Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Summit, Mississippi
Overview >> Mississippi >> Summit
Overview
|
Summit, a small town in northern Pike County, never grew to more than 2,000 residents, but it did serve as an important commercial and railway hub in the late 19th century. Timber, cotton, and other crops from the surrounding area shipped by rail from Summit to markets in New Orleans, and rural residents came to Summit to shop at local stores, many of which were Jewish-owned.
Jewish migrants made their way to the Summit area before 1850, but a local community did not develop there until the arrival of the railroad a short time later. Summit Jews played a significant role in the economic and civic life of the town throughout the second half of the 19th century, and they established a small congregation in 1877. By 1900 the Jewish population began to decline, however, and nearly all of the original Jewish families had relocated by 1924. |
Early Jewish Settlers
The first evidence of Jewish presence in Pike County is a peddling license issued by the county to Samuel Isaacs around 1848. Isaacs likely traveled by foot from farm to farm selling whatever goods he could carry: cloth, notions, toiletries, or other dry goods. Many peddlers in and around Mississippi set out from New Orleans, where they could secure wares on credit from Jewish wholesale businesses. Records do not indicate that Isaacs stayed in Pike County for an extended period of time, and he likely moved on to more promising territory.
By the time that Summit reached a population of 200 people it had already attracted two Jewish-owned stores, which accounted for half the retail establishments in town. One store was owned by Louis Alcus and his nephew, Isaac Sherck, who later relocated to Brookhaven. The Hyman family, who arrived in the area from the Russian Empire in the 1850s, owned the other store. Solomon Hyman arrived in Summit in 1850, and he lived with his wife, Pauline Lichtenstein of nearby Holmesville, in a house that was among the oldest standing structures in Summit as of the early 21st century. Solomon and his brother Sam ran Hyman and Brothers, which became Hyman Mercantile Company by the end of the 19th century. Like Solomon Hyman, who served as the first mayor of Summit, Alsatian immigrant H. Hiller also migrated to Summit in the 1850s and became an integral part of the budding town.
Additional Jewish families established permanent homes in Pike County after the arrival of the railroad in the 1850s spurred economic growth in Summit and other towns. While the railroad made the area newly attractive for Jewish shopkeepers, some Jewish residents came to Summit in an attempt to avoid a yellow fever outbreak in New Orleans. Whether or not they had intended to put down roots, they found the town promising and decided to stay.
By the time that Summit reached a population of 200 people it had already attracted two Jewish-owned stores, which accounted for half the retail establishments in town. One store was owned by Louis Alcus and his nephew, Isaac Sherck, who later relocated to Brookhaven. The Hyman family, who arrived in the area from the Russian Empire in the 1850s, owned the other store. Solomon Hyman arrived in Summit in 1850, and he lived with his wife, Pauline Lichtenstein of nearby Holmesville, in a house that was among the oldest standing structures in Summit as of the early 21st century. Solomon and his brother Sam ran Hyman and Brothers, which became Hyman Mercantile Company by the end of the 19th century. Like Solomon Hyman, who served as the first mayor of Summit, Alsatian immigrant H. Hiller also migrated to Summit in the 1850s and became an integral part of the budding town.
Additional Jewish families established permanent homes in Pike County after the arrival of the railroad in the 1850s spurred economic growth in Summit and other towns. While the railroad made the area newly attractive for Jewish shopkeepers, some Jewish residents came to Summit in an attempt to avoid a yellow fever outbreak in New Orleans. Whether or not they had intended to put down roots, they found the town promising and decided to stay.
The Civil War and Late 19th Century
Although Summit’s original Jewish settlers had immigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, they quickly adapted to southern, white society. Among the area’s nine earliest known Jewish residents, at least six appear as enslavers in the 1860 United States Census. Like most other Jewish shopkeepers and merchants in the South, Summit Jews did not enslave large numbers of workers in agricultural settings. Of the six Jewish men listed, four owned two enslaved people, and the other two enslaved four and six people at the time of the census. The proportion of Jewish households in Summit that included enslaved workers is significantly higher than in Mississippi cities such as Jackson or Natchez. One possible explanation is that the Jews of Summit had achieved greater economic success—possibly in New Orleans before migrating to Summit—and were simply better able to afford the cost of enslaved workers. Whereas the frequency of slave ownership among Summit Jews was higher than in some other Mississippi towns, their high rate of service in the Confederate Army was less unusual. The Summit Rifles unit included nearly 20 Jewish young men. Max Fruenthal of Summit fought for the Confederacy in the Shenandoah Valley under General “Stonewall” Jackson and earned accolades for his skill in combat.
Following Union Victory and the abolition of slavery, former Jewish Confederates returned to Summit and resumed their economic and civic activities. Isadore Moyse, one of several Alsatian Jews to make their homes in the area, owned a dry goods and furniture store, first known as Levy, Moyse, and Company and then Moyse & Son. Moyse also served as Master of the Summit Lodge of Masons, which included several Jewish members such as Samuel Hyman and H. Hiller (Samuel Hyman’s father-in-law.). Moyse and neighboring merchant Ben Hillborn (also Jewish) helped establish the first public school in Summit at a time when the state of Mississippi did not have a statewide public school system. Moyse eventually served as the director of the Peabody Public School.
By the mid-1870s Summit had attracted a large enough Jewish population to support a congregation, and local Jews founded Ohavah Shalom (Lovers of Peace) in 1877. The community was inspired by a visit from Reverend E. B. M. Browne of Atlanta, who was an advocate for Reform Judaism. (Reform Jewish clergy frequently took the title “reverend” at that time.) When the congregation held its first services for Rosh Hashanah in 1877, they prayed almost entirely in English with some “Hebrew hymns” sung by the choir. In 1878 the Jewish population of northern Pike County (including McComb and Holmesville) reportedly reached 80 individuals. The congregation also drew worshipers from Osyka at the southern end of the county, some of whom also came from Alsace-Lorraine and shared family links with Summit Jews. The Jewish men of Summit established a B’nai B’rith lodge by 1878.
Beginning around 1882 Ohavah Shalom met on the ground floor of the local Masonic Hall. In the early years local Jewish women ran a Sunday school for the children. Men provided lay leadership for most religious services, with occasional visits from out-of-town rabbis such as Rabbi Louis Myers of Jackson and, after 1890, Rabbi Herman Bien of Vicksburg. Louis Aaronson and later Felix Moyse served as lay leaders for the congregation. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Rabbi Max Heller of New Orleans officiated at several weddings in Summit, which reflected the Summit Jewish community’s strong kinship ties with the crescent city.
Following Union Victory and the abolition of slavery, former Jewish Confederates returned to Summit and resumed their economic and civic activities. Isadore Moyse, one of several Alsatian Jews to make their homes in the area, owned a dry goods and furniture store, first known as Levy, Moyse, and Company and then Moyse & Son. Moyse also served as Master of the Summit Lodge of Masons, which included several Jewish members such as Samuel Hyman and H. Hiller (Samuel Hyman’s father-in-law.). Moyse and neighboring merchant Ben Hillborn (also Jewish) helped establish the first public school in Summit at a time when the state of Mississippi did not have a statewide public school system. Moyse eventually served as the director of the Peabody Public School.
By the mid-1870s Summit had attracted a large enough Jewish population to support a congregation, and local Jews founded Ohavah Shalom (Lovers of Peace) in 1877. The community was inspired by a visit from Reverend E. B. M. Browne of Atlanta, who was an advocate for Reform Judaism. (Reform Jewish clergy frequently took the title “reverend” at that time.) When the congregation held its first services for Rosh Hashanah in 1877, they prayed almost entirely in English with some “Hebrew hymns” sung by the choir. In 1878 the Jewish population of northern Pike County (including McComb and Holmesville) reportedly reached 80 individuals. The congregation also drew worshipers from Osyka at the southern end of the county, some of whom also came from Alsace-Lorraine and shared family links with Summit Jews. The Jewish men of Summit established a B’nai B’rith lodge by 1878.
Beginning around 1882 Ohavah Shalom met on the ground floor of the local Masonic Hall. In the early years local Jewish women ran a Sunday school for the children. Men provided lay leadership for most religious services, with occasional visits from out-of-town rabbis such as Rabbi Louis Myers of Jackson and, after 1890, Rabbi Herman Bien of Vicksburg. Louis Aaronson and later Felix Moyse served as lay leaders for the congregation. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Rabbi Max Heller of New Orleans officiated at several weddings in Summit, which reflected the Summit Jewish community’s strong kinship ties with the crescent city.
Antisemitism in Southwest Mississippi
As in other Deep South trading hubs, Jewish merchants were well positioned to expand their business operations in the late 19th century. Merchants (Jewish or not) sold farm supplies on credit to local landowners and often acquired land through foreclosure. As landowners, shopkeepers had the advantage of being able to provide equipment and supplies to tenants at a low cost, and some Black farmers (usually tenant farmers or sharecroppers) found that they enjoyed more autonomy when working land owned by merchants (who lived in town). Jewish businessmen also benefited from ethnic networks (often kinship based) which provided them access to cheap credit. All of these conditions led Jewish store owners in Summit to expand their ventures to include farms, cotton gins, and other agricultural businesses. Financial success usually led to prominent civic status, as it did in Summit during the 1870s and 1880s, but local Jews faced antisemitic backlash following the economic depression of the early 1890s.
In 1892 a white vigilante group known as the Whitecaps began attacking Black farmworkers on merchant-owned land in southwest Mississippi with the goal of controlling Black labor and discouraging the continued consolidation of land ownership by merchants and syndicates. The group sought to force landowners to employ white overseers to manage Black workers and to prevent absentee landlords from hiring Black laborers away from white farmers. The Whitecaps of Lawrence County (northeast of Summit and Pike County) explicitly blamed the predicament of white farmers on “accursed Jews,” who they viewed as a foreign element who undermined the natural racial order of agricultural labor.
From November 1892 until early 1893 Whitecaps targeted H. Hiller, a longtime Jewish merchant in Summit who had accumulated approximately four hundred properties in Pike, Franklin, and Amite Counties. They burned twenty-seven homes on his farms and caused an estimated $50,000 of damage before Hiller sold at least some of his holdings and moved to New Orleans in February, 1893. Whitecaps continued to perpetrate anti-Black violence in the area during 1893. Although some members of the Hiller family (who were closely linked to the Hymans by marriage) remained in Summit into the twentieth century, the outbreak of violence may have spurred an outmigration of local Jews during the 1890s. Additionally, while historian William Holmes later identified the Whitecaps as an example of populist antisemitism, the American Israelite newspaper downplayed the significance of the anti-Jewish attacks at the time.
In 1892 a white vigilante group known as the Whitecaps began attacking Black farmworkers on merchant-owned land in southwest Mississippi with the goal of controlling Black labor and discouraging the continued consolidation of land ownership by merchants and syndicates. The group sought to force landowners to employ white overseers to manage Black workers and to prevent absentee landlords from hiring Black laborers away from white farmers. The Whitecaps of Lawrence County (northeast of Summit and Pike County) explicitly blamed the predicament of white farmers on “accursed Jews,” who they viewed as a foreign element who undermined the natural racial order of agricultural labor.
From November 1892 until early 1893 Whitecaps targeted H. Hiller, a longtime Jewish merchant in Summit who had accumulated approximately four hundred properties in Pike, Franklin, and Amite Counties. They burned twenty-seven homes on his farms and caused an estimated $50,000 of damage before Hiller sold at least some of his holdings and moved to New Orleans in February, 1893. Whitecaps continued to perpetrate anti-Black violence in the area during 1893. Although some members of the Hiller family (who were closely linked to the Hymans by marriage) remained in Summit into the twentieth century, the outbreak of violence may have spurred an outmigration of local Jews during the 1890s. Additionally, while historian William Holmes later identified the Whitecaps as an example of populist antisemitism, the American Israelite newspaper downplayed the significance of the anti-Jewish attacks at the time.
The Early 20th Century and the Legacy of Jewish Summit
Whereas the Jewish community of Summit and Pike County grew in the decades after the Civil War, the local Jewish population declined around the turn of the 20th century. Ohavah Shalom boasted nearly twenty member families in the 1890s, but membership soon dwindled. Some families had moved on to larger cities during the 1890s, and the arrival of the boll weevil hurt the local economy in the early 1900s. The congregation ceased meeting in the 1910s. By the time that a strong tornado destroyed the Masonic Hall that once served as a synagogue in 1924, there was no attempt to replace the building.
The end of organized Jewish life in northern Pike County did not signal the complete absence of Jews, however. The Hiller-Hyman family maintained business interests in the area—both in retail and the cotton trade—well into the 20th century, and H. and Julia Hiller’s nephew Dan Hiller raised a family there in the early 20th century. Other Jewish businesses in Summit during that period included J. E. Wolfe and Sons, F. C. Korumpf’s Cornery Grocery, and the Perlinsky store. Whereas Summit’s population shrank to around 1,500 individuals in the late 19th century and declined through 1930, nearby McComb continued to grow in the early 20th century. In the late 1930s there were around 12 Jews in McComb, who may have traveled to Brookhaven or to larger cities for religious services.
While Jewish businesses and Jewish residents disappeared sometime in the mid-to-late 20th century, signs of Summit’s Jewish past remain. The Summit Jewish Cemetery saw its first burials in 1878 and its most recent in 2009. In the early 21st century, at least two of Summit’s oldest remaining houses belonged to early Jewish residents: the 1858 John Jacobowsky home on Peters Street and the 1870 Charles Levy home on Magnolia Street.
The end of organized Jewish life in northern Pike County did not signal the complete absence of Jews, however. The Hiller-Hyman family maintained business interests in the area—both in retail and the cotton trade—well into the 20th century, and H. and Julia Hiller’s nephew Dan Hiller raised a family there in the early 20th century. Other Jewish businesses in Summit during that period included J. E. Wolfe and Sons, F. C. Korumpf’s Cornery Grocery, and the Perlinsky store. Whereas Summit’s population shrank to around 1,500 individuals in the late 19th century and declined through 1930, nearby McComb continued to grow in the early 20th century. In the late 1930s there were around 12 Jews in McComb, who may have traveled to Brookhaven or to larger cities for religious services.
While Jewish businesses and Jewish residents disappeared sometime in the mid-to-late 20th century, signs of Summit’s Jewish past remain. The Summit Jewish Cemetery saw its first burials in 1878 and its most recent in 2009. In the early 21st century, at least two of Summit’s oldest remaining houses belonged to early Jewish residents: the 1858 John Jacobowsky home on Peters Street and the 1870 Charles Levy home on Magnolia Street.
Updated March 14, 2022
Selected Bibliography
William F. Holmes, “Whitecapping: Anti-Semitism in the Populist Era,” American Jewish Historical Quarterly 63, no. 3 (1974): 244–61.
Leo E. Turitz and Evelyn Turitz, Jews in Early Mississippi (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1983.
William F. Holmes, “Whitecapping: Anti-Semitism in the Populist Era,” American Jewish Historical Quarterly 63, no. 3 (1974): 244–61.
Leo E. Turitz and Evelyn Turitz, Jews in Early Mississippi (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1983.