Joseph Simon, Lancaster, Lancaster County

I fully expected that, when I posted this article, I would be freshly returned from Zenkaikon, my beloved annual gathering of nerds at the Lancaster County Convention Center. It was supposed to have taken place this past weekend. Sadly, however, Zenkaikon - like pretty much everything else recently - was canceled in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. I fully understand the reasoning, of course, but it was disappointing all the same, and I just wanted to say hello to my fellow frustrated weirdos. We'll be back next year. Funny thing is, and I didn't know it when I started the article, the location of the convention is actually a little bit relevant to today's post.

The marker is situated at the intersection of
Orange and Queen Streets, on the northwest corner

Joseph Simon was an early Jewish resident of Lancaster. There are some who call him both the first and last Jew of colonial Lancaster. Unlike some of my other biographical posts, this one is going to be a little piecemeal because of the nature of records pertaining to Joseph - it doesn't seem like any one source has all the facts, but all the facts I've found are interesting to read.

He was born in 1712, probably in Germany, but the location isn't confirmed. We do know that he moved to England at some point, and came to Lancaster from there in 1740. Not long after his arrival he married a fellow immigrant, Rose Bunn (or Buun - sources vary on the spelling). In 1746 he made his first recorded property purchase in the city, a house and lot to which he brought his young bride on the north side of West King Street. This is probably at least one of the reasons he immigrated here - Jews could not own property in many parts of Europe back then, but in Pennsylvania, there was no such restriction.

Now, in those days, Lancaster was a serious landmark for those traveling into the wild west. It was pretty much the last place anyone could buy their wagons, tools, weapons, and whatever else they were going to need on the trek, and Joseph was smart enough to recognize that he could do well as a merchant. He became one of the most successful traders to sell to Native Americans, and also loaned money to less fortunate traders so that they could pay their debts to the Philadelphia merchants. He was raising a large family while this was going on; he and Rose had ten children between 1749 and 1772, and some of his sons-in-law were also Joseph's business partners. In 1754, Joseph opened up a trading post on what eventually became the southeast corner of Penn Square - which is, today, the location of the Lancaster County Convention Center. 

(See, I told you it was relevant. Joseph used to ply his wares on the very spot where I hang around with people in funny costumes and talk about cartoons and video games.) 

Before terribly long, Joseph was one of the most prominent merchants in the city, eventually expanding his business to include ventures such as a hardware store and a liquor distillery. He purchased land in the western part of the country and was a business partner of gunsmith William Henry, a not-insignificant figure in the American Revolution; through this partnership, he helped to provide supplies and munitions to the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He continued to trade with the Native Americans, acquiring valuable furs which he sold to Philadelphia merchants for shipment to England, and as part of his travels he sailed down the Ohio River, becoming one of the first white men to reach the Mississippi River since the earliest European explorers. As westward expansion continued, he established trading posts and pack trains to provide supplies for the settlers.

Joseph Simon's silhouette and pages
from his last will and testament, on display
in the LancasterHistory.org museum
gallery. Click for larger view.

But the thing for which Joseph is best remembered is what he gave to the Jewish community of Lancaster. His home was the first center of Jewish worship in the town, as there was no formal synagogue, and a portion of the Ark they used is in the possession of the American Jewish Historical Society. (Not being Jewish myself, I had to look that up; the Ark, or Ark of the Law, is an ornate cabinet in a synagogue which houses the sacred Torah scrolls used in public worship. It's named after the Ark of the Covenant, the wooden chest which held the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.) In 1747, he and Isaac Nunus Ricus purchased half an acre of land from Thomas Cookson, in the township of Lancaster, "in trust for the society of Jews settled in and about Lancaster, to have and use the same as a burying-ground." This was at a time when Lancaster was home to about ten Jewish families, though the number increased by 1780. 

Joseph was the leading figure in the Jewish community, because of his wealth and his various contributions to Lancaster. In addition to the cemetery, he provided a shochet (a ritual slaughterer) for the local Jews so that they could keep kosher properly. He helped to establish Juliana Public Library, named for William Penn's daughter-in-law and known today as the Lancaster Public Library, in 1759; he was also a founding member of the Union Fire Company in 1764, and helped to raise funds to build a bridge over the Conestoga Creek. His ten children gave him several grandchildren; one of his granddaughters, philanthropist Rebecca Gratz, is believed to have been the inspiration for the Jewish character Rebecca in the novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Another grandchild, Joseph Simon Cohen, served as prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1840 to 1853.

Joseph died on January 24, 1804, and is buried with Rose in the cemetery he helped to establish, Shaarai Shomayim Cemetery, situated on the north side of East Liberty Street near the intersection of North Lime Street. It is the fourth oldest Jewish cemetery in the United States. I couldn't get there to photograph his grave, but if you visit his profile at FindAGrave in the sources below, you can see pictures.

By the time of Joseph's passing, most Jewish families had moved out of the area, though some still traveled from York, Berks, and Northampton Counties to worship in Joseph's home. This is why he is identified as the last colonial Jew in Lancaster; after he was gone, there were no further burials in the Jewish cemetery until 1855, when a new Jewish community moved into the city. The Congregation Shaarai Shomayim incorporated in 1856, and they are the ones who control and maintain the cemetery today. As for Joseph, his marker was erected in 2006, showing that the modern Jewish-American community hasn't forgotten a man who brought their faith to what used to be the frontier of the country.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Evans, Samuel. "Sketch of Joseph Simon." Published 1898-99 by the Lancaster County Historical Society; article provided courtesy of LancasterHistory.org

Adler, Cyrus, and H. Necarsulmer. "Lancaster." Entry at JewishEncyclopedia.com

Images from the Joseph Simon marker dedication, courtesy of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation

VisitHistoricLancaster.com

Joseph Simon at FindAGrave.com

Joseph Simon at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.