Sample of Tobacco Label Art of the Late 19th Century
Adolph A. Son
Values Codes: I-E-L
Adolph A. Son was born in Hildesheim, Hanover, Germany in 1838.
San Francisco
In 1853, Adolph Son journeyed to San Francisco, California and opened a cigar and pipe store.
In 1863, he vacationed in Europe, purchasing a collection of meerschaum pipes, which he added to his store’s stock.
In 1865, Adolph Son founded the firm of Son & Briggs.
Thirteen years later, in 1878, Briggs retired and Adolph Son brought his brother and another partner, (Jacob. Spitz), into the firm, changing its name to Son Bros & Co.
Community
Adolph Son was a member of Temple Emanu-El.
Family
Adolph Son married Annie Spitz, in 1870.
Adolph A. Son died in 1942.
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Abraham Spitz
Values Codes: I-E-L
Abraham Spitz
Abraham Spitz was born, in 1852, in Bangor, Maine.
In 1870, Abraham Spitz travelled west to San Francisco, California.
He joined his brother-in-law, Albert Son in the tobacco mercantile firm of Son Brothers & Co.
In 1906, after 26 years, Abraham Spitz retired from the firm.
Community
Abraham Spitz was a member of Temple Emanu-El.
He also supported the Federation of Jewish Charities.
Fraternal
Abraham Spitz was a member of the Concordia Club.
Abraham Spitz died in 1916.
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Jacob Spitz
Values Codes: I-E-P
Jacob Spitz
Jacob Spitz was born in 1858 in Bangor, Maine.
San Francisco
In 1875, Jacob Spitz came to California, where he became a member of the Son Brothers & Co., a tobacco mercantile firm.
Community
Jacob Spitz was a supporter of the Federated Jewish Charities of San Francisco.
Fraternal
Jacob Spitz was a member of the Bay City Lodge, International Order of Odd Fellows, the Travelers’ Protective Association, and the Concordia Club.
His father, Herman Spitz, who lived to be ninety four years old, was the oldest Mason in San Francisco.
Jacob Spitz died in 1915 in San Francisco, California.
Source:
- The Jews of San Francisco, by Martin A. Meyer, Ph.D., Emanu-El, San Francisco, June 1916.
Samantha Silver is the Curator for this Son & Spitzer Exhibit
Other family information and pictures would be greatly appreciated.
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Jews in the News
About this Time
Oakland California Jewry’s High Holy Days — 1877
There are about a hundred Jewish families residing in Oakland, and during the recent High Holy Days, services were held in a hall neatly fitted up for the purpose.
The attendance on Yom Kippur was large and the worshippers devout. The services were according to the Polish minhag [rite].
—The Jewish Record, Philadelphia, October 5, 1877, WSJH, Vol. 19, #2. First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland, today’s Temple Sinai, was founded in 1875. The above material was sent to the Philadelphia Jewish paper by a resident of Oakland who had recently moved there from San Francisco.
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