ABSTRACT
In the early decades of the nineteenth century (primarily the 1830s and 1840s) German Jews came as part of a larger immigration from Germany and Central Europe. The German Jews did not concentrate in the seaport cities but were more generally dispersed throughout the country, including the South, the Midwest, and the Far West. Often starting out as peddlers, some advanced economically to owning small businesses, typically retail establishments selling a variety of products. A smaller number (e.g., Nieman, Marcus, Strauss, Gimbel, Saks and Goldwater) prospered and founded what later became large and well-known department stores. By 1880 American Jewry numbered about 200,000 to 300,000 persons, or about 0.5 percent of the population, mostly Ashkenazic immigrants from Germany and their descendants.
