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2002 Research Update from Dr. Stephen Rohrbacher, Dusseldorf
I have concluded that most of the families that belonged to the Benevolent Society never lived in Chambersburg or in the immediate neighborhood. Therefore I am doing a large-scale screening of census materials in order to locate these families. This is very time-consuming but the results are worth the effort. Just a preliminary outline: In June 1839 a group of Jewish families leaves Jebenhausen for America. They are joined by at least one other family from the area. The group includes the Marx Arnold, Isaac Arnold, and Lawrence Blumenthal families - brothers and their brother-in-law. In America they meet with Philip Arnold, another brother who has arrived from Jebenhausen some years earlier. It appears that all members of this group of 1839 immigrants settle in small and medium-sized places in rural Pennsylvania.
Together with the Philip Arnold family, Marx and Isaac Arnold and Lawrence Blumenthal settle in Chambersburg. Quite possibly this decision is motivated by the newly opened railway from Philadelphia that makes Chambersburg a strategically important place in trade and economy. In 1840 there are, in all likelihood, no other Jewish families in Chambersburg but the Arnold and Blumenthal families - in all ca. 40-45 people. However, they are not the only Jews in the area - and not the only ones from their home village. In Hagerstown, Md., there is Gerson Levi, a son of Jebenhausen's Rabbi. His brothers, Abraham and Solomon Loeb Levi, live in Hanover, York County, Pa. In Carlisle, Pa., there is Ansel Arnold, and in Mechanicsburg, Pa., there are more members of the extended Arnold family. Other families from Jebenhausen are found in places like York, Dillsburg, or Lewisberry. And, of course, there are quite a few in Philadelphia.
It appears that all these people maintained some contacts, and many were involved, some way or other, in the Chambersburg Hebrew Benevolent Society. Ten years later the picture has changed significantly. Isaac Arnold has moved from Chambersburg to Mercersburg as early as 1843, and by 1850 none of the families that had lived in Chambersburg in 1840 has remained: the Isaac Arnold family is in Baltimore, Philip Arnold in Philadelphia, Marx Arnold in New Castle near Pittsburgh (he is to become the first president of Pittsburgh's split-off Orthodox Jewish congregation some years later), and Lawrence Blumenthal in New York. Instead, the Michael Greenawald and Alexander Stine families have moved to Chambersburg in 1847. By 1850 it seems they are the only Jews in town. Interestingly, they have known each other way back, they have lived together before, and they have had ties with people from Jebenhausen, so it appears their move to Chambersburg did not occur by mere chance: Both Greenawald and Stine come from Hanover, where they had been next-door neighbors - probably even sharing a place - in 1840. No doubt they were very well acquainted with the Levi brothers - Hanover was a tiny place, and there were just a handful of Jews around at that time. (B.t.w. Alexander Stine was a baker, according to the 1840 census.)
At the same time (1850), Hagerstown's Jewish population has grown significantly, and people from Jebenhausen are prominent in the local community. Gerson Levi is joined by his brother, Abraham, while Solomon Loeb Levi lives somewhere in the vicinity (I still have to find out where exactly). There is also their brother-in-law, Nathan Kahn, born in Alsace like Isaac Thannhaeuser (Danhewser). There is Henry Einstein from Jebenhausen who runs a hotel in Hagerstown. There is Joseph Arnold with his family. I will stop here for the time being. This is just to give you an idea of how more and more pieces go together in the puzzle. At this time I can identify the majority of the individuals mentioned in the minutes book with some certainty. Also, the census material identifies family members, so in all probability we will be able to identify many more of the ones that are buried in Chambersburg - provided we will be able to make sense from the inscriptions.