Early Jewish Merchants in Hawaii

Relatives who were Jewish merchants continued to seek opportunities to develop successful, thriving businesses.

According to a journal article appearing in the Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, the rapid increase in the population of California due to the Gold Rush created a market surge for agricultural products and general merchandise. As a result, shipping lines expanded, including a line between Honolulu and San Francisco. A few Jewish merchants stepped in to begin businesses in Hawaii, establishing themselves as suppliers to the sugar and coffee plantations (Glanz).

A. S. Grinbaum is considered the earliest founder of a firm to have one partner reside in Hawaii. He arrived in Honolulu in 1856 and stayed seven years (Glanz). Through marriage, this family is related to the Hymans.

Another Jewish merchant, Hirsch Rayman, came to the islands in the early 1860's and established a successful business. But after five years he returned to Posen (Glanz).

Henry and Joseph Hyman arrived in Honolulu in 1867. They obtained a mercantile license in July 1867 with partner Michael Phillips of San Francisco. By December 1867, however, this partnership had dissolved (Cashmere).

The Hyman Bros. Co. established itself in business on Merchant St. in Honolulu immediately upon dissolution of the partnership with Phillips (Cashmere). 

In 1870's, Hyman Bros. was located in the near right building on Merchant St. 
between Fort and Bethel in Honolulu. See the "HY" on the sign? 
(Hawaii State Archives).

The general merchandise the Hyman Bros. sold in their store consisted of clothing and shoes, as an early advertisement in 1868 showed (Hawaiian Gazette):

A photo of Merchant Street, Honolulu, with Hyman Bros. located up the street:

Merchant Street in Honolulu in the 1880's. Hyman Bros. is located on 
the right side of the street, second building down with the wavy printed
 name of "Hyman Bros." (Hawaii State Archives).

In 1880, the Hymans opened a new firm in San Francisco:

A New Grocer Firm

The new jobbing grocery house of Hyman Bros. is located at 409 and 411 Front street. The gentlemen comprising the firm are eminently connected and have numerous valuable interests throughout this Slope, in Honolulu and the East. Mr. Thomas Dowling, lately with W. W. Henry & Co., and formerly of the firm of J. M. Pike & Co., has become associated with the new firm. A New York agency guarantees them all the advantages of the New York markets, and a prosperous business here promises to be theirs (Daily Alta).

Four years later, in 1884, the California part of the business closed:

Hyman Bros. will retire from the wholesale grocery business Jan. 1, retaining thereafter an office only for the transaction of their island business. Other changes are rumored, but not as yet made public (Daily Alta).

The Honolulu City Directory of 1884 shows:

HYMAN BROS. (Hyman W. and Henry W. Hyman, San Francisco, Michael Hyman, NY, and Morris and Joseph Hyman, Honolulu), general merchandise and shipping and commission merchants, 29 Merchant (Ancestry). 

A business advertisement of the firm in the late 1880's appeared in California:

Hyman Bros., Importers of General Merchandise and Commission Merchants, No. 58 Queen Street, Honolulu... 206 Front Street, San Francisco. Particular attention given to filling orders, and to the sale of Consignments of Rice, Sugar, Coffee and other Island Produce (Glanz).

According to the 1900 Hawaiian Census, Isidore Rubinstein arrived in Honolulu in 1880, leaving Chicago, IL, to join his cousins, the Hymans, in their business. Isidore's brother, Joseph Rubinstein, also worked for the Hyman Bros. Co. (Cashmere).

The partners and employees of Hyman Bros. Co. were listed in the 1890 Honolulu Directory:

Isidore Rubinstein, salesman.

Joseph M. Rubinstein, clerk.

H W Hyman; Michael Hyman; Morris Hyman; Joseph Hyman; Isidore Rubinstein, gen mdse and commission merchants, at Queen near Fort, Honolulu, HI (Ancestry).

Queen St. in Honolulu where Hyman Bros. relocated, although in which building
in this photo is unknown. M. Phillips, Importers of General Merchandise 
and an early partner, is on the left. (Hawaii State Archives)

On January 1, 1894, Isidore Rubinstein became the manager and a partner of the Hyman Bros. Co,

___________

Notice of Dissolution of Copartnership

and of Formation of New Partnership

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the partnership heretofore existing between Henry W. Hyman, Joseph Hyman, Morris Hyman and Michael Hyman carrying on business in Honolulu, Island of Oahu, under the firm name of Hyman Bros., has been dissolved by mutual consent.

And notice is hereby further given that Henry W. Hyman, Joseph Hyman and Morris Hyman of San Francisco, State of California, Michael Hyman of New York City, State of New York, and Isidore Rubinstein of Honolulu, in the Island of Oahu, have formed a copartnership for the purpose of buying and selling goods, wares and merchandise in the Hawaiian Islands under the firm name and style of Hyman Bros., and that the place of business of said copartnership is in Honolulu, Island of Oahu.

Dated Honolulu January 1, 1894. HYMAN BROS. (Hawaiian Gazette)

__________

Here is the listing in the 1903 Honolulu City Directory. Walter J. Hyman was the son of Henry W. Hyman (Ancestry):

In 1904, the Hyman Bros. sold the firm to Isidore Rubinstein. It became I. Rubinstein & Co. (Cashmere). A newspaper article showed:

__________

CHANGES IN OLD FIRM

HYMAN BROS., MERCHANTS,

IS I. RUBINSTEIN & CO.

THE HOUSE WAS ESTABLISHED

IN HAWAII IN 1868 AND HAS

PRODUCED MANY

FORTUNES.

The dissolution of the Hyman Bros. copartnership closes a successful mercantile career of one of the best-known firms in Hawaii. The firm of Hyman Bros. was established in 1868 by H. W. Hyman, Michael Hyman, Morris Hyman and Joseph Hyman. The first and only change in this partnership of thirty-five years was made in 1893, when Isidore Rubinstein, a clerk since 1880, was taken in as a partner, the style of the firm remaining Hyman Bros. 

Mr. Isidore Rubinstein now becomes sole owner of the business, the four Hyman brothers retiring. The business hereafter will be conducted under the style of I. Rubinstein & Co., at the same old stand on Queen Street, which has been the home of the concern for so many years.

The four Hyman brothers through this business house accumulated vast fortunes which are invested in San Francisco, where they now reside (Evening Bulletin).

__________

Hopefully, some of the profits were somehow reinvested in the community where they were made.

Thank you to cousin Mickey for all her valuable research in Honolulu, including at the Hawaii State Library and local synagogue. It's nice to have an ally who's interested and helpful in solving all the question marks in the family genealogy.

Arrival of the Spitzer family in Honolulu will be detailed in a future blog (not to be delayed).

Happy Birthday, Grandma.

References:

Ancestry.com database, U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989. Honolulu, Hawaii, City Directories, 1884, 1890, and 1902.

Cashmere, Kirk. The History of Jews in Hawaii (an unpublished thesis). Manuscript located at Temple Emanu-El Library, Honolulu, HI.

Daily Alta California (San Francisco, California), 3 April 1880 and 13 Dec 1884. California Digital Newspaper Collection. <http://cdnc.ucr.edu/>

Evening Bulletin (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), Saturday, July 2, 1904. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1879-07-23/ed-1/seq-3/>

Glanz, Rudolph. "The Jews in the Sandwich Islands." Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, April 1974, Vol. VI, No 3, pp. 177-187. Published by the Southern California Jewish Historical Society. Reproduced at www.konabethshalom.org/history.early.html, accessed on 9 Feb 2014.

Hawaii State Archives Photograph Collection. <http://ags.hawaii.gov/archives/about-us/photograph-collection/>

The Hawaiian Gazette (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), April 29, 1868, and January 19, 1894, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1879-07-23/ed-1/seq-3/>