 31 Hessian Goods Merchant Both resident in household of August 21 Poland none Rosenfield, Adolph and Dora Cramer, Jews; Newman 24 Poland Clerk Rosenfield, see Table 7.

of 2 Resident in household 22 Louisiana Solomon, Ophelia Solomon Half; see Table 7. 79

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