The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Fall 1973, Volume 19, Number 4
Cover: Morning on the Bay by Alfred Mitchell
By Norton B. Stern and William M. Kramer
Louis Rose, who arrived in San Diego in 1850, is a man whose name and fame are enshrined in the city’s history and geography. The story of his life provides one of the finest examples of the pattern established by Jewish immigrants to the far West during the mid-nineteenth century. Rose, like many of his fellow Jews, brought to a still primitive, small town economy, innovative ideas which helped transform it into a flourishing city. His career embraced almost every occupational opportunity available. He combined economic risk investment with civic responsibility and his range of business interests was balanced by social, political and religious involvements.
San Diego knew Rose as a retailer, butcher, hotel owner, tanner, mattress manufacturer, brick yard operator, subdivider, mine developer, wharf builder, rancher, and in a number of other occupational roles. He was also well known for his service in public office, as postmaster, for his efforts to attract railroads to the area, as one of the organizers of the first Masonic Lodge in Southern California, and for participation in the religious and benevolent life of the Jewish community. Everyone in San Diego who knows even a little local history knows something about Louis Rose. There have been a number of journalistic accounts which have reminded the public of his interesting career, but no documented, historical study has previously been published.
In a colorful statement made in 1934, it was said that Rose was “San Diego’s original businessman, whose enterprise and foresight aided in forging a city out of what was then known as ‘the deadest hole in the world!””1 In an 1888 editorial comment, Louis Rose was said to have done “more to advance the interests of the county [of San Diego] than any of his followers.”2 Rose was born on March 24, 1807, in Newhaus, on the River Ost, in Hanover, Germany, where he was given the Jewish name of Lippman.3 Judging by his having become a naturalized citizen of the United States at New Orleans on January 2, 1846, Rose must have arrived in this country by the early 1840s.4
In New Orleans, “after a peculiar habit of his race, he became engaged in the sale of diamonds and jewelry ….”5 He married Caroline Marx in 1847 in New Orleans, and in August of the following year, due to the failure of his jewelry business, Rose left for Texas, alone. It was his intent, first in Texas and later in California, that by “using all the industry and economy in his power to provide a comfortable home for himself and his wife…to bring her to enjoy his property with him.” From San Antonio, Texas, where, as an agent, he bad gone to arrange for the sale of land, his letters to his wife went astray, and she assumed that Louis had died. After making efforts to locate Caroline, Rose learned in 1852 that his wife had become pregnant by another man and had gone to Charleston, South Carolina, where she miscarried. Their marriage was dissolved in 1854, with Rose agreeing to pay for her support until she would remarry. Rose was represented by the San Diego pioneer lawyer, J.W. Robinson.6 Rose’s business affairs in Texas did not prosper and he was attracted by the stories of California occasioned by the gold rush and the prosperity which it promised for the far West. It was in June, 1849, that a party of civilians immigrating to California were permitted to accompany a detachment of Federal troops who were laying a new military route from San Antonio to El Paso, a distance of about 500 miles. Among the civilians was Thomas B. Eastland, who kept a diary of the journey. On July 25, 1849, he recorded that
One of our party (a Jew named Rose) was (by order of Major [Jefferson] Van Horne) drummed out of camphe was condemned without a hearing, and thus disgracefully punished. A little “brief authority” in the hands of a damned fool, is ever exercised injudiciously…a citizen traveling through his own country in a time a peace cannot be thus arbitrarily dealt with…poor Rose cannot return to camp except at night, or when the troops are out of sight. We have determined that he shall not be driven entirely away.7
We do not know why Major Van Horne arbitrarily expressed antagonism toward Rose, but we do know that Rose’s fellow civilians on their way to California protected him and disapproved of the officer’s conduct. Rose left the party of which Eastland was a member and joined a group led by the former Texas judge and governor, James W. Robinson, and with this group arrived in San Diego on May 30, 1850.8 Robinson became Rose’s attorney and friend. It is generally accepted that Louis Rose was the first Jewish resident of San Diego.9
Rose, the man of many occupational involvements, had an economic consistency. Simply put, he was an investor, a pioneer Southern California capitalist, a man with an eye for an opportunity and willing hands to grasp it. From the very beginning of his life in San Diego he came to regard the possession and development of land as the best long range means of establishing himself. He was among the first taxpayers registered on the original 1850 assessment list of the county.10 Less than five months after his arrival, on October 10, 1850, the city lands commission approved a measure for the distribution of excess city land. Rose promptly applied for some of this acreage, which was the beginning of his dream for the future site of the new San Diego.
I apply to enter and do hereby enter [my application for] 80 acres of land on the Northwest side of San Diego Bay between La Playa and Old San Diego—Beginning at a point…opposite…where J. W. Robinson’s entry of 80 acres begins—and thence…towards the Playa—80 acres to include the legal front on the bay, thence back…
San Diego Oct. 1850 Lewis [sic] Rose.11
Rose expanded this property holding by purchasing additional land from James W. Robinson.12 He secured other adjacent land owned by his nephew, Nissan J. Alexander, who had arrived in 1853 and had died the following year. In 1856, when Rose settled his nephew’s estate, he acquired from it 160 acres of contiguous land and subsequently an additional 100 acres which had been the property of Sheriff Joseph Reiner.13
Rose’s original idea for the development of this large tract, which is now part of the Point Loma peninsular area of metropolitan San Diego, was to make of it a townsite whose first settlers would be the employees of one of his manufacturing enterprises. They were a “large number of men, who, with their families, cannot fail to create a large settlement at the place now known as Rose’s Ranch, but destined to bear the title of Roseville….”14 This was the first reference to Roseville. Its founder worked hard to develop the area. A San Francisco Jewish paper referred specifically to Rose’s land by apprising its readers that San Diego was “encouraging immigration” by the “speedy settlement of Roseville,” offering land free to actual settlers.15 Sales of lots were recorded in 1873, with prices ranging from seventy-five to $125.16 In 1870, Rose sold to the Catholic Sisters of Charity a parcel of land at La Playa, adjacent to Roseville, for a hospital. The location was described as “unsurpassed on the bay…the climate being mild and salubrious, and all harsh winds being shut off by the hills in the background.”17 In 1873, the local press could report:
Mr. Rose, many years ago, prophesied, we might say, what is now taking place. His “Just vait a leetle vile and you”ll see,” is becoming a reality. The deep water at La Playa and the pleasing situation of Roseville, will carry out before many years the cherished wish of hopeful Mr. Rose.18
In 1869, following his second marriage, Rose built “his fine residence at Roseville,” which was even then “beginning to assume an importance worthy of the attention and pride of the citizens of San Diego….” Rose had found “water of good quality and in sufficient quantity” for his development. He began, at this time, to be known as “the proprietor of Roseville-on-the-Bay.”19
Roseville was to become a major part of greater San Diego, but not in the lifetime of its founder. From Old Town, San Diego expanded southward, before its growth to the northwest on the Point Loma peninsula. In 1888, the press described Rose as “the owner of the townsite of Roseville on this bay, which he had surveyed and laid off into lots many years ago, but it is only within a couple of years that the place promised any returns for his outlay….” In sum: “his object was to found the present city of San Diego on the site of Roseville.”20
At Roseville-on-the-Bay, at a point then called La Playa, Rose built a wharf. It was the third to be built in the San Diego area in an eighteen-month period, indicating the progress of the community in 1870. “No better sign of our growth and prosperity can be evinced than in the building of wharves.” To this statement the contemporary press added the information that Rose’s new wharf, just then being completed, was 472 feet long, and thirty feet wide. It was larger than the earlier wharves, and extended to a depth of twelve feet of water at the spring low tide. Proudly the press reported that the new structure was “the widest and most substantial wharf upon the Pacific Coast outside of San Francisco.” The editor added a personal note: “We trust that Mr. Rose may be rewarded a hundred times over for this exhibition of public spirit.”21
In 1873, Rose planned to improve the structure by adding sixty feet to its length, which would give it access to a depth of twenty-four feet of water at low tide. Though this addition was not made, the pier was excellently maintained. In 1874, when San Diego citizens were concerned about the city’s ability to export wheat, it was observed “it is well to remember that Rose’s wharf at La Playa has sixteen and a half feet of water at extreme low tide and is a solid structure and is in splendid order.” A year later, Rose’s wharf and some adjacent land were sequestered by the United States Government for the purpose of establishing military fortifications on the bay. Rose protested the seizure of land to which he felt he had clear title, stemming from the city of San Diego from whom he had obtained it.22
Rose also purchased ranch land in Las Yeguas Canyon, which came to be known as Rose Canyon, located a few miles north of town on the stage road to Los Angeles. Rose’s ranch consisted of 1,920 acres in 1856, according to a contemporary account. It was acquired by him “in separate quarter sections at the public sales of the city lands, [Rose] paying high in order to secure a large tract in a compact body.” Rose felt that his ranch land had appreciated tremendously from his estimated original cost of eight dollars per acre. The ranch included a four-acre garden, a vineyard, tobacco acreage, and ample pasture for the twenty head of cattle and the 100 horses and mules which he owned. Wells on the property supplied water and two creeks flowed through the ranch during the rainy season, leaving pools reinforced by natural springs as they emptied into False Bay (now Mission Bay). These constituted a constant water supply for the livestock and for irrigation. On the ranch were many sycamore and willow trees and some oak.23 All this created a sylvan wonderland for picnics, and it became an ideal site for holiday outings. It was property worth protecting and on one occasion Rose joined with the sheriff in pursuit of vagrants who had committed a robbery there.24
In Old Town San Diego, Rose owned another garden, called by his name. It was in 1869 that he bought the land from Judge D. A. Hollister for $2,000. Originally the plot had belonged to Captain Francisco María Ruiz, who is thought to have erected the first adobe outside the presidio, at this location. Ruiz had planted fruit trees and vines in the early nineteenth century, which constituted “one of the first successful orchards in the State.” Rose’s Garden included an example of the agave plant, from which pulque, a Mexican fermented drink is made. In 1875, the blooming stalk on this plant grew some twenty feet in thirty days, evoking amazement in the local press. Pears and pomegranates were among the choice products of the garden.25
Another parcel of Old Town property was acquired by Rose on February 1, 1854, when he purchased two lots for sixty-three dollars. It apparently was on Juan Street, opposite the northernmost portion of the original subdivision. At this location Rose built a two-story adobe in early 1855. This building was the subject of legal dispute, when in an action subsequently dismissed, it was alleged that the structure extended into the Juan Street right-of-way.26
In December of 1853, it was announced that on Washington Street, “this quiet but go-ahead thoroughfare” in Old Town, Rose was improving an existing holding by adding a new roof, painting, plastering and decorating. This property, the hotel Commercial House, was scheduled for opening on January 1, 1854. An advertisement gave the hotel’s location as the corner of Rose and Washington Streets, and advised the public that “the bar contains the choicest of wines, the best of liquors, and the finest cigars….” Rose hoped “to merit a continuance of the favors already bestowed upon him” by the public. The public’s regard for the hotel proprietor was indicated by an editorial comment.
Re-opening of the Commercial House. This excellent establishment, temporarily closed for repairs, is to be opened 1st January, by Mr. Rose, its enterprising proprietor, whose hospitable doors are never shut to anybody. It is not necessary to say a good word for one so well known and deserving as Mr. Rose, who is emphatically the man of business of this place, and whose improvements both in town and county do honor and credit to his enterprise and industry.27
In the heart of Old Town at the west end of the plaza was an adobe, to which a wooden second story had been added; it was originally the residence of J. W. Robinson. During Robinson’s lifetime the upper story had been used as the meeting place of the San Diego Masonic Lodge No. 35. Rose acquired the property from Robinson’s widow about 1866 for the sum of $10,000. The lodge continued as a tenant of Rose until 1870.28
In 1856, Judge Benjamin Hayes noted that Rose’s property was located in every part of the city, but included various concentrations of real estate. The judge called him “a stupendous speculator of the ‘make or break” order.” He hoped that Rose might “never be one cent less rich than he dreams of being.” Rose discussed with Hayes the possibilities of borrowing additional capital for further property investment from San Francisco lenders.29 In 1860, the Federal Census (June 1, 1860) showed Rose holding 1,926 acres of land, of which only six were improved. The cash value of his ranch was given as $5,000. In an article on Rose written at the time of his death, it was said: “He gradually became the owner of immense tracts of real estate, for which he paid good prices. At one time he was the possessor of nearly 4,000 acres, more than any other resident of San Diego.”30
The economic activities of Rose were generated by his personal labor and skills as well as by his pioneering investments in land and buildings. Indeed, his various retail activities appear to have provided the cash flow enabling him to purchase and hold real estate for long periods of time. From his arrival in the spring of 1850, Louis Rose operated a general merchandising business. In the summer of 1852, he ran a series of advertisements which indicated that he had expanded his business to supply provisions for Panama steamers, plying the route from the Isthmus to San Francisco. He offered for “a much less price than in San Francisco,” such items as fresh beef, pork, mutton, veal, poultry and fresh vegetables. He had acquired the butchering establishment of Leamy and Sexton.31 Rose enjoyed an excellent relationship with the editor of the local paper, which was in no wise hurt by the fact that he and his friend, Sheriff Joseph Reiner, gave the scribe “favors…in the shape of sardines, wine, preserved meats, cigars, etc.,” out of his stock.32
In 1856, Rose was congratulated by the newspaper editor on the occasion of his opening a new meat market. He was journalistically spurred on with the words, “Go it, Rose!” The newspaperman wrote in 1857 of his delight in seeing “our worthy friend Rose issue forth at daylight in the snow-white apron prepared for his daily avocation with his smiling face and ‘cheek bloom”….” The meat market was described as a big success.33 In the Federal Census of 1860 Rose listed his occupation as butcher, and his application to the City of San Diego for licensing as a butcher in 1863 has been preserved at the Serra Museum in San Diego. His application as a retail dealer for the same year, also to be found at the museum, indicates that Rose continued his general merchandising endeavors. For a brief period in the 1850s, Rose took into partnership George A. Pendleton, probably to enable him to give more time to his other business interests. Rose and Pendleton sold dry goods, crockery, clothing, hardware, liquors, cigars and tobacco, among other items.34
Louis Rose was ever alert for the opportunity to turn waste to use and loss to profit. In the fall of 1853 it was reported that “Our enterprising friend Rose, has commenced a tannery on his ranch, on quite a large scale, so that the immense quantity of hides that are yearly thrown away in this part of the State, will be turned to some account.” In order to manage this new enterprise, Rose sent for his nephew, Nissan J. Alexander, who was then living on the East Coast. It was customary among the pioneer Jews of the West to invite the participation of their relatives from the East and overseas to assist them as their business responsibilities expanded. To accommodate his nephew and himself with ample quarters, Rose built a new home which the press called “a fine mansion.”36
The new tannery was located on his ranch in Las Yeguas Canyon, better known as Rose Canyon , a few miles north of town. A report on the productivity of the tannery at the beginning of 1854 stated that the “leather is tanned and finished in the most thorough and complete manner, and equals the best article in the markets of Philadelphia and Boston.” It appears that Nissan Alexander was a tanner who gained his experience in those communities. The establishment, only a few months after its inception, was “being increased in its capacity for production [occasioned] by the enterprise of its proprietor.” It was expected that when the operation was fully developed it would “give employment to a large number of men.”37 In the spring of 1854 the editor of the Herald, J. Judson Ames, proudly proclaimed:
San Francisco, we are ahead of you and can supply you with harness and sole leather, equal if not superior in quality to any imported from the eastern states. Our friend and fellow citizen, Louis Rose, has at a great expense erected a large tannery and he invites the public to inspect and encourage the same. [He]…promises no more than what he can accomplish and we ask for him that share of patronage due to his worthy enterprise.38
Judge Benjamin Hayes wrote a description of the tannery and its operation which he observed in the fall of 1856. It was still the only such facility in San Diego County.
There are 20 bark vats, six lime and water vats, two cisterns containing 500 gallons each, a new bark mill, an adobe house for currying the leather (each vat will contain from 80 to 100 sides), force pumps, and everything else for a complete establishment. He [Rose] now, makes 3500 sides a year, and 1000 skins of deer, goat, sheep, seal, and sea-lion. Many goat-skins have been brought from some island [Guadalupe], where goats abound, about 70 miles distant, off the coast of Lower California. Seal are abundant off our own coast. Last year he sold $8000 worth of leather at San Francisco; it was much praised there. Oak bark is obtained ten miles from the tannery in abundance; it costs from $12 to $15 per ton, delivered. He employs one head tanner at $100 per month; two assistants, at $35 each; and three laborers. at $10 each; boarding them. Indian laborers, $8, Mexicans, $10, both classes easily got here. Hides easily obtained to keep tannery always in operation; trades for them a good deal, with shoes, saddles, and botas [small leather wine bags] made here of his leather. Today I found him cutting out the soles and uppers, “having little else to do” as he said. The uppers are of deer skin. These are manufactured by a Mexican shoemaker according to Mexican style. They do well in dry weather. Sides at San Francisco bring from $5 to $8. Deerskins, goat, etc., bear the standing price of $3 apiece.39
San Diego historical accounts generally hold that Rose’s tannery was closed following the death of the owner’s nephew and head tanner, Nissan J. Alexander, in 1854.40 However, as indicated by the Hayes diary quoted above, it was in full operation as late as mid-September, 1856. While the date of its closing is not clearly established, following the April 20, 1872, fire in Old Town, it is known that Rose maintained a saddlery at the same location and employed Indian silversmiths who decorated saddles and trappings and who achieved fame for their intricate workmanship.41
It was in 1859 that Rose’s most exotic economic adventure took place. It was deemed newsworthy.
Our public spirited fellow citizen Louis Rose, Esq., has commenced the manufacture of mattresses. They are made of sea weed of an exceedingly soft and pliable texture. The weed is subjected to a simple and winnowing process, by which it is divested of all offensive impurities and at once rendered fit for use. This floating whale lair, thus cleansed, is superior to wool, straw or moss and is nearly as soft and durable as hair. The introduction of manufactures of every description into our State is what is now required to render us prosperous and independent as a people.42
Writing in 1969, a San Diego journalist attempted to provide motivation for Rose’s mattress project. “Plagued by a lumpy mattress, he conceived the idea of making these useful articles of dried seaweed.” The writer suggested that the venture failed because “San Diegans preferred their lumps.”43
As a subdivider, Rose was naturally interested in building materials for his own needs, for purchasers of his lots and for the public. In April, 1869, it was reported that Rose had purchased lumber in connection with his development of Roseville. Mrs. A.E. Horton, in an interview, remembered Rose’s lumber yard which he had established for his Roseville and La Playa holdings.44 Winifred Davidson located the lumber yard near the bay. In mid-1873, a press report told of Rose’s second venture in the hotel business: “Our friend Louis Rose is full of the spirit of the times. He informs us that the hotel at Roseville is to be opened ere long….”45 He also opened a brick yard in Rose Canyon as one of his developments.46
Arriving in Southern California the year after the gold rush of ‘49, Rose caught the mining fever in the mid-1850s when there were reports of mineral discoveries in Baja California. These stimulated Rose to invest in prospecting. He outfitted two men
… with all the paraphernalia necessary for a gold hunt and three months” provisions, and dispatched them for the mountains where gold has already been discovered in small quantities, with instructions not to return til they have found good paying diggings. He says he will send them supplies for a year whenever they order them, but in no case to return or give up the searchso confident is he that there are rich deposits through the whole region of country between here and the desert.47
Two years later Rose was actively engaged in extracting copper and silver ore from a mine in the county not far from San Diego. In May, 1857, his mine produced several tons of ore which were estimated to contain a yield of from twenty?five to thirty percent copper and a small percentage of silver. The prospects for increased production were regarded as good and Rose was heralded as offering an example for “the formation of companies to open several other veins in our county.”48 In September, it was reported that Rose had struck a copper lead “that promises richer than any yet found in Lower California.” Some of the ore was placed on exhibit in the Herald office where it was described as “the best specimen of carbonate of copper that we have yet seen,” including fine ore from the famed Baja California Jesús María mines.49 A more exciting report was issued in November, 1857.
Squire Rose … in connection with his copper vein…discovered a vein of gold-bearing quartz, some rich specimens of which have been shown us and can now be seen at the Squire’s office by all those who have doubts on the subject.50
At the end of the year Rose once more brought “some fine specimens of gold-bearing quartz and copper ore, from his mine at Buena Vista,” to the editor of the Herald. That gentleman hoped that Rose would be richly remunerated for his large investment of labor and funds. “Mr. Rose deserves success,” he wrote, “for never did man evince such indomitable energy and perseverance as he has bestowed on this undertaking.”51 A month later the newspaper reported that Rose had disposed of a half interest in the copper mine for $30,000, and that 1,000 tons of ore were ready for shipment. Shortly thereafter new lodes were discovered which promised “even better than any yet opened.”52
Rose was in and out of mining activities for many years. Not only did he have gold, silver and copper interests, but he also mined for coal at the mouth of Rose Canyon and at that same locale he apparently found valuable clay deposits.53 Other than the sale of a half interest in his Buena Vista holdings, it seems that Rose acquired little wealth from the mining in which he had so heavily invested.
Rose’s financial affairs ranged from feast to famine. Most of the time he did well, and all of the time he maintained a fine reputation for business integrity. San Diego’s Mayor John Forward, Jr., in a 1934 address, recalled that,
Like many San Diegans, Rose suffered in the depression that followed the “Tom Scott” boom. But unlike others who forgot their debts, and obligations, Mr. Rose created a trust for the benefit of his creditors. To these he conveyed all his property to secure his debts, ignoring the fact that such debts were outlawed by the statutes of limitations. Subsequently these debts were paid in full.54
Rose’s creditors, out of respect for his established reputation, had offered to give him a full release from his obligations at a time when he was nearly bankrupt. “This he refused to accept. A few years later he again prospered in business.” At that time he “paid his old obligations in full—principal and interest.”55 Henrietta Rose, Louis” daughter, remembered her father as a man of great honor, and said that he had “made and lost several fortunes here in San Diego.”56 Rose was, on balance, a successful businessman from his arrival in 1850 to 1884 when, due to advancing years and health problems, he retired from business. In the post-Civil War period when taxes on income were collected, Rose was one of the major payers of San Diego County. His income tax for 1869, was $1,563. At his death his fortune was estimated at between $60,000 and $75,000.57 As Smythe summarized, “Rose was an unusually enterprising man…in many undertakings.”58
Rose’s interests included participation in the fraternal, civic and cultural life of his community. He was present and listed as a “Visiting Brother,” at the first meeting, under dispensation, of what was to become San Diego Lodge No. 35, Free and Accepted Masons. This was the first Masonic Lodge to be organized in Southern California. The initial meeting was held on November 20, 1851, and in addition to Rose, seven other men were present. At the second meeting, on January 8, 1852, Rose was listed as the tyler of the lodge. On June 28, 1852, he was referred to by the San Diego paper as the treasurer. The Charter for San Diego Lodge No. 35, was granted by the Grand Lodge on May 7, 1853, and at the first installation on August 14, Louis Rose assumed the office of Junior Warden.59
Rose was an active Mason during his entire life in San Diego. At his death, his long and devoted service was honored by his brethren who arranged to have his remains lie in state at the lodge hall.60 From 1859 to 1861, Rose was the steward of the lodge and in the following year became tyler again, serving in that capacity until 1867. The lodge rented quarters in a building that Rose owned in Old Town during the 1860s.61 He was also reported as a member of the San Diego Odd Fellows Lodge No. 153.62
Rose became active in civic life within a few months after his arrival in San Diego. The local court was organized on September 2, 1850, and a grand jury, which included Rose, was named.63 On August 23, 1853, he was elected as one of the trustees of the city council, who governed San Diego. Editor J. J. Ames congratulated those elected. “They [E. W. Morse, George Lyons, and Louis Rose] are all trustworthy and estimable men in private life, and we doubt not, will fulfill their public duties in a satisfactory manner.”64 Rose was the chairman of the city council at a meeting on November 4, 1853, when the agenda included a consideration of the status of city lands.65
Rose had a substantial career as a member of the board of supervisors of San Diego County. He served as a supervisor in 1853, 1854, 1865 and 1866.66 He had run unsuccessfully for the office of county treasurer in 1853, and four years later he ran for the position of public administrator of the county.67 For a decade ending in June, 1883, Rose served as the postmaster of Old Town, San Diego. He was twice appointed to that office in which he “gave general satisfaction to the government and the community.”68
Another aspect of Rose’s involvement in civic life was his service as a member of the board of School District No. 1 of San Diego. He was appointed on March 1, 1864, by the County Superintendent of Schools, George A. Pendleton, his former business associate. In the elections of 1873, Rose’s house was used as the polling place for the first ward of San Diego, which had a total of five wards then.69
Rose’s home was also used in 1869 for a community reception given for William H. Seward, who had been Lincoln’s Secretary of State. Seward was on an extended Western tour “going as far north as Alaska [Seward’s Folly] and as far south as Mexico.” He arrived in San Diego in September and the “at home” for him at Louis Rose’s was reported in the local press.70
In November, 1851, the Garra Indian uprising occurred in San Diego County. Antonio Garra, an Indian chief of the Luiseños, who lived in the San Luis Rey Mission area, organized what he hoped would develop into an extensive revolt against the county sheriff’s attempt to collect taxes on Indian herds. Under Garra’s command a force of fifty Indians attacked the store and home of John J. Warner, now a resort known as Warner’s Hot Springs, on November 22. Warner drove off the attackers and then rode to San Diego where he raised the alarm. On November 24, Captain E. H. Fitzgerald enrolled seventy-nine volunteers to protect the town. One of them was Louis Rose. Two of his coreligionists were officers under Fitzgerald. Lewis A. Franklin was the quartermaster and Charles Fletcher was the fourth corporal. About forty of the volunteer militiamen, the unmarried ones, left on a two-week expedition to find the Indians. They returned to San Diego and were discharged on December 13 when it was understood that the United States Army was then in a position to take charge of the situation.71
One of the civic dreams of every community in the developing West was to bring a railroad connection to town. It was realized that the advent of a railroad would increase population, business opportunities, land values and employment. In San Diego there was a dream that a railroad might link its harbor to the inland states and territories. Rose and his fellow San Diego pioneer, Judge James W. Robinson, are credited with being the first to establish a railroad corporation which would have the local harbor as its terminus.72 It was in November, 1854, that the San Diego and Gila, Southern Pacific and Atlantic Railroad Company was chartered by the State of California. The two most sensitive offices of the new railroad corporation were those of president and treasurer, held respectively by Robinson and Rose. They also served as directors of the organization.73
The intention of the newly chartered group was “to build [the railroad] as far as Yuma, Arizona; there to connect with whatever line might be built from the East.” Rose held 320 shares of stock, which made him the second largest investor. In 1872 the corporation was sold to the Texas and Pacific Railroad. That line remained on the drawing board when government support did not materialize. Rose was able to salvage only a small part of his investment, because the San Diego line “never got beyond the surveying stage.”74 Interestingly enough, one San Diego resident, writing in 1873, noted that, “Every day demonstrated the necessity of a railroad to connect this city with the…town of Roseville-on-the-Bay.”75 It was not until 1885 that San Diego was connected to the rest of the State and nation by a railroad.
The cultural opportunities in early San Diego were few. To help, remedy this situation, Rose and twenty-two men issued a call in 1856 for the formation of a Lyceum and Debating Club. Three other members of the nascent Jewish community were among the twenty-two: Jacob Newman, Lewis A. Franklin and Hyman Mannasse. The group later considered such serious issues as capital punishment, the morality of ends and means and the use of liquor.76 Rose’s cultural assets included language skills in German, French, Spanish and English, and presumably only a liturgical knowledge of Hebrew.77
The compilers of a history of San Diego’s Congregation Beth Israel, misted by an erroneous reading of a newspaper report of the local High Holy Day observances of 1851, stated that Rose did not identify “with the early Jewish community” of San Diego. They concluded that Rose’s omission from the newspaper list consisting of three Jews of San Diego who fasted and prayed in the private residence of Lewis A. Franklin on Yom Kippur, October 6, 1851, meant that he was not actively Jewish. Rose either was not in Old Town San Diego on that day, or he chose not to observe the sacred day with Lewis A. Franklin, Charles A. Fletcher and Mark I. Jacobs. The very use of the term “Jewish community,” when there were less than ten adult male Jews in the locality, is an anachronism. The newspaper report indicated that there were only three Jews in town on that day; it was not attempting to list every known local Jewish resident.78 Rose was known as a Jew and identified himself as a Jew. It is clear that he, along with the other Jewish merchants, refrained from doing business on Rosh Hashanah in 1856, for Judge Benjamin Hayes noted “this is the Jewish New Year—their stores are all closed.”79
Hyman S. Wolf, a nineteenth-century San Diego arrival, stated that “Louis Rose was the first Jew who came to San Diego…and helped to found…the orthodox congregation [Adath Jeshurun]…now Beth Israel, reformed.”80 Adath Jeshurun was organized on June 20, 1861, under the leadership of Marcus Schiller, who became its first president. As elsewhere, the evidence indicates that the first priority of business was the securing of a Jewish cemetery. Rose presented the new congregation with five acres of land for a sacred burial ground at Roseville. The nominal sum of ten dollars provided the legal consideration for the transfer of title for the property “to be … occupied and enjoyed in all time to come, by the Hebrew Society … as a public cemetery for said society.” The title was recorded in the records of the county, in April, 1862.81 Rose’s involvement in the founding of San Diego’s first synagogue is further evidence that the statement that Rose “was not identified as a Jew until. . he became mildly active with Hebrew leaders in 1870-7l,” is totally false.82 An 1871 source refers to Rose as “one of the most worthy and oldest members of the Jewish fraternity here.”83 Indeed, Rose was not only one of the most worthy Jews of early San Diego, but he officiated as a lay rabbi. A report in the Los Angeles Star of July 11, 1863, recorded him as the officiant at the marriage of Hyman Mannasse to Hannah Schiller, members of two of the leading Jewish families in the city.
The burial site for San Diego Jewry which Rose presented was located in what is now known as the Midway area, at the foot of the bluffs, in that section which is at present the 2900 block of Fordham Street. The area was a square of 466.66 feet on each side. Ultimately the land, following the establishment of a new San Diego Jewish cemetery, was used by the Federal Government as part of the Frontier Homes Housing Project. It is of interest to note that Marcus Schiller and Joseph Mannasse, who were business partners, provided lumber for fencing the Jewish cemetery. The sacred site was further improved by the planting of about fifty pepper trees. This was effected at the end of 1873, under the leadership of “Mr. Cohn, the Jewish rabbi.” Cohn was probably M. Cohn, referred to as the president, pro-tem, of a projected Jewish benevolent society, in 1870. He may have acted as a lay rabbi for San Diego in this period.84
The Hebrew Benevolent Society at San Diego was formed subsequent to the establishment of the synagogue. In almost all Jewish communities of the early West, the benevolent society antedated the founding of a congregation, because of the pressing need for religious burial which was normally provided for by such a benevolent society. It was the gift of land made by Rose for a cemetery which enabled San Diego Jewry to organize the synagogue first. In other communities the benevolent society was founded first, for burial land acquisition and other charitable purposes. When Rose gave the five acres to the new synagogue in 1861, his act changed the usual priorities.
In San Diego, the Hebrew Benevolent Society had essentially the same membership as the synagogue, the affairs of which were largely centered about the Jewish High Holy Days. The society, on the other hand, functioned throughout the year as a charitable body. On January 2, 1870, almost nine years after the congregation was called into existence by Marcus Schiller, he convened the “Israelites of San Diego” at his home where the following resolution was adopted:
Whereas, the population of Israelites in Old and South San Diego [New Town] has been and is increasing rapidly, it becomes necessary that we establish a society strictly in accordance with our faith, for the purpose of assisting the needy, attending to the sick and burying the dead .…85
The resolution was signed by M. Cohn and Charles Wolfsheimer, acting as secretary. The second meeting of the society was held on February 6, 1870, once more at the residence of Marcus Schiller, After a series of organizational meetings the benevolent society, in September, 1871, issued a call to its members to meet “at the house of Mr. Louis Rose, Old Town…for the purpose of perfecting the organization of a Hebrew benevolent society.” By that time “nearly all the Israelites of this city has [sic] been silently engaged in the works of benevolence.” This meeting, which took place on September 24, had as its object “to secure perfect harmony in working.” Rose’s hospitality is still further evidence of his active involvement in early San Diego Jewish life.86
In addition to his participation in Jewish communal affairs, Rose had an intellectual concern with the history of Jewry. Judge Benjamin Hayes, in his diary entry for January 16, 1861, recorded that Mr. R. E. Doyle of San Diego had loaned Rose a book of Jewish history which would be passed on to the judge for reading when Rose had finished with it. The book was Claude Fleury’s, A Short History of the Ancient Israelites. It had been written originally in French and published in English at Burlington, Vermont, in 1813.87
Rose was typical of the pioneer Jews of San Diego in that he enjoyed total social integration with the leading non-Jewish families of his community, and at the same time he and his family were part of the Jewish community. A typical social gathering of the times is reflected in an 1873 newspaper item: “A number of our Jewish families had a pleasant picnic at Roseville Sunday afternoon. The venerable Mr. Rose accompanied the picnickers.” Similar outings were referred to as taking place at Rose’s ranch in Rose Canyon in the 1850s diary of Victoria Jacobs, later Mrs. Maurice A. Franklin.88 A San Diego correspondent of a San Francisco Jewish paper noted that the social life of that community’s Jewish settlers was characterized by warm hospitality. He pointed out that the wives of Rose, Marcus Schiller and Heiman Solomon, tried to outdo each other in culinary excellence.89
Both of Rose’s marriages were to Jewish women. Following the termination of his first marriage to Caroline Marx in 1854, he remained unmarried for fifteen years, until 1869. In May of that year, he married Matilda Newman, the widow of Jacob Newman, who had operated a retail store in San Diego in the early 1860s. The civil ceremony was performed by Judge Thomas H. Bush on May 18, 1869. The name of the officiant at the Jewish consecration is unknown, but he may have been the M. Cohn referred to above as “the Jewish rabbi.”90
Two daughters were born to Matilda and Louis Rose. The first, Helene, was born on October 1, 1870 and died on March 13, 1873. The second, Henrietta, was born in Old Town, San Diego, on May 22, 1872. She attended school in San Diego and Los Angeles, preparing for a public school teaching career which began in 1894 and ended with her retirement in 1940. She was then on the staff of San Diego’s Roosevelt Junior High School, having previously taught at the Sherman School and elsewhere. She never married. Henrietta Rose had served as Worthy Matron of the first Eastern Star chapter in San Diego, the Southern Star Chapter No. 96. She was almost eighty-five when she died on February 20, 1957.91 Her mother, Matilda, died at age thirty-nine on August 4, 1875, when Henrietta was three and one-half years old. Matilda’s funeral was “conducted according to the ritual of the orthodox Jewish church,” the press reported, and added that “Mr. Rose has the sympathy of all out citizens in his sad bereavement.”92
Henrietta described her father as a modest man and yet “in a way, singularly proud.” She reported that she never heard her father swear or boast. “He was generous to a fault…very good to the Mexican people in Old Town…[who] were very fond of him.” She remembered her father’s love of animals, flowers and trees.93 This memory is substantiated by an 1873 newspaper account.
Mr. Louis Rose was once very fond of animals. In early times he…was surrounded by a “happy family” of pigs, pigeons, chickens, cats, dogs, a donkey, and in fact it is hard to tell what not. On last Monday while some men were cleaning away the brush on a lot adjoining Mr. [George] Lyons” garden, the grave was found of his dog “Pat” and his turtle “Chili.” Mr. Rose had the latter for fifteen years. It was killed in 1866 by the falling of an adobe wall. The turtle was so strong that he could move with a man on his back.94
Rose was remembered as a man who enjoyed walking. When he was postmaster, it was reported from New Town that “Mr. Rose thinks this is a healthy climate. He walks in and back from Old Town—just for amusement.” He was seventy-four years old at the time.95 Rose rarely left the San Diego area. This occasioned a report in the local press in 1873, which was considered newsworthy enough to be quoted by the Alta of San Francisco.
He (Rose] came to San Diego, May 30, 1850. Since then he has never been forty miles out of Old Town but once. In 1858 he had remained for a while at Milpitas. . and from there he went to San Luis Rey.96
As an example of Rose’s strength of character, an 1883 report indicated that he had just given up chewing tobacco, after sixty-seven years” indulgence. “This speaks volumes for the will power of out aged fellow citizen.”97 If true, this also informs us that Rose began chewing the weed at the age of nine!
Everyone in old San Diego knew Rose because he was an interesting and dynamic person who regularly made news. He was called Louis or Luis, and sometimes with the honorifics; Don Luis, Squire Rose or Louis Rose, Esq. On other occasions he was addressed by the more familiar Old Rose or Venerable Rose.98
At his death, Rose was given the most treasured title that the West could offer. His obituary bore the headline, “Death of an Argonaut.”99 In 1884, because of failing health, he moved from Old Town to new San Diego where he could receive better care from physicians and friends. It was at this time that he concluded his business career. His fiscal affairs were placed in the hands of trustees on November 3, 1884. These were Simon Levi, George N. Dannals, Dr. Daniel Cave, Charles P. Noell and John A. Love.100 The immediate cause of Rose’s death was dropsy, though he had suffered for some years from a severe hernia condition. His mind remained clear to his demise. His passing occurred on February 12, 1888. He was almost 81.101
Rose’s daughter Henrietta, his sole survivor, was fifteen years of age at her father’s death. She inherited a fortune estimated at between $60,000 and $75,000, which was conserved for her by the trustees. The funeral services were under both Masonic and Jewish auspices with “the rabbi of the Israelitish Synagogue” officiating.102 Interment was in the Jewish cemetery which Rose himself had provided for the community in 1862, twenty-six years earlier.
For many years there could be seen on a giant eucalyptus tree in Roseville a small bronze plaque which read “Here Louis Rose Founded Roseville 1869.” The marker, in what is now the center of Point Loma, was presented and affixed by Hyman S. Wolf, representing the San Diego Jewish community, and John Davidson, of the San Diego History Center. In October, 1933, Leroy A. Wright, president of the San Diego History Center, indicated that he wished to mark the site of Rose Canyon in order to honor its founder, Louis Rose, and likewise mark the location of Southern California’s first tannery which Rose had established. This was the beginning of the movement to erect the Rose monument.103
It was Samuel I. Fox, a leader of reform Congregation Beth Israel and Hyman S. Wolf, a leader of conservative Congregation Tifereth Israel, who brought together representatives of San Diego Masonic Lodge No. 35, the San Diego Historical Society, and their two congregations to effect the arrangements for the dedication of a suitable monument. These four participating groups underwrote the expense of the monument, with the assistance of Lasker Lodge of B”nai B”rith, Henrietta Rose, San Diego’s Mayor John Forward, Jr., Daniel Rossi and Samuel I. Fox. An invitation was issued to the public for the dedication of the memorial at the site, located at the head of Rose Canyon. This was on the coast highway at the intersection of La Jolla highway. The event was scheduled for the afternoon of May 30, 1934. The invitation described Rose as “a pioneer citizen of San Diego, for whom Roseville and Rose Canyon were named. He was one of the early citizens whose enterprise helped to start building in the city of San Diego.”104
The dedication of the large bronze marker which had been attached to a boulder at the head of Rose Canyon was witnessed by more than one hundred people. The ceremonies were opened with a prayer offered by Reverend John Osborn, a Past Master of the San Diego Masonic Lodge. Short talks were given by Albert V. Mayhofer, a vice president of the California Historical Society; Samuel I. Fox, president of Congregation Beth Israel; and Henrietta Rose, who declared that her father could have “never dreamed of the honor you are bestowing upon him today.” The main speaker was Mayor Forward. When the Mayor was a small boy he had known Rose, whom he regarded as one of the city’s real pioneers.105 The memorial was inscribed as follows: “Honoring Louis Rose 1807-1888, Founder of Roseville, Pioneer of Rose Canyon, Brickmaker-Tanner, Outstanding Citizen. Dedicated by Congregations Beth Israel and Tifereth Israel and San Diego Lodge No. 35, F. and A.M., May 30, 1934.”
In 1968, because of the construction of the University of California, San Diego, at the head of Rose Canyon, the old Highway 101 was rerouted. A local journalist, writing about the Rose monument before the site became part of the new campus, said that in those days
It would be a good wager that not 100 of the millions who passed that way, going south, knew that facing them on the center island just north of the intersection was a monument to the man for whom the canyon they were about to enter was named….No cars pass it now. A new building of the University of California here thrusts across what once were the southbound lanes of U.S. 101.106
In September, 1969, when Norton B. Stern was in San Diego gathering material for this article, he planned to take a photograph for the present study, having previously examined the bronze tablet on the boulder. As Masonic historian Orion Zink wrote, “When Dr. Stern visited the campus … he found the plaque missing, but presumed it had been removed for cleaning.” Stern apprised Zink of the absence of the plaque, whereupon he notified John E. Carroll, the engineer in charge of university construction. Carroll, realizing it had been stolen, notified the police who undertook efforts to recover it. Extensive newspaper publicity was given the theft in the hope that it would aid in the return of the bronze memorial.107 A university news release said, “In the confusion of bulldozers, heavy construction and new students, the plaque has disappeared.”108
Engineer Carroll had taken an excellent photograph of the plaque (reproduced with this article), and with it as a model arranged for the campus authorities to prepare a duplicate. In January, 1971, the replacement was mounted on the exact spot on the boulder which the original had occupied. The location is near the John Muir Building of the university. As Zink has noted, if Rose were to return today, he would not be surprised that his dreams for the development of his canyon came true.
However, he would be astonished to discover that a monument had been erected in his honor. And doubly surprised that it stands today on the campus of a great university, in the city he loved, fully believed in, and to which he contributed so much.109
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, Congregation Beth Israel established Home of Peace Cemetery, near Imperial Avenue, in San Diego.110 In 1937, in recognition of the fact that the 1862 Jewish cemetery was no longer in use, the congregation arranged to have the remains of those interred there, transferred to Home of Peace Cemetery. Henrietta Rose gave her permission for the removal of the deceased members of her family. She wrote that in addition to her parents, her older sister “who died in babyhood,” and an uncle whom she never knew, were interred there.111 Samuel Druskin, who was president of Congregation Tifereth Israel of San Diego in 1969, was present when the remains of members of the Rose family were re-interred in 1939 at Home of Peace Cemetery, Rabbi Moise Bergman, of Congregation Beth Israel, officiating. The City of San Diego provided caskets for the remains. Druskin remembered that in the old cemetery the Rose family plot was marked by a simple “wooden Star of David with ‘Rose” on it.” This was reset in the new cemetery in 1939, “but eventually disappeared.” He explained that the cemetery was unfenced at the time.112
In the fall of 1968, Orion Zink, in connection with a biographical sketch he wrote of Rose as a pioneer San Diego Mason, noted that all efforts on his part “to locate Brother Rose’s grave had been unsuccessful.” Druskin, a fellow-Mason, read this and contacted Zink telling him where the grave was. The latter observed, “We were really pleased—actually delighted. I had feared that the final resting place of this great pioneer would go unnoticed forever.”113 On July 13, 1969, San Diego Lodge No. 35, F. and A.M., placed a new granite headstone on the site of the Louis Rose grave. Participating in the ceremony dedicating the stone were Judge Joseph L. Shell, a Past Grand Master of California Masonry; Orion M. Zink; and Monroe Levens, Rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel and a Mason.114 The monument bears two insignia, that of the Star of David and the Compass and Square of Masonry. The inscription is: “In Memory of Louis Rose, 1807-1888, Pioneer Builder, Member of S. D. Lodge No. 35, F. and A.M.”115 The real monument to the Louis Rose of yesteryear however, is the San Diego of today.
1. R. V. Paine, Jr., newspaper clipping; March 23, 1934, Biographical collection, San Diego History Center, Serra Museum, San Diego. The writers wish to express their appreciation for research assistance to Mrs. Sylvia Arden, research librarian, San Diego History Center, Serra Museum; to the staff of the California Room, San Diego Public Library; and to Mr. Orion M. Zink, San Diego.
2. San Diego Daily Sun, February 13,1888, p. 5.
3. San Diego Union, November 11, 1873, p. 3. Henrietta, Rose’s daughter, told Winifred Davidson that her father was born on March 22, 1807. Ibid., May 31, 1934, Mayor John F. Forward, Jr., in a speech using Davidson’s data. San Diego County Civil Court Records, Case No. 603, Box No. 15033, 1854.
4. Great Register of San Diego County 1866?79, Section R, No. 1. See also San Diego Daily Sun, February 13, 1888, P. 5.
5. Ibid.
6. San Diego County Civil Court Records, op. cit. The San Diego witness of the divorce settlement was H. L. Kohn, who as Chaim Leib Cohen (or Kohn) had been the lay rabbi officiating at the marriage, on August 24, 1853, of Marcos Katz to Leah Jacobs in San Diego. His Hebrew scribal proficiency leads the writers to believe that he also prepared the Hebrew get, or bill of divorcement, for the Roses. See the Katz ketubah in Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, October, 1968, p. 27. This documents H. L. Kohn, who was a general merchandiser, as the first known lay rabbi who officiated in Southern California. San Diego Herald, October 1, 1853, p. 3.
7. “To California Through Texas and Mexico,” California Historical Society Quarterly, June 1939, pp. 111, 130.
8. San Diego Union, September 7, 1873, p. 3.
9. Hyman S. Wolf, “Reminiscences of San Diego Jewry,” Biographical collection, (c1935), San Diego History Center.
10. “First Taxpayers of San Diego County, 1850,” mimeographed, 3pp., p. 3, San Diego History Center. Rose’s total assessment was $2,580. From San Diego County 1850 assessment list, p. 73.
11. Louis Rose, “To the Hon. Commission for the City Lands,” holograph, San Diego Historical Society.
12. William E. Smythe, History of San Diego 1542 – 1908 (San Diego, 1908), pp. 287, 709.
13. Ibid., p. 258; Myron Lustig, “The History of the San Diego Jewish Community,” Southwestern Jewish Press, San Diego, April 4, 1952, p. 12.
14. San Diego Herald, January 28, 1854, p. 2.
15. Voice of Israel, San Francisco, April 5, 1871, p. 4.
16. San Diego Union, June 10, 1873, p. 3.
17. Ibid., April 7,1870, p. 3.
18. Ibid., July 6,1873, p. 4.
19. Ibid., April 28, 1869, p. 2: May 19, 1869, p. 3; June 30, 1869, p. 2; September 7, 1873, p. 3.
20. Daily San Diegan, February 13,1888, p. 1; San Diego Daily Sun, February 13,1888, p. 5.
21. San Diego Weekly Bulletin, September 3, 1870, p. 3; September 10, 1870, p. 3; September 17,1870, p. 3.
22. San Diego Union, July 6, 1873, p. 4; June 7, 1874, p. 3; January 26, 1875, p. 2.
23. Pioneer Notes from the Diary of Benjamin Hayes (Los Angeles, 1929), pp. 127 ? 129.
24. San Diego Union, July 6, 1873, p. 4; January 7,1879, p. 1.
25. Smythe, op. cit., p. 287; H. C. Hopkins, History of San Diego, Its Pueblo Lands and Water (San Diego, 1929), p. 92; Orion M. Zink, “Places and People in Old Town,” The Journal of San Diego History, Winter 1969, p. 15; San Diego Union, June 10, 1873, p. 3; November 11, 1869, p. 3; July 20, 1873, p. 3.
26. Hopkins, op. cit., p. 245; Zink, op. cit., p. 14; San Diego Herald, June, 16, 1855, p. 2.
27. Ibid., December 10, 1853, p. 2; December 24, 1853, p. 2; December 31, 1853, p. 3. When, in 1856, Judge Hayes was a guest at the Commercial House, he noted that, “Friend Rose was still talking of making better arrangements,” in renovating his hotel. Pioneer Notes … Hayes, pp. 120 – 121.
28. Zink, op. cit., pp. 10-11; Orion M. Zink, “Louis Rose”, The Master Mason, (San Diego Lodge No. 34, F and A.M.), October 1968, p. 2; San Diego Sun, February 13, 1888, p. 1.
29. Pioneer Notes…Hayes, pp. 128 – 130.
30. San Diego Sun, February 13, 1888, p. 5.
31. San Diego Herald, July 22, 1852, p. 3.
32. Ibid., June 22, 1852, p. 3.
33. Ibid., December 13, 1856, p. 2. January 3, 1857, January 24, 1857.
34. Ibid., January 27, 1855, p. 3. Pendleton later served as county clerk and county recorder, from 1858 to 1870. Rose was still described as a butcher as late as 1874. San Diego Union, June 7, 1874, p. 3.
35. San Diego Herald, October 29, 1853, p. 2.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid., January 28, 1854, p. 2.
38. Ibid., April 15, 1854, p. 2. See also Ibid, p. 3.
39. Pioneer Notes…Hayes, p. 128.
40. See for example, Smythe, op. cit., p. 259.
41. Irene Phillips, Chula Vista, letter, to the San Diego Union, July 23, 1969.
42. San Diego Herald, January 29, 1859, p. 2.
43. Herbert Lockwood, San Diego Independent, July 6, 1969, p. 1.
44. San Diego Union, April 28, 1869, p. 2. Clarence A. McGrew, City of San Diego and San Diego County (Chicago and New York, 1922), Volume I, p. 316.
45. San Diego Union, June 12, 1873, p. 3.
46. Hyman S. Wolf, unidentified San Diego newspaper clipping, January 20, 1928, San Diego History Center; San Diego Union, April 18, 1926.
47. San Diego Herald, April 21, 1855, p. 2.
48. Ibid., May 2, 1857, p. 2.
49. Ibid., September 12, 1857, p. 2.
50. Ibid., November 14, 1857, p. 1.
52. Ibid., December 5, 1857, p. 2.
52. Ibid., January 3, 1858, p. 2; February 13, 1858, p. 2.
53. Smythe, op. cit., p. 259; Pioneer Notes…Hayes, p.143. The coal was not in sufficient quantity for commercial development.
54. John Forward, Jr., quoted by Orion M. Zink, “Louis Rose,” The Master Mason, San Diego, November 1968, p. 2.
55. Daniel Cleveland, San Diego Union, April 18, 1926.
56. Henrietta Rose, interview, by Winifred Davidson, 1933, San Diego Historical Society.
57. San Diego Union, June 30, 1869, p. 2; San Diego Sun, February 13, 1888, p. 5.
58. Smythe, op. cit., p. 259.
59. San Diego Herald, June 28, 1852, p. 2; Smythe, op. cit., pp. 649-651; Samuel F. Black, San Diego and Imperial Counties California (Chicago, 1913), Volume 1, p. 296; Zink, “Louis Rose,” op. cit., October 1968, p. 2.
60. Leon O. Whitsell, One Hundred Years of Freemasonry in California (San Francisco, 1950), p. 1661; San Diego Sun, February 13, 1888, p. 5.
61. Zink, “Louis Rose,” op. cit., October 1968, p. 2.
62. San Diegan, February 13, 1888, p. 1.
63. McGrew, op. cit., Volume 1, p. 83.
64. San Diego Herald, September 3, 1853, p. 3.
65. Ibid., November 5, 1853, p. 2.
66. Smythe, op. cit., pp. 723-724.
67. San Diego Herald, August 6, 1853, p. 2; August 24, 1853, p. 2; September 12, 1857, p. 2.
68, San Diego Union, September 4, 1883, p. 3; San Diego Sun, February 13, 1888, p. 5,
69. San Diego Union, August 7,1873, p. 2.
70. Ibid., September 22, 1869, p. 2; Harris Newmark, Sixty Years in Southern California (Los Angeles, 1970, Fourth Edition), pp. 397-398.
71. Noel M. Loomis, “The Garra Uprising of 1851,” Brand Book II, The San Diego Corral of the Westerners (San Diego, 1971), pp. 3-26; List of Fitzgerald Volunteers, San Diego History Center.
72. Smythe, op. cit., pp. 287, 352; Hopkins, op. cit., p. 200.
73. McGrew, op. cit., Volume I, p. 149; San Diego Herald, November 18, 1854, p. 2; October 6, 1855, p. 2; October 11, 1856, p. 2.
74. San Diego Union, December 5, 1872, p. 3; San Diegan, February 13, 1888, p. 1; McGrew, op. cit., Volume I, p. 149.
75. Santa Barbara Index, February 20, 1873, p. 2, “Our San Diego Letter.”
76. San Diego Herald, September 20, 1856, p. 2.
77. On his use of French for business purposes, see Los Angeles Star, March 8, 1856, p. 2.
78. The Anniversary Story of Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego, California. 5637?5712 (San Diego, 1952), pp. 2-3; San Diego Herald, October 9, 1851, p. 2, quoted in Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, January 1969, p. 65.
79. Pioneer Notes…Hayes, p. 133. Hayes was well aware that Rose was one of the Jewish merchants of San Diego. See Ibid., p. 228.
80. Hyman S. Wolf, “Reminiscences of San Diego Jewry,” 1935, p. 1, manuscript, San Diego History Center.
81. Weekly Gleaner. San Francisco, July 12, 1861, p. 2; San Diego County, Deed Book No. 2, pp. 59?60, April 24, 1862.
82. The Anniversary Story … Beth Israel. p. 3.
83. Correspondence from San Diego, September 29, 1871, The Hebrew. San Francisco, October 13, 1871, p. 4.
84. Fred J. Rimbach, Jr., “A History of the Cemeteries in the City of San Diego,” July 1949, typescript, California Room. San Diego Public Library; San Diego Bulletin, January 8, 1870. p. 3; San Diego Union, January 13, 1870, p. 2.
85. Ibid., San Diego Bulletin, January 8, 1870, p. 3; January 15, 1870, p. 3.
86. Ibid.; San Diego Union, September 28, 1871, p. 4.
87. Pioneer Notes…Hayes, p. 228; Jacob R. Marcus, compiler, Jewish Americana (Cincinnati, 1954), pp. 25-26.
88. San Diego Union, June 10, 1873, p. 3; Victoria Jacobs, diary, San Diego, 1856-1857, manuscript, in the possession of Gladys F. Carroll, Tucson, Arizona.
89. The Hebrew, San Francisco, October 13, 1871, p. 4.
90. License application of J. Newman, signed by Matilda Newman, September 5, 1863, San Diego History Center; San Diego Union, May 19,1869, p. 3; see note no. 84.
91. San Diego Union, October 6, 1870, p. 3; May 23, 1872, p. 3; February 22, 1957; Henrietta Rose, Interview, by Winifred Davidson, 1933, San Diego Historical Society; San Diego Directory 1922, p. 842.
92. San Diego County, Vital Statistics Records, death certificate, San Diego Historical Society; San Diego Union, August 6, 1875, quoted in weekly edition of August 12, 1875, p. 4.
93. Henrietta Rose, op. cit.; San Diego Union, May 31, 1934.
94. Ibid., November 2, 1873, p. 3.
95. Ibid., March 25,1881, p. 3.
96. Ibid., September 7, 1873, p. 3; Daily Alta California, San Francisco, September 13,1873, p. 1.
97. San Diego Union, October 18, 1883, p, 3.
98. Rose has sometimes been erroneously referred to as Louis J. Rose. In 1931, his daughter, Henrietta, told Winifred Davidson “There was no J,” in her father’s name. San Diego History Center.
99. Daily San Diegan, February 13, 1888, p. 1.
100. San Diego Sun, February, 13, 1888, p. 5. Two of the five trustees, Levi and Cave, were of the Jewish faith.
101. Daily San Diegan, February 13, 1888, p. 1.
102. Ibid., San Diego Sun, February, 13, 1888, p. 5.
103. Leroy A. Wright, letter, to the directors of the Cuyamaca Club, October 18, 1933, San Diego History Center.
104. Hyman S. Wolf, reminiscences, op. cit., p. 1; List of donors for Louis Rose memorial, 1934, and Invitation, San Diego History Center.
105. San Diego Union, May 31, 1934; Orion M. Zink, “Louis Rose,” The Master Mason, October 1968, p. 3; John F. Forward, Jr., speech, May 30, 1934, manuscript, San Diego History Center.
106. San Diego Union, January 15, 1968, p. B.1.
107. Orion M. Zink, “Louis Rose Plaque Stolen,” The Master Mason, December 1969, pp. 2-3.
108. San Diego Union, October 26, 1969, p. X-2.
109. Zink, “Louis Rose,” op. cit., November 1968, p. 2.
110. Samuel Druskin, Interview, by Norton B. Stern, September 7, 1969.
111. Congregation Beth Israel, Correspondence, quoted by Myron Lustig, op. cit., c. 2.
112. Druskin, op. cit.
113. Orion M. Zink, The Master Mason, December 1968, p. 3; Evening Tribune, San Diego, July 2, 1969, p. C14.
114. Orion M. Zink, The Master Mason, September 1969, p. 2.
115. The site is Lot 1, Section B. Plot 1, Row D.
