PART II:

THE EMIGRATION OF LEOPOLD DREIFUSS AND SIBLINGS FROM GERMANY AND EARLY LIFE IN AMERICA

 

 

 

Life With Uncle Sam

 

Its interesting to look at Samuel Dreifuss (uncle of Leopold) to see what effect this might have had on the life of Leopold and his siblings. It is possible that the orphans may have lived with him before 1866 since we don't know the fate of Isaac after April of 1864. So Leopold apparently lived under his aunt and uncle's care for at least two years before emigrating. Samuel was a clothier who lived in Altdorf with his wife of 32 years, Karolina. He was two years older than Isaac, being about 60 when officially designated as guardian. He and Karolina had six adult children in July 1866 ranging in age from 18 to 31. However, there was only one 18 year old daughter that might have needed their continued support, the rest being at least 22 years old or married.

 

On July 31, 1866 the children, Leopold (15), Emma (13), Aaron (9), Henry (7) and Rosa (5) officially came under the care of their uncle in Altdorf. Since he was a clothier it is possible that at least the older children could have helped out and learned skills from him. Aaron and  Henry would become clothiers together in 1882 and Rosa would join her husband, Albert Gunzburger in a clothing business in 1888 in Selinsgrove, PA. Leopold who was under Samuel's care officially for only two years may have learned essential skills that could have prepared himself for life in the US.

 

Leopold Chooses Pennsylvania

 

Perhaps Leopold and other family members thought that he should have made the trip years ago but uncertainty surrounding the post Civil War conditions of the U.S. justified a wait. Finally, Leopold, not yet 18 years old departed Altdorf to make the 450 miles trip to Hamburg,where he boarded the S.S. Westphalia on September 16, 1868. When Leopold did leave, it might have been only a coincidence but Samuel's 28 year old son and first cousin of Leopold, Joseph, died September 10. Was Joseph's death related in any way to Leopold's departure?

 

Using more traditional approaches to develop a paper trail for Leopold and his siblings, we searched local courthouse records in several counties for information. Montour County came into focus because we learned through family collaborators that Leopold's brothers had business dealings there for many years in Danville. We learned many interesting facts about all of the siblings. See "The Draw of Mifflinburg, Selinsgrove and Danville" below.  However we found only one thing certain that would place Leopold in the area. The Montour County Courthouse had a handwritten entry for the Feb 7th 1869 filing of a Declaration of Intention for Naturalization in the United States by Leopold Dreifuss.

 

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Leopold Dreifuss, a native of Baden in Germany and a subject of Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden aged eighteen years ..... ...  declared his intentions to become a citizen of the United States before the Prothonotary April 16th 1869.

 

It is interesting to note that Leopold arrived in New York on September 28, 1868 and was in Danville, PA. Feb 7, 1869, only 4½ months later, declaring his intention to become a citizen. It seemed that Danville or some other town in Montour County might have been his ultimate destination. We do know that in those years, Danville had had a rich German, Jewish community since the 1840s. In fact we traced several Jewish families living there to villages in Baden including Altdorf and those nearby. Also the Old Jewish Cemetery in Danville is filled with stones from Jews who were born in and near Altdorf. However, that one document is the only one that definitely ties him to Central Pennsylvania and it ties him to Danville not Selinsgrove (and Montour County not Snyder County). We also learned that the original hand recorded tax records for Danville were stored in the basement of the Court House loosely and were given special permission to search them. We did find 1869 tax records for the butcher shop of a Moyer Lyon, who employed and housed a worker whose name looked to be L. Dryfus. However. we cannot be certain of the writing or whether that is our Leopold.

 

Leopold may have been seeking in the U.S. the additional freedom that he didn't have in Germany to be successful. According to Avraham Barkai3:

 

"Most of the emigrants of this period came from lower-middle-class families whose economic ascent had already started to transform the socioeconomic structure of German Jewry. The ambitions, thrift, and enterprise that had spurred on this emerging class of shopkeepers and tradesmen must also have induced their emigrating children and grandchildren to try their luck overseas."

 

Leopold's choice of a small town in Pennsylvania was not unusual. According to Barkai, German Jewish immigrants before 1890 often sought out a new life in smaller towns. First, these immigrants were generally not factory workers but shopkeepers and tradesmen. Second, they were better accepted in smaller towns and communities with some established German culture (as was the case throughout much of Pennsylvania).

 

Part of the attraction may have been from relatives already established in Pennsylvania. As we hope to describe in more detail in a separately on this site, there were several who preceded him. Of all of these, his uncle Henry Bernheim who had emigrated in 1852, is a real possibility because he was his mother's brother, sympathetic to his needs and because he had a home in Selinsgrove when Leopold arrived. Henry also lived (and died) in Danville. Danville offered both of them additional Jewish landsmen from Baden. Henry, who was a peddler and day laborer, and already supporting a wife and 10 year old daughter would not have been able to provide much support for Leopold and his siblings.

 

An Unexpected Find

 

Sometimes genealogical research provides a totally unexpected finds which complicates but at the same time  enriches the history you are seeking. Such was the case when we were scouring records for elusive paper trails for Leopold shortly after his arrival. We found a second immigration record for him and this time accompanied by his first cousin, Berhard Bernheim (the brother of I.W. Bernheim). On January 26, 1870 Leopold and Bernhard boarded the same ship (S.S. Westphalia) that took Leopold to New York a little more than a year before that. This time they were boarding from the Port of Le Havre, France. This finding has never been fully understood although it is well known that Bernhard came to the U.S. to help his brother in the liquor business in Kentucky. Why they were boarding from France is quite another question.

 

Leopold's Siblings Emigrate

 

Leopold's brothers followed him first: 16 year old Aaron came on 2 Feb 1874 and 16 year old Henry came a year later on 2 Jun 1875. Approximately 20 year old Rosa followed her three brothers during 1880 or 1882. Not only was Rosa the youngest but she was not married and might have been expected to help Samuel. When Samuel died in 1877, she followed her brothers to Pennsylvania. Barkai explains this as follows:

 

"Before long, "chain-migration" of siblings following the first emigrants only a few years after their departure became the most decisive "pull" factor of increased emigration. In most cases, boys in their early teens were the first to join their elder brothers, who in many cases provided at least part of the fare and arranged the necessary formalities. Usually these younger brothers also started to work with them as partners shortly after their arrival, at least for some time. Unmarried sisters followed in many cases only after the death of parents, for whom they had cared in the old country, with financial assistance sent from America as the usual means of support. The emigration of aged parents was rather exceptional."

 

The small town draw for Leopold and his siblings as described by Barkai was not permanent. Leopold may have been in Pennsylvania in the first few years, but beginning in 1873 with his marriage to Eugenie Bloch he spent the rest of his life in New York, mostly Brooklyn. Aaron, who arrived in 1874 apparently sought some refuge in New York with Leopold and married Hannah Baumannn in Brooklyn in 1879. Rosa, who arrived in 1880 or 1882, appears to have lived in Philadelphia briefly since she married Albert Gunzburger there in 1884.

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The Draw of Mifflinburg, Selinsgrove and Danville

 

In 1880, Henry Dreifuss married Fanny Baumann, who was the sister of Aaron's wife, Hannah. The census that year shows the two families were next door neighbors in Mifflinburg. Aaron and Hannah's daughter, Rosie was three month old and born in PA.

 

This period marks the beginning of business that Henry and Aaron had together. By 1882 the Brothers were selling clothing in Selinsgrove. In 1886 the brothers were in business with Rosa or her husband selling dry goods in Selinsgrove (although there is no evidence of continuance of a long business relationship. In 1887 regular advertisement begins for the Dreifuss Bros clothing store in Selinsgrove similar to that shown below.

 

Henry and Fanny would not remain very long in Mifflinburg. The first son, Isaac was born in Danville in January 1881 where would raise three more sons and two daughters. They only moved to to Detroit in 1906 where they would retire and lived there remainder of their lives.

 

Aaron and Hannah would raise 4 daughters all born in these towns in Pennsylvania. They would continue to live there until about 1920 when they moved to Philadelphia. where they lived for the remainder of their lives.

Dreifuss Brothers advertisements in the Middleburgh Post (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) on Dec 12, 1889 and October 4, 1888, respectively. Immediately below the Dreifuss Bros ad at the right is another ad by their sister, Rosa Dreifuss Gunsberger for a clothing store in Middleburgh, PA.

Conclusion

 

We have learned of the losses of Leopold's mother when he was just 13 years old and of his father sometime within the next two years. Leopold may have come to the United States because of the loss of his parents, or just to improve the quality of his life. He had many relatives and landsmen that had moved to Pennsylvania, including the small town of Selinsgrove. In the absence of a better paper trail, we have discovered only that he did at least travel to Danville, a town with a German Jewish Community less than 19 miles from Selinsgrove. It would seem likely then that the family story that he lived for a short time in Selinsgrove that was passed down to us is true.

 

The lack of a paper trail in Pennsylvania in those early years is explained by Leopold taking a second trip to Europe (after applying for naturalization!) where he meets and accompanies his cousin Bernhard Bernheim to the U.S. from France. Exactly what his purpose for the trip was and why he was in France is unknown but it tells us that Leopold could not have lived for a significant time period in Selinsgrove since he married in New York in 1873.

 

Hopefully some day additional pieces of the puzzle may surface and will learn more about him.

 

Return to Part I

Footnotes:

 

1. There is no death record that was ever found for Isaac. He is not buried like other family members in the Schmieheim cemetery.
2. Rosa's father, Solomon Bernheim also died June of 1864. The close death dates of Rosa, her baby(Lisette), her son Simon and her father have often led us to suspect a contagious disease. Solomon was 87 years old and certainly mat have died of natural causes.
3. Avraham Barkai "Branching Out - German-Jewish Immigration to the United States, 1820 - 1914" ,1994
4. There was another sister, Emma, who by our records was living during 1864. No death records have ever been found for her and she is not buried in the Schmieheim cemetery.