The Drachmans of Arizona
by Floyd S. Fierman
From: American Jewish Archives* Vol. XVI, No. 4 (November 1964), 135-160
Samuel Drachman
The date of Samuel H. Drachman's arrival in the United States is uncertain. If Philip was sixteen when he came to these shores in 1852, then Samuel was twelve that year. If, as one biographer states, Samuel was eighteen when he came to America, then his date of arrival should have been 1856.35 To add further confusion to the date question, Samuel H. Drachman wrote in his diary: "Arrived in N. Y. on the 30th of the same month (November 8th, 1863)."36 The 1863 date may, of course, be a typographical error.
On arrival, Samuel apparently remained for a short time in New York, where he had relatives. His diary relates that, after receiving word of his mother's death, he left Charleston, South Carolina, on October 12, 1866. Why and how he came to Charleston,37 the extant records do not disclose. We can only conjecture that he may have had relatives in Charleston, South Carolina, which sheltered an old Jewish community, or he may have been attracted by the economic opportunities which this port city afforded. A biographical sketch of Drachman states that "he served through the entire Civil War under General Beauregard and with a creditable military record . . . ."38 Dr. B. Sacks, however, was unable to find Drachman's name among the Confederate veterans listed at the National Archives.39
On November 8, 1863 (1866), he went to New York to meet his widower father, who had been living in Philadelphia with his late wife.40 A dutiful son, Drachman put his father on the boat for Hamburg. Leaving New York on May 21, 1867, he landed in San Francisco on June 12, 1867. After visiting friends, "Levy, a countryman, Greenbaum, Goshlinski, Cohn, and A. Goldwater," he left San Francisco on June 21, 1867, "on board the Pacific." After stops at Santa Barbara and San Pedro, he reached Los Angeles on June 23, 1867, and left for San Bernardino by stage the following day. All this time, his diary refers to letters that he had written to his father. In the interim, his brother Philip wrote him that Isaac Goldberg had left Tucson for San Bernardino, and by July 3rd, Samuel was already at work for Goldberg. Samuel's sister lived in San Bernardino, where he visited her frequently. His diary records that he played the piano, and there are frequent references to his card playing. On August 19, 1867, he left by stage for Tucson, arriving there on September 4, 1867.
Samuel was a lighthearted person. He writes that he saw some Mexican minstrels: "very funny, never saw anything like it." Also, during a noon hour, he "watched I. Goldwater and A. Barnum play cards for wine and in the evening play for boots." He obviously liked cards himself: "At night after the store was closed, played solo," or "Soon after breakfast showed a trick to Goldtree, won a bottle of wine . . . played with Frenchy a game of pickey for a bottle of wine, after dinner, and lost." All this time he had not seen Philip, then in Prescott. In the interim he worked for Goldberg.
Samuel Drachman had strong religious feelings, and his diary gives us clues as to how Judaism was observed on the frontier. "While ill with a headache and dizziness . . . at night felt very dreary on account of [being sick on] Rosh Hashona."41 "Not better, had to say my prayer in bed."42 "The second day of Rosh Hashona somewhat better . . ."43 and: "At night, which was Kol Nidra night . . ."44; "The 2nd Sukoth, felt better . . ."45; "Yom Kipur Monday, Sept 25th."46
One might conclude either that Samuel had a religious calendar with him47 or that there were enough Jews in Tucson in 1867 to have public religious services.
Samuel's work for Goldberg and Drachman consisted primarily of letter writing, making out statements, writing contracts, and stock control.
By 1873, he had severed his business relationships48 with Isaac Goldberg and Philip Drachman, and had established his own business:
I beg to inform the public of Tucson and vicinity that I have removed to the store formerly occupied by Messrs. H. Lesinsky and Co., where I shall take pleasure to serve one and all to the best of my ability. Always on hand a well selected stock of general merchandise as is needed in Arizona.
S. H. Drachman49
Samuel followed the pattern of Goldberg and Drachman, which meant that he had many business interests. He bid on government contracts50 and gathered dust by buckboard around the surrounding territory; "S. H. Drachman returned early in the week from Apache Pass"51 he went to Mesilla, New Mexico, to buy apples52 and visited San Francisco for extensive periods of time.53
Sam was also civic-minded. When, in 1879, the Tenth Legislative Assembly authorized the Arizona lottery, he was the agent in Tucson. Unfortunately, the lottery, designed to provide funds to construct capitol buildings and to help support the public schools,54 failed, and the Eleventh Territorial Legislature repealed the law which had authorized it.
"S. H." was also a director in the Missouri Valley Life Insurance Company.55 As a merchant in Tucson, he was listed in 1874 as a businessman who grossed $50,000 for that year.56
Bidding for mail contracts was also a source of revenue:
S. H. Drachman will superintend the running of the mail between here and Apache Pass.57 The new buckboards are in use now but they will be replaced by more commodious vehicles just as soon as business will warrant the additional expense required. Eight buckboards arrived here on Sunday last, and five of them were sent on to Points East and Apache Pass.58
Apparently mail contracts were lucrative, for there is evidence that he was still bidding on them in 1877.59 Sam, in fact, seems to have experienced no business reverses until 1884, when he had difficulty meeting a government contract.60 Up to that time he did very well, improving his residence at a cost of $1,500,61 while he and his wife sold a site in Tucson to L. M. Jacobs for $800.00.662
Politics had a magnetic charm for Samuel, who was a member of Arizona's Eighth Territorial Legislature.63 The official returns from Pima County in November, 1874, showed that Sam had received the fourth largest vote - 613 - for election to the Territorial Assembly.64Earlier that year, his name had appeared on a long list of signatories to a petition addressed to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, requesting the appointment of H. B. Jones as justice of the peace for the Tucson Precinct.65
Besides his interest in politics, Sam reached out in other directions. He was a charter member of the Masonic Order in Tucson and of the Pioneers' Society before which, in 1885, he read a paper, "Arizona Pioneers and Apaches."66 Nor did he forget his faith. A Purim ball which he attended in 1886, held under the auspices of the Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society, was described as the most brilliant and successful event ever held in the city of Tucson. Among the costumes receiving special mention, was that of Jenny Drachman, Sam's wife, who attended the ball as a "Tamale girl."67
Contents | Arizona Jalapeños | Philip Drachman | Samuel Drachman | Government Contracting | Lost In The Desert
