How did he end up in Price, Utah? The burial of Rickie Layne Cohen

The city of Price is located on the eastern side of the State of Utah. A town known mostly for the mining industry that is located there. The winters in Price are cold and the summers are are very moderate. The 8,500 or so residents are almost evenly split between the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Mormon populations. The one thing that Price does not have, and really never had is a Jewish population. In fact, the closest Jewish community world be in Salt Lake City, which is about 120 miles away.
Because of this lack of a Jewish tradition in Price, most people would just drive by, no need to delay the journey to their own destination. However, if they did pass by, they would miss the final resting place of someone known worldwide, who is buried in the Price City Cemetery.

Rickie Israel Cohen, was born in 1924, the son of Russian immigrants. He was the son of a mother, Sonya Ludwig, who was a popular comic in the vaudeville days, known as Gypsy Sonya. Rickie, himself began entertaining others at an early age and by his teens was touring as a ventriloquist.
Rickie, got his big break when in 1955 he was discovered as he was performing his show in a nightclub on the Sunset Strip. 
It was at Ciro's nightclub that his show was seen by Nat "King" Cole, who came to see his own wife sing. Cole liked the show so much that he encouraged Ed Sullivan to have him on his show, which he did on January 1, 1956. This first show led to many more and he became very much in demand. For, most of the next half century, he performed in nightclubs all over the country. In 2002 he was given the lifetime achievement award from the International Ventriloquist Association.
So with all of this fame, having performed all over the world, having been born in New York and dying in California, how did he end up in Price, Utah? Its actually very simple, I believe its because the most important thing in his life was not the fame, but the family.

His wife, LaRue Olsen Layne, who he met in California, was actually a small town girl from Price, Utah. After being married for 56 years before her death in 2002, it seems only natural he would follow her home.
In fact not only are they still together side by side, but also at rest next to them is his mother, Gypsy Sonya. I wonder if in those early years as Russian immigrants and hard working vaudeville entertainers, they could have ever imagined their final resting spot being in a small Utah mining town.

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New Year

Texas, Naturalization Records, 1906-1989

Another new collection that will be very helpful for those looking for their Jewish ancestors has now

been added to the collections at FamilySearch. That collection, the Texas, Naturalization Records, 1906-1989, features naturalization records held by the National Archives- Southwest Region. The majority of the collection is comprised of indexes and declarations of Intent.
This collection, which as of today has over 85,000 images will continue to grow over time as more images become available and the records are indexed.
The image below, is the Declaration of Intent for Max Cohen, who was born in Russia in 1875, and declared his intent in 1917.

This is a great source for all those whose family ended up in Texas.

The Jews of Guatemala

The Jewish history within Guatemala is shorter and much smaller than most of its Central American neighbors. While there were certainly Jews in the country who came during the Inquisition, the present day community's roots begin in mid 1800's. Those first group of German immigrants were small in number and for the most part isolated from other Jews in the region, and because of this the did not have much influence with other Jews in other countries.
The second wave of Jewish immigrants, those whose impact is still visible in Guatemala started arriving in the early 1900's. The first arrived from Germany and various Middle Eastern countries, and were followed in the 1920's by Jews from Eastern Europe. Many of this latter group did not plan on staying long. They arrived in Guatemala from Cuba and were hoping to have visas from the United States so they could continue on their journey.
Being Jewish in Guatemala has not  

always been favorable. The country has at times acted to limit the arrival of new Jewish immigrants. In the early 1930's, the government ordered the expulsion of all peddlers from the country. This was meant to hurt the Jews as the majority of peddlers were Jewish. The order was not carried out, however laws were passed to ban peddling. This ban forced many Jews to emigrate elsewhere as they could no longer support their families.
In 1936, under pressure from the German community, laws were passed that would limit the number of immigrants of "Asian origin" which included people from Poland, the majority of who were Jewish. Due to these restrictions, the Jewish population was less than 1000 people in 1939. The majority of them lived in Guatemala City, Quezaltenengo and San Marcos.
Guatemala, even with their history of trying to restrict Jewish immigration, was the first country in Latin America to recognize Israel and it was also the first country to open its own embassy in Jerusalem. Today the majority of the 900 Jews still live in Guatemala City still struggle to maintain numbers as many of the Jews still seek ti immigrate for a better future.
Over the last few years more genealogical records of the people of Guatemala have become more accessible to researchers. As of today, FamilySearch has six databases of records from Guatemala, including Civil Registration from 1877-2008. The record shown below is the birth record of Augusta Stahl Cohen, daughter of Adolo Stahl and his wife Rosa Cohen. She was born on 28 Jun 1888 in Guatemala City.

The Stahl family were part of that first group of Jews who immigrated into Guatemala from Germany int the mid 1800's.

The Jewish Community of Leadville, Colorado

The history of Leadville, Colorado can be traced to the early Gold Rush of the late 1850's. In 1859, Gold was discovered in California Gulch which started the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. In 1860, near present day Leadville the town of Oro City sprung up and by 1861 its population had grown to over 5,000 people, all trying to make their fortunes. The boom in Oro City was brief as the mining was hampered by the presence of heavy black sand.

It wasn't until 1874, however, when the gold miners from Oro City, discovered that the heavy sand that had hampered gold mining actually contained a high content of silver. They traced that sand back to its original source and found several silver lode deposits. The city of Leadville was founded near these deposits in 1877, which started the Colorado Silver Boom. By 1880, Leadville, which at an elevation of 10,152 feet is the highest incorporated city in the United States, had become one of the worlds largest silver camps, with a population of over 14,000 people.

The first Jews began arriving during the boom times of Oro City, in the early 1860's. While there may have been a few who came to mine, the majority are listed in the various census records as merchants, tailors and business owners. In fact, one of the most well known of these merchants was David May. May, who was born in Germany in 1849, arrived in Leadville in 1877, and got into business with Moses Shoenberg. He also became very involved in the Jewish community and in the City itself. He was one of the organizers of the Hebrew Benevolent Association and later was elected vice president of Temple Israel and was chairman of the building committee. He served Leadville as County Treasurer.
In 1877, he opened a new clothing store in Leadville. That first store would over time become The May Department Stores Company, which would go on to become a multi-billion dollar company. In 1880, he married Rosa Shoenberg, the sister of his business partner. They however left Leadville shortly before the turn of the century and moved to Denver. The 1900 United States Census (below), shows the couple with their three children. His occupation, listed as Clothing Manufacturer, is very understated for what he would become.

 During the summer of 1884, the synagogue in Leadville was built. That synagogue,  Temple Israel, took only two months to build and was dedicated on Rosh Hashanah on September 19th, 1884. That synagogue survives to this day, although it is mostly used as a museum reflection on the rich history of the Jewish community in this old frontier town.

In the late 1870's it became very clear that the community had a need for a burial ground. In June of 1879, Gustave Jelenko, known as Fred, died, and in early 1880, became the first to be buried in the Hebrew Cemetery. By 1880, over 100,000 square feet of land in the southwest corner of Evergreen Cemetery had been transferred to the Hebrew Benevolent Association, to become the final resting place of the Jews of Leadville.

The burial ground (above) sits in a beautiful wooded setting and the Jewish community has done a tremendous amount of work to reestablish the missing markers and preserve this beautiful place. It was truly a beautiful, peaceful place that I enjoyed visiting very much.
The information from the markers was documented and will be a part of the Knowles Collection - Jews of North America after our next update.