Joseph P. Newmark: The First Newmark in Early Los Angeles

Joseph P. Newmark  

Values Code: I – E – L – P

 

Joseph P. Newmark was born in Loebau, Posen, Prussia in 1827.

Joseph P. Newmark, First Newmark in Los Angeles

He came to America in 1848, at the age of 21.

Newmark traveled to Kentucky and back to New York before coming to Los Angeles in 1852.

 

Los Angeles

Arriving in Los Angeles, Joseph P. Newmark opened a clothing store with Jacob Rich.

He soon invited his younger brother, Harris Newmark, to come to California from Prussia to join in the business.

Joseph P. Newmark then joined with Harris, their uncle Joseph Newmark, and Maurice Kremer to form Newmark, Kremer & Co., a wholesale-retail dry goods store.

Joseph P. Newmark, tiring of the long hours of the wholesale business, left the partnership shortly thereafter and settled in San Francisco, where he worked as a commission broker of merchandise.

He returned to Los Angeles after retiring in 1888.

Fraternal

Joseph P. Newmark was a member of the Masons, Lodge #42 in Los Angeles.

 

Family

Newmark married Augusta Leseritz (1834-1915) in Posen in 1855 and brought her back to live in San Francisco.

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Newmark & Leo

They had seven  children: Harriet married Morris H. Newmark; Leo became a prominent medical doctor in San Francisco; Phineus went into the coffee business in Los Angeles; Rose married her first cousin Maurice H. Newmark, son of Harris Newmark; Samuel; Meyer; and Emma.

 

Jospeph P. Newmark passed away in 1897.

Joseph P. Newmark, older brother of Harris Newmark

Sources

  • Norton B. Stern, ed., “Joseph Newmark: A Leading Jewish Businessman of Pioneer California, 1799-1833,” Western States Jewish History 41/3.
  • Harris Newmark, 60 Years in Southern California, 1853-1913 (New York: Knickerbocker, 1916).