San Francisco Jewish Pioneers

Simon Wolf: Pioneer Master Merchant of Contra Costa County, California

  Simon Wolf   “Among all the areas in the world, California is possibly the one in which the Jews are most widely dispersed.  I do not know of one village, one hamlet, one settlement of any kind, either in the north, the mining area, or the

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Samuel & Albert S. Lavenson: Two Generations of Jewish Pioneer Merchandisers & Capwells Department Stores

Samuel & Albert S. Lavenson Values Codes I – E – L – P   Samuel Lavenson was born in 1829 in Europe. He arrived in Sacramento, California in 1851. In 1955, he founded the Sacramento firm of Locke & Lavenson, which manufactured tents and wagon covers and

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Special California Exhibits

Special California Exhibits Early Pioneer French Jews of California Southern California Postcards, 1904-1907

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Early Pioneer French Jews of California

Early Pioneer French Jews of California   “Pioneer French Jews arrived in San Francisco as early as 1850.  Later, the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871), with its tragic termination obliged all the people of Alsace-Lorraine to either leave their homes or be­come German citizens.  The two provinces had large Jewish com­munities at that

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Joseph Rodrigues Brandon: Pioneer Lawyer and Activist of San Francisco

Joseph Rodrigues Brandon Values Codes I – E – L – P   Joseph Rodrigues (J.R.) Brandon was born in Barbados in 1828. He was the son of Abraham Rodrigues Brandon (1766-1831), a Portuguese Jewish planter, and Sarah Simpson Wood. J.R. Brandon had one brother and two sisters,

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Julius Jacobs: Pioneer Jewish Merchant, Insurance Salesman, and Assistant United States Treasurer

Julius Jacobs Values Codes I – E – L – P   Julius Jacobs was born in the town of Samotschin, Prussia, in 1840. His father was the village schoolmaster. At the age of thirteen, Julius Jacobs made his way to San Francisco via Panama, arriving in

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