Cheque of Jewish Owned Cochise County Bank in Tombstone Sends Money to and From Jewish Merchants

Cheque of Jewish Owned Cochise County Bank in Tombstone Sends Money to and From Jewish Merchants

Jewish
Bank of California
Tobacconists
Arizona
Cochise County Bank
Gold Rush

A cheque in coloured ink for £150, issued at Cochise County Bank on behalf of A. Cohen. The cheque was issued by Cochise County Bank, a family run Jewish owned bank in Arizona. That receiving the cheque, by the name of A. Cohen, is a Jewish tobacconist. He receives £150, which in the context of the date it was written, was a significant amount of money. It bears the printed address as the Bank of California. Mendel Esberg and associates, who owned the tobacconists in question, were German Jews, enticed to California after the Gold Rush. By the 1870’s, many migrant Jews were moving to larger cities of the state such as San Francisco, thanks to the Gold Rush. The estimated Jewish population of California in 1870 was approximately 18,500.

Cochise County Bank (prescribed the cheque to the individuals listed above)

Shapell Manuscripts Collection, San Francisco Collection

http://www.shapell.org/manuscript/wild-west-jewish-bankers-tobacco-industry-tombstone-az-san-francisco

14 March 1855

Hannah Wiseman

Shapell Manuscripts, the cheques recipient, A. Cohen

English

Material object - paper with printed and handwritten text

19th century California