JEWISH SETTLERS IN LA CROSSE

ox carts, coming over the ridge road somewhat of the present route of
Highway 61. The trip took four days, two days less than J. M. Levy
travelled in 1845.
    Another side light on travel in the 1850's was my father's account
of their trip from Newark, N. J. to Blairsville. This was by canal all
the way. When the Alleghany Mountains were reached, the canal boats
were hauled up over the mountain grade with ropes. The passengers
and freight were not transferred, but hauled bodily up and over the
grade.
     These people came out of Germany as soon as they could after the
revolution of 1848. Previous to this time, they were restricted and often
oppressed.
     They had only the tribal names up to 1848. After this the govern-
ment officials gave names to these people, those who could pay getting
better or simpler names than those who could not afford the luxury.
This may account for some of the apparently non-Jewish names. It is
also interesting to note that under the tribal nomenclature, names like
Mendelsohn, Levison, etc., might actually parallel or even antedate the
Scandinavian usage of son as a name final. These people came to New
York City as the port of entry, and remained in and about there until
they accumulated enough money to move to the Central West.
     The Constitution of the Hebrew Indigent, Sick and Burial Society
was adopted May 18, 1857. L. Hirshheimer, President; I. Tuteur, Vice-
President; N. Scharff, Secretary; H. Gutman, Treasurer. Later it was
called the Hebrew Benevolent Society and became Congregation Anche
Chesed, September 8, 1878. Formally incorporated September 1, 1896.
     Original Members, 1857: Louis Hirshheimer, Isaac Tuteur, M. Gut-
 man, N. Scharff, Isaac Cantrovitz, A. Patz, Jos. Gutman, Sigmund Gut-
 man, A. Waldauer, A. Lederman, L. Shrier, B. Scharff, P. W. Prager,
 W. Bennett, Levi Strauss.
     The Congregation was of the Reformed, as contrasted to the Or-
 thodox Jewish Faith. The principal differences being a liberalization of
 the Mosaic dietary laws, less symbolism, and services were in later years
 held on Sunday instead of the old biblical Sabbath. Of course the prin-
 cipal holy days were observed regardless of the day of the week on which
 they fell.
     The congregation was so small, as regards supporting members,
 that there were very few years during which they could support a full-
 time rabbi. For many years the New Years, Day of Atonement, was the
 only period during which they had a regular rabbi. All other services
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