Isaac Goldberg
Downtown Tucson, 1874
Isaac Goldberg, brother of Hyman Goldberg, is believed to be one of the earliest Jewish pioneers in Southern Arizona.
Goldberg was born in Pietrokow, Poland in 1836, and at the age of eighteen, set off to join his brother, Hyman, in San Bernardino, where the latter had already established a store. In 1863, Isaac ventured out to La Paz, where he intended to deal in merchandising along the Colorado River. In doing so he joined the ranks of many other pioneering Jews, such as Philip Drachman or Michael and Joseph Goldwater, who capitalized on Western gold strikes by selling goods to miners. In fact, Isaac and Philip Drachman ran a store together in La Paz, selling goods forwarded to them by Hyman from San Bernardino. Their operation along the Colorado River was successful, and Goldberg and Drachman were able to expand their merchandising business further along the river and as far away as Prescott and Tucson, including some dealings at the Weaver mining camp near Wickenburg. For some time, Isaac owned a saloon in Prescott as well.
After several years of activity in Central and Southern Arizona, Isaac and Philip made a permanent decision to settle their business in Tucson, and in 1867 they opened a general merchandise business named Goldberg and Drachman. On September 4th of that year, Philip’s brother Samuel came to work in the business as well. The store, located on the northeast corner of Main and Congress, was successful and lasted for about ten years. Goldberg became involved in freighting and mining throughout Southern Arizona, but Apache attacks habitually hindered his business ventures. These attacks may have been the cause of his overwhelmingly negative, if not pejorative, view of Native Americans. In 1870 he married Amelia Lazerus, with whom he ended up having four children: Arthur, Aaron, Emma, and Ann. Outside of his entrepreneurial activities, this Goldberg brother was also a member of the Society of Arizona Pioneers and left many contributions to its editions. Like many other pioneering Jews, Isaac Goldberg’s days did not come to an end in the land that he helped develop, but rather in San Francisco in 1901, at the age of 65.
Cholent and Chorizo, by Abraham Chanin
Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory, by Blaine Lamb
Photo credits: Arizona Historical Society