Reminiscences
of Jacob Greenebaum, Sr. (cont.)



Thus we lived thirty-four years in Eppelsheim in uninterrupted contentment and found our happiness in ourselves and in the family circle in our home. I say the family circle in our home, as I can remember nothing enjoyable outside of that circle on the part of my co-religionists; they still looked upon me as a stranger, in spite of my activity in the community during many years, and as I was appointed by the government, in the early years of my sojourn, head of the congregation, their behavior was like that of the men of Sodom towards Lot, when they said: "This fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a judge." I might write down much about this, but as it is the place where my dear wife was born, I shall refrain on her account. They could harm me but little; the more hostility they showed towards me, the more I was honored and respected by the non-Jews.



rhe005a.jpg (31 KB)

Farmland in and around Rheinpfalz
Photo, copyright 1995, Susan E. King. All rights reserved



Our marriage was not only a happy one, it was also blessed by the Lord. However, a man can not always be joyful; as Goethe says, "human life is mingled with sorrow." To us also at times a sad fate was allotted by the all-beneficent One; in spite of sorrows, our contentment was not lessened, our attachment to one another became all the greater and we found consolation in one another. Patience and resignation in the will of God and His counsels gave us great strength and courage.

(Jacob GREENEBAUM and Sara HERZ) had thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters, of whom five were torn from us by death, by the decree of the Heavenly Father. This is the order of their birth and those designated by a cipher rest in peace in the sod of our old home; Marian, 1:0; Leah, 2:0; Elias; Michael; Hermann,3:0; Benjamin, 4:0; Isaac; Henry; Abraham, 5-0; Hannah; Barbara and David. Marian died in her twenty-second year as the betrothed of Leopold GUTHMANN of Hamm on the Rhine. She died in consequence of a disease of the liver. The second child died was only granted a few days of existence. The third died in his seventh year of inflammation of the brain. The fourth, nine years old, died of kidney trouble; both were promising lads of exceptional beauty. The fifth was seven months old and died of convulsions while teething.[10]

These were truly sad events in our wedlock and caused us great grief; these losses did not destroy our happiness, they only served to increase our devotion. We accepted joy and sorrow patiently and praised God as well for the evil as for the good that we experienced; yet it cannot be denied, sad memories cannot be suppressed.

As for my means of support, soon after my marriage I engaged in the iron business in which I received some favors from the foundry of Herrn VON GIENANTH, who had been an acquaintance of my father's. This business I continued without interruption until the time of my emigration, which occurred in 1852, and with the same firm with whom I had dealings in the beginning, I continued until I gave up my business and likewise my customers remained faithful to me through all these years, a special source of satisfaction for me when I emigrated.

In the year 1829 I began to deal in rags, combined with the notion business, as it was customary in that part of the country, which lines I also continued successfully until my emigration.

In regard to the education of my children, it was always my intention, as far as their qualifications and my means allowed, to have them instructed in all that would make of them good citizens, honorable men of business and economical managers and in general to have them trained, that they might be able to support themselves in any part of the world to which their fate might lead them.

This was indeed a difficult undertaking, as I had no opportunity for this in our home town. Our sages said, in all that is done with pure intention, help comes from above. We too entered upon our task trusting in God, and help really came to us from above. In order to achieve our purpose, we were early compelled to send our children to school in other cities.

They utilized their time in a manner that gave great satisfaction to their teachers and to ourselves. It did indeed cause my dear wife and myself many a sleepless night, as all expenses had to be drawn from the business, and we had to exercise great self-denial and deprive ourselves of much. We always hoped that the seed-corn we scattered would at some time bring good fruit and that we could then exclaim, "he who endures to the end will be crowned with success," which has always been verified, the Lord be praised.

The management of my business during these many years, though successful, entailed great exertions at all times and I had no one to help me but my dear wife, who always stood beside me as a faithful companion; she attended to everything while I was taking business trips, which occurred frequently.

In August, 1843, my Jacob left school; he tried to familiarize himself gradually with all that the business required and soon stood energetically beside me. In the course of a few years, he was able to undertake the most difficult tasks, that until then had weighed almost entirely on me alone. I gave him general power of attorney that he might represent me in all courts; he undertook the work gladly and looked upon it as a pleasant duty, for which credit must not be denied him to this day by his dear mother and myself, as well as by his brothers and sisters.

In May, 1833, my father-in-law died at the age of seventy-two. Formerly our dead had to be taken to Osthofen for burial, more than two leagues away. This was a sad sight to me, even at the beginning of my sojourn in Eppelsheim. To change this procedure I worked quietly a long time, but the rest of my co-religionists did not wish to change for fear of committing a sin and believed they were compelled to use the cemetery where their fathers rested, for all time.







At last in the year 1831 through the promulgation of a governmental decree, the old cemetery at Osthofen was transferred to a more northerly site, when I and a few others took measures and received a concession from the government to establish a cemetery in a legal manner.

My father-in-law (Michael HERZ) was the first who there found his resting place; he was buried with great solemnity with tolling of bells, and so it is done to this day, that bells are tolled while an Israelite is carried to his grave. The community received at that time two new bells, which were acquired through voluntary subscriptions, in which the Jews showed themselves generous. Through the death of my father-in-law, I found myself called upon to assume new responsibilities. My mother-in-law (Judith FELSENTHAL), who was also my aunt, was left now with five unmarried daughters and one son, the youngest of all, helpless and without means. Without considering my own business and my large household, I assumed the task of making her affairs my own. I spared no pains and did everything that was to her advantage.

Herein also I found again that where there is a pure intention, help comes from above. All that I undertook for her succeeded and with God's help, four daughters were worthily bestowed in marriage. The older daughter, Hannah (HERZ), who was the second oldest, was an invalid. The son, (Jacob HERZ – anglicized to HART) the youngest of all the children married under my guidance. Mother and daughter lived with me until they passed into a better life beyond.

In May, 1837, I was attacked by a severe illness; I lay unconscious three weeks and all doubted the possibility of my recovery. I myself gave up all hope and was ready for whatever pleased the Lord. My Elias was fifteen years old at the time. He was the eldest of my sons and was at this epoch at school in Kaiserslautern. The distress in my family was great, but the beneficent Father heard the prayer of my dear wife and the pleading of my children, and I recovered entirely under the care of a competent physician, with the help of God.

That my dear wife (Sara HERZ) was overwhelmed with duties during this time, goes without saying; the big household, the business, the farm, the correspondence, all were under her supervision; at the same time, rarely was anyone allowed to give me medicine or nourishment but my wife or my daughter Marian (GREENEBAUM).

In the year 1844, at the beginning of October, my mother-in-law (Judith FELSENTHAL) died, also at the age of seventy-two; and in the spring of 1851, my sister-in-law Hannah (HERZ) died at the age of fifty-eight, after many years of illness under our roof. The consciousness of having done my duty will comfort me in my last hours, and continue for me a pleasant remembrance.

From this time until we emigrated, we enjoyed constant good health, the Lord be praised, and no misfortune disturbed our contentment. Business continued its regular progress and our possessions were in a flourishing condition. In the meantime, my Isaac also began to help. He proved capable and worked hand in hand with his brother. We now began new lines of business in grain and other agricultural products, in which they were active and capable. During our stay in Eppelsheim, although we had many expenses that others are spared, we had acquired a fine house arranged as a farm house, several gardens, twenty-eight Hessian acres, with all agricultural implements, all that was required.

Although this was purchased with proceeds of the business, it could only be accomplished by a thriftily managed household and economy of all things.

From all this it may be seen that there was no necessity for emigrating in our case. Neither struggle for our existence nor anything that displeased us in our old home could have been the motive for this step; besides there were the most promising prospects in financial matters. The path was now cleared that at the beginning had cost me much toil and trouble, coming among strangers to a strange region when I was twenty-two years old and standing quite alone.

There are, however, other causes that influence men to take steps not demanded by necessity, which was in fact our case.

My Michael (GREENEBAUM) had learned the tinsmith trade according to his own wish, and he had worked for a time as apprentice after having learned the trade. His year of travel as a journeyman was due to begin as soon as he had completed his 20th year, and had been freed from conscription.

Traveling as a journeyman is an absolute necessity for the artisan, without which preparation he would never be regarded as a worthy master of his trade. The conscription passed luckily for him. In the meantime he had agreed with two young men, also Israelites, who were in the same train, that they would emigrate to America, if they were freed from conscription.[11]

Michael consented on condition that his parents gave their consent. All three young men really were freed. Now Michael revealed his plan to us and bade for our consent, with the promise to return in four or five years. The matter seemed quite feasible, as there were then hard times in Germany, and his dear mother and I saw him in our thoughts wandering from city to city, with his knapsack on his back. Therefore we gladly yielded to his wish, thinking to see him again at home in a few years.

Now preparations for his departure were begun and after he had made for me quite a stock of stove pipe[12], he entered upon his journey in July, 1845. Parting was hard, but the hope of a reunion helped us to bear our sorrow.[13]

When we received his first letter, we had to begin to relinquish the hope of his return; he wished that one of his brothers would come to him, that it might probably be advantageous of us all to come later, planning emigration for us as a matter of course.

After my Elias (GREENEBAUM) had left school in Kaiserslautern, I had him instructed in business methods, and he served his apprenticeship several years as clerk and traveler for the house of Machol and Sons in Eppelsheim. In the autumn of 1846, one year after Michael's departure, we resolved to call Elias home, in order to strengthen our own business through his presence. He answered our summons and came home after the end of his contract on January 1, 1847.

But hardly was he initiated in our own business when he expressed the wish to go to America also for a few years. We could nor resist his pleading, in spite of the fact that we had enlarged our business and needed him very much, especially as we were always tormented by the thought that his brother was alone in a distant country, and we yielded to his wish.[14]

In July, 1847, he entered upon his journey. There were again troublous times for us, until we received a letter and were convinced that both brothers were together.

My Henry (GREENEBAUM) was at that time fourteen years old and was at school in Kaiserslautern. It was my intention to let him study law. Scarcely were the two brothers together and settled in Chicago, when they wrote that I should send their brother Henry, with the promise to provide for his further education and to furnish all funds for his studies.

This was asked repeatedly and Henry seemed willing to go. As I always complied with the wishes of my children, in so far as I considered them to their own advantage, we at last fulfilled their wish. We therefore, took Henry out of school in 1848, embraced an opportunity to let him travel in September with an estimable family from our town, which I would not have permitted, if it had not been in the year of the revolution, and I thought this one too would be in safe harbor for the
present.[15]

As soon as he had taken his departure, his dear mother and I began to repent of what we had done and nothing in the world would have brought us again to this resolve, if we could have had him back again. Restless days and sleepless nights now ensued, in which our eyes were seldom free from tears. The reproach which my conscience always uttered, to have subjected a youth of fifteen to such dangers brought me almost to despair.

In this condition we were obliged to wait three whole months until we received his first letter from this side of the ocean. My unrest and anxiety were now partly ended, knowing him under the supervision of his brothers; but perfect contentment never returned. The dear mother yearned for her sons, the children still at home, for their brothers.[16]

As there could be no further hope of a return and my children would remain separated for all time, some in Europe, some in America, I at last formed the resolve to accede to the wish of my children, and go to America with all of them, that they might live together in harmony with united strength.

Although my business grew daily, my farm flourishing and confidence in the state of affairs increased daily, I began in the year 1849 to prepare for departure and took three years to regulate my assets and liabilities. When my project became known, there arose from every side attempts to dissuade us, every one spoke of our prosperous condition and disapproved of my leaving a safe harbor to go towards an insecure one.

There were so many seeking to dissuade me, that I really began to waver. The plan was good nevertheless, as I thereby came into possession of many outstanding accounts, which I might not have received in years. When a letter reached us in the beginning of 1852, in which I was informed that my Henry would come in the following spring, with the intention of accompanying us on the journey, the wish to see my children grew and the yearning for the land of freedom increased. Thereupon I at once held public sale of my goods in February and in the course of three months repeated this, holding four sales in all, until the movable property and realty were sold.

In the beginning of May, Henry arrived after a perilous voyage. The captain became insane during the journey and the ship was nearly wrecked, but through the help of Providence, it was discovered in time to avert the threatening danger, and Henry arrived safely at our home.

The joy with which his arrival was greeted by all may be experienced, but cannot be described. We now worked with great energy in order to hasten our departure as much as possible.

The beginning of July, 1852, we bade farewell to our home, where we left so many friends, who grieved at our departure. We sailed on the ship St. Nicholas, Captain BRAGDEN. The sea voyage lasted thirty-eight days and was on the whole an agreeable one. There were three hundred and fifty passengers on the boat, among them about seventy Israelites.[17] The daily occurrences were noted in a ship's journal, edited by Jacob, Henry and (Leopold) GUTHMANN, which contains some comic incidents, and may be read to this day by anyone interested. No one died on the ship and on one was dangerously ill. Our two sons, Elias and Michael, had married before we came here and we found them and their wives well and happy and in prosperous circumstances. The joy of meeting need bot be described; every one can imagine how great it was.

It is now six and a half years since we left the old home; although I enjoyed much there that I am deprived of here, I have never for a moment desired to return; neither would I allow such a thought to arise in me. Life among my children, and the harmony that reigns among them, their endeavors one for the other, not only render my sojourn here agreeable, but make the dear mother and me most happy, and in the continuation of this happiness we look forward to a serene old age.



Previous Page | Next Page



  1. The genealogical chart appended in the NOTES section clarifies this account. Return


  2. It appears that the authorities absolved these men from military service on condition that they quit Hesse-Darmstadt, which was tantamount to emigrating to America. Bavaria had long had Familiant and other laws designed to limit the growth of the Jewish population in that state. Hesse, perhaps, was promoting the same objective in this instance. Questions such as: was a similar exchange offered to non-Jewish conscripts? Was this a common occurrence encouraging Jewish emigration? Was the official bribed? cannot be answered at this writing. Return


  3. "Michael Greenebaum (1824-1894) became a tinner and plumber after his arrival in Chicago [in 1848]. Active in the Abolitionist movement, he led a crowd that freed a slave held prisoner by a U.S. Marshall (1853). He founded and was the first president of the Hebrew Benevolent Society (1854), [along with his brother, Elias, my great-uncle Moses Rubel, Mayer Klein, married to my great-aunt Hannah Rubel and Isaac Wolf, married to Esther Rubel, another great-aunt], and a founder of the Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Historical Society, the Astronomical Society, the 82nd Illinois Volunteer Regiment of Veterans [of the Civil War], and the Ramah Lodge of B’nai B’rith...He also founded and was the first president of the Zion Literary Society (1877)." (Encycl. Judaica, v.7 p. 809). Return


  4. The author states three paragraphs earlier that he felt no need to emigrate, but that "other causes...influence men to take steps not demanded." In the period of post-Napoleonic reaction prior to 1848, with the Industrial Revolution exploding in England and America, much of Germany remained economically stagnant. Moreover, it is hard to imagine how the small, rural towns and villages, places like Eppelsheim, could possibly absorb the post-Napoleonic "baby-boomers", especially the Jewish ones for whom economic activities were limited by law and custom. Jacob’s economic security had been the work of a lifetime. His sons, and Jacob, too, must have seen that they would never be able to establish themselves the way he had been able to a generation earlier. Return


  5. "Elias Greenebaum (1822-1919) worked for two years in a dry goods store after coming to Chicago [he arrived on April 14, 1848. (Meites, p. 48]and then became a clerk in the banking house of Richard K. Swift. In 1855 he and Henry founded the Greenebaum Brothers Banking House. In 1877 Elias organized the banking house under the firm name of Greenebaum Sons, which subsequently was incorporated as a state bank in 1911 under the name Greenebaum Sons Bank & Trust Company. The name was changed to Greenebaum Sons Investment Co. in 1921. Through consolidation it became successively the Bank of America, Central Trust Co. of Illinois, and Central-Republic Bank & Trust Co. Greenebaum and Associates and the Greenebaum Mortgage Co. still existed in 1970. Elias Greenebaum led the adherents of the Reform group when Chicago’s only (at the time) congregation of Kehilath Anshe Maarav [K.A.M.] split into Orthodox and Reform factions. He was a founder of the Jeudischer Reformverein (1858-61), which founded Congregation Sinai (1861). He was director, treasurer, and Vice-President of this congregation at various times. (Enc. Judaica v. 7 p. 910) "He married Rosina Straus on March 3, 1852, with whom he had three sons, Henry Everett, Moses Ernst and James Eugene, who were associated with him in business, and one daughter, Emma E. (Mrs. Goodman). Elias Greenebaum took an active part, during the ninety-seven years of his life, in the civic and communal affairs of Chicago...A man of honor and influence, he was a vital factor in the growth and development of Chicago… (Meites, p. 48) Return


  6. The system of reaction that sought to return to much of the status quo ante under the influence of Metternich at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 produced mixed results. Louis XVIII, (Louis XVII, heir to the throne of Louis XVI had died during the Terror,) succeeded to the throne of France following the fall of Napoleon, but he installed a parliamentary government. His short reign was already marked by the conflict between "ultras" seeking a return to Royalist absolutism and liberals seeking democratic institutions and a constitutional monarchy or even a republican form of government. The post-Napoleonic period was characterized by the re-establishment of Church privilege, a widespread reaction against the rationalism and free-thinking of the seventeenth century and reviving clericalism in France on the one hand and the forces of liberalism, republicanism, the rise of a liberal press, the influence of newly-important figures enriched by the growing Industrial Revolution and the rise of nationalism on the other hand. "By the 1830s domestic conflicts between conservative, dynastic and clericalist forces on one side and liberal, nationalist, and republican movements on the other had become a general pattern in European politics...Most liberals were also nationalists (seeking the unification  and independence of all communities feeling themselves to be distinct nationalities.)  (Encycl. Britt., v18. p 684) In the spring of 1848, spurred by a combination of bad economic conditions and political aspirations, barricades were thrown up in Paris and Louis-Phillipe was overthrown. The revolt – against foreign rule in some places and against Metternich’s agents and governmental inadequacies nearly everywhere – spread across Europe. This is the "revolution" to which Jacob refers. In its wake came reaction, counter-revolutionary movements. The status of Jews had been a political issue ever since the French Revolution and the subsequent actions of Napoleon. Their comparative autonomy within the body of a larger political unit was no longer compatible with the nationalistic aspirations of revolutionaries. The forces of reaction – church, privilege, position, autocracy – were even less philo-Semitic and only somewhat more anti-Semitic then than they are now in many parts of the Western world. The outlook for the Jews was uncertain in 1848 – their gradual emancipation continued in some places but was distinctly arrested in others. And we may recall that 1848 was the year that Marx and Engels published the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, destined to reverberate across the world for more than a century thereafter. It can be seen as a symbol of that anti-capitalist polemic which uses anti-Semitism as one of its chief vehicles. Capitalism and the Jew are linked in the Marxist creed as enemies of the existing order, of the good old days, of the stability of time-honored societal and cultural practice – another sign of those turbulent times. As Jacob Greenebaum’s reflection tells us, he was disquieted enough by the revolutions to wish to see Henry safely out of the country, testimony to the influence of another deep, tidal force working to sweep thousands from their homes, their villages, their country to the unknown land of Freedom across the sea. Return


  7. Henry Greenebaum, arriving in Chicago at the age of fifteen, earned the following in Meites (p. 49): "HENRY GREENEBAUM was born in Eppelsheim, Germany, June 18, 1833, and came to Chicago October 25, 1848, where for many years he was the leading spirit in the Jewish life of the city. His business activities were varied. He became a hardware salesman in the establishment of W. F. Dominick, and after two years there entered the employ of R. K. Swift as a clerk, where he learned the banking business. Four years later he and his brother, Elias, organized the firm known as Greenebaum Brothers, and still later he became president of the German Savings Bank. Among the numerous organizations which owe their existence to a great extent to this energetic man are the Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Historical Society, the Astronomical Society, the 82nd Illinois Volunteer Regiment of Veterans, Ramah Lodge No. 33 and several congregations which he helped establish in various parts of the city. He served the City Council as alderman for the Sixth Ward, was presidential elector on the Douglas ticket, represented Cook County on the first Equalization Board, in 1856, and was a member of the West Chicago Park Commission. In 1855 he married Emily Hyman of New York, and after the death of their only child, one year after its birth, they raised some of their orphaned nephews, and a niece, bestowing upon them the love and care of real parents. Nor did his bounty demand blood ties! Many artists and musicians who are well known and prosperous today owe their education to the generous and foresighted couple who determined to do for other children what they were denied the privilege of doing for their own. Busy as he was with his philanthropic life, his communal activities demanded even more of his time and seemingly unlimited energy. He was at various times first president of Zion and Isaiah Congregations, first president of District Grand Lodge No 6, I.O.B.B, founder and first president of the United Hebrew Relief Association, secretary and honorary member of Congregation B’nai Sholom, and an honorary member of the Jochannah Lodge. [Another minor personal note: he was also a Director of the Chicago Cutlery Manufacturing Co., later the American Cutlery Manufacturing Co., of which my great-uncle Ruben Rubel was also a director and his brother, Moses Rubel, Secretary.] His life was devoted to service, for the city, for the Jewish community, and for individuals who came to his notice, and at his death, on February 2, 1914, Chicago lost one of her most honored and loyal citizens."

    Henry, with many others, lived through the catastrophic Chicago Fire of 1871 and the second one in 1874. Then came the "`Hard Times’ of 1877 [which were] felt by all, but it was the irony of fate that Henry Greenebaum, the man who had done most for the community, would have been dealt the hardest blow of all. The failure in 1877 of Henry Greenebaum’s banks – the German National and the German Savings – two of Chicago’s strongest banking institutions – surprised and shocked all. The failure was due to heavy real-estate investments in the Humboldt Park district whose business and residential growth Henry Greenebaum anticipated. Failing to realize cash on these great and valuable holdings, when money tightened, the banks were unable to meet their obligations and were obliged to suspend business. The liabilities of over a million dollars, however, Henry Greenebaum assumed personally, all depositors being paid in full. His entire fortune was swept away and he found himself [at the age of 44] obliged to start all over again, after he had accumulated a large fortune and attained a leading financial standing in the community. Pluckily he faced the sudden change in his material condition, in adversity as in prosperity showing the same magnanimous and unconquerably cheerful qualities, and by the manner in which he strove on won even greater esteem and admiration than had been his before." (Meites, p. 136) Return


  8. Here we see that some 20% of the immigrants are Jews vs. an average of less than 2% in the regions of Germany from which they were emigrating. So, while many Gentile Germans came to America during the decades spanning the mid-19th century, the relative numbers of Jews from the same places – Bavaria especially, but many nearby jurisdictions, Hesse included, as well – were far, far greater. (re: indigenous anti-Semitism in Rhineland Germany and rare opportunities in America for literate middlemen, see Hertzberg, pp. 103-104) Return

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

  Rheinpfalz, Germany     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
This web page created by Susan E. King and Osnat Ramaty

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 26 Apr 2002 by LA