General Historical Information
                                 Prior to 1934
                                      Part 10

NOTABLE PEOPLE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN NEW YORK

A

ABRAHAMSON,  ISADOR  (Neurologist)
          Born in New York, 1872: Died in Lake Loon, New York, 1933. In 1895
he began his association with the Montefiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases,
which continued to his death. He was president of the Hospital's medical
board in 1915-1917. In 1903 He was appointed chief of the Neurological
department clinic of Mount Sinai Hospital. In 1911 appointed associate
neurologist. He was from 1915 Clinical Professor of Neurology at the New
York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College.In 1931 he was
chairman of the American committee for the Nobel medical prize. He founded
the Jewish Mental Health Society.

ALSBERG,  CARL LUCAS  (Bio-Chemist)
      He was born in New York, 1877. From 1912-20 he was chief of the Bureau
of Chemistry in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


ALTMAN,  BENJAMIN (Merchant, Philanthropist)
      He was born in New York, 1840 and died there in 1913. He was the son
of Bavarian Jews, who emigrated to America in 1835 and opened a small store
on Attorney St. Benjamin Altman started for himself in 1865 on Third Ave.,
New York, later acquiring his brother Morris' business on Sixth Ave. In the
latter store Benjamin remained for 30 years, for it was not till 1906 that
he moved to Fifth Ave. and 34th St., and with Michael Friedsam formed the
firm of B. Altman & Co. Shortly before his death, he established the Altman
Foundation, of which $20,000,000 represented by his art collection,  was
given to the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

B

BAAR,  HERMAN  (Educationalist)
    He was born in Stadthagen, Germany, 1826 and died in New York, 1904. In
1876 he was appointed superintendent of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, New York,
a position which he occupied for almost a quarter of a century.

BARONDESS,  JOSEPH  (Labor and Zionist Leader)
      He was born in Kamenetz Podolsk, 1867 and died in New York, 1928.
Joseph Barondess came to the United States in 1885. From his settlement in
this country in 1888 to about 1903 he was a pioneer in the organization of
the Cloakmakers' Union, the Hebrew Actors' Union, the Ladies Garment
Workers' Union and Hebrew American Typographical Union, and in the
affiliation of these unions with the American Federation of Labor. In 1910
and 1914 he was Commissioner of the Board of Education of New York.

BARUCH,  SIMON  (American Physician)
      He was born in Prussia, 1840 and died in New York, 1921. In 1881 he
removed from South Carolina to New York where he was one of the pioneers in
the surgical treatment of appendicitis. He was an advocate of the water
treatment for diseases.

BERNSTEIN,  HIRSCH
      Founder of the "Post," the first Yiddish periodical published in New
York. He was born in Suwalki, 1846 and died in New York, 1907. Bernstein
settled in New York in 1870 and not only founded the first Yiddish
publication but for five years edited the first Neo-Hebrew periodical issued
in New York, "Hazofeh be'Eretz Hadassah."

BERNSTEIN,  JOE    (American Pugilist)
      He was born in New York, in 1877. A popular boxer who fought over 80
fights.

BLUMENTHAL,  GEORGE
      President, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York;. He was born in
Frankfort-on-the-Main. He is president of the Mount Sinai Hospital, New
York, and has been a trustee of the Museum of Art for many years.

BODANSKY,  ARTUR:  (Conductor)
     He was born in Vienna, in 1877. He came to New York in 1915 and was
appointed a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera House, which post he held to
1929. He has been conductor of the New York Society of Friends of Music
since 1916. He translated Mozart's "Don Giovanni" into German.

BORG,  MADELINE  (Mrs. Sidney C.)
      Social welfare worker. She was born in New York, in 1876. Following a
study of juvenile delinquency, she became one of the founders of the Big
Sister movement. She was also involved with the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropic Societies of New York, Montefiore Hospital, and the School for
Jewish Social Workers.

BRENNER,  VICTOR  DAVID  (Medalist and Sculptor)
      He was born in Shavli, Russia, 1871 and died in New York, 1924. His
grandfather and his father were metal workers, and Brenner picked up a
knowledge of artistic iron-work whilst receiving a typical Jewish education.
He was in turn a maker of seals, a line engraver, and in New York he worked
as a die cutter whilst he studied at Cooper Union. In 1898 he went to Paris,
and studied engraving, and sculpture there. In 1906 he resettled in New York
and in 1909 engraved the well-known Lincoln cent, on which his initials
appeared.

BRILL,  NATHAN  EDWIN
      Diagnostician of "Brill's Disease";. He was born in New York in 1859
and died there in 1925. In 1893 he was appointed attending physician at Mt.
Sinai Hospital, and became one of the leading diagnosticians of his day. He
was one of the first to introduce into the U.S. the operation of splenectomy
for thrombocytopenic purpura.

BRUCKMAN,  HENRIETTA
      Founder of the first Jewish Women's Lodge in America. She was born in
Bohemia in 1810 and died in New York, 1888. She came to New York in 1842 and
in 1846, with other women of Congregation Emanu-el, founded the Independent
Order of True Sisters.

C

CANTOR,  JACOB A. (Politician)
      He was born in New York, 1854 and died there in 1921. He was elected
state senator 1888-98 and was president of the New York State Senate,
1893-94. In 1901 he was elected president of the borough of Manhattan on a
fusion ticket, the first Jew to hold that office.

D

DAMROSCH,  LEOPOLD  (Conductor)
      He was born in Posen in 1832 and died in New York, 1885. Damrosch came
to new York in 1871. In 1874 he founded the Oratorio Society of New York, a
large choral organization, still in existence. In 1876 he became the
conductor of the Philharmonic Society of New York.

E

ELKUS, ; ABRAM  I.  (U.S. Ambassador)
      In 1919-20, he was Judge of the Court of Appeals of New York State. He
has been president of the Free Synagog, and has been associated in many
communal efforts.

F

FOX,  WILLIAM  (Motion picture executive)
      He was born in Tulchva, Hungary, 1879. He was brought to the U.S. in
his infancy. He began his career as a theatrical manager in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
in 1904. Later he branched out into the moving picture field, organized the
Fox Circuit of Theatres and the Fox Film Corporation. His spectacular career
was wrecked in the depression of 1929.

FRAUENTHAL,  HENRY  W.
      Founder of the New York Hospital for Joint Diseases: He was born in
Wilkes Barre, Pa., 1862 and died in New York, in 1927. In 1914 he wrote and
published a "Manual of Infantile Paralysis."

FREIDUS,  ABRAHAM  SOLOMON: (Bibliographer)
      He was born in Riga, in 1867 and died in New York, 1923. Freidus came
to the United States in 1889 and in 1897 was assigned to the department of
Hebraica and Judaica, at the New York Public Library and held this office
till his death. He had a prodigious memory, and a phenomenal knowledge not
only of titles but of the contents of books.


FRIEDSAM,  MICHAEL:  President, Altman Foundation
      He was born in New York City and died there in 1931. He received a
military education, and during the World War was Quartermaster General of
the N.Y. State Guard. Most of his career was, however, devoted to the
department store business in which he was associated with Benjamin Altman.

G

GERSHWIN,  GEORGE  (Composer)
      He was born in Brooklyn, New York, 1898.

GINZBERG,  LOUIS
      Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York. He
was born in Kovno, 1873. After studying in Eastern and Western Europe he
came to New York in 1900. In 1901 he received his appointment at the
seminary which he still holds.

GOLDWATER,  SIGISMUND  SCHULZ:
      Hospital Administrator. He was born in New York, 1873. He was
superintendent of Mt. Sinai Hospital, N.Y., 1903-16; commissioner of Health,
N.Y.C., 1914-1919. He was appointed Commissioner of Hospitals of N.Y.C.,
1934.

GROSS,  MILT:   (Cartoonist)
      He was born in New York, 1895. He started with the "New York American"
in 1912 and has since developed as one of the most popular writers of
dialect humor, combined with cartoons.

H

HAMMERSTEIN,  OSCAR:  (Theatrical Manager)
     He was born in Berlin, in 1848 and died in New York, 1919. In 1863 he
came to New York and worked as a cigar-maker.  He invented cigar-making
machinery and gained a fortune from a plumbing device. In 1883 he took to
theatrical management on the Bowery. He erected the Manhattan Opera House,
in which
he produced many operas.


HART,  EPHRAIM:
      One of the founding members of the New York Stock Exchange. He was
born in Furth, 1747 and died in New York, 1825. He first settled in
Philadelphia; later came to New York, and in 1792 helped to organize the
Board of Stock Brokers, out of which developed the Stock Exchange.

HAYS,  JACOB:
      High Constable of New York 1802-1849. He was born in New York 1772 and
died there, 1849.

HILLMAN,  SIDNEY  (labor leader)
      He was born in Zagare, Lithuania, 1887. He has been active in the
American labor movement since 1910 when residing in Chicago. In 1915 he
became president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. He has
directed strikes in New York, 1916; Rochester, 1918; New York, 1918;
Chicago, 1919; the New York lockouts of 1920-21 and the Chicago-New York
strikes of 1924, and in Cincinnati in 1925.


I

ISAACS,  ABRAM  SAMUEL:  Rabbi and Editor
      He was born in New York, 1852 and died in Paterson, New Jersey, 1920.
He was a professor of Hebrew and German at New York University from 1886 to
1895. From 1878 to 1903 he was editor of the "Jewish Messenger" of New York.

ISAACS,  MYER  SAMUEL:
      American communal worker. He was born in New York, 1841 and died
there, 1904. Isaacs, a lawyer by profession, took an active part in
municipal affairs. He was one of the founders of the Educational Alliance
(1889) and of the United Hebrew Charities (1873) was president of the Baron
de Hirsch Fund (1890).

J

JACOBI,  ABRAHAM:  (Pediatrist)
      He was born in Minden, Germany, 1830 and died in New York, 1919. He
was professor of children's diseases, New York Medical College, 1861-64, at
the University of the City of New York, 1865-70, and at the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, 1870-92.


JOACHIMSEN,  PHILIP  J
      First president of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York. He was born
in Breslau, 1817 and died in New York, 1890. He was a lawyer and during the
Civil War he organized and commanded the 59th New York Volunteer Regiment.

K

KOHN,  ROBERT  DAVID  (Architect)
      He was born in New York City, 1870. He has designed many of the
prominent buildings in Manhattan, including the Evening Post Building, R. H.
Macy & Co., Temple-Emanu-El, and the Ethical Culture Meeting House.

KOLLER,  CARL  (Ophthalmic surgeon.)
      He was born in Schuetenhoefen, Austria, 1857. He is ophthalmic surgeon
to Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City.  He introduced the use of cocain as
a local anaesthetic for operations on the eye, and thus brought about the
use of the drug as a local anaesthetic for all operations.

KOPLIK,  HENRY  (Physician)
      He was born in New York, 1858 and died there, 1927. He established the
first sterilized milk depot in New York at The Good Samaritan Dispensary.
For many years he was consulting physician in children's diseases at Mt.
Sinai Hospital, and to various other hospitals and institutions.

L

LAZARUS,  EMMA (American Poetess)
      She was born in New York, 1849 and died there, in 1887. Daughter of
Moses and Esther (Nathan) Lazarus, and descended from one of the pioneer
Sephardic families in America. As Jews her family were religiously inactive.
In 1882 she was emotionally roused by the tide of Russian immigration to
America due to the May laws and pogroms. From this time on, Emma Lazarus
became the spokesman of the Jewish race in America, identifying herself with
the Jewish cause which later developed into Zionism. From 1882 until her
death in 1887, she became seriously devoted to the study of Hebrew and
Judaism from various aspects. Her work as a poet rates very high, for even
without the racial contributions of a Jewish nature, she would still be a
prominent figure in American literature. In May, 1903 a bronze tablet was
placed in her honor inside the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York
Harbor, where her great poem, "The New Colossus,' appears on a tablet.

LEIPZIGER,  HENRY  MARCUS:
      Supervisor of lectures in New York City. He was born in Manchester,
England, 1853 and died in New York, 1917. He came to the U.S. in 1865, and
became assistant superintendent of N.Y. public schools in 1891. He organized
the Hebrew Technical Institute in New ;York in 1884. In 1916 he received the
gold medal from the Institute for Social Sciences.

LOEB,  CHARLOTTE
      Professor, State College for Teachers, Albany, New York. She was born
in Ticonderoga, New York. Since 1920 she has been head of the French
department at the State College.

LOEB,  SOPHIE  IRENE: (Authoress and social worker)
      She was born in Russia, 1876 and died in New York 1929. She was for
seven years president of the Board of Child Welfare of New York, and in 1921
established the first child welfare building.

LYONS,  JACQUES  JUDAH
      Co-founder of Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York. He was born in Surinaj,
1814 and died in New York, 1877. In 1839 he was elected minister of Shearith
Israel, New York, and remained in its service to his death. He was active in
many communal institutions, a firm defender of orthodox Judaism, and the
author of a Hebrew Calendar.

M

MARKS,  MARCUS  M.
     President of the Borough of Manhattan, New York 1914-16). He was born
in Schenectady, N.Y., 1858. In 1914 he established three public markets in
New York and in 1915 initiated the "Day-light Saving" movement.

MENUHIN, YEHUDI
      Violin virtuoso; born in New York, 1917. He is the son of Russo-Jewish
parents who spent their youth in Palestine came to New York in 1913, and
after the birth of Yehudi settled in San Francisco, where Louis Persinger
began to instruct the boy, when he was only five years old. At the age of
six he appeared in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium where he played "Scene
de Ballet," by Benoit, to an audience of 9,000 which was swept off its feet
by his masterly performance. He made his New York debut in 1925.

MEYER, ANNIE NATHAN
      Author; born in New York, 1867. She started the agitation which led to
the founding of Barnard College, the first women's college in New York. Her
novel, "Robert Annys, Poor Priest," appeared in 1901; in 1911, "The Dominant
Sex"; and "P's and Q's," 1920. She edited "Woman's Work in America," and has
contributed to "Harper's Bazaar,".

MIELZINER, MOSES
      President Hebrew Union College* (1900-03); Born in Schubin, Posen,
1828; Died in Cincinnati, 1903. He came early under the influence of
Holdheim, and for supporting his views was compelled to retire from the
first position he held in Germany. For some years he was rabbi and teacher
in Denmark, but in 1865 he was called to Anshe Chesed, New York, and
remained with it until its amalgamation with Beth-El in 1879. He was then
appointed professor of Talmud and rabbinical literature at the Hebrew Union
College, Cincinnati. In 1900 he was appointed president of the college.

MOGULESKO, SIGMUND (Selig):
      Yiddish comedian; Born in Kaloraush, Bessarabia, 1858;, died in New
York, 1914. He started as a choir-singer, but in Bucharest soon after the
organization of the first Yiddish theater was recognized as a talented
comedian. He toured Europe with Yiddish comnpanies, settling in New York in
1886. He was a composer of music for the Yiddish stage, writing the words
and music for nearly all the songs he and his various theatrical companies
sang.

MOISSEIFF, LEON SOLOMON
      Bridge builder; Born in Riga, Latvia, 1872. He came to the United
States in 1892 and was in 1898 appointed bridge engineer and chief draftsman
of the Department of Bridges of New York. He designed the Manhattan and
Queensboro Bridges, New York, and the Delaware River Bridge, joining
Philadelphia to Camden. He is a distinguished authority on long span
bridges.

MORGENTHAU, HENRY
      U. S. Ambassador to Turkey (1913-16); Born in Mannheim, Germany, 1856.
For 20 years he was a member of a New York law firm, and was later prominent
in the development of New York real estate. In 1912 he became chairman of
the finance committee of the Democratic National Committee, filling the same
office in 1916. In 1913 he was appointed ambassador to Turkey, and in the
early part of the War acted as the representative in Constantinople of the
Allied Powers.

MOSES,  ALFRED  (Mineralogist)
      He was born in Brooklyn, New York, 1859 and died in New York, 1920. In
1897 he was appointed professor of mineralogy at Columbia University.

MOSKOWITZ,  BELLE  LINDNER  ISRAELS:
      Social worker and political writer. She was born in New York, 1877 and
died there in 1933. She married Charles H. Israels (d. 1911) and Dr. Henry
Moskowitz in 1914. She was for years engaged in social work at the New York
Educational Alliance, but at the beginning of the World War became keenly
interested in labor problems. Later she became the political adviser and
publicity agent of Governor Alfred E. Smith, and was associated in his state
and presidential campaigns.

MOSLER,  HENRY  (Painter)
      He was born in New York, 1841 and died there in 1920. He was educated
in Cincinnati, but studied art in Germany. In 1874 he received a medal from
the Royal Academy of Munich, and in 1879 exhibited at the Paris Salon,
receiving a gold medal in 1888. He was made associate of the National
Academy of Design, New York, in 1895.

MYERS,  MORDECAI

      Captain U.S. army. He was born in Newport, R.I., 1776. He was
educatedin New York, where he studied military science and in 1812 was
commissioned as a captain.

N

NATHAN,  SEIXAS
      Pioneer New Yorker; Born in New York 1785and died there in 1852. He
was one of the signers of the constitution of the New York Stock Exchange,
1817. He was a commissioner of charities and an official of the U.S. Custom
House, New York, and president of Congregation Shearith Israel.

O

OCHS,  ADOLPH SIMON
      Publisher of "The New York Times". He was born in Cincinnati, 1858. He
helped found the Southern Associated Press; was an organizer of the
Associated Press, its treasurer and later director and trustee. In 1896 he
came to New York and after acquiring a controlling interest in "The New York
Times," rehabilitated it, and made it the foremost newspaper in the United
States, and one of the leading journals in the world. Son-in-law of Isaac M.
Wise, he served as chairman of the committee which undertook to raise the
$5,000,000 endowment for the Hebrew Union College, contributing a large sum
himself. He is a trustee of Temple Emanu-El.

OTTENDORFER,  ANNA
      (Editor and newspaper proprietor) She died in New York, 1884. With her
first husband, J. Uhl, she came to New York in 1836 and purchased the
"Staats Zeitung," then a weekly. She converted it into a daily, "New Yorker
Staats Zeitung," taking an active share in editing and managing the paper.
In 1852 Uhl died and the widow continued as editor and manager until in 1859
she married one of her editorial writers, Oswald Ottendorfer, who became
managing editor. She was interested in German charities in all parts of the
U.S.A.

P

PAYNE,  JOHN HOWARD
    Author of "Home Sweet Home"; Born in New York, 1791; died Tunis, Africa,
1852; was the grandson of a German Jew, named Isaacs, who became a
Christian, and on whose tombstone at East Hampton, Long Island, there is
inscribed the line: "An Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile.".
Payne's mother was Sarah Isaacs, who died in Boston, Mass., in 1807. He also
had a sister named Sara Isaacs Payne (1787-1808). "Clari," the opera, in
which "Home Sweet Home" was one of the ballads, was first produced at the
Covent Garden Theatre, London, May 8, 1823.

PEIXOTTO,  DANIEL LEVY MADURO
      Early Jewish graduate of Columbia Medical School; Born in Amsterdam,
1800: Died in New York, 1843. Accompanying his father who emigrated from
Curacao, he came to New York, graduated at 16 from Columbia College and
received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1819.  In 1836 he became
professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine and Obstetrics, and was later
appointed president of Willoughby College, Ohio.

PEIXOTTO, DANIEL LEVY MADURO
      Officer in the Spanish-American war. He was born in New York, 1854 and
died in Guantanamo, Cuba, 1898. he was the son of Moses Levy Maduro
Peixotto. He was a member of the 7th Regiment, State of New York, and served
as captain of the 3rd Regiment, U.S. Volunteer Infantry in the
Spanish-American war. At the time of his death, due to fever, he was
military governor and provost marshal of Guantanamo.

PEIXOTTO,  MOSES  LEVY  MADURO
      Merchant and rabbi. He was born in Curacao, 1767 and died in New York,
1828. In Curacao he was a merchant, owned ships, and landed from one of his
own vessels in the United States in 1807. Owing to the Embargo Acts he could
not return, and settled in New York, and became an American citizen. On the
death of Rabbi Gershom Mendes Seixas he served Shearith Israel as rabbi, and
held that office to his death.

PHILLIPS,  ISAAC
      Appraiser of the Port of New York. He was born in New York, 1812 and
died there in 1889. He was appointed by President Pierce and was appraiser
for many years. He was also Commissioner of the New York Board of Education.

PONTE,  LORENZO  DA (Jeremiah Conegliano)
      Librettist and opera director. He was born in Ceneda, Italy, 1749 and
died in New York, 1837. Member of a prominent Italian family, and baptized
in his boyhood. Conegliano went to Austria, became a favorite of the Emperor
Joseph II., and wrote for Mozart the libretto of "Marriage of Figaro" and
"Don Juan." At the beginning of the 19th century he emigrated to New York,
and was professor of the Italian language and literature at Columbia
College, New York, to his death. He brought the first Italian opera company
(Garcia) to New York, and managed Italian opera here in 1833.

Q (no New York listing)

R

RABBINO,  BERNHARD
      Projector of domestic relation court. He was born in Vilkie, Poland,
1860 and died in New York, 1933. He was educated in Kovno for the rabbinate
and was for a time rabbi in Germany. He followed his parents to the U.S. and
was appointed rabbi in Keokuk, Ia. After serving in a number of western and
southern communities he came to New York and studied for the bar.  The
funeral of Rabbi Joseph in 1903 was a turning point in his career. The
disturbance created at the funeral led to his taking charge of the Legal Aid
Bureau of the Educational Alliance, New York. His experience in the courts
suggested the Domestic Relations Court which was established by law in New
York in 1910.

RATNOFF,  NATHAN
      President American Jewish Physicians Committee. He was born in Pinsk,
1875. He settled in New York in 1898.  He is president of the Beth Israel
Hospital, New York.

REVEL,  BERNARD
      President Yeshiva College, New York. He was born in Kovno, Lithuania,
1885. After graduating from the Riga Gymnasium he came to the U.S. studied
at the University of Pennsylvania and New York University, and took his
Ph.D. In 1915, he was appointed president of the faculty of the Rabbi Isaac
Elchanan Theological Seminary, which was later merged into Yeshiba College.

RICE,  ISAAC  LEOPOLD
      Lawyer, industrialist and chess player. He was born in Wachenheim,
Germany, 1850 and died in New York, 1932. He came to U.S. with his parents
when six years old and settled in Philadelphia. Later he went to Paris for
his education and became a correspondent for the Philadelphia "Evening
Bulletin." Returning, he settled in New York and acquired a reputation as a
music teacher.In 1880 he was graduated from the Columbia Law School, and
became lecturer in political science and instructor there (1882-86). In 1893
he began to take an interest in electricity, and in 1897 became president of
the Electric Storage Battery Company. He was president of the Manhattan
Chess Club and invented the "RicGambit."

ROSENFELD,  MORRIS
      Yiddish poet. He was born in Boksha, Suwalki, Poland, 1862 and died in
New York, 1917. He was a tailor in New York, a diamond cutter in Amsterdam,
Holland, and resettled in New York in 1886 when he joined the staffs of
various Yiddish dailies, and maintained that affiliation till his death. He
was stricken with illness in 1906 from which he never fully recovered, and
his remarkably creative powers ceased at that date.

ROSENTHAL,  HERMAN
       Editor and librarian. He was born in Friedrichstadt, Latvia, 1843 and
died
in New York, 1917. He started life as a master printer, and served with
distinction in the Russo-Turkish war. In 1881 he left Russia for the United
States for the purpose of organizing colonies of Russian Jews in the western
and southern farm lands. He settled in New York, and followed various
callings until 1898, whe was made chief of the Slavonic Department of the
New York Public Library, a post he held till his death. He took an active
part in Hebrew-speaking societies, and in the Zionist Organization of which
he was for many years a vice-president.

ROSSDALE,  ALBERT  B.
      U.S. Congressman (1920-22). He was born in New York, 1878. He is a
manufacturing jeweler who, however, has been keenly interested from 1900 in
postal reforms and in organizing postal employees into a trade union. He was
elected to the 67th Congress from New York.

S

SACHS,  JULIUS
      Educator. He was born in Baltimore, Md., 1849 and died in New York,
1934.
In early manhood he founded the Collegiate Institute, New York, and in 1905
was appointed professor of Secondary education at Teachers' College Columbia
University. He was president of several teachers' organizations, and  of the
New York Society of the Archeological Institute of America.

SCHECHTER,  SOLOMON
      President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and founder
of the United Synagog of America. He was born in Focsani, Roumania, 1847 and
died in New York, 1915. From his settlement in the United States, Schechter
served as the rallying center of the school of historic, or conservative
Judaism. His ripe scholarship was combined with a live interest not only in
contemporary Jewish events, but in literature and scholarship in general.
Although English was to him an acquired tongue, his years of residence in
Cambridge made him a master of the English essay, and he applied its form,
its flair for criticism and appraisal, as well as pleasant presentation, to
his own field of rabbinics, theology and literary historic investigation.

SOLIS,  JACOB  DA  SILVA
      American pioneer. He was born in London, 1780 and died in New York,
1829. He was a descendant of Solomon da Sa Solis and Donna Isabel da Fonseca
(daughter of the Marquis of Turin and Count of Villa Real and Monterey),
both refugees from the Inquisition who were married as Jews in Amsterdam in
1670. Solis came to the U.S. in 1803, and engaged in business. This brought
him to New Orleans in 1826, where he established a matzah bakery and a
synagog for the benefit of the Jews there. His son, Solomon da Silva Solis
born in Mount Pleasant, New York, 1819 and died in New York, 1854), was one
of the founders of the Jewish Publication Society of America.

SOLOMONS, ADOLPHUS  SIMEON
      One of the founders of the American Red Cross. He was born in New
York, 1826 and died in Washington, D.C., 1910. At the age of 14 he enlisted
as color-guide in the 3rd Regiment Washington Greys (New York Militia). In
1851 he was promoted Special Despatch Bearer to Berlin by Daniel Webster,
then Secretary of State. In this capacity he visited the Jewish ward in a
Frankfort Hospital, and on his return he raised a fund to aid in the
founding of Mt. Sinai Hospital. From 1891 to his retirement in 1903 he was
general agent of the Baron de Hirsch Fund in America. He was one of the
incorporators of the American Red Cross, and of the N.Y. New Era Club.

SPEYER,  JAMES  JOSEPH
      Banker. He was born in New York, 1861.  In 1885 he settled in New York
as a member of Speyer & Co., founded in 1837. He has been the head of the
firm since 1899. He is one of the founders of the Provident Loan Society,
and of the New York University Settlement. He is a trustee of Teachers
College to which he presented the Speyer School in 1902, and a trustee of
the Museum of the City of New York.

STERNE,  SIMON
      Lawyer and political reformer. He was born in Philadelphia, 1839 and
died in New York 1901. In 1870-71 he was secretary of the Committee of
Seventy" which was instrumental in overthrowing the Tweed ring in New York
and in 1894 he renewed the anti-Tammany fight in helping to elect Mayor
Strong. He was editor of the "Commercial Advertiser," New York, 1863-64, and
wrote on politics and constitutional history.

STRAKOSCH,  MAURICE
      Pianist and theater director. He was born in Lemberg, 1825 and died in
Paris 1887. He was a boy prodigy and toured his native Galicia as a child.
Later he became a singer and studied in Italy. In 1845 he came to New York,
organized his own concerts, and meeting Salvatore Patti, the director of a
bankrupt Italian opera company, induced him to join fortunes and launched
out in 1849 on what proved to be a most successful career as impresario. He
married Charlotte Amelia Patti, and introduced her more famous sister,
Adelina Patti, to the concert stage when she was only eight years old. In
1859 he and Uhlmann, also a Jew, took charge of Italian opera in New York,
and managed Adelina Patti to 1868.

STRAUS,  ISIDOR
      One of the founders of the Educational Alliance, New York. He was born
in Otterberg, Germany, 1845 and died with his wife Ida in the sinking of the
Titanic, 1912. He was the son of Lazarus Straus, who settled in Talbotton,
Ga., in 1854, and came with his father to New York in 1865, where they
organized the firm of L. Straus & Son. Later he entered the firm of R.H.
Macy Co.,  and in 1892 that of Abraham & Straus of Brooklyn.  He was one of
the founders of the Educational Alliance and its president for many years.

STRAUS,  NATHAN
      Philanthropist. He was born in Otterberg, in 1848 and died in
Mamaroneck, N.Y., . He attended school in Talbotton, Ga., and joined his
father's firm in New York in 1872 and later R.H. Macy & Co., from which he
retired in 1914. He was offered the nomination of mayor of the city of New
York in 1894, president of the Board of Health in 1898. He won the love and
esteem of millions for establishing in 1890 a system for the distribution of
sterilized milk to the poor of New York, which saved many infant lives. He
started chains of groceries for the distribution of bread, coal and
groceries during the panic of 1893-94. His funeral witnessed a unique
outpouring of tens of thousands who paid tribute to his unselfish life.

SULZBERGER,  CYRUS  L.
      Merchant and communal worker. He was born in Philadelphia, Pa. 18 and
died in New York, 1932. He settled in New York, in 1877 and entered the firm
of Englander, Blumgart & Co., of which later he became the senior partner.
He took a keen interest many Jewish efforts having helped to found the
Y.M.H.A. of New York, presiding over the United Hebrew Charities, directed
the Agricultural Aid Society, the Industrial Removal Office, and the Bureau
of Jewish Social Research. His son, Arthur Garfield Sulzberger (born in New
York, 1891) is vice-president and one of the editorial board of "The New
York Times".

T, U and V  (nothing for N.Y.)

W

WALD,  LILLIAN
      Founder of the Henry Street Settlement, New York. She born in Ohio,
1867. In 1893 she founded the settlement with which her name is closely
associated, and of which she was President and head resident worker till
1933 when illness forced her to resign. In 1902 she organized the
municipalization of nursing in New York, and in 1908 originated the Federal
Children's Bureau. She has taken an active part in the woman's suffrage
movement, the peace movement, and the social ameliorative efforts in which
women have been conspicuous since 1900.

X,Y and Z ( no listing for New York)

This concludes Historical Facts on the Progress of the Jewish Community in
New York..

Source: "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Knowledge (in one volume)
Edited by:  Jacob De Haas (in collaboration with more than one hundred and
fifty scholars and specialists)
Publisher:  Behrman's Jewish Book House-New York
Copyright:  1934
____________________________________________

Transcribed, Prepared & Contributed Exclusively by 
Miriam Medina For the Brooklyn Information Page
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