Jews and Western History

[Gaucho]

Are there any notable Jews in the history of the American west (ranchers, outlaws, etc.)? Just a question that popped into my head, and was wondering if anyone had information to contribute.

[Standpat Steve]

The Autry Western Heritage Museum had a whole exhibit on this subject a few years back. You might check with their gift shop/book store to see if they have a bibliography or exhibit catalog available.

[St. George]

Certainly.

In a quick summation of the times - this advice was followed by those who would shape this country - and their own destinies.

"If you have no family or friends to aid you...turn your face to the Great West and there build your home and fortune"
    -Horace Greeley, New York 1841.

Try these Internet sources:

www.jewish-history.com/WildWest/index.html 

www.jewishmag.com/84mag/usa7/usa7/.htm

Of course - there are more - but these will get you started...

In the exhibition - 'Jewish Life in the American West - Generation to Generation' - Autry Museum - they state:

"Early Jewish settlers were miners, explorers, gunslingers, cowboys, suppliers, store owners.
Like all who came West, of every religion, the Jews participated in the whole gamut of activities," says Lisa Marr, an assistant curator of the exhibit.

As a case in point - there's sheet music on display titled, "I'm a Yiddish Cowboy," written by Tough Guy Levi. 

Then - you can read these...

Jewish Stars in Texas: Rabbis and Their Work - Hollace Ava Weiner

Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West -  Solomon Nunes Carvalho

Klondike Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project  - Dr. Norman E. Kagan

Ben Levi's Gold - 1910 poem of the Alaskan Gold Rush

Rosanna Dyer Osterman, Heroine of Galveston - Natalie Ornish

Jewish Life in San Francisco, 1860 - Israel J. Benjamin

Gunfight in Portland: Reform and Orthodox at High Noon - I. Harold Sharfman

"Jewish Homesteaders on the Northern Plains" (Indiana Press).

The Story of Sam Dreben - Hymer E. Rosen
Known as 'The Fighting Jew' -  he soldiered on the Mexican Border with Black Jack Pershing.
Following that - he was a machinegunner for Pancho Villa and returned to serve in WWI - being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Damon Runyon wrote a poem about him with the above title.


Vaya,

Scouts Out

[Fly Cop Fry]

Barry Goldwater's  grandfather, "Big Mike" Goldwasser, emigrated from Poland in the mid 19th century to avoid conscription in the Russian army.  Big Mike and his brother tried and failed at several businesses, including a saloon in California, before they found success in Arizona.  Starting with a mule-drawn wagon loaded with goods, they began their mercantile career at a mining camp east of Yuma.  They established permanent stores in La Paz and Ehrenberg, and later in Prescott, Bisbee and Phoenix.  By 1900, Goldwater's had become the territory's leading department store.

Goldwater's father, Baron Goldwater, converted to the Episcopal church and married Hattie Josephine Williams, a nurse who had come to Arizona from Nebraska for her health.  Barry Goldwater was baptized in the church of his parentsand brought up as an Episcopalian long before he discovered his father's Jewish heritage.

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Pard,
I'm not sure if they are still in business, but you might try looking for the "Western States Jewish Historical Society".  Also, check with the University of Denver's "Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society".

Jews, like many other ethnic groups which were a small percentage of the overall population of the West, were present in all walks of life, not just peddlers, merchants, etc., as they were stereotypically portrayed.

For example, Solomon Nunez Carvalho, an artist and photographer, was with Fremont's 2nd expedition to the Rocky Mountains...an' dang near froze to death with the rest of the expedition!  He was from a prominent Charleston, SC, Sephardic (Spanish heritage) family.

As for characters, there were a number of them.  "Jew Jake" Harris was a saloon-keeper and postmaster of Landusky, Montana in the late 1890's.  He'd lost a leg either having been shot by the sheriff in Great Falls, MT, or having fallen off the platform as a train was coming into the station.  Anyhow, he used a crutch while tending bar in his saloon...except on Saturday nights, when he substituted a long-barreled double shotgun!  It was in his saloon that Pike Landusky accosted Harvey Logan (alias Kid Curry of the Wild Bunch).  The two had been having trouble over a woman (what else?), and Pike had beaten Logan so bad it put the latter in the hospital prior to this encounter.  Pike pulled a Lugar pistol (yes, they were popular in Montana), but the gun misfired...whereupon the Kid pulled a Colt's Single Action and shot Pike dead.  Jake Harris was a witness.

Young Sig Schlesinger was one of Forsyth's Scouts at the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868.  Forsyth wrote a poem about him, praising his courage.

Sgt. Max Littman was in the Wagon Box fight in Montana.  Tragically, his great-grandson died in the MGM Grand fire in Las Vegas! 

Capt. David Ezekial took a bullet through his right arm and into both lungs in the CW.  He recovered sufficiently to command a company of "galvanized Yankees" out west.  He transferred to the 4th Inf., but the effects of his wounds caused him to be medically discharged in 1876.  He went into the mining business in Denver and vicinity, dying in 1899 of a "brain abcess".

Then there was Jim Levy.  Irish-born, he was notorious around Deadwood in 1876, as the "pistoliferous gambler."  It was said he was feared as much or more than Wild Bill Hickok.  He left town after killing a miner.  The papers questioned whether the insult that resulted in the shootout was as a result of the miner disliking Levy because he was, as the paper put it, "a son of Erin (Ireland) or a son of Aaron (a Jew).  Levy was eventually believed to have been shot from behind with a shotgun down Arizona way in the 1880's.

Otto Mears, called the "King of the Roustabouts" or the "Pathfinder of the San Juans," was a young Russian immigrant who ran away from an uncle in San Francisco, joined the California Volunteers during the Civil War, campaigned in New Mexico with them, and then got into the freighting business in SW Colorado.  He built toll roads and then went into railroading.  He was appointed Indian commissioner to the Mountain Utes, and learned the Ute language.  Mears was the only one to whom Chief Ouray would speak English, because he respected Mears for learning Ute.

And, of course, Levi Stauss put a bunch of folks in pants.

Hope that is of interest, Pard.

[Gaucho]

Thanks to all. I figure if there were gypsies out west, there must have been other ethnic groups you might not expect as well.

[St. George]

"If you have no family or friends to aid you...turn your face to the Great West and there build your home and fortune"
    -Horace Greeley, New York 1841.

The West offered everyone a chance...you'd expect to find 'every' type of group - be it religious, ethnic, well-to-do - and not so.

And once given that chance - folks thrived...


Scouts Out!

[Books OToole]

I believe that Josphine Marcus-Earp was jewish.

Books

[Two Flints]

another book that comes to mind...  (not sure if this one has been mentioned)

Jewish Heroes of the Old West by Marion Maidens

Two Flints