Hannah and Werner brought the Altdorf sites to life for us, describing how things changed for the Jews who remained there when the Nazis took power. Much of her family also is buried in Schmieheim cemetery.

Where Leonard Left Off

When Leonard became familiar with the writings of Isaac Wolf Bernheim(IWB), he was able to establish that his grandfather Leopold had been IWB’s first cousin since his own great grandmother, Rosina Bernheimer Dreifuss had been a sister of IWB’s father, Leopold (Lob) and both Rosina and Leopold were grandchildren of Salomon Bernheimer.  But, although he was never able to prove it, Leonard was convinced that his grandfather Leopold had been also related to IWB’s on IWB’s mother’s (Dreyfuss) side.

Leonard had some basis for this belief. IWB’s mother was Friederike (Fanny) Dreyfuss. Friederike’s family was from Altdorf, Baden where Leopold’s “Dreifuss” family lived and not from Schmieheim, Baden where the family of Salomon Bernheimer resided. Leonard believed this increased the likelihood that this “Dreifuss” family was related to Leopold’s Dreifuss family.

There were many Dreifuss and Dreyfuss families described in the Altdorp OSB, and if it had gone back an additional generation or two, we may have learned that many of these families were related.  Unfortunately, this issue would not be settled by the OSB.  Possibly, some of the Dreifuss and Dreyfuss families of Altdorf took their names by virtue of Napoleon’s 1808 name mandate, and without additional records we cannot determine which, if any, of these families might have been related.  But it is notable that the 1809 list that Leonard obtained through the Leo Baeck Institute indicates that in 1809 our ancestor Abraham of Altdorf spelled his name “Dreyfuss” as did the family of Friederike Dreyfuss who also resided in Altdorf.

Roseanne Leeson had, at one time, argued that such a relationship was was unlikely since the Dreifuss/Dreyfuss name was a common one and the two families did not spell their names the same.  When she began to see the number of families with that name that had changed the spelling from generation to generation, however, she acknowledged that the spelling most likely was not that important an indication of family relationships.

Our inability to determine whether Freiderike’s Dreyfuss was related had been important to us for another reason.  Leonard had told us that his father was a baseball fan and had long insisted that our “Dreifuss” family was somehow related to the family of “Barney Dreyfuss” the first owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team who is credited with the origination of the first World Series baseball game.

We learned from the Altdorf OSB that Barney Dreyfuss’ father was the Samuel “Dreyfuss” who was the brother of IWB’s mother, Friederike.  So if we had been able to establish the relationship that Leonard believed existed between the two families, we might have established the basis of our grandfather’s belief.  It was interesting to note, however, that Barney Dreyfuss’ father’s name, as it appears in the Altdorf OSB, is spelled Samuel “Dreifuss.”

Returning to Pennsylvania

It was not until November of 2002 that Pete and I took our first research trip to Pennsylvania.  Armed with Leonard’s information and theories as well as the information that Karen had given us, we hoped to find confirmation of the lives that Aaron, Henry and Rosa and their families had lived there and perhaps to gain some perspective on Leopold’s brief stay there.

Leonard believed that Leopold’s German family would not have sent their children to Selinsgrove unless there had been a network of family living in the area at the time that Leopold and his siblings arrived.  We hoped to test his theory and determine if there were Dreifusses or Bernheims in the areas at the times the Dreifuss siblings arrived who could have provided care and perhaps funding for our young immigrant ancestors.

More specifically we hoped to learn about the Henry Bernheim that IWB, in his book, had described as his uncle, who resided in Selinsgrove.  We knew there had been a Henry Bernheim living there at the time of the 1870 census and hoped to find confirmation of this fact and perhaps evidence of his relationship to Leopold and his siblings. Leonard believed that this Henry Bernheim was Leopold’s uncle and he theorized that it was this Henry Bernheim that had given support and shelter to the young Dreifuss immigrants in Selinsgrove and had made their exodus from Germany possible.

Because the 1880 census revealed that in that year the families of Henry and Aaron Dreifuss lived not in Selinsgrove or Danville, but nearby, in the community called Mifflinburg, we decided to visit that town also.  Although Danville, Selinsgrove and Mifflinberg are relatively close to one another, they are in three separate counties, consequently our search for ancestors required record searches at three separate County court houses, Montour, Snyder and Union.

Learning about Danville, Selinsgrove and Mifflenburg

Although we believed that the Danville Synagogue and the Jewish community of Danville would have made this region attractive to our ancestors, we knew that it was likely that it was the rich economy, and available transportation that we learned had existed in and around that township at the time that caused the family of Henry Bernheim to leave its Easton/Allentown home to settle in nearby Selinsgrove.

The iron rich hills surrounding the region brought to Danville the iron mills and prosperity in the late 19th century.  We could only speculate why the family of Henry Bernheim might have, at one time, chosen to live in Selinsgrove, but the fact that Henry had listed his profession as peddler in the 1870 census supports the view that he chose to use the available canals and/or railroad system running through the area to market to the many other settlers that had chosen to work and to live in this rich region.

Minors would be needed to collect the iron ore, and many new employees would have been required to work for the mills.  There were likely not enough stores in this rural community to provide all these new residents with necessities and consequently many, including many recent immigrants, chose to become peddlers to provide for these needs. Many of the peddlers, were likely German Jews who spoke little English and had few skills for mining or refining iron ore.

Karen’s stories insisted that Henry and Aaron Dreifuss lived and made their livings in Danville rather than Selinsgrove.  Given that the Jewish community was centered in Danville, this made much sense to us. Her theory that her great grandfather, Henry Dreifuss and his brother, Aaron started as peddlers along the canals in Danville seemed logical now that we understood the economic growth going on in the region at that time.  If the Dreifuss brothers had started in Selinsgrove, we theorized, they may have later determined that a move to Danville made sense for their families and for their business interests.

It appears that many Jewish immigrants who found their way to this country in the early or mid1800s ended up in small towns like Danville or Selinsgrove. In his 2005 publication “Jewish Life in Small Town America”, Lee Shai Weissbach, Professor of History at the University of Louisville attempted to document the growth of Jewish communities in such small towns. His book, makes no reference to the Pennsylvania Jewish community of Danville nor does he speak of surrounding Pennsylvania towns such as Selinsgrove or Middleburgh. However his description of the typical towns to which Jews immigrating during this period tended to settle, explains much about the early Jewish community of Danville.

 “Typically, the small towns that attracted Jewish settlers in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, or even earlier, were locally important market centers whose development created concentrations of consumers who needed the kinds of goods and services that budding Jewish entrepreneurs or business people attempting to increase their fortunes could provide. In every region of the country, these towns often lay along important routes of commerce, and the growth of their Jewish communities was frequently linked to the development of effective transportation networks.”

The growth of the iron industry in Danville made it one of these “locally important market centers.”  In addition to the canal system that ran from community to community along the Susquehanna River, it appears that there were sufficient railroads transportation between the surrounding towns and communities to provide for travel and trade. This apparently made the area desirable to the many Jews who chose to seek their fortune as traveling peddlers.  Some of these peddlers ultimately became merchants and entrepreneurs.

“Buggytown”

We learned that, at the time of the 1880 census, when Aaron and Henry Dreifuss went to live in the town of Mifflinburg the town had become home to many leading buggy manufacturing companies in the middle and late 19th century.  Nicknamed “buggytown,”  Mifflinburg’s population had doubled after 1870 and the town had apparently became a “locally important market center” in its own right.  Perhaps, we speculated, this was at least part of the reason that Aaron and Henry brought their families to live in this bustling town where the two families lived next door to one another.

An 1880 railroad map seems to indicate that the railroad ran through the towns of both Mifflenburg and Danville.  Perhaps the brothers felt that Mifflinburg was still close enough to the Danville Jewish community.

But the draw of the Danville Jewish community and the B’nai Zion Synagogue was, most likely, as important to the Dreifuss siblings and their German family as were the business centers of Danville and Mifflinburg.   We were curious to learn more about this Jewish community and to determine if any part of it still existed.  We sought surviving evidence of our family member’s presence in each community, and made at least three initial research visits to these communities. After our initial visit we continued to return to follow up upon research leads and to communicate our findings to others interested in learning about the early Jewish community of Danville.

We began our first research with a visit to The Montour County Genealogical Society (MCGS), located in the Thomas Beaver Free Library in Danville. This turned out to have been a good starting point.  Cindy Elder, Administrator of the MCGS directed us to available information concerning the Jewish Community of Danville and gave us some hints as to how we could learn more.  Danville appears to have had the only Synagogue in the area at the time of Leopold’s immigration, and the Jewish cemetery established by that Synagogue still exists in Danville.  Cindy was instrumental in our finding of Leopold’s Declaration of Intent, still filed in the Montour County Courthouse.

The B’nai Zion Synagogue

Unfortunately, we learned that there was no longer a Jewish community, or a Synagogue in Danville.  The small Jewish population of the area shifted many years ago and at the time of our visit the closest Synagogue seemed to be a small congregation in nearby Sunbury; Congregation Beth El, which employed a full time Rabbi. But, long after the Jewish presence in Danville had declined to a level that could no longer support a Synagogue, a loyal group of old-timers kept the Congregation funded, the cemetery maintained and the building intact. The Jewish community of Danville was gone, but the Synagogue building had survived… until recently.

Unquestionably, the B’nai Zion Synagogue in Danville was, for many years, the magnet that held together a small but cohesive Jewish Community that prospered for many years, drawing its membership from the towns and communities that surrounded Danville.

The prosperous economy resulting from the iron mills of Danville fed many of these communities for many years and Jewish peddlers who had not been allowed to compete in many businesses and trades while living in German States now prospered. Many of these peddlers ultimately became merchants, clerks and businessmen or were employed by businesses in and around Danville.  These were the Jews who supported and depended upon the Synagogue and the Jewish community of Danville.

Early Jews in Danville

We were unable to determine, for certain, when the first Jews came to Selinsgrove and surrounding towns, but it appears to have been sometime before 1850. At the MCGS we found written notes from a speech given by a Judith Weinberg of the Columbian Chapter of Hadassah and B’nai Brith on November 2, 1975 at the B’nai Zion Synagogue in Danville, Pennsylvania. Weinberg’s speech suggested that the first Jew in Danville may have been a Louis Lang who advertised a business there in 1846 .

The “Montour American” newspaper dealt with the beginnings of the Jewish community of Danville quite thoroughly in 1905 when it covered a program held by The B’nai Zion Synagogue on the Settlement of Jews in the United States. Although we are unable to determine how its findings were reached, this local newspaper gave a front-page summary of the information presented in that program and dealt with the issue of the Jewish presence in Danville decisively in one paragraph:

“This brought the narrative up to the first settlement of the Jews in Danville, which occurred in 1840, the first to arrive being Louis Long  and Jacob Loeb, prominent men. These were shortly followed by others, among whom were: Simon Ellenbogen, Henry L. Gross, Moses Bernheimer, Moses Bloch , and many others whose names are familiar to the Jewish people.”

Although it was not until 1854 that a Montour County Court granted a charter to the Jewish Congregation in Danville that chose to call itself  “Benai Zion ,” the Jewish community in Danville pre-dated the establishment of the Synagogue. According to an 1881 treatise of Danville history, Danville Past and Present by DHB Brower:

 “It must be remembered however that Israelites in Danville had a church organization long anterior to

1854… ”

According to Weisbach, it was not uncommon for new Jewish communities in America to begin before it could support a Synagogue. His book states that many Jewish communities began, not with a Synagogue, but with

“the creation of some sort of mutual benefit institution, most often a benevolent society concerned with the care of the sick and burial of the dead.”

Although we found no evidence of a benevolent society in Danville, the early creation of the Jewish Cemetery in Danville suggests that the Jews who first came to this part of Pennsylvania were concerned about Jewish burial and perhaps observed ritual Jewish burial traditions.

A frame Jewish schoolhouse was erected in Danville in 1853, although the Synagogue building was not constructed until 1871. It is likely that the schoolhouse served as a venue for prayer prior to the construction of the Synagogue, which was built almost directly across the street from the school.

An old plat book showed us the where we would find the sites of the School and Synagogue.  The frame structure of the Synagogue was still intact, however the site had been purchased some years prior to our visit by a developer with the intention of converting it into apartments. The appearance of the structure had been strikingly changed, but the developer ran into legal difficulties and left the building uninhabitable. The unfinished building stood vacant for many years, as an unsightly and unusable embarrassment to the community. The once elegant turrets on the front corners of the building, where the original entrances had once been located were gone, although their foundations were still visible.

The owners of the well-maintained Victorian structure directly across the street from the Synagogue, sitting upon the site that once held the structure that served as the B’nai Zion school could not have been happy with the current appearance of the once elegant B’nai Zion Synagogue.

A local merchant told us where we would find the beautifully carved columns that had once surrounded the “Arc” that, at one time, held B’nai Zion’s one Torah scroll. We found the columns, now being used to display merchandise in a Christmas Shop, just outside of Danville.

The Torah scrolls that were once used in worship at B’nai Zion are now in the custody of Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove.  Pete and I attempted to see them, but were denied access, being politely told that the scrolls were not in a condition that would be conducive to viewing.

Old newspapers and personal information hidden in public records were the only surviving evidence available to us of Danville’s once-vibrant Jewish community, formed primarily by immigrant German settlers.  I found many old newspaper articles reporting about activities of the B’nai Zion Synagogue in the 19th and early 20th century. Census and other records give us the names of young Jewish families that lived in the area at that time and attest to the fact that families with Dreifuss and Bernheim names resided in the area long before Leopold and his siblings arrived.

Dreifusses and Bernheims Living in Pennsylvania before Leopold’s immigration

We now understood that in 1868 when Leopold Dreifuss arrived in Pennsylvania there was already a Jewish community in Danville that included many Jews from Altdorf and Schmieheim.  Some of these Jewish pioneers, like their fathers in Baden, had established the Synagogue, cemetery and a Jewish school there.  Other Jews living in nearby communities, such as Selinsgrove were actively a part of the Danville Jewish Community.

The Dreifuss and Bernheim names were strikingly evident among the various sources we found listing early Jewish settlers in the Danville area.  One of the original founders of the B’nai Zion Synagogue, and a signer of the Synagogue’s charter was a “Sandel Dreifuss.” During the December term of 1853, Sandel Dreifuss appeared before the Court of Common Pleas of Montour County, Pennsylvania to declare his intention to become an American Citizen. Perhaps an early relative of Leopold’s, Sandel Dreifuss stated in his declaration that he was forty-six years old at the time, born in Baden, Germany and had emigrated in 1850.  But by 1870 Sandel, a butcher, and his family were no longer living in Danville. Census records suggest that his family had re-located to a newer community in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Much earlier, in nearby Philadelphia, there had been a large Jewish presence, with both Dreifuss and Bernheim families. In the 1820 census, a Joseph Dreyfouss family recorded its presence in that large city.  By 1850 there was a Wile family with five children living in Danville. (Wile or Weil is a common Jewish name that frequently appears in our family tree.)  Living in the Wile household was an assortment of young German born immigrants with Jewish sounding names, including 18 year-old Helena Bernheimer and a 22 year-old peddler named Samuel Dreifuss. It appears that each of the males living in the household made their livings as peddlers.  Also, recorded in the census records for Danville, Pennsylvania in 1850, was a Swiss born Simon Dreifuss, his wife Helina and four children. In that same year an Amelia Bernheimer lived in Danville in the household of Merchant Louis Lang and family.

The Early Mercantile Activities of Simon and Samuel Dreifuss

During the period of early 1854 through 1856, advertisements in “The Star of the North,” a newspaper published in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania promoted a Bloomsburg clothing store in that municipality that called itself “Simon Dreifuss & Co.”  But, through newspaper advertisements published in October of 1856, the Bloomsburg Simon Dreifuss firm, explained that it was “desirous of closing up its business in Bloomsburg as early as practicable” and was now “SELLING OUT AT COST!”

The approaching Civil war may not have been the only reason for the closing of Simon Dreifuss’s clothing store. In the April 11, 1857 edition of The Sunbury American, it was reported that “Mr. Samuel Dreifuss of Towanda Pennsylvania had married Miss Mary Wolf of Danville.” There is reason to believe that this event was somehow related to the closing of Simon Dreifuss’ clothing store of Bloomsburg.

Just five years earlier, in the Schmieheim Immigration Index and the Schmieheim Ortssippenbuch (OSB) there had been a reference to an eighteen year-old Simon Dreifuss who left Schmieheim, Baden on November 12, 1852.  According to the notes he “went to his brother Samuel Dreifuss in America.” If this Simon Dreifuss was eighteen in 1852, it would suggest he was born in 1934.

Information from the 1870 census and the headstone of a Simon Dreifuss buried in Danville told us of a successful merchant from Danville named Simon Dreifuss who was born in 1934 and died in 1927.  Simon’s tombstone was found at B’nai Zion Cemetery in Danville. He is buried along with his wife “Lina Loeb Dreifuss.”  [According to U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules Index, Samuel Dreifuss, the brother of Simon Dreifuss of Danville was 42 years old in 1870, which would mean he was born in 1828 and would have been just 20 in 1854 when the advertisements for the Bloomsburg store began.]

But before Simon came to Danville, after his store in Bloomsburg presumably had closed, the Bradford Reporter, on February 16, 1860 acknowledges that a license had been granted in Towanda to a Samuel Dreifuss “to travel with one horse and wagon as a peddler of dry goods, wares and merchandize.” The 1860 census reflects two German born, peddlers, Simon and Samuel Dreifuss, 36 and 40 years of age respectively, living together in a group home in the town of Towanda, Pennsylvania. In that same 1860 census, I found a 27 year-old Mary Dreifuss, living, without her husband, with a family in Monroe, Bradford Pennsylvania.   Pennsylvania Tax assessment records in 1862 lists a Simon Dreifuss, living in Towanda Pennsylvania, as a peddler “with one horse.” A Civil War Registration list from July of 1863 names a 33 year-old German peddler named Simon Dreifuss.

U.S. Mortality Census records for 1870 indicate that a Samuel Dreifuss died of Consumption in Montour County (probably in Danville) in August of that year.  U.S. census records for that same year show Mary Dreifuss, apparently now widowed, living in Danville with her three children and a servant while a Simon Dreifuss married to a young woman named Lina lives nearby.

In the Court records of Union County, Pennsylvania, I found the February 28, 1870 Letters of Administration of the estate of a “Samuel Dreifuss. Samuel Dreifuss, according to this document, had been a resident of Danville. The Letters of Administration named Mary Dreifuss as Administratrix of Samuel’s estate.  A “Jacob Loeb” is named as one of the appraisers of the goods, chattels & credits belonging to the estate.  In the listing of assets there are several references to “S. Dreifuss & Bros.”, which, most likely, was a business (perhaps a clothing business) owned by Samuel and Simon. 1870 census records listing Mary Dreifuss suggests that she and her children were left with substantial assets.

The Danville Family of Simon and Lina Dreifuss

When Pete and I visited the B’nai Zion Cemetery we found the prominent headstone of Simon and Lina Loeb Dreifuss. Nearby were smaller stones marking the burial place of some of their children.  We know from Census records that this Simon Dreifuss was born in Baden, Germany and we have been able to locate his family in the Schmieheim Ortssippenbuch records. Other information makes it clear that Simon grew up in Schmieheim, Baden Germany, the birthplace of Henry Bernheim and his sister Rosa, who was the mother of Leopold Dreifuss.

Although it is possible that this Simon and Samuel Dreifuss were somehow related to Leopold and his siblings, to date we have been unable to clearly tie this “Dreifuss” family of “Schmieheim” to our “Bernheimer” family of that town or to our “Dreifuss” family of neighboring “Altdorf.”  If such a relationship did exist, it is possible that Simon played a role of support when young Leopold Dreifuss arrived in 1868.

This marriage of Simon Dreifuss from Schmieheim to Lena Loeb, appears to have represented a connection between two prominent Danville Jewish Families.  Lena Loeb Dreifuss was the daughter of Jacob Loeb, a successful Danville butcher and grocery store owner and according to news articles, one of Danville’s earliest Jewish settlers.  Loeb was president of B’nai Zion Congregation from the time of its organization and for many years thereafter.   In later years Simon Dreifuss would also serve as president of the young Congregation.

Jacob Loeb emigrated from Germany in 1839, and his family can be found in Danville census records beginning in 1850. Local newspapers of his time make frequent reference to his real estate acquisitions, especially his building on Mill Street where presumably his store was housed. Loeb died in 1887 leaving a sizable estate.

After his marriage, Simon and his father-in-law went into business together for, what appears to have been a short period of time, selling liquor and wine in Danville. The following advertisement is the only one I found for this firm. This ad is distinctive since both Jacob and Simon chose to use their first names, suggesting that both were well respected in the community.

Samuel Dreifuss of Milton, Pennsylvania had one child, Rae Elsa Dreifuss, who Leonard somehow located in early 1970, still living in Milton, Pennsylvania.  Rae was 86 at the time she returned Leonard’s letter and somewhat infirm.  She believed Leonard to be a cousin but gave him little to support her belief. Rae told Leonard:

“Simon Dreifuss and his wife Lena are my father’s great uncle and aunt – (I think)  They lived in Danville, Montour Co. Pa. and I used to go there…when I was a small child…Uncle Simon was very tall and erect – Aunt Lena was a little, fat woman…Uncle Simon I thought was from Schmieheim, Baden Germany – That is where my father was born…My father came here as a boy of 18 without my mother and Uncle Simon took him in.”

Leonard wanted to believe there was a relationship, but with nothing more to support it, he filed her letter away.  Even with the new information Pete and I have uncovered since, for the time being at least, we must now do the same. We strongly suspect a relationship between these to Leopold and his siblings but with existing records are unable to confirm this.

Three sets of Dreifuss siblings immigrated from the twin towns of Schmieheim and Altdorf Germany in the middle years of the nineteenth century to settle in small Pennsylvania towns.  I will always suspect that there was a relationship between Leopold and his siblings and the other two sets of Dreifuss brothers although such a relationship cannot presently be proven based upon existing records.

The relationship between Simon and Samuel was confirmed when Pete corresponded with a Julius Adams, the great grandson of Simon and Lina Dreifuss  of Danville.  Julius owns a family bible, apparently kept by Simon and Lena Dreifuss which was passed down to him. The bible, according to Julius, recorded the death of “Brother,” Samuel Dreifuss on February 20, 1870.  Since we now know that Mary, like her husband, later died of consumption, we can understand why she lived so close to her brother-in-law, Simon and why the 1870 census shows a servant, probably Mary’s caretaker, living with her. Perhaps it was the news of the illness of his recently married brother that caused Simon Dreifuss to sell his clothing store in Bloomsburg and to work as a peddler with his brother while Samuel’s young wife lived elsewhere.

“The Consumptives”

In 1881, D.H.B. Brower, the Editor of four local newspapers and a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, wrote a book Danville, Past and Present, which has been quoted in a prior chapter. The Brower book, which was reprinted in 2003 by the Montour County Historical Society, attempts to describe the people and activities of Danville during Brower’s days as a journalist.  Included in the Brower volume is a section on “The Consumptives,” Louis Loeb, Josiah Wolf and Samuel Dreifuss. Brower describes the three as Jewish friends, dying of what now would be termed tuberculosis.

U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules Index confirms that Samuel Dreifuss, a 42 year-old merchant from Montour County, Pennsylvania died of “consumption” in July of 1870. We believe that these Consumptives described by Brower were all somehow related to one another. Louis Loeb is described by Brower as the brother of Simon’s wife Lina and Joshiah Wolf may have been the brother of Samuel’s wife, Mary.

Records of the “Odd Fellows Cemetery” in Danville, indicate that ”Mrs. Mary Dreifuss” was buried at that Cemetery on August 3, 1880, and that a Samuel Dreifuss was moved to that Cemetery from the “Presbyterian Cemetery in December of 1881 along with the body of a minor child, “Cora Edna Dreifuss” who died of cholera.  Both Samuel and Mary died of consumption according to cemetery records.

We have no proof that any of these early Dreifuss residents of Danville or nearby communities were ancestors of ours. We suspect that at least some of these early Jewish settlers may have been, at somehow related, but, even if they were not, Pete and I see the early prevalence of the Dreifuss and Bernheim(er) names in and around Danville as an indication that the word was out among Jews from Leopold’s community in Germany that the Danville Pennsylvania community was a good place for Jews to settle. Perhaps this was enough for Leopold’s German family.  However, among the Jews living in and around Danville and Selinsgrove at the time that Leopold and his siblings arrived, Henry Bernheim is still the only member of their family we can definitely identify as their relative, and thus he remains our only current suspect.

Sike Miller & “Sig” Weis

Pete and I were saddened to learn that the records of the old B’nai Zion Synagogue had been destroyed in a flood.  Much history was forever lost.  Cindy Elder at the MCGS and several other town people we interviewed, recommended that, if we wanted to understand about the old Synagogue, we should speak to a local man named Sike (Samuel) Miller, who, we were told, had been actively involved in trying to save the old Congregation. Unfortunately, we found Miller, well into his eighties, living in a local nursing home. He was not doing well.

Miller had fallen earlier in the day that we chose to visit him, and was somewhat agitated with the nurses when we arrived. The nursing staff was not anxious to have us disturb him further, however, when Miller overheard us explaining to the nurses that we had come to learn about the B’nai Zion Synagogue, he demanded to know who we were and why we were inquiring about his Congregation. Notwithstanding his illness and frail condition, he remained sharp and confrontational.

Once he was satisfied as to our intensions, however, Miller, almost in tears, explained his unsuccessful efforts to save “the old Shule” and how it “broke his heart” when the Congregation closed its doors.  He told us a story of the congregation’s attempt to sell their old Torah to obtain the funds needed to save the old Synagogue.  We would later interview another former B’nai Zion member who was part of a group lead by Miller that traveled to New York hoping to find a buyer for the Torah.

This group, we were told, visited several potential purchasers in New York but because of the Torah’s poor condition none were interested in purchasing it.  When it was clear that the sale of the Torah could not save B’nai Zion, Miller headed up another group that tried to convince a wealthy former B’nai Zion member, “Sig Weis” to make a gift that would save the Congregation. Weis chose not to make such a gift, and Miller was angered when Weis later purchased the old Torah himself. In exchange for the old Torah, Weis paid a sum of money to B’nai Zion and then donated the Torah to Susquehanna University, a Christian University located in Selinsgrove.

Unfortunately, this interview with Sike Miller turned out to have been our only meeting with the colorful gentleman who died several weeks after our meeting and is currently buried in the new section  of B’nai Zion Cemetery in Danville.

Although we understood Miller’s anger at Weis’ unwillingness to make the gift that he believed would save the old Synagogue, Pete and I could appreciate the generosity of Weis’ gift. Weis had shown his affection for B’nai Zion by purchasing, apparently for fair valu,e the remaining asset of his former Congregation although he had no intention of keeping it. The gift to Susquehanna University, we suspect, was made in the hope that this school with roots in the Selinsgrove community would act to preserve the old Torah and display it for the public. Without a larger base of Jewish membership for B’nai Zion, even a larger gift could have only postponed the end for the “old Shule”.

This was the first time we heard the name “Sig Weis,” but we would later hear it spoken again, and again, with much affection by residents of Danville, and Selinsgrove, not only in context to the old Shule and its history.  The Weis family had been a part of the community for several generations and sometimes, we noticed, the name “Sig Weis” was used in context to events that could not have occurred during the lifetime of the Sigfried Weis that Sike Miller knew. As we learned about the history of the Weis family, we began to understand why the citizens of Selinsgrove and Danville were so proud to claim this family as part of their history.

Who Was Sig Weis?

The “Sig Weis” that Miller spoke of, we learned, was “Sigfried Weis” who at that time was Chairman of the Board of Weis Market, a publicly traded Corporation, headquartered in nearby Sunbury. His grandfather and namesake, we were told, had been an Austrian immigrant who many years ago built, a “general store” in Selinsgrove that eventually became a well-known “department store” there.

The original Sigfried Weis, (who, as far as we know, was never referred to as “Sig”) was an immigrant, and an early member of the B’nai Zion Synagogue who arrived in Pennsylvania in approximately 1870.  Weis opened a small department store in Selinsgrove that was quite successful in its time. This Sigfried Weis had two sons, Harry and Sigmund. When the elder Sigfried Weis died Harry and Sigmund transformed their father’s department store business into a publicly traded grocery store chain, headquartered in nearby Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

Even at the time of our visit, members of the Weis family continued their roles in the management and control this successful company, headquartered now in Sunbury, a somewhat larger town not far from Danville and Selinsgrove.  The Sigfried Weis that Miller spoke of had recently died at the time we first visited Danville.  He was the son of the Sigmund, and the grandson of the elder Sigfried Weis.  Pete and I were familiar with the Weis Grocery Store Chain. There were Weis stores in Maryland, where we lived, and in Pennsylvania there seemed to be one in every shopping center.

The most recent “Sigfried” Weis had been a prominent member and a generous donor to the B’nai Zion Congregation prior to his death in 1995. When we began researching the “Weis” name at the Montour Genealogical Library in Danville, it was everywhere we looked.  Weis family members were generous contributors to many local institutions, including the Gesinger Medical Center in Danville, of which Sigfried Weis had became chairman of the Board. Weis funded the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital at Gesinger as well as the Sigfried and Janet Weis Center for Cardiovascular Research.