ColchesterTalks.com Free and open access to Colchester's rich history.
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ColchesterTalks.com Free and open access to Colchester's rich history.
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Interested in other local history within the state? Please visit our following website affiliates that are kind enough to list Colchestertalks.com Visit Connecticut's Heritage Gateway a program of
The Connecticut Historical Society
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Colchester's fabric is broad and diverse. Between 1890 and the 1940's, Colchester was a safe haven for those persecuted by fascism and hatred in Europe.
Because of many factors, Colchester was chosen to transplant Jewish farmers from Europe. The following information gives a more detailed perspective. Feinsilver, Alexander, and Feinsilver, Lillian. "Colchester's Yankee Jews: After Half a Century." Commentary 20(July, 1955)1:64-70. The Baron de Hirsch Fund settled Jews from Russia in Colchester in the 1890s, but especially in the period 1910-1925. In 1955 Jews still made up 40 percent of all farmers in Colchester; there were sixty Jewish full-time farmers there. (1) Baron Maurice de Hirsch was born in Germany in 1831. His mother Karoline Wertheimer ensured that he received the best instruction in Hebrew and religion. Descended from a distinguished family of Jewish court bankers, he moved among European nobility. He was counted among the intimates of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, and of the Austrian archduke Rudolph. (2) In 1891, he established a New York Baron de Hirsch Fund to assist and help settle immigrants to the United States and later Canada. (2) In December, 1899, there were 600 Jewish farmers in New England, mainly in Connecticut, with some scattered in Massachusetts. It was estimated that $1,100,000 had been invested by them in their holdings, $1,250,000 remaining on mortgage. The principal groups of settlements in Connecticut are at Chesterfield, Colchester, and Montville, with others near Norwich and New London. (3)
(1) http://www.ctheritage.org/biography/topical_immigration/jews.htm (2) http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Baronhirsch.html (3) http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=909&letter=A
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