The Harness Maker's Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas

Chronology

CHRONOLOGY 1654 Twenty-three European Jews form first Jewish settlement in the United States in New Amsterdam, later named New York. 1731 Fifty-six Canary Islanders establish the Royal Villa of San Fernando de Bexar, the first regularly organized civil government in Texas. 1773 San Antonio de Bexar becomes the capital of Spanish Texas, grows in five years to 2,060 settlers and mission Indians. 1821 Mexican War of Independence from Spain begins in 1810, ends with the signing of the Treaty of Cordova in 1821, ceding Mexican territory. 1825 Czar Nicholas I of Russia (1825-1855) issues six hundred edicts prescribing restrictions on Jews; sends young Jewish boys, including two children of the Kallison family, to certain death in the army. 1835 Dina Elloff, daughter of Perry and Nettie Elloff, mother of Nathan Kallison, born near Kiev, Russia. 1836 Texas declares independence from Mexico; Alamo falls after thirteen -day siege by Mexican army; Texas wins independence after decisive Battle of San Jacinto. 1844 Empresario Henri Castro, a Frenchman descended from Portuguese Jews, establishes land-grant colony near San Antonio; most of the thirty-five colonists are recruited from France's Alsace regIOn. 1845 Texas enters the United States as the twenty-eighth state of the Union. 1846 Mexican War begins in the wake of border skirmishes when President James K. Polk sends General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande. 1848 Mexican War ends with Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The United States gains California, Arizona, New Mexico, the Rio Grande boundary for Texas, parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. 1854 First Jews settle in San Antonio, most from German states that in 1871 will become part of a united Germany. 1855 Czar Alexander II comes to power in Russia, promising better lives and rights for Jews. '7' THE HARNESS MAKER'S DREAM 1856 Hebrew Benevolent Association organized by Jews in San Antonio for burial of the dead. 1860 Abraham Lincoln elected the sixteenth US President; Joseph Kallison born in Ladyzhinka, Russia. 1861 The Civil War begins. Southern states secede from the Union. San Antonio Jews are divided in their loyalties: Bankers Daniel and Anton Oppenheimer fight for the Confederacy; Samuel Wolfson for the Union in the First Battle of Manassas. 1873 Nathan Kallison, second son of Dina Elloff and Moshko Kallison, born in Ladyzhinka, Russia. 1874 Temple Beth-El of San Antonio Texas holds opening ceremony. Members raise $12,000 in gold to build temple at Jefferson and Travis Streets. 1875 Anna Letwin (future wife of Nathan Kallison) born near Kiev, Russia. 1880 Population of United States reaches 50,189,209, including 250,000 Jews. The majority are German immigrants and their descendants . 1881 Czar Alexander 11 assassinated. His son, Alexander 111, unleashes repressive laws against Jews. Young widow Dina Kallison hides her sons Jacob (ten), Nathan (eight), and Samuel (six), from marauding Cossacks who are burning villages and killing Jews. James A. Garfield, inaugurated as the twentieth US President in March, is assassinated after serving only 199 days in office. Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency and completed Garfield's term. 1885 Bryan Callaghan 11 organizes San Antonio's first "Political Machine:' 1886 Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor. Joseph Kallison (twenty) becomes first member of family to escape Russia. Finds work as a tailor in Chicago. Six Jews convicted and hanged, charged with fomenting the Haymarket Riot at 1886 labor rally in Chicago. 1890 Nathan Kallison (seventeen) immigrates to the United States, arrives in New York months after older brother Jacob. Both find work as apprentice harness makers in Chicago. Brother Samuel joins them in 1891, their mother Dina Kallison in 1894. 1890 Anna Letwin (fifteen) immigrates to United States from Russia, works as mother's helper for a relative in Chicago. '7' CHRONOLOGY 1890 Idaho and Wyoming enter the Union as the forty-third and fortyfourth states. Agudas Achim Synagogue organized in San Antonio, Texas. 1894 Nathan Kallison opens his own harness shop in Chicago at 163 West Twelfth Street in the West Side Jewish ghetto. His shop survives despite the depression of 1893-96 and violent labor strife. 1895 Nathan Kallison (twenty-two) marries Anna Letwin (nineteen) in Chicago. They live behind his shop; she works with him as clerk and cashier. 1896 Nathan and Anna Kallison's first child, Morris Kallison, born at home behind Nathan's harness shop in Chicago. 1896 Kallison brothers Nathan, Jacob, and Samuel take oath...