The very first Jews to arrive in the
Oregon Territory,
Jacob Goldsmith and Lewis May, arrived in
1849, 10 years before Oregon became a state. Both men were German born
Ashkenazic Jews who being merchants opened a general Store in the city of
Portland. The timing of these men was perfect, as over the next few years many mining camps developed along Jackson's Creek, as miners made their way from
San Francisco in search of the gold which had been discovered.
While the gold first brought miners to Oregon, they were quickly followed by Jewish merchants who established stores supplying mining equipment, food and all dry goods to the people. These merchants were able to take advantage of family connections and brought all types of materials into their stores. They also expanded their base of influence and sent other members of the community into other cities of Oregon. Places such as
Albany, Eugene and The Dalles soon had Jewish communities established by these new merchants.
These first German born Jews were quickly followed by Jews from
Russia, Turkey and the Isle of Rhodes. However, the greater amount of new immigrants came from the
Russian empire in the
1890's. They made their homes in Portland, where the community already was established with the things they needed such as synagogues and Kosher food. The
Sephardic Jews established their own synagogue in Portland in
1910 and it still exists today. The last big wave of immigrants into Oregon did not happen until the fall of the
Soviet Union in the 1980's. Today, the Jewish community is established statewide with congregations in well over 30 different cities. The Jewish Population of Oregon is today somewhere over
40,000 people.
Recently,
FamilySearch has added a new database which could help people search for their ancestors who were in Oregon. The collection,
Oregon Deaths, 1877-1952 includes over
114,000 images containing the vital records of much of the early Jewish community. As I usually do, I performed a basic search using the surname Cohen. The results that came back showed 227 entries contained in the records. Below, is the death certificate I found by doing a search for
Ruben Cohen who I knew died in 1942. It is a very standard certificate and I was also able to find the name of his father
(Dave) and spouse
(Sophia).
While the death certificate is exactly what we would expect to find, the collection also has a few surprises. In the search of the surname Cohen, the record of
Fred Cohen was included, however not with a death date, only a birth date. That would not be the way one would usually find someone on a death index. Following the link to his name, I found that the record for him was not a death certificate, but was a
Registration of Birth for him. The record (shown below) is dated
23 Jul 1946 and appears to be the record of Fred Cohen having his birth recorded almost 55 years after his birth.
The beautiful thing about this record for a genealogist is how he has documented the important information about his parents. We now know his father was
George Cohen, born in
Posen on 18 Feb 1840, and his mother was
Mary Lewis, who was born in
Abursuitz, Germany on 17 May 1854. This is wonderful information and just reinforces that no matter how much the index provides it is always a great idea to look at the original record.
A city directory of Portland from 1893, lists the synagogue, with Jacob Bloch serving as the Rabbi. In 1923, 34 years after being built, the second Synagogue was destroyed by fire. The current synagogue, built in the Byzantine style is shown above, was completed in 1928. The congregation continues to grow and over time has added to its campus. A religious school and art room for young artists are some of the features of the additional space.
