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Perhaps no single case better illustrates the achievement of "American Dream" than does the company of B. Loewenstein & Brother of Rockdale, a firm that enjoyed the distinction of being one of the pioneer mercantile businesses of that community and one of the first in commercial strength in Milam County, Texas.

Benjamin Loewenstein and his brother, Joseph opened for business in a tent on Wednesday, 24 December 1873, before the International & Great Northern Railroad reached Rockdale in January 1874. When the railroad came to Rockdale, it was the end of the line and community could only be characterized as a new unsettled western tent town.

When the railroad continued the line out of Rockdale, the town settled down and it was then that Benjamin and Joseph Loewenstein began to lay their plans to establish their business and grow with the community. They began with a few goods representing only a $200 or $300 investment. By 1893, they had increased their stock and raised the grade of their goods to $40,000 to $50,000 with a yearly cash business of $75,000.

If you take the amount $200 in 1873 and calculate the inflation value, the amount would represent $2,700 in 1999 dollars. If you consider the amount of $75,000 in 1893 dollars, you would have an amount in excess of $1.3 million dollars in 1999.

The business was originally started as the firm of "J. Loewenstein & Walter" with Joseph Loewenstein and George Walter as partners. On 6 May 1875, Benjamin bought-out the partnership interests of Mr. Walter and the business thereafter was known as B. Loewenstein & Brother until that relationship dissolved in 1895.

B. Loewenstein & Brother handled dry goods, clothing, boots, shoes, and groceries on a cash only basis. The business occupied a double-front, two-story brick house located at the corners of Bell and Ackerman Streets [Block 8, Lot 13], was built at a cost of $6,000 and usually employed up to ten clerks.

The brothers were natives of the Posen Province of Prussia. The 19^th Century Prussian Province of Posen was called Wielkopolska (literally meaning "Great Poland") until 1793, when the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires partitioned Poland.

In 1793, as a result of the "Second Partition of Poland," Wielkopolska was taken over by Prussia and initially renamed "Southern Prussia." After 1815, this term was no longer used and the province was referred to with the name of its capital town, Pozan (German: Pozen). Thus the capital of the Province of Posen is also named Posen.

This region was the historic center of origin of the Polish Nation in the 10^th Century and was always one of the richest and most developed provinces of Poland. Both ethnic Germans and Poles lived there during the 18^th and 19^th Centuries during the time when Poland did not exist as a country.

After Germany lost World War I, the territory of the Province of Posen was included when the nation of Poland was created.

Benjamin was born on 2 March 1845 and Joseph was born on 18 September 1847. They were the sons of Elias Loewenstein and Eva Benjamin Loewenstein. According to his U.S. Naturalization papers, Benjamin arrived in America on Sunday, 18 March 1866. Benjamin came to Texas in 1868 and Joseph in 1869, and from that date until they settled in Rockdale, they lived in Colorado and Austin counties. [SHIP INFORMATION – What port/date did the brothers land in America?]

Benjamin was President and a member of the Board of Directors of the First National Bank of Rockdale, which he helped to organize. He was a stockholder in the Rockdale Cotton Platform Company and established the Rockdale Brick Works that could produce 2-million bricks per year. By 1893, the brothers had built seven brick business buildings as well as a number of brick homes.

Joseph was a member of the Board of Aldermen for seven years. Benjamin served several years on the School Board and remained as a public school trustee for more than 20-years. They were Republicans.

In 1877, the Jewish population in Houston was approximately 460 while Galveston’s Jewish population was about 1,000 individuals.

The brothers were members of the Hebrew Benevolent Society in Rockdale. Generally the goals of a Society were to feed, clothe and shelter the poor, nurse the sick, dower brides, bury the dead and perform kindhearted deeds for Jewish and non-Jewish families. However, cemeteries were always the first priority a Society would undertake in a new community and Rockdale was no different. The Loewenstein brothers played an important part in establishing the Jewish Cemetery on 11 November 1878.

Benjamin was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workers (A.O.U.W.) a fraternal benefit network that began in Meadville, Pennsylvania on 27 October 1868. Each member paid $1 into the insurance fund to cover the $2,000 benefit paid to a member’s dependents when he died. Each time a member died, $1 was due from the surviving members to re-establish the fund. Fraternal benefits societies became quite popular as a means of providing financial protection to working class people at an affordable rate. In addition, fraternal benefits societies typically maintained a lodge where members could meet together in a spirit of fraternalism and brotherhood.

Joseph was a member of the Masons, Knights of Honor (a group that aided widows and orphans) and the American Legion of Honor (a fraternal insurance society that also admitted ladies to full membership).

Both men were members of B’nai B’rith, an organization with the goal to unite Jews in service to their community and the world.

In 1895, B. Loewenstein & Brother dissolved its partnership and it was said of the two brothers that when they got ready to settle up it took them just 30 minutes to divide equitably and satisfactorily their entire property, consisting of cash, notes, accounts, bank stock and other stock, houses, lots, farm property, and the miscellaneous accumulations of more than 20 years of successful business.

Benjamin was married on Thursday, 10 April 1873 to Miss Carrie Malsch in Colorado County, Texas. She was a native of Germany, having come to America with her parents as a small child. [SHIP INFORMATION – father’s naturalization in Colorado Co] Benjamin and his wife, Carrie, were among the first settlers in Rockdale.

Caroline "Carrie" Malsch, born on Monday, 29 September 1851, was the daughter of Salomine (maiden name unknown) and Mathias "Matthew" Malsch. Her parents were married in 1846 at Hesse-Cassel, Germany. They came to Texas in 1855, and settled in Colorado County. Mr. Malsch was born on 22 Jun 1828 in Germany and was murdered by Emile Houillon on Friday, 25 February 1876. He is buried in the Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery in Frelsburg, Colorado County, Texas. Mrs. Malsch was born on 4 November 1826, in Hesse-Cassel, Germany and died on Saturday, 16 November 1907 in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. She is buried in the Loewenstein Family Plot at the Jewish Cemetery in Rockdale.

Benjamin and Carrie were the parents of four sons, Arthur, Robert, Benjamin Jr., and Joe Jr.

Benjamin died at the Cameron Hospital on Friday, 11 May 1923. He had been in the hospital for an operation from which he died. He was buried on Sunday, 13 May 1923 in the Loewenstein Family Plot in the Jewish Cemetery at Rockdale.

Carried died at 3:30 at the Providence Sanitarium in Waco, McLennan County, on Wednesday, 8 June 1932. She had been in the hospital for several days after breaking her leg in a fall at her home in Rockdale. She was buried on Friday, 10 June 1932 in the Loewenstein Family Plot in the Jewish Cemetery at Rockdale.

• Benjamin Jr. was born on Sunday, 25 July 1880 in Rockdale. He was married on Wednesday, 29 November 1905 in Milam County, Texas to Lena Baldridge Howse. According to Ben’s World War I Draft Registration he was tall, medium build, had gray eyes and light color hair.

• Robert was born on Thursday, 12 February 1874, Milam County, Texas. He was married on Tuesday, 21 February 1899 to Bertie Ivy Loper at the Methodist Church at Rockdale. He died on Sunday, 14 December 1941 in New York, New York. He was buried at ____________________ in Ardsley, Westchester County, New York. Bertie was born on Wednesday, 16 December 1874 in Davilla, Milam County, Texas and died on Saturday, 1 October 1960 in Aurora, Adams County, Colorado. She was buried at ____________ Ardsley, Westchester County, New York. She was the daughter of Eugene Starr and Susan Rebecca Howell Loper.

On Wednesday, 16 March 1881, Joseph Loewenstein was married to Miss Sarah "Susie" Levine in Galveston County, Texas.

In 1895, when the firm B. Loewenstein & Brother in Rockdale was dissolved, Joseph and his wife, moved to Houston where he established a cigar & tobacco import business and store located at 216 Main. He operated the store for 25-years with his son, Edward.

Joseph died on Saturday, 18 September 1926 at the home of his daughter Bertha Loewenstein Meyer located at 1801 Francis, Houston, Harris County, Texas. He was buried on Sunday, 19 September 1926 in the Beth Israel Cemetery located at 1207 West Dallas Street, Houston, Harris County, Texas.

The Beth Israel Cemetery was founded in 1844 and is the oldest Jewish Cemetery in Texas. (some reference say 1854 and it’s 2^nd oldest – check on this)

Sarah was born on Sunday, 16 October 1859 in New York, New York and died on Thursday, 6 September 1917 in Houston, Harris County, Texas and is buried at Beth Israel Cemetery. She was the daughter of Jacob Levine. According to family tradition, during the "Great Storm of 1900" that devastated Galveston, Sarah lost 17 members of her family and she was only spared because at the time of the storm, she was living in Houston with her husband and family. [CHECK 1860/70 CENSUS IN NY]

Joseph and Sarah were the parents of a son, Edward Benjamin Loewenstein and a daughter Bertha Loewenstein.

• Edward was born on Sunday, 26 March 1882 in Rockdale. On Wednesday, 6 March 1907, he was married to Lena Kapner in Houston, Harris County, Texas. He died at his residence at 3001 Rosewood, Houston on Friday, 9 January 1948. Lena was born on Monday, 9 January 1882 in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas and died on Saturday, 15 November 1975 in Jefferson County, Texas. They are both buried at the Beth Israel Cemetery.

• Bertha was born on Tuesday, 30 December 1884 in Rockdale. (Note: Social Security Death Index has her year of birth as 1883.) On __________(bef 1909), she was married to Theodore David Meyer in ___________. She died on Wednesday, 6 February 1980 in Harris County, Texas. Theodore was born on Wednesday, 18 May 1881 and was from Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. In 1897, Mr. Meyer wrote the "L.S.U. Waltz" for Louisiana State University. He died on Wednesday, 5 July 1967 in Harris County, Texas. They were both cremated and their ashes were placed in the Mausoleum at the Beth Israel Cemetery.

After Sarah’s death, Joe married a second time to Bertha Bervin Brenheim, widow of Morris Brenheim. Bertha was born on Thursday, 6 September 1860 and died on Sunday, 14 December 1924 in Houston. She was the daughter of Manheim Bervin and Matilda Brunstein Bervin. She was buried at the Temple Beth El Cemetery in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas.

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