Jews in Early Indiana
Author: Timothy Crumrin, Conner Prairie Historian
The first Jews to settle in the New World are unremembered-- in part, at least, because their survival depended upon keeping their faith a secret. "New Christians," those forced to convert to Christianity by the Spanish or face the licking fires of the Auto-Da-Fe, were likely numbered among the conquistadors. There may also have been Marranos (in modern usage the less derogatory term Conversos is used), or Jews who nominally converted but secretly retained their faith, but they kept tightly to their secret to avoid the fate of one of their brethren who was burned at the stake in Mexico City in 1528 as a "Judaizer."1
Though there is reason to believe that scattered Jews may have been present in Virginia and Maryland as early as 1621, the first acknowledged Jews in North America were twenty-three refugees from the political strife in Recife, Brazil. After being refused admittance to the Spanish-controlled islands of the Caribbean, they landed in New Amsterdam in 1654. This group begat the long history of Jews in America.2
Most of the early Jewish settlers in America were Sephardim, descendants of the Jews who had originally settled in Portugal and Spain before the repression and holocaust of the Inquisition and the vicious, poisoned atmosphere it engendered. They dispersed throughout the world rather than face forced conversion, death or expulsion. Their numbers were never large (perhaps only about 3,000 in 1790)3 and though they sometimes faced anti-Jewish laws and the open contempt of the more zealous among the Christian community, the few American Jews fared well among the relatively liberal attitudes of Colonial America and the young United States.4 Either by their own inclination or due to their small numbers, Jews as a group went mostly unnoticed in the swirling American society. Historian Jacob Marcus remarked upon their "relatively obscure" status and noted that the "typical Jew ... was not constantly conscious of being Jewish."5
Early Jews in Indiana and the Midwest
Always a trickle, never a flood, Jews have long been a presence in Indiana and the Old Northwest. Jewish migration into ante-bellum Indiana was characterized by two distinct phases and two different types of immigrants.
The initial "wave" began as early as the 1760s when Jewish traders, businessmen, and land dealers inched their way along the barely- touched forests and unbridged waterways, helping pioneer early trade routes from the east into the Midwest. Well-known eastern seaboard Jews, like the Gratz family, formed land companies to market western lands or established trading businesses throughout the Midwest.6
The first Midwestern Jews were mainly American-born or "English," descendants of the Sephardim who made their way to the English colonies (in 1825 all but 3 of the known immigrant Jews in the Old Northwest were of "English" origin)7. They headed west for the same personal and economic reasons as any other immigrants. It was this scattered group that formed the core of Jewish "settlement," which was often highly mobile and seemingly disinclined to set out deep roots in any single place.
This pioneer group was almost exclusively male. Long accustomed to being a distinct minority, few seemed to carry their faith on their sleeves. Many rather rapidly assimilated into the dominant "American" society, giving up many or all aspects of Jewish culture.8 This was partially the result of the paucity of other Jews in the area, but was also in keeping with the assimilationist tendencies of many of their forebearers. A great many married outside their faith, again a result of there simply being few, if any, Jewish women nearby.
Several early Jews rose to prominence in Indiana. Moses Henry and Isaac Levy served George Rogers Clark's effort to wrest the west from the British, Henry as a liaison with Native Americans, Levy as a physician and victualer. Samuel Judah, an eastern-born, Rutgers graduate, became a political force in Indiana. Emigrating to Indiana in 1818, Judah initially lived in Merom, but soon moved to more thriving Vincennes, where he began a long legal and political career. Embracing Andrew Jackson and the Democratic cause (he later became a Whig), he served six terms in the Indiana House, eventually being selected Speaker. He was an early promoter of internal improvements and incorporated the Lawrenceville Plank Road Company. Like many of his brethren, Judah strode quickly onto the assimilationist path, marrying a Christian woman and raising their eleven children in her faith.9
One of the more intriguing figures was John Jacob Hays. The scion of an influential New York Jewish family (several members had been friends of, or served with, George Washington, another served as the Constable of New York City) Hays first ventured into the Old Northwest in 1793, serving as an agent for a fur trade company. Settling in the-thriving city of Cahokia, he carried out the varied duties of a frontier trader. In 1801 he married Marie Louise Brouillet, a woman of French descent living in Vincennes. Like Judah, Hays' children were raised as Christians.
Hays moved up through frontier society. He was named Sheriff of St. Clair County (IL) in 1809 and Collector of Internal Revenue for the Illinois Territory in 1813. In a curious move he left behind his settled life in 1820 to succeed William Turner as the Federal Indian Agent at the troubled Fort Wayne Indian Agency. Hays remained as agent until February, 1823 before giving up the post to return to his family in Cahokia, saying, "the only cause for my doing so [resigning], is the distance, (near five hundred miles) that, that place is Situated from the residence of my family.... ."10 He died in 1836.11 In his role as Indian Agent, Hays likely came into contact with William Conner and possibly stayed at Conner's home, but no extant records confirm this.
Other Jews moved more anonymously through the Midwest. Coming as peddlers and traders they moved throughout the region, often settling in the growing river towns. Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis attracted Jews along with other immigrants. In Indiana, Madison, Vincennes, and Rising Sun all had Jewish settlers by the mid-1820s. Terre Haute may have had Jewish settlers (at least temporarily) as early as 1818 and Messrs. Jacob & Levy owned a store there in the mid-1820s.12
But adding up all the Jews in the Midwest would not have been a time-consuming task. Their numbers small, their fields of endeavor limited, their gender the same, the early Jewish settlers presented a rather one-dimensional portrait of Jewish life and character. The vagaries of life in general and events in Germany in particular would change all that, and spark the flow of the second "wave" of Jewish migration to the Midwest.
Jewish Life in Germany
The early 19th-century migration of Askenazic German-Jews to the United States played a "decisive role in the formative period of American Jewry."13 Though some historians seek to revise the myth of the "German era (1820-1880)" of American Jewish history as being both "German" and the "Golden Era" of successful merchant-princes by pointing out the eastern European origins of many German Jews and the fact that the majority of immigrants were peddlers and minor craftsmen who did not always find success,14 there is little argument over the importance of this group in American Jewish history. The Jews who left their homes in Germany to seek their shining vision of America migrated for many of the same reasons as their non-Jewish countrymen. The seeking of better lives, better economic conditions, and more freedom fueled a "migration fever" among Germans in general. Jews came to the United States for those reasons-- and others.
The 250,000 Jews within the borders roughly equivalent to those of modern Germany often found themselves living in difficult conditions. They faced open, sometimes virulent antisemitism, strictures on their economic activities, general repression, and a legally mandated inferior status. As "Germany" was a hodgepodge of duchies, kingdoms, and states, the status of Jews varied according to the area in which they lived. The political and social climate ranged from the relatively benign (for the period) to the outright hostile. Some areas were worse for Jews than others and such conditions provided expulsive factors for Jewish out-migration.
A German "tradition" of antisemitism has long been remarked upon (and most recently, trumpeted in the shrillest of notes).15 No matter where on the spectrum it might fall (whether viewed as a relatively benign, knee-jerk phenomenon shared with other European nations or an atavistic, psyche-debilitating feature endemic to "Germans"), there is agreement that antisemitism was a salient aspect of German society. Anti- Jewish laws, local customs, and an atmosphere of deep distrust were common throughout Germany.
There were regional differences in the treatment of Jews. For example, conditions were often worst in the Grand Duchy of Posen and other areas in eastern Germany. Posen, after all, shared a border with Poland, land of pogrom-ravaged shtetls, early ghettoization, and other excesses. Posen's Jewish residents lived under harshly restrictive legislation. They were not given free right of movement or citizenship rights until 1848 and other restrictive legislation remained in effect until 1869.16
Conditions in the west and south were marginally better. Napoleon's conquests had left behind a more liberal system that granted Jews more freedoms and a degree of legal emancipation. This era, however, was short-lived as the Great Emperor returned control to local interests in 1808. That decision and the aftermath of the Congress of Vienna, with its own version of a "return to normalcy," further abrogated earlier centralized, liberalized legislation and returned the "lives" of Jews to local control.17 The results were usually discriminatory.
An 1813 Bavarian law is a prime example of restrictive local legislation. It placed severe restrictions on Jews' ability to marry, permanently settle in an area, or pursue their chosen economic activity unless "inscribed in the... Matrikel." The Matrikel, a quota system, fixed the number of Jews who could settle in an area or village. Once the number was decided upon it could not be expanded. Not even descendants of those already "inscribed" could settle in that area unless a "place" opened up for them through death or migration. The net effect was to "stabilize" the number of Jews and force "excess" Jews to move elsewhere.18
Though there were minor efforts toward liberalizing the treatment of Jews, it grew out of an early attempt at social engineering. Improvements in their social and political situation were "conditional" upon their "betterment," i.e. giving up their traditional business and commercial activities-- or sometimes face fines if they did not. To be worthy, Jews were asked to abandon "petty trading, peddling, and money lending" for "purer" occupations.19
As the above indicates, the economic condition of German Jews was often uncomfortable and difficult. Attempts were made to shut them out of their traditional, and often successful, trades . The authorities demanded they learn more "productive" (artisan) professions or agriculture. Shopkeeping or dealing in grain or cattle were to be replaced by trades such as shoemaking, weaving, or clothmaking. Further exacerbating the situation was the fact that few Gentiles would accept Jews as apprentices. And even if Jews successfully adopted a new career there was no guarantee they could practice their profession in their home or chosen area due to the quota laws. Their precarious economic condition (particularly among the young), along with legal and societal restraints, caused many Jews to cast their eyes elsewhere.
Migration
Jewish migration from Germany has been called a substitute for emancipation. Some historians contend that Jewish eagerness for migration grew in part from a turning away from earlier efforts at liberalization of "Jewish laws." The brief, but tantalizing savoring of the increased freedoms of the Napoleonic era had whetted Jewish appetites. "After tasting greater freedom [these] Jews could not settle for less." That along with economic dislocations and the triumph of reactionaries after the Revolution of 1830 provided a further impetus.20
That impetus propelled Jews of all strata to think about migrating. Earlier historical assumptions were that the poorer elements comprised the bulk of migrants. However, research shows that most immigrants were younger members of established families, not the transient poor known as the Betteljuden (begging Jews). Many emigrating Jews did not fall into other traditional categories. Nearly one-third of the departing adult males listed themselves as craftsmen (an indication that German efforts forcing Jews into "acceptable" occupations met with some success). There was diversity within their ranks culturally also. In the eastern parts of Germany, particularly within East Prussia, Jews maintained a more traditional way of life, retaining the Yiddish language. Western and southwestern German Jews spoke an "evolved" language known as Judisch-Deutsch, or Western-Yiddish.21
As always, there is considerable dispute about the number of German Jews to emigrate to America, but a figure of around 85,000-100,000 seems accurate.22
Jebenhausen as Case Study
Because an amazing historic record exists, the village of Jebenhausen in Wurttemburg offers a unique opportunity to study German-Jewish migration in microcosm. 317 of its Jewish residents emigrated to the United States between 1830 and 1871.23
Jebenhausen postal and stage Depot. It was from here that many of the area's Jews began their trek to America. Like many structures in the region, the building featured a projecting room in the attic that could be turned into a sukkah for the Feast of the Tabernacle.
Jebenhausen, located in the southwestern German Land of Wurttemburg, was part of the holdings of the Liebenstein barony. Originally, it was a poor village from which the family earned little income. Its main source of revenue was a small mineral spring thought to have curative powers. The spring was destroyed by a landslide in 1770. So, to bring in money, the barons decided to allow Jews to settle within their holdings -- as long as they paid for the privilege. Contracts were negotiated which allowed Jewish settlements and certain liberties. Jews moved to the area in 1777; the first synagogue was built in 1804.24
Not surprisingly, the Jewish population grew apace. The Jews lived in an area on the road between Jebenhausen and Goppingen. Within a decade a separate Jewish enclave had formed in an area known as the Oberdorf (upper village). By 1830 nearly 500 Jews lived in Jebenhausen (almost 45% of the total population).25
Though some Jews prospered, many faced the same poor economic conditions of their brethren throughout Germany. They also were subject to authorities demanding they learn acceptable trades and the same general antisemitism of their neighbors. Like many Germans, Jew and non- Jew alike, they sought escape.
Notice detailing Jewish immigrants from Jebenhausen in 1839. Note the several members of the Arnold family listed, who may have been following earlier emigre David Arnold to the United States.
Jewish emigration to America from Jebenhausen began in the early 1800s. A local Rabbi writing in 1839 described the exodus:
"In 1804 several young people, sons of impecunious parents, emigrated to the United States of America. Every subsequent year they induced others, through recommendations, to follow there, establishing themselves there and regularly running businesses in public stores. By June of this year about 46 unmarried young men and women had in this manner emigrated to America, individually and one by one. Just one family went there last year and is included in this number. But in June of this year, 48 persons, among them six families with wives and children, have emigrated there at one time."26
The earliest period (1825-1835) of migration was dominated by single males, who often came from the poorer element. However, after 1835, there was a swing to migration by married couples (or those wishing to marry) and families with children. 47% of those emigrating between 1825 and 1870 were families with children.27 A local schoolteacher described the loss felt by the Jebenhausen Jewish community:
"Today was a day of the most heartfelt sadness, of the bitterest pain for the local Israelite congregation. Six fathers of families with wives and children, altogether 44 individuals of the Mosaic faith, left home to find a new fatherland in far off America. Not an eye remained without tears, not a soul unmoved, as the bitter hour of parting struck.... . They said that they were emigrating mainly because of their children. Since all trades are so very over crowded everywhere and, moreover, they would have had to sacrifice their own property to let their children learn a trade, they feared that sooner or later they would be ruined, and that their children, who are studious of handicrafts, would not be able to feed themselves and their families from any trade in the countryside, owing to the numerous and heavy burdens and payments. Besides, they were given every aid and support by those who had already emigrated to America, since almost every family here has close or distant relatives among the emigrants. By now 94 individuals, or about one fifth of the 500 members of the local Israelite congregation, are in America. Already six fathers of families are determined to emigrate with their wives and children next spring."28
Jebenhausen, like other German communities, found itself made smaller in many ways by the lure of migration. According to the Jebenhausen records housed in the Ludwigsburg Staatsarchiv, one of those drawn away was a young merchant named David Arnold. Following the path of his earlier emigrating relatives, he left for America in 1835. His initial place of residence was listed as Terre Haute, Indiana.29
The Mechanics of Migration
Jews were not usually allowed to just "up and leave" an area. In many cases they had to obtain a permit to emigrate. In some cases they had to pay a tax of 10% on their assets or complete compulsory military service. Sometimes, emigrants had to save for years or sell off their assets to raise funds for the journey. Between 1825 and 1844, 99% of those travelling to America had only 100-500 florins for their travel expenses and to begin their new American lives.30
Like other Germans, most chose to travel overland to the French port of Le Havre (wishing to avoid the dangerous seaports of Holland and a rough cross-channel journey).31 From there they usually set out for New York or another eastern seaport. They sometimes had to be on their guard for unscrupulous captains. For many it was their first voyage, perhaps the first time they had been more than twenty miles from their home.
Louis Einstein, a travelling companion of David Arnold, described aspects of the journey:
"I inform you that the same day as we left my dear brother Baruch and Arnold, we went to Karlsruhe, from there the other day to Strasbourg, where we had to stop for one day because of the diligence. From there the trip to Paris cost us 52 francs a person, but had we come a fortnight earlier, we would have been able to ride for half this price. The reason for this is that a new diligence has been established, namely, the one we took. Those who had attended to transport before, Laffitte, Caillard & Co., wanted to ruin this one, but have not succeeded so far. Over Saturday we stayed in Chalons, where we had arrived on Friday evening at four o'clock. From there we traveled to Paris on Sunday, where we stayed until Tuesday. I already have seen several big cities, but Paris is indescribable. We have seen the greatest curiosities there, but in order to see everything one would need more time. Then we went to Rouen, and from Rouen we traveled here by steamboat, which was the most beautiful trip of the whole journey. We arrived in Havre on Wednesday evening, and yesterday we arranged for our voyage on a mailboat named Franc. The captain of it is called Funk, he is an American. For 87 francs a person we get a partition by the side of the cabin."32
What to them was indeed a new world awaited on their arrival on American soil.
The America They Found
Many Jewish immigrants were able to take advantage of a support system upon their arrival in America. Jewish aid organizations had sprung up to provide financial, material, and emotional support to the new arrivals. Perhaps as many as 20% of German Jews received initial assistance from these Jewish charitable groups.33 Many others followed family members who had migrated earlier and thus were able to offer the newcomers a home, money, and general helping hand.
If they found an America that was not exactly waiting to greet them with open arms, they also did not find a country that placed severe restrictions upon nor treated them with open, soaring contempt.
Antisemitism was long a presence in America. "Like a genetic disease, it has long been transmitted from one generation to the next but, like a folktale, it has been added to, transformed, and adapted to particular times, places and circumstances."34 It was brought with early colonists along with their other cultural baggage, but it seldom reached the virulence of its European cousin. However, the often hugger-mugger existence of early America and a less-stratified social structure offered "vastly superior possibilities for Jews."35 Moreover, when antisemitism did rear its dark visage, it was much less acrimonious and venomous than its older European brother.
Though some restrictions were placed on Jews in colonial America (though often carelessly enforced) and stereotypes of Jews as blasphemers or practitioners of shady business ethics were well established, personal relationships between Jews and Gentiles were mostly amicable. Despite some restrictive legislation, the Jews of the colonial era were offered many more opportunities than in Europe.36
The New Republic era led to even wider acceptance of Jews in the public sphere. Restrictive laws were abandoned. Both the First Amendment and the Northwest Ordinance had banned restrictions placed on religions or their followers.37 For the most part, Jews recognized and gloried in the heady new atmosphere so different than the one they left behind. In 1839 a German newspaper printed a letter from a Jew who had migrated to United States saying that "in America nobody is accepted more willingly than the German Jews and nobody is doing better. They bring with them four things that are helpful here: obedience, level-headedness, thrift and enterprise."38 Though undoubtedly tinged with the chauvinism and hopefulness common to many new immigrants, the letter likely reflected the underlying feelings of many German-Jewish settlers. Many such letters sailed from the United States to Germany as emigres encouraged relatives to follow them to a new home.39
The paucity of Jews in America was probably a factor in the relative absence of open, rabid antisemitism. Their numbers were "too few to [make them] prime targets of American Nativism."40 Though Jews as an idea or whole were "tainted" by a built-in, long-accumulating prejudice, individual Jews were normally treated well. It led to what Dinnerstein calls the paradoxical pattern of the "Mythic Jew" being held in contempt, while the Jew who was known to individuals was respected and even liked by his fellow citizens.41 In this case, familiarity seldom bred contempt.
This does not mean their lives were without the scourge of prejudice. Whisperings behind backs were likely an everyday occurrence. In the eyes of many, Jews were likely thought of as strange creatures or objects of interest or distrust. It was not unusual for the "Jew card" to be played within the context of business or political dealings, as happened with Hoosier Jew Samuel Judah.42
Many German-Jews began to fan out across America. Though a majority probably stayed in the Eastern seaboard cities with relatives or chose to build their new lives on eastern soil, many others headed south and west to opportunity. By doing so, they joined with the many other newly-minted Americans and those born in the United States who pushed inexorably into the "west."
The "New" Indiana Jews
The coming of German-Jews was one of the three decisive factors which transformed "Jewish life in Indiana." With them came traditions which sparked the other two factors: the establishment of successful Jewish businesses and the triumph of the reform tradition.43 Indiana became one of the first states (Ohio was the other) west of the Alleghenies to host permanent Jewish communities.44
The "new" Jews who wandered and eventually settled in the Midwest carried with them elements that were to change not only the face of the nascent, extant Jewish culture (which was hardly substantial), but also added a little more leavening to the ingredients making up a new nation. The unmarried male Jew of "Sephardic-American" origin was to be eventually replaced Ashkenazim families who ultimately settled in enough numbers to actually form a small, but vibrant Jewish community in the state.
However, a portrait of the first German-Jews to spread into the Midwest could be painted in much the same hues as one of their Sephardic- American predecessors. The earliest arrivals were predominantly male. They filtered into the area in ones or twos, concentrating their efforts on trade. They were often the only Jews in any given area, seldom settling in any one place in sufficient numbers to form a community. If one "image" could be said to represent this earliest phase (roughly 1825-1835) it would be the solitary Jewish peddler, who, on foot, horseback, or wagon, plied the rutted roads of the Old Northwest in search of customers, with one eye on the present, the other seeking a future. Their "career" pattern was to peddle for a few years and then open a store. Then they would send for family members remaining in Germany.45
But a second phase was to change that image-- and add color to the portrait.
This second era lasted from 1835 until at least the Civil War. It was the period in which families began to migrate. This, in turn, led to the change in settlement patterns and the character of Jewish "culture" in Indiana. The changeover to family immigration corresponded with the change in the demographic makeup of German outmigration as families began to transplant themselves whole to America.46 This movement was to be a sea-change for Jewish life in America.
Often following relatives who had migrated earlier, the addition of "families" created a more "settled" atmosphere. Like earlier immigrants they initially headed for the thriving river towns. Cincinnati became a magnet and jumping off point for many. By the mid-1840s, Jews were establishing themselves in towns all across Indiana. Richmond, Terre Haute, Lafayette, and Fort Wayne became the homes to Jews.47 In areas which previously did not contain enough Jews to even form a minyan, congregations formed, as in Fort Wayne which saw the formation of Indiana's first formal Jewish congregation in 1848.48
Over this period many of the peddlers or other new arrivals plunged into commerce. They gave up the road for main street, opening retail stores or wholesale houses. Men like David Klein in Lafayette and the Gimbel brothers in Vincennes made the successful transition to respected businessmen by opening general stores.49
Though opening retail or wholesale enterprises was a major focus for many Jews, the German-Jewish immigrants also brought new skills for other careers. Again this was partially a result of conditions in Germany, where many Jews had been forced away from trading into small crafts by government edict. Soapmakers, clothmakers, weavers, and other craftsmen were well-represented among the new immigrants. Richmond's first permanent Jewish resident was a harness maker.50
The greatest contribution of German-Jews was to Indiana's Jewish cultural and religious life. "Religious life developed as the population grew."51 With sufficient numbers to form a "community," intermarriage and assimilation decreased. Initially, the practice of the Jewish religion may have involved little more than keeping the Sabbath light in their houses. However, over time small groups began to gather in an individual's home to celebrate high holy days like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The German-Jews adherence to Reform Judaism (which allowed modifying the Law to meet modern conditions) allowed them to adjust to "American cultural patterns" and reformism's "allegiance to religious liberalism braked.... assimilation."52 From this point congregations were formed and Jewish self-help groups like burial associations and funds for widows and orphans grew. The strength drawn from numbers allowed the Jews to feel like a community and carry on traditions, like the first Jewish marriage performed by a rabbi in the state in 1849 (when Ernestine Wehle married Max Abeles in Madison in 1849).53
Thus, by the Civil War, Indiana's Jewish population had grown from a smattering of mainly transient traders who were often Jews in name only to around 3,000 mainly practicing Jews who had become part of wider Hoosier communities. They sometimes faced prejudice, but rarely exclusion. If not wholly adopted by their communities, they were not shunned. Most were accepted. Interestingly, they were usually perceived not as a religious group but as a nationality, German (synagogue and early Jewish organizations often kept their records in German).54
Even at its high tide Jewish migration to Indiana remained a trickle compared to that of other groups, but felt their presence was.
Notes
- Brickman, The Jewish Community in America: An Annotated and Classified Bibliographic Guide, p. viii.
- Arthur Hertzberg, The Jews in America, pp. 17-19; For further details of the Recife group, see Libo & Howe, We Lived There Too, pp. 39-46 and Johnson, A History Of The Jews. pp.278-280.
- Libo & Howe, p. 17.
- See Marcus, United States Jewry, 1776-1985, Vol. 1, pp.20-46 for a good, concise history of Jews in America during this period.
- Marcus, Vol. 1, 307.
- Blackwell, "Jews." in Peopling Indiana: The Ethnic Experience, pp. 314.
- Wimberly, The Jewish Experience in Indiana Before the Civil War: an Introduction, p.5; Hertzberg, p. 90.
- Blackwell, pp. 314-317; Wimberly, p. 2.
- See Blackwell and Wimberly for details of these early figures; for specifics of Judah's life and political career, see Shepherd, et al, A Biographical Directory of the Indiana General Assembly, Volume I, 1816-1899, p.212.
- Quoted in Armstrong and Riker, The John Tipton Papers, Volume !, 1809-1827, p. 296.
- See Wimberly, and Levine, John Jacob Hays: First Known Jewish Resident of Fort Wayne, pp.3-8
- Karp, The Jewish Experience In America, pp. 2-3;Wimberly, pp.5-6; Koren, "From Generation to Generation: A History of the Terre Haute Jewish Community." Indiana Jewish History, pp.23-24. Terre Haute having Jewish immigrants by 1818 is based on conjecture raised by the study of surnames of early settlers. It is not an established fact.
- Barkai, Branching Out: German-Jewish Immigration to the United States, 1820-1914, p. xi.
- Diner, "A Time for Gathering: The Second Migration." American Jewish History, pp.22-23
- See, for example, Goldhagen’s rather overwrought interpretation of German antisemitism in Hitler’s Willing Executioners.
- Barkai, p. 2-3.
- Barkai, p. 2.
- Hertzberg, p. 120; Barkai, pp.1-2. It was quite successful as the Jewish population in the area fell in absolute and relative terms between 1870 and 1927.
- Rohrbacher, "From Wurtemburg to America: A Nineteenth-Century German-Jewish Village on Its Way to the New World." American Jewish Archives 41, p. 146; Hertzberg, pp.102-103; Barkai, p. 3.
- Barkai, pp. 8-9; Mazur, "Jewish Chicago: From Diversity to Community." in Holli and Jones, The Ethnic Frontier, p. 265.
- Barkai, pp.17-18, 3-5.
- Hertzberg, p. 106.
- Rohrbacher, p. 143.
- "Judische Leben in Jebenhausen" from the Projectgruppe Judisches Museum website (www.goeppingen.de/oebib/proj0297/j19.htm). Jebenhausen's last Jews were transported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp by Himmler's black trains in February, 1945.
- Rohrbacher, p. 145.
- Quoted in, Rohrbacher, p. 147.
- Barkai, pp. 18-19; Rohrbacher, p. 147.
- Rohrbacher, p. 147.
- Rohrbacher, p. 162.
- Rohrbacher, p. 152.
- Rohrbacher, p. 150; Barkai, p. 34-36.
- Rohrbacher, p. 151.
- Wimberly, p. 7.
- Dinnerstein, Antisemitism in America, p. xviii.
- Dinnerstein, p. 3.
- Dinnerstein, p. 11.
- Brickman,
- Quoted in Barkai, p. 26.
- See, for example, the Klopfer correspondence.
- Hertzberg, p. 107.
- Dinnerstein, p. 3.
- Armstrong and Riker, Tipton Papers, Vol. II, pp. 225, 229, 718.
- Wimberly, p. 7.
- Blackwell, p. 316.
- Hertzberg, p. 106.
- See Jebenhausen section above.
- See Sussman, The Emergence of A Jewish Community In Richmond, Indiana; Koren; Erez-Boukai, "On the Banks Of The Wabash: Jewish Community Life In Greater lafayette, Indiana, 1840-1960." Indiana Jewish History.
- Blackwell, p. 316.
- Wimberly, pp.8-9; Blackwell, p. 316.
- Sussman, p. 4.
- Wimberly, p. 9.
- Blackwell, p. 317; Wimberly, p. 9.
- Weinburg, "Hoosier Israelites On The Ohio- A History Of Madison's Indiana Jews." Indiana Jewish History, pp. 22, 6.
- Rudolph, Hoosier Faiths, p. 345; Blackwell, p.316.
Sources Cited
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Karp, Abraham, The Jewish Experience In America (Waltham, MA, 1969)
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Levine, Joseph, John Jacob Hays: First Known Jewish Resident of Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne, 1973)
Libo, Kenneth and Irving Howe, We Lived There Too (New Yok, 1984)
Marcus, Jacob Rader, United States Jewry, 1776-1985, Vol. 1 (Detroit, 1989)
Mazur, William, "Jewish Chicago: From Diversity to Community." in Kelvin Holli and Peter
Jones, The Ethnic Frontier (Grand Rapids, 1977)
Rohrbacher, Stefan, "From Wurtemburg to America: A Nineteenth-Century German-Jewish Village on Its Way to the New World." American Jewish Archives 41 *Fall/Winter, 1989)
Rudolph, L.C., Hoosier Faiths (Bloomington, 1995)
Shepherd, Rebecca et al, A Biographical Directory of the Indiana General Assembly, Volume I, 1816-1899 (Indianapolis, 1979)
Sussman, Lance Joseph, The Emergence of A Jewish Community In Richmond, Indiana (Fort Wayne, 1981)
Weinburg, Elizabeth Shaiken, "Hoosier Israelites On The Ohio- A History Of Madison, Indiana’s Jews." Indiana Jewish History (July, 1991)
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Additional research provided by Rebecca Zorich
Illustrations: Jebenhausen graphics appear in Rohrbacher