Haas family papers, 1863-1869

The Haas family, which originated in Reckendorf, Bavaria, established itself as one of the leading Jewish families of the Pacific Coast. Koppel and Fanny Haas had seven children (four boys and three girls) in Reckendorf. The boys, Jacob, Sam, Abraham, and William (Wolf), all immigrated to the United States in the middle of the nineteenth century as did their older cousins, Charles, Samuel, and Kalman, who established a successful grocery business (Haas Brothers) in Portland, Oregon. Jacob and Sam worked for Haas Brothers (one in Portland and the other in New York as a buyer). William Haas arrived in San Francisco in 1868 and joined the wholesale grocery firm of Loupe and Haas. Abraham first went to Portland and then made his way first to Calaveras County, California around 1870, to San Francisco in 1873, and then to Los Angeles later in the same year. In Los Angeles, Abraham worked for Hellman, Haas and Company (founded by his brother Jacob, banker Isaias W. Hellman, and Bernard Cohn. William Haas married Bertha Greenebaum in 1880 and Abraham married Fanny Koshland in 1886.

The collection consists primarily of family correspondence; two letters, dated 1869, from Jacob Haas, in Reckendorf, Bavaria, to his brother, William, in San Francisco, concerning business matters; a letter from Kalman Haas, dated 1863, in Reckendorf, to Meyers Schloss Brothers, in New York; and a letter, dated 1869, from Kalman to William. The collection also includes immigration documents belonging to William Haas, including a Bavarian passport, a diploma from an agricultural school, and an exit permit; The oversize folder contains a yahrzeit calendar for Koppel and Fanny Berg Haas, dating from the period 1897 to 1921.