Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/305

259 THE

259

.IKWISII

An attempt was made to found ii colony of HussoThis Jewish f;iniiers in what is now Noilli Dakota known

Painted Woods, near the town of Uismuick. Twenty families, each reDakota. ceiving 11)0 acres, made the initial experiment, which was largely due to the elforts of colony,

North

was

loculeil, in

as

IMS',',

Kev. .1. Wechsler of St. I'aul, Minn., and his .Iivvish fellow citizens. In the course of a year the colony had increased to 54 families, representing ,sonie 'MO individuals; hut. owing to prairie lires and severe drought during the winter of 1SS4-,S.'). their los.ses were so heavy that there was much distress among the colonists, IJefnre this period of misforl ie hegan the population of the colony consisteil of 71 men and .VJ women and nearly '.)0 children. IJy the spring of IHX^> only 40 colonists were left. Funds had heen sent (luring till' winter to relieve their wants; anredece.ssors, were obliged to give up. It is said that a few Jewish farmers, survivors of thiscolonv, are .still to be found scattered through

North Dakota. On March "27. 1MH4. an agricultural colony was founded in I'ralt countv. in the soMlhern pari of Kansiis, which was named after Sir Moses Montefiore. At tirst the prospects of this colony were promising; but it was soon found that llie cultivation of the soil was beset with dillieidties had been underestimated. As the settlers were lilted for the hard work enlailcd by fanning in region, they were eomiKlled lo sell the land

that

nn this an<l

New

leave. Some of them seltleilat Allianci'. in Jcr Rvy. while most of them wen; esinall. 17 families lablishc. This sitllehad ment. which was calleil Beer-sheba, was located in Iloilgenian county Here, again, prospects, apparently bright, were soon iliinnied. Owing to disputes between the colonists and the managers of the ,setllenient the latter sold all the animals and implements, thus subjccling the former to many hardships. In order to eiirii a livelihood the farmi'i's sought employment in Doilge City, (iardeii City, ami oilier places, where they workeil at trades, wliili' (heir families remained on the farms. They continued to struggle on, and in a few cases siicceeded in making their farms moderately prolilable; but as a colony the attempt was I

I

Kansas.

not a success. Ihird agricultural I'olony.

A

was eslablished

soulhern

the iitlempi was a failuri'. In March. |MS(i. Gilead,

known

as

Hebron,

Kans,'is.

in

Conmnche county,

most of whom were Kumanian; wliiii' Touro was begun with 'i Uussian families, and Leeser, in Finney counly, with u still smaller number liai has been said Kansas, was settled by

'Jo

of the other Jewish Agricultural Colonics of Kansas applies also to lhe.se. Each attempt was a struggle beset with hardships, rewarded by occasional success,

and i-nding

in

complete

rumilies,

failure.

Silberman. a banker of Chicago, settled i Kusso Jewish families on 800 acres of land in Michigan, lying on tlie shores of Vurp lake, between Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse bay. After many dilliculties with the .settlers, who either would not or could not make any iiaynients on the amounts advanced to them, Silbemnm abandoned the enterprise: and soon after the colonists disbanded. The failure was asenbed as much to lack of capital as lo the fact that the colonists were not

In

IHS'2 l.a/anis

practical agricidturists. In August, tS!)l, Kifamiliesof Russian Jewsseltled in Huron county, .Michigan, some three miles from the town of Had .i'. They called their

Michigan, settlement Palestine. The land was wild but good. The colonists took it on five-year contracts, agreeing

to jiay §12

an acre

for their holdings, each family contracting for 40 to 0 acres. This selllenient. like most of the other attempts at Jewish colonization in the I'liited Slates, was begun too hastily, and w ilhout sutlicient means to tide the colonists over the unproiluclive period and to secure them a.srainst probable losses from drought, fire, and Hood. They succeeded in erecting a few shanties and log houses, but these were insuthcient for their niiils; and they ran into debt for Ihe few liorsi'S and cows that Ihcv were able to obtain. In the spring of lS!)-2 the lieih El Hebrew Kelief Soci ety of Detroit (a citv one hundred and thirty-live miles southwest of tfie colony) sent food and" tools to the colonists, and on their behalf applied to the

Baron de Ilir.scli Fund, which, at this lime and in sub.sequent years, gave them substantial help. In spile of this support Ihe farmers have been unsuccessful. Four or live have given u]i their holdings, while till' rest arc slill slru.irglin.ir on in Ihe lioj>e of eventually payin.ic olf llieir burden of debt. In October. 1M!)7. there were 13 men. 11 women, and 39 children in Ihe colony. In April, 1900, there were but H families, and these, too, would have left but for the frei|nenl anil substantial aid rendered by philanthropic organizations. .mong ollier.iew isli .Vgricultural Colonics having only brief i'.islence may be mentioned one eslablished by l-"! Jewish families in 1Mm3 on land purcha.sed with their own funds near the city of Va.-liinglon, D. C. This colony they called Washing-ton, and it, too, was doomed lo failure. Through the elTorts of some pliilanlliropic Jewish residents of Baltimore 9 families were established in November. ISS'2. at

a place called

the

appeared.

river, in 'iri;inia. HS( this colony had dis-

,Iew ish families were colonized county, Virginia, in 18M2, but ilid not

.V

in .Middlesex

before

Waterview, on

Happahannock

Iiul

Virginia,

dozen

reniain there long.

Among

scvcml other

agricnlliinil coloidzalion

This setlle nieni comprised MO families, one-half having private means, the other being aided by the Montetiore Ag ricnllural Aid Socielv. Only a few families succeeded in making llieir farms pay. and, a.s a whole, in

Agricultural Colonies (United States;

ENCYCLOPEDIA

futile atlcmpls at ,Tewish between I.mM'J and isit'2 was

one in Calaveras counly. California. Jewish agricultunil colonizalion in (^>nne<'tlcut dales from the sclllemenl of llirei' Jewish families, ill 1S9I, at New London and Norwich, Connecti- by the I'niteil Hebn'W Charilies of New York clly. with money provided cut. lor Ihe purpose by the Baron de Ilirseh Fund. The families were sent lo work in mills, but by strict economy lliey siiccci'ded in a few years in .saving enoni.'li money to enable the heads of the families, w Im had been dairy farmers in Uussia, to Nol loin; aflir. iu buy cheap farms near Norwii h