The Shapiro family, old world and new :establishing a Russian Jewish community at Puddle Dock, 1898-1912: Historical New Hampshire / Ryan Madden.

Title: The Shapiro family, old world and new :establishing a Russian Jewish community at Puddle Dock, 1898-1912: Historical New Hampshire / Ryan Madden.

Author: Madden, Ryan.

Call Number: 977.8 N5321h

Publication Information: Concord, NH: New Hampshire Historical Society, 2002.

Physical Description: p. [108]-121.

Source: Vol. 57, Nos. 3-4 (Fall-Winter 2002) Historical New Hampshire.

Description: The modern Jewish community in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, developed as a result of Eastern European immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In that period Russian Jews faced a reign of terror following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Shepsel Millhandler (who changed his name to Samuel Shapiro) was the first Jew to arrive in Portsmouth, in 1899. Three years later he had saved enough money to send for his wife and daughter. Other Jews followed, establishing homes and businesses in a waterfront area known as Puddle Dock. By 1905 the community had organized a temple, and in 1906 the first Hebrew language teacher was hired. By 1910 roughly half of Portsmouth's Jewish community lived in this area. The community peaked in size between 1910 and 1920. In the early 1960's urban renewal eradicated all traces of the junkyards and other petty trade businesses that had operated in the Puddle Dock area.

Language: English.

Subjects: Jews Portsmouth (N.H.)., Jews, Russian New Hampshire., Immigrants New Hampshire.

People: Shapiro family.

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