The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-25
TWO HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS
SINCE FIRST JEW LANDED
IN AMERICA.
Ceremonies in Commemors:ion OF the
Event Are Being Held in the
United States.

NEW 4ORh, NON lie oS"0 80
all parts of the United States began
TODAY the celebration Of the 250th an
niversary of the first Jewish settlement
in this country. Wherever there are
Jewish committees this memorable day
will be celebrated in an appropriate
manner, by religious services IN the
svnagogues and public meetings, IN
which prominent Jews will review the
history of the Jewish race in the Unit
ed States and speak of the Importance
of that memorable day in the history
of the race. 1t is not more than prop
or that New York, having larger
Jewish population than any other city
of the country, and being the city
where the first Jewish settlement was
established, should celebrate the ami
versary in a particularly elaborate
manner The program includes rellg-
ious services of Thanksgiving in all
svnagogues today and tomorrow and
a large mass meeting at Carnegie hall,
with fine array of prominent
sneakers. Judge Mayer Sulzberger will
be the principal orator of the day at
the Carnecip haT celebration. Among
Oscar s. S+rarse. Max J. Kohler DR..
Cyrus Adler. Jacob H. Schiff, who will
preside at the meeting, Daniel Guggen-
helm, Samuel Greenbaum, Edward
Lauterbach, the Rev. DR.. Pereira Mon
des, N. Taylor Phillips, Louis Stern ana
others 1t is expected that representa-
tive Jews from all parts of the United
States will attend the meeting.
First Jew Lands.
1t was in the early summer of 1854
that Jacob BarsimOn, Jew, landed in
New Amsterdam, as New York was
called at that time. He was the first
Jew who permanently settled in this
country. A year later tWenty-three
Jewish refugees from Brazil arrived.
Governor Peter StuyVesant was in ia
vor of excluding them from the New
Netherlands. but the worshipful di-
rectors of the Dutch West India COM
pany stayed his hand on April 20, 1855
with the following order: I'VE would
nave liked to agree to your wishes and
request that the new territories should
not be further invaded by people of the
Jewish race. for we fOresee from such
immigration the same difficulties which
you fear but after having further
weighed and considered the matter, we
observe that it would be unreasonable
and unfair especially because of the
considerable loss sustained by the
Jews in the taking of Brazil, and also
because of the large amount of capital
which they have invested in shares of
this company. After many consulta-
lions we have decided and resolved
upon a certain petition made by said
Portuguese Jews that they shall have
permission to sail to and trade in New
Netherland. and to live and remain
provided the poor among them shall
not become burden to the company or
the community, but be supported by
their own nation. You will govern
yourself accordingly
Large Colony.
Ever since that time New York has
had a large and thriving colony of
Jews. The first synagogue in the New
World was built in New York in 1895.
During the revolutionary war there
were a great many Jews who support
ed the American revolutionists finan-
cially During the civil war many of
them fought on the Union side and
others contributed to a considerable
extent to the financial needs of the
country
It is estimated that at the present
r+"'o there are more than 1900 900
Jews in the United States, of whom
about 500 900 live in New York Phila-
delphia has about $4,000 Jews, Chica-
go nearly 10000. Until 1912 nearly
all the Jews in New York and in this
country in general We're Spaniards and
Portuguese. Then German Jews began
to come in. having been driven out by
the NapOleOnic wars. AS late as 1882
the majority of the Jews in the Ghettos
were German Jews but since then the
number of Polish and Russian Jews
who emigrated to this country and set
tied here increased so much that now
fully two-thirdS of the Jews in New
York are Polish or Russian Jews.