Rochelle Kaplan

This presentation builds on one I gave at the last IAJGS conference held in SLC. Using historical photographs, articles, advertisements, census and other data, I trace the earliest history of Jews in Utah, paying particular attention to the movers and shakers from about 1845-1910. Interestingly, many of the key players had roles to play both in Utah, where I live now, and NYC, where I grew up. Some fascinating characters are Charles Popper, once the richest Jew in the West, who sued federal authorities for 25 years and finally won; Samuel Newhouse, who built the first Utah skyscrapers, NYC's famed Flatiron Building; Anna Rich Marx, a gun-toting mine owner, Simon Bamberger, a Utah governor and entrepreneur; Jacob Moritz, a prominent brewer and Benjamin Brown, a founder of a failed UT Jewish Agricultural Community, who went on to success in NY and NJ.