First Jews in Trenton

First Jews in Trenton

Arthur L. Finkle

 The first Jewish immigrants to the United States were Sephardic Jews that, fleeing persecution by Portuguese rulers in Brazil, around 1654. The previous rulers of Brazil, the Dutch, were known for their religious tolerance, but the Portuguese were characterized by their intolerance to other religions. Two years after the first American Jew put his foot on North American soil, the first Jewish congregation was established in the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam (later re-named New York). Twenty-one years later, Jews established another congregation in Newport, Rhode Island.

   The mostly Sephardic and some German Jews totaled only 1,500 by 1790. Trenton became a haven for Yellow fever outbreaks in Philadelphia in 1799. Others came to Trenton as a mid-point between Philadelphia and New York City.

   The first recorded entry of Jewish involvement in Trenton was Philadelphian Simon Gratz who bought shares in the Trenton Banking Company at its 1805 creation (Irving S. Kull, ed., New Jersey: A History, 5 vols. (New York: The American Historical Society, 1930), p. 60) Simon Gratz was the little known son of Bernard Gratz of Silesia, settling in Philadelphia in 1759 to found many Jewish institutions. including congregation Mikveh Israel. Simon was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He also was treasurer of the Mikveh  Israel in the 1820’s. See http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6860-gratz. Accessed April 23, 2014.

   Daniel Nunez appears in a 1722 court record as town clerk and tax collector for Piscataway Township and justice of the peace for Middlesex County.   Perth Amboy, on the Trenton-Philadelphia road, was a center for Jewish and other merchants from the time it became the capital of East Jersey in 1685. Among the early prominent settlers in the state was David Naar.

   Rabbi S. Joshua Kohn, writing in the 1964 American Jewish Historical Quarterly found that, in 1839, Dr. Daniel Levy Maduro Peixotto, of New York City became co-editor of the Emporium and True American. He became editor of the newspaper and practiced medicine until his return to New York in 1853. In that same year, 1853, David Naar, a brother-in –law of Dr. Peixotto. (Rabbi S. Joshua Kohn, David Naar of Trenton, New Jersey, Jewish Historical Quarterly; (Jun 1, 1964) pp 53, 4. Periodicals Archive Online pg. 373. Accessed April 14, 2014.

.Peixotto bought the newspaper, Daily True American (formerly The  Daily Emporium and True American). Living outside of Elizabeth, New Jersey (Wheatsheaf,) he had been elected as a lay Judge in the Common Pleas Court of Essex County. He used the appellation ‘Judge’  thereafter.

   Naar’s family had a vagabond history of the Jewish expulsion from Portugal in 1497; to Amsterdam; to St. Thomas in the Caribbean; to New York in the 1750’s.

   David Naar became an influential Democrat through his editorial stance in the True American. Already he had served as a delegate in the 1844 Constitutional Convention where he made sure that there were no restrictions to elected office precluded by religion. See Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention to form a Constitution (Trenton, 1844), pp. 12, 30, 43 ff., 269 ff;  and 292; PAJHS, vol. XVII (1909) , p. 41.

   David Naar played a very important part in the civic and cultural life of Trenton, in the political life of New Jersey and in national politics as a staunch Democrat. As owner and editor of the Daily True American, he became the a spokesperson of the Democratic party in New Jersey. He edited the newspaper for more than half a century, from 1853 to 1905. His nephew, Moses D. Naar, and by David's son, Joseph L. Naar continued  until the True American went out of business.. In 1908, a son of Joseph L. Naar, Henry Kelsey Naar, was treasurer of the newspaper.

    David Naar was elected a Delegate from Essex County to the State Constitutional Convention that was called into session on May 14, 1844, at Trenton and finished its work on June 28, 1844. The new constitution was confirmed by popular vote in August, 1844. David Naar was a member of the committee on the new bill of rights and played a prominent part in its deliberations and conclusions. Previously Roman Catholics had been denied the franchise and office-holding. He was especially articulate in the deliberations and helped to abolish all religious tests as a qualification for office or public trust.17

   President James K. Polk  appointed Naar as Commercial Agent of the United States to St. Thomas on June 19, 1845. Thereafter, he r returned to Wheatsheaf where he was elected  Recorder of the Borough and a member of the Borough Council. In 1851-1852,  the N.J. General Assem­bly appointed him as their clerk. See Rabbi S. Joshua Kohn, David Naar of Trenton, New Jersey Kohn, S Joshua American Jewish Historical Quarterly, (June 1, 1964) pp 53, 4; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 373. Accessed April 24, 2014.

  

In Trenton, Judge Naar busied himself in his newly adopted city by advocating for better education, a facility top train teachers (realized in 1855 with the State Normal School located in Trenton) and adequate libraries. Indeed, the voters elected him to the Trenton Common Council in 1869-70, the latter year he became President  of the council. See  Minutes of the School Board, City Hall, Trenton, N. J. ( 1857)

   He became President of Trenton’s Board of Education for 1854-1855, 1861-1862, and 1866-1868. See Harry Podmore, A History of Trenton. Trenton, NJ: Trenton Historical Society). P. 731

   There were a smattering of Jews, mostly German, who arrived in Trenton in the late 1840's. In 1857, they band established the Har Sinai Cemetery Associa­tion. In 1858, the Jews of Trenton organized Har Sinai Hebrew Congregation. Although not particularly observant, Judge Naar became a founding member of Har Sinai Hebrew Congregation and spoke at its opening ceremony in 1857.

   David Naar died on February 24, 1880. Religious services were held at his home (146 West State Street) in Trenton. The Reverend Dr. Henry Pereira Mendes of  New York and the Reverend George Jacobs of Philadelphia officiated. Among the pallbearers there was one identifiable Jewish name—Abraham Lowenstein. David Naar was buried in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, outside of Elizabeth, NJ.   Judger Naar’s nephews and son, however, were buried in Har Saini’s cemetery in  (DTA, Feb. 25, 1880; It should be added that there are twelve burials on the Temple Har Sinai at Vroom and Liberty Streets in Trenton and the Har Sinai Section of the Greenwood Cemetery in Trenton. All of these are members of the family of Benjamin Naar, not David Naar's family. The early burials were on the cemetery of Vroom and Liberty Streets. They were reinterred in the Greenwood Cemetery. Today the cemetery on belongs to the "old shul" (Brothers of Israel. See Kohn, 1964.Rabbi S. Joshua Kohn, David Naar of Trenton, New Jersey Kohn, S Joshua American Jewish Historical Quarterly, (June 1, 1964) pp 53, 4; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 373. Accessed April 24, 2014.

      The earliest evidence of Jews in Trenton is evidence is mention of the Naar family. This Sephardic (Spain/Portugal) family, traveled to Brussels, then to Amsterdam. Moses Naar after a stay in Amsterdam arrived in the Dutch colony of Curacao in the West Indies after 1815.  The Dutch originally the island in 1634. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the island changed hands among the British, the French, and the Dutch several times. Stable Dutch rule returned in 1815, with the end of the Napoleonic wars, when the island was incorporated into the colony of Curaçao and Dependencies.

   Devin Naar, a current professor and genealogist, traced  his family history of which one which one branch involved David Naar, the owner of the State Gazette one of two Trenton newspapers. He found that the other branch of the Naar family remained in Portugal as Marranos (crypto-Jews) until the end of the 16th Century. Between the end of the 16th Century and 1620, this branch remained for some time in St. Jean de Luz and Rouen, France and Antwerp, Belgium. By 1620, many settled in Amsterdam. Here like the Salonika Naars, this branch reverted back to the open practice of Judaism. In pursuit of their trade activities, the Naars moved from Amsterdam to Hamburg in 1630; to Curaçao; to Netherlands Antilles in 1660; and to London by 1830.                                             

   From Curaçao, during the 17th, 18th  and 19th centuries, the Naars spread to locations such as St. Thomas (where Judge David Naar was born), Venezuela, Colombia, Suriname, Haiti, Jamaica and the United States. One branch of the the Naars also came to the United States from London during the early 20th Century. By the 1920's, three groups of Naars lived on the east coast of the United States originating from Salonika (New York; New Jersey); from Curaçao (St. Thomas; New York; New Jersey); and from London (Boston and New York). See Devin Naar, Tracing the Origins of the Naars of New Jersey: A Personal Odyssey. http://www.jewishgen.org/jhscj/genealogy.html. Accessed April 29, 2014