PRESS RELEASE - CONTACT: Lynna Kay Shuffield -- 713/692-4511 e-mail < lksfriday@sbcglobal.net > Milam County Genealogical Society and Lynna Kay Shuffield Cordially invite you to attend the unveiling of the Historic Texas Cemetery Medallion and Interpretive Plaque Honoring the Jewish Cemetery Rockdale, Milam County, Texas Sunday, 15 October 2006 1:00 p.m. RSVP: Charles Hubert - 512/446-3937 e-mail < milamco@yahoo.com > = = = = = Directions: The Jewish Cemetery is located within the City of Rockdale - From Cameron Ave (US 79) take S. Main St. (also FM 908) south past the old Railroad Depot and cross the railroad tracks. At this point, S. Main St. becomes Oak St., about 100-yards you will see a cemetery to the left, this is the Old Rockdale City Cemetery. The Jewish Cemetery is located further down the block and behind the Old Rockdale City Cemetery, continue down the block and turn onto White St. It is enclosed in a cyclone fence. = = = = = Jewish Cemetery - Rockdale, Milam County, Texas Prepared by Lynna Kay Shuffield, November 2002 On 11 November 1878, the Hebrew Benevolent Association (the "Association") purchased 2 1/2 acres of land in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas, from the Texas Land Company to establish a Jewish Cemetery. Today, almost 125-years later, the Association is no longer in existence, but the deed remains in the name of the Association. The earliest documented burial is Arthur Loewenstein, age 10-months and 8-days, the second son of Benjamin and Carrie Malsch Loewenstein. Arthur was born on 30 September 1876 in Rockdale and died on 8 August 1877, 15-months prior to the purchase of the land by the Association. Arthur’s father was a prominent merchant and businessman in the community. Benjamin and his brother, Joseph opened for business in a tent on Wednesday, 24 December 1873, before the International & Great Northern Railroad reached Rockdale in January 1874. When the railroad came to Rockdale, it was the end of the line and community could only be characterized as a new unsettled western tent town. On 8 May 1874, an election was held in which a majority of voters favored the incorporation of Rockdale and in early June or July the justice declared, "the inhabitants of the town of Rockdale are incorporated." One square mile whose center would be the intersection of Bell and Main would be known as Rockdale. "While in the Austin area, [in 1879, Charles] Wessolowsky visited the Jews in nearby communities. In Rockdale, there were 100 Jews and a B’nai B’rith lodge whose members planned to inaugurate a Sunday school. However, there was disagreement over rituals. Wessolowsky reported some of them still cling and hold fast to the doctrines and dead forms of the so-called chasid (pietist), while others require and ask for ‘progress’ . . ." During the 1880s, there was a Jewish Community in Rockdale. In 1884, the Rockdale Jewish School Community was established and served until the expansion of public schools. In March 1884 Rockdale celebrated the Bar Mitzvah Henry Kaiser, son of Mr. & Mrs. Kaiser. According to an article about the event published in the Galveston Daily News, "the best people of the city [Rockdale] were assembled. The feast was, in point of abundance and excellence, one of the finest ever spread at a private residence in Rockdale. Master Henry, in an admirable address, acquitted himself nobly, and received the hearty plaudits of all. . . . Champagne flowed in abundance and it was a late hour when the last of the guests departed. Mr. Kaiser is one of our leading merchants and the ovation tendered by the large assemblage on this occasion was a fitting tribute to an enterprising citizen." Samuel Cohen who died in 1882 was a dry goods merchant and a Mason. The only known suicide in the cemetery is Isaac Ensheimer, age 35, who died on 29 April 1884. He was employed by Abe Steinberg, who is also buried in the cemetery. Isaac died by taking chloroform and morphine and in the note he left said, ADisappointment in man has brought me to the long sleep. Please bury me decently.@ The primary reason Isaac makes the plea in his note is that according to Rabbi Shraga Simmons, AJudaism regards suicide as a criminal act. Someone who commits suicide is considered a murderer. It matters not whether he kills someone else or himself. His soul is not his to extinguish.@ Therefore, Isaac=s burial was in keeping with someone who committed suicide, as he is buried in a separate part of the cemetery along the fence-line. Henry Goldsticker died on 9 August 1888 of Bright’s Disease. He was a Confederate Veteran having served in the Lavaca Guards (of Lavaca County, Texas), 24th Brigade, Texas State Troops. During the Civil War, the Texas Legislature enacted laws and provided funds to organize the Texas State Troops, which were structured into companies of men to provide a frontier defense. Henry Goldsticker’s son George and niece, Hattie Philipson are also buried in the cemetery. Hattie is the daughter of Ludwig and Sarah (Levy) Philipson. Henry’s wife was Gabriella Philipson Goldsticker, sister of Ludwig. One of the more tragic burials in the cemetery is Isaac Crown who died in the Mundine Hotel Fire in which 12 people were killed. In 1880 John Mundine of Lexington built a 3-story brick structure on the corner of Main and Railroad streets, the present site of McVoy=s Grocery Store in Rockdale. The hotel opened in 1881 under the management of Dr. and Mrs. W. A. Brooks and soon became the social center of the town. But on June 8, 1888, the Mundine Hotel was destroyed in the most disastrous fire in the history of Milam County. The Loewenstein family constitutes a large number of the burials in the cemetery. Benjamin Loewenstein, the patriach of the family died in 1934 when he was hit by an automobile while crossing the street in Rockdale. His other family members buried in the cemetery include his wife, Carrie Malsch Loewenstein who died as a result of a fall in her home. Other family members include Joseph E. Loewnstein, Jr., who was named for Ben’s brother, Joseph Loewenstein and Carrie’s mother, Salomine Malsch is also buried within the family plot. The Jewish Cemetery continued to serve the community until the last burial of Morris Cohn on 30 April 1939 and there are 19 marked graves and two unmarked graves. Lynna Kay Shuffield - P.O. Box 16604 - Houston, TX 77222 'Our Loose Ends' Genealogy Column http://www.geocities.com/lks_friday/COLUMN-001.htm Milam County TXGenWeb - http://www.geocities.com/milamco/ San Jacinto County TXGenWeb http://www.geocities.com/lks_friday/SANJAC-01.htm