Adolph A. Son
Values Codes I – E – L
Adolph A. Son was born in Hildesheim, Hanover, Germany, in 1838.
San Francisco
In 1853, at the age of 15, Adolph Son journeyed to San Francisco and opened a cigar and pipe store.
While vacationing in Europe in 1863, he purchased a collection of meerschaum pipes, which he added to his store’s stock.
In 1865, Adolph Son founded the firm of Son & Briggs.
Briggs retired thirteen years later, in 1878. Adolph Son brought his brother and brother-in-laws Abraham and Jacob Spitz into the firm, changing its name to Son Bros. & Co.
Community
Adolph Son was a member of Congregation Emanu-El.
Family
Adolph married Annie Spitz in 1870.
Adolph A. Son died in 1942.
Sample of tobacco label art, late 19th century
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Abraham Spitz
Values Codes I – E – L
Abraham Spitz
Abraham Spitz was born in 1852 in Bangor, Maine.
San Francisco
In 1870, Abraham Spitz traveled west to San Francisco, California.
He joined his brother-in-law, Adolph Son, in the tobacco mercantile firm of Son Bros. & Co.
In 1906, after 26 years, Abraham Spitz retired from the firm.
Community
Abraham Spitz was a member of Congregation Emanu-El.
He also supported the Federation of Jewish Charities.
Fraternal
Abraham Spitz was a member of the Concordia Club.
He died in 1916.
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Jacob Spitz
Values Codes I – E – P
Jacob Spitz
Jacob Spitz was born in 1858 in Bangor, Maine.
San Francisco
In 1875, Jacob Spitz came to California, where he became a member of the Son Bros. & Co., a tobacco mercantile firm.
Community
Jacob Spitz was a supporter of the Federated Jewish Charities of San Francisco.
Fraternal
Jacob Spitz was a member of the Bay City Lodge, International Order of Odd Fellows.
He also belonged to the Travelers’ Protective Association and the Concordia Club.
His father, Herman Spitz, who lived to be ninety four years old, was the oldest Mason in San Francisco.
Jacob Spitz died in 1915 in San Francisco, California.
Source
- Martin A. Meyer, The Jews of San Francisco (San Francisco: Emanu-El, 1916).
Samantha Silver is curator of this Son & Spitzer exhibit.
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Jews in the News
– About this Time –
Oakland California Jewry’s High Holy Days — 1877
There are about a hundred Jewish families residing in Oakland, and during the recent High Holy Days, services were held in a hall neatly fitted up for the purpose.
The attendance on Yom Kippur was large and the worshippers devout. The services were according to the Polish minhag [rite].
—The Jewish Record, Philadelphia, October 5, 1877 [WSJH 19/2]. First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland, today’s Temple Sinai, was founded in 1875. The above material was sent to the Philadelphia Jewish paper by a resident of Oakland who had recently moved there from San Francisco.
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