San Francisco Jewish Pioneers

Solomon Heydenfeldt: Jewish Justice of the California Supreme Court – 1852-1857

Justice Solomon Heydenfeldt Values Codes I – H – E – L – P   Solomon Heydenfeldt was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1816. His mother was Sephardic and his father was Ashkenazic. Heydenfeldt attended college in Pennsylvania and studied law in Charleston. He was admitted

Read more

Washington Bartlett: California’s Pioneer Jewish Governor

Governor Washington Bartlett Values Codes  I – H – E – L – P   Washington Bartlett was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1824 of a Sephardic mother, Sarah Melhado. He arrived in San Francisco in 1849. He and his brothers established newspapers in the Bay City

Read more

Toby Rosenthal: Famous Jewish Artist of Early San Francisco

Toby Edward Rosenthal Values Codes I – H – E – L   Toby Rosenthal was born in 1848 in the Prussian-Polish city of Strassburg. He was brought to America in 1853. (Other biographies state he was born in Connecticut.)   San Francisco In 1858, the Rosenthal

Read more

John & Adelaide Steinman: Hotel Owners of Early San Francisco & First Known Jewish Photograph Taken in S.F.

John and Adelaide Steinman Values Codes I – E – L   John Steinman was born in 1827 in the Duchy of Westphalia, later part of Germany. In 1849, he left Hamburg for America. On the ship, he met Adelaide Heller, who was with her parents, the

Read more

Adolphus Hollub: Early Jewish Pioneer Merchant & Mason

Adolphus Hollub Values Codes I – E – L – P   Adolphus Hollub was born in 1820 in Holitz, Czechoslovakia.   Along the way . . . Hollub ar­rived in America during the mid-1840’s and became an American citizen in Wisconsin – on his way West.

Read more

Abraham Watters: Early Pioneer Synagogue Founder of San Francisco

Abraham Watters Values Codes I – E – L – P   Born in the Prussian-occupied Polish town of either Popowja or Rogasen in 1809, Abraham Watters settled in England in the 1830’s. By 1837, he was in America. In the 1840’s, he lived in Georgia and

Read more