The Drachmans of Arizona
by Floyd S. Fierman
From: American Jewish Archives* Vol. XVI, No. 4 (November 1964), 135-160
Footnotes
1 Cleofas Calleros, El Paso Times, October 9, 1952. Herbert Given, of El Paso, brought this reference to the writer's attention.
2 See Floyd S. Fierman, Some Early Jewish Settlers on the Southwest Frontier (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1960).
3 Philip Drachman, born at Piotrkow (Petrikov), near Lodz, Russian Poland, on July 4, 1833, the son of Harris and Rebecca Drachman, married Rosa Katzenstein at New York City, on April 6, 1868. Their children were Harry Arizona, Moses, Albert, Emanuel, Rebecca (Mrs. Solomon Breslauer), Phyllis (Mrs. A. P. Bell), Minnie (Mrs. Phil Robertson), Myra, Lillie, and Esther. (Correspondence of Carl Hayden with Harry A. Drachman, July 11, 1945.) Rosa K. Drachman used the date April 21, 1868, as her marriage date in a manuscript dictated to her daughter Lillie, on October 21, 1907, at Los Angeles, California (Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society, Tucson, Arizona).
4 Correspondence with Bert Fireman, Arizona Historical Foundation, November 18, 1960.
6 Among the signers were Mark Jacobs, F. H. Levy, B. Breslauer, P. Drachman and Co., Isadore Cohen, S. Folks, Wolf Cohn, Jacob and Harris M. Calisher, Q. S. Sparks, Jacob and Isador Cohn, Charles Denzig, and Morris Wolf. A Mr. Leonard and a Mr. Goldberg (doubtless Isaac Goldberg) delivered the message, dated August 6, 1861 (R. N. Scott et al., edd., War of the Rebellion [Washington, D. C., 1880-1901], Series I, Vol. 50, Part 1, pp. 554-55).
7 The following residents of Los Angeles County, Calif., and the District of La Paz, all citizens of the United States, formed themselves into a joint stock company for the purpose of occupying a tract of land on the Colorado River on the Eastern or "New Mexico" side to be styled "Colorado River Farming and Stock Raising Association": H(yman [often spelled Heyman in documents]). Manassee (Mannassee), J. S. Manassee [sic], M(oses) Manassee [sic], W. W. McCoy, J. M. McCoy, G. L. McCoy, B. Roberts, Fred G. Fitch, John H. St. Matthew, (I)saac Goldberg, P. Drachman, Henry Soberkrop, H. Behrendt, M. Schiller, C(harles) O. Cunningham. Recorded March 23, 1863, at La Paz Mining District (Files of Dr. B. Sacks).
8 The 1864 Census of the Territory of Arizona, La Paz No. 7, P. Drachman No. 2., pp. 123-24. If Philip Drachman was eighteen in 1854, according to our sources, then in 1864 he would have been twenty-eight, rather than thirty years of age, as shown by the Census of the Territory of Arizona. Wanting perhaps to become an American citizen in 1860, he advanced his age and then forgot that he had done so.
On La Paz, a boom mining town of 5,000 residents, see Will C. Barnes, Arizona Place Names, revised and enlarged by Byrd H. Granger (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, ca. 1960), p. 378.
9 "The Pioneer Society records show the date of his [Isaac Goldberg] birth as 1841, but the 1864 census gives his age as 28, which would fix the year of his birth at 1836. I think that this is about correct, because he could not have been naturalized as an American citizen in 1859 unless he was twenty-one years old at that time . . . . He had to have been five years in the United States to become naturalized so that he came to this country not later than 1854, during which year he would be a young man of 18." Carl Hayden, op. cit. The problem of whether Isaac Goldberg was a naturalized citizen is raised by the assistant attorney general. See Arizona Citizen (Tucson), March 14, 1879, 3:2.
10 Indenture, dated and recorded December 14, 1864, in which François Quinet conveyed to H. P. Drachman and Isaac Goldberg "all the lot or parcel of land being forty eight feet front on East Side of Lander Street [formerly Main Street, the principal street of La Paz, running North and South] . . . . " (Files of Dr. B. Sacks, Historical Consultant, the Arizona Historical Foundation, Phoenix, Arizona.)
11 Buck and Cook in an advertisement, October 12, 1864, stated that they had established a restaurant in La Paz. This was located on the corner of Lander Street, opposite the store of (Philip) Drachman and (Isaac) Goldberg. Arizona Miner, October 26, 1864, 3:2.
12 Arizona Miner, September 21, 1864, 3:4.
14 The Weekly Arizonian, July 16, 1870, 3:4. Similar advertisements appeared as early as February, 1870, without a mention of wine and liquor.
115 Ibid., July 23, 1870, 3:4.
16 Rosa K. Drachman, a manuscript dictated to her daughter Lillie, on October 21, 1907, at Los Angeles, California. Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society, Tucson, Arizona. Rosa's brother Samuel Katzenstein, married Freda, the sister of Albert Steinfeld. They had two children, Albert and Lulu (telephone conversation with Harold Steinfeld, January 8, 1862). Photographs of Sam Katzenstein leave the impression that he was a rugged individual, which indeed he must have been to hold postmasterships at, Greaterville (1879-1880) and at Charleston (1885), a town more notorious than Tombstone. Mose Drachman (Philip and Rosa Drachman's son) records that Sam owned a store in Charleston where Mose worked for a short time (Mose Drachman, op. cit.). Sam Katzenstein purchased a lot in Charleston in 188o for $100 from Henry Fishback. (Index to Real Estate Grantees, Pima County, Arizona, September 30, 1880, Book 7, p. 504.) There is also on record an indenture between Sam and Anna Downer in Cochise County. On this occasion, Sam received $500 for his land. (Index to Real Estate, Grantors, Pima County, Arizona, October 18, 1882, Book 11, p. 632.) The records that have been found to date concerning Sam Katzenstein are incomplete. The Historical Secretary of the Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society writes: "We have very little material on Sam Kattenstcin. He was . . . . the proprietor of the old Cosmopolitan (Orndorff) [20K] Hotel in the 1880's." (Correspondence with Yndia S. Moore, December 28, 1961.)
17 The Weekly Arizonian, November 19, 1870, 3:1. "Lomo de Oro" ("hill of gold") is a Spanish play on Goldberg's Germanic name; "Lomo"="Berg," "Oro"="Gold."
18 Arizona Citizen (Tucson), December 17, 1870, 1:3.
19 Ibid., March 14, 1879, 3:2.
20 In the Court of Claims: Isaac Goldburg [sic], Surviving Partner of Isaac Goldburg and Philip Drachman, Deceased, v. The United States and the Apache Indians (Indian Depredations No. 6846).
22 The law relating to claims of this kind specified that, to obtain judgment, the claimant had to be a United States citizen. At a later date this clause was repealed.
23 "Assignment. I. Goldberg to Heirs of P. Drachman, February, 1893. Whereas a partnership has heretofore existed between Isaac Goldberg and Philip Drachman, both of Pima County, Arizona Territory, under the firm name of Drachman and Goldberg, which said co-partnership is hereby dissolved and determined: ... Isaac Goldberg. Signed and delivered in the presence of Thos. A. Barton."
24 "Assignee's Sale, In the District Court of the United States for the District of California. In the matter of Philip Drachman and Isaac Goldberg, Bankrupts. Notice is hereby given that by virtue of the authority in me vested as assignee of the estate of Philip Drachman and Isaac Goldberg, bankrupts, I will offer for sale at public auction, on Monday March 4, 1872, at 10 o'clock, A. M., at the store formerly occupied by said bankrupts, in the Town of Tucson, A. T., the stock of merchandise belonging to the estate, consisting of dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, hats, crockery, hardware, tinware, etc. Terms of sale -- cash. Wm. A. Darby, Assignee By M. Goldwater, Attorney in Fact. Tucson, A. T., Feb. 22, 1872" (Arizona Citizen, February 24, 1872, 2:3).
25 "Sheriff's Sale. In the District Court of the First Judicial District, County of Pima and Territory of Arizona, Lionel M. Jacobs vs. Philip Drachman, Rose Drachman, Isaac Goldberg, Amelia Goldberg, Francis M. Hodges, Joseph Goldtree, and William E. Darby as assignee in bankruptcy of the estate of Philip Drachman and Isaac Goldberg, bankrupts, defendants.
"'By virtue of an order of sale . . . by which I am required to sell the premises therein described, or such part thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the plaintiff's judgment, amounting to $3,015.16, with interest at the rate of two per cent per month from the 22nd day of March, 1873, together with costs of suit, and accruing costs and expense of sale.
"'On Monday the 21st of April A.D. 1873, at 10 o'clock a.m. of said day . . . I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash that certain lot and parcel of land situated on the east side of Main Street, in the Town of Tucson, and described as follows, to-wit:...'" (Arizona Citizen, April 12, 1873, 1:5).
2 Arizona Star, December 29, 1881, 1:1.
30 Weekly Citizen (Tucson), November 16, 1889.
31 Weekly Prescott Courier, November 15, 1889, 2:1; Weekly Citizen (Tucson), November 16, 1889.
32 Correspondence with Harry A. Drachman, March 14, 1951.
33 Weekly Citizen, November 16, 1889.
34 Born at Petrikov, Russian Poland, on November 9, 1837, Samuel H. Drachman was four years his brother Philip's junior. He spent his childhood and his youth in his native country. In 1875 he married Jenny Migel at San Bernardino. There were four children: Herbert, Lucille (Mrs. Floyd C. Shank), Myrtle (Mrs. J. H. Birnham), and Solomon, an attorney who went to fight in the Spanish-American War, fell off a horse, and then returned to Tucson to die. Samuel H. Drachman himself died on December 26, 1911, at Tucson, Arizona.
35 See Leslie E. Gregory's biographical sketch of Samuel H. Drachman, Arizona Pioneers' Historical Association, Tucson, Arizona.
36 Samuel H. Drachman's diary, copied by Armand V. Ronstadt. "We have just finished copying the Drachman diary. You know we promised the Drachmans no copy would be made unless the spelling and some parts of the grammar were corrected. I always consider corrections a mistake, but such was our promise. This has taken an extra long time in copying . . . ." (Correspondence with Eleanor B. Sloan, Historical Secretary, May 2, 1951.)
37 For Charleston's Jewish history, see Barnett A. Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1905).
38 Leslie E. Gregory, op. cit.
39 "I looked for Drachman's name on the microfilm index of Confederate Soldiers in the National Archives, but am sorry to report that it does not appear. Although this list is most comprehensive, the possibility exists that there were omissions . . . ." (Correspondence with Dr. B. Sacks, April 30, 1961.)
"I have been told that Sam Drachman went into the Confederate Army under the name of Sam Harris, which was his father's first name." (Correspondence with George Chambers, Arizona Silhouettes, Tucson, Arizona, March 1, 1962.)
40 S. H. Drachman's diary, op. cit.
47 There was at least one English-language Jewish calendar available during this period A Jewish Calendar for Fifty Years from A. M. 5614 to A. M. 5664, covering the ears 1854-1904. This book, published at Montreal in 1854, was the work of Jacques Judah Lyons and Abraham de Sola, ministers of the Sephardic congregations in New York and Montreal, respectively.
Drachman may also have carried a prayer book with him. "Pocket" prayer books were printed in Germany: "One of the most interesting editions of the prayer book is that printed in Fuerth, Germany, in 1842. This book is a revealing historical document since its title page names it as a prayer book for those who may be traveling to America." Herbert C. Zafren, "Printed Rarities in the Hebrew Union College Library," Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, V (1961), 139 (Library of the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio).
48 "Samuel H. Drachman, an 'old good friend of the Miner,' is about to start business in the building just vacated by Lesinsky and Co." (Arizona Citizen, September 27, 1873, 3:2).
49 Ibid., Saturday, March 1, 1873.
50 See below, "The Drachmans, Government Contracting and Licensed Indian Traders."
51 Arizona Citizen, July 18, 1874, 3:2.
52 Ibid., September 5, 1874, 3:2.
53 "S. H. Drachman left from San Francisco by stage Thursday, [November 19th] expecting to be absent about thirty days:" (Ibid., November 21, 1874, 3:2.)
54 "Arizona Lottery, under the direction of Governor J. C. Fremont, [Governor from 1878 to 1882] . . . Michael Goldwater . . . Herewith a Lottery will be drawn at Prescott, A. T., on Wednesday, June 4, 1879." See Legislative History of Arizona, 1864-1912, compiled by George H. Kelly, State Historian (Phoenix: Manufacturing Stationers, Inc., 1926), pp. 76-81.
55 Arizona Citizen, July 17, 1875, 1:7. (This paper was known at various times as The Arizona Citizen and The Weekly Arizona Citizen.)
| E. N. Fisk and Co. | $350,000 |
| Tully, Ochoa and Co. | 300,000 |
| Lord and Williams | 265,000 |
| J. H. Archibald | 220,000 |
| L. B. Jacobs and Co: | 130,000 |
| Zeckendorf and Bros. | 108,000 |
| Wood Bros. | 100,000 |
| S. H. Drachman | 50,000 |
| Theo. Welisch | 20,000 |
| D. Velasco | 20,000 |
| -------------- | |
| $1,563,000 |
(Arizona Citizen, September 25, 1875, 4:2)
57 Apache Pass is a deep gorge about four miles long in Cochise County Arizona. It was reputed "one of the most dangerous locations for encounters with Indians in the whole of Arizona . . . . Apaches took advantage of the heights above . . . to watch the passage of emigrant wagon trains . . :" (Barnes, op. cit., p. 29).
58 Arizona Citizen, July 4, 1874, 3:3.
59 In 1877, Drachman entered a bid of $659 per annum for the mail contract from Tucson to Greaterville, sixty-five miles and back. This was the low bid, and it was received on January 15, 1877. Later a note attached declared the route unnecessary.
60 See below, "The Drachmans, Government Contracting, [etc.]."
61 Weekly Arizona Citizen, January 1, 1881, 3:3.
621 Ibid., August 20, 1882, 3:3.
63 Legislative History of Arizona, 1864-1912, p. 66.
64 Arizona Citizen, October 10, 1874, 2:4.
65 Ibid., July 18, 1874, 3:2.'
66 S. H. Drachman, "Arizona Pioneers and Apaches" (Tucson, May 4, 1885): a handwritten manuscript.
67 Arizona Weekly Citizen, March 13, 1886, 4:3.
68 Bureau of Indian Affairs, Miscellaneous Trader's Licenses, Vol. 3.
69 Weekly Arizonian, January 8, 1870.
70 Samuel's first contract was, however, subsequently disapproved.
71 Samuel H. Drachman, Consolidated Quartermaster's Contract File (R. G. No. 92, National Archives).
The matter of sureties was, in general, often troublesome. The same men provided bonds for many contracts, and often for one another. It is fortunate that they were not often called upon to pay a penalty on these bonds, for if they had been -- even assuming that they could pay (as they seldom could) -- the losses of these sureties could have been prohibitive.
An example of the inadequate finances of sureties is illustrated by a bond, dated at Las Cruces, New Mexico, December 18, 1869, to guarantee a contract of Henry Lesinsky, dated at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, the same day. The sureties were W. L. Rynerson and J. F. Bennett, of Las Cruces, and A. Staab, of Santa Fe. The amount of the bond was $10,000. All four men signed the bond, Henry Lesinsky as principal. Although it is stated in the body of the bond that J. F. Bennett is "of Las Cruces," as mentioned above, when he appeared before a notary public, Edwin J. Orr, of Las Cruces, on the same day, he was referred to as "of La Mesilla, N. M." Henry Lesinsky, "of Las Cruces," swore that he was worth $3,000 over and above debts and liabilities, and Bennett $2,000.
