Individuals from many different ethnic and religious groups have contributed to Ashtabula County’s development. Jews, while never numbering more than two percent of Ashtabula’s overall population, are among the communities that have measurably affected the area’s civic, cultural, and economic development. The Jewish community has had a continuous presence in Ashtabula County since the 1870s. Albert Strauss is the first Jew known to have lived in what would become the city of Ashtabula. Like many of Ashtabula’s earliest Jewish residents, Albert was an immigrant from Hungary who established a business after settling in the United States. Albert began his time as an entrepreneur in Ashtabula around 1872 and he initially sold both groceries and general goods. His business interests soon expanded to include a store in Conneaut.1 Albert also began a tradition of Jewish entrepreneurs engaging in social organizations and charitable causes. During his time in Ashtabula, Albert was a member of the Elks, Masons, and Odd Fellows. He was also associated with a Jewish fraternal group, B’nai B’rith, and was likely a member of a lodge in Cleveland before the organization chartered in Ashtabula during 1925.2
In 1885, Albert married Fannie Berkowitz, and the couple had at least two children, Bertha and Mollie. Fannie was, like her husband, an immigrant from Hungary. She arrived in the United States around 1875 and may have traveled to Ashtabula County alongside a relative, Emanuel Berkowitz around 1878. Members of the Berkowitz family would go on to reside in both Ashtabula and Conneaut for many years. While it is not known what type of activities Emanuel engaged in during his early years in Ashtabula, by 1915 he owned a saloon in the city.3 Emanuel, who would change his surname to Berk around 1900, also worked as a manager at the Marine National Bank around 1910.4 Albert Strauss, who by the turn of the 20th century had become a notable businessman, also had a business interest in the Marine Bank, which was founded in 1891. Strauss also invested in several other businesses in the area including the Ashtabula Concrete Stone Company, Ashtabula Worsted Mills, and The Lake Erie Manufacturing Company, which was chartered in 1903.5 For several years during the early 1900s, Strauss also served as a trustee of Ashtabula Township.6 The Strauss family was also philanthropic and active supporters of the Jewish community. Institutions such as the Montefiore Kesher Home for the Aged and Infirm Israelites in Cleveland and the Jewish Hospital for Consumptives in Denver benefited from their support.
Anna and Moses Perelman were also early Jewish residents of Ashtabula. Both emigrated from the Russian Empire around the age of 18. Anna arrived in 1870, and Moses in 1878. In 1882 the couple wed, and by 1885 they lived in Ashtabula.7 Before her marriage to Moses, Anna was wed to a man with the surname Wolf. Nothing is known about this person, but a Jew named Louis Wolf did live in Ashtabula by 1910. It is possible that this man was a relative of Anna’s. A son, David Wolf, also lived with his mother and stepfather in 1920 following the death of his wife.8 Anna and Moses had at least one child following their marriage, a son named Louis. Born in 1883, Louis would follow in his father’s footsteps to become a wholesale fruit salesperson in Ashtabula. He married Rose Gottlieb, a native of Buffalo, around 1904 and moved to Cleveland along with his family in the 1910s.
During the 1890s, the number of Jewish families in Ashtabula County further increased. Known families who came to the area during this decade include Barsky, Brown, Kahne, Loeb, and Stolmack. Israel and Rachel Barsky were born in the Russian Empire and emigrated to the United States with at least five children, Louis, Jacob, Harry, and Fish. Israel worked as a dyer and tailor while Louis Barsky, the eldest son, was employed as a cigar maker. Around 1910 the four brothers created a business named Barsky Brothers which provided dry cleaning and tailoring services. Like the Barsky family, Isaac Brown supported his wife, Carrie and their five children through his work as a tailor. Isaac specialized in making and repairing coal mining uniforms.9 While Carrie was a native of Pennsylvania, Isaac was born in Central Europe and he had come to the United States in 1857 at the age of 17. Before settling in Ashtabula, he worked in New York and Pennsylvania. Emma and Max Kahne were also immigrants from Central Europe. Max was born in Sulzberg and he wed Emma in 1871. Ten years later the couple moved to the United States where they lived in New York and Baltimore before coming to Ashtabula.10 Around 1900 Max opened up a cigar and newspaper store called the Central News Room. He worked alongside his son, Alfred who arrived in the United States seven years after his parents. Max was noted for his knowledge of the Talmud, a significant source of Jewish religious law.11 Alfred would be involved in the formation of Congregation Tifereth Israel, a synagogue that remains in Ashtabula well into the 21st century. In 1906 Alfred married Alice Istel, a native of New York, who would later become the first secretary of the Ashtabula Sisterhood, a Jewish women’s organization, founded in 1923.
David Loeb, like many other early Jewish residents of Ashtabula County, was an immigrant, but his country of origin, Canada, is more unique.12 By 1890 David was living in Ashtabula and operating the Globe Clothing Company. David was also involved in the Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows, and Knights of Pythias. Dora and Joseph Stolmack were immigrants from Tsarist Russia who lived in Ashtabula by 1900. At the turn of the century, Joseph worked as a shoemaker and he opened up a scrap metal business by 1910. By this time eight out of the ten scrap metal dealers in the city of Ashtabula were Jewish. Conneaut and Geneva also had scrap metal businesses owned by Jews. The presence of Jews in the scrap metal industry was due to the recent development of the trade and its accessibility to immigrants. Operating a scrap yard was also particularly attainable for many Jewish immigrants because of its low startup cost and scalability. Religious entrepreneurs could also create their own work schedules around holidays and other observances which would not have been permitted in larger factories. By 1930 Fortune magazine estimated that 90 percent of scrap metal yards in the United States were owned by Jews.13
1 Obituary of Albert Strauss, Jewish Independent (Cleveland), April 01, 1932.
2 “New Lodges and Auxiliaries,” B’nai B’rith Messenger (Los Angeles), January 22, 1926.
3 Obituary of Emanuel Berk, Jewish Review and Observer (Cleveland), December 14, 1928.
4 Ancestry.com, Ashtabula, Ohio, City Directory, 1910,[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
5 Charter Issued to and Other Proceedings Concerning Corporations Vol 1 (Charleston, WV: The Tribune Printing Company, 1903), 133.
6 Ohio Federal, State, County, Township and Municipal Officers (Springfield, OH: The Springfield Publishing Company; State Printers, 1907), 140.
7 Goodkind, S. B. Eminent Jews of America (Toledo: The American Hebrew Biographical Company, 1918), 216.
8 Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
9 Obituary of Isaac Brown, American Israelite (Cincinnati), September 12, 1901.
10 Goodkind, S. B. Eminent Jews of America, 137.
11 Ibid.
12 Goodkind, S. B. Eminent Jews of America, 186.
13 Joe Eskenazi, “Junkyard Jews,” Jewish News of Northern California (San Francisco), August 20, 2004.