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The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 17, April 24, 2005, Article 9 HERMAN SILVER: FRONTIER RABBI, MINT OFFICIAL Today's Los Angeles Times has an article about an archivist's search which led her to the U.S Mint in Denver - she learned that her quarry became an official of the Denver Mint in 1874; "For a time, he was also managing editor of the Denver Tribune and a lay rabbi." "Behind Hynda Rudd's desk in her Glendale home hangs a picture of a frontier rabbi she calls her "patron saint." Although he died more than two decades before she was born, this man's passion for politics and religion not only piqued her interest but also led her on a treasure hunt for documents to learn more about him. His paper trail led her from Salt Lake City, where she was born and raised, to Los Angeles and propelled her into a career as the first official custodian of Los Angeles' historical records. Rudd, 69, retired nearly four years ago as the city's first archivist and records management officer after more than 20 years on the job. The city has always been populated by fascinating characters, as she learned, but she never stopped researching the man who captured her scholar's interest: Herman Silver, for whom the Silver Lake community and reservoir are named. "Educated men turn me on," Rudd said. "But Silver was more than educated: He was handsome, charismatic — a man for all seasons." "He was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1831, one of six children. A sickly boy, he often had to miss school, so he passed the time reading books from the family library and becoming proficient in Hebrew. In 1844, on the advice of the family doctor, Silver was sent alone to the United States. He was just 13 but, at 6 feet tall, he stood out among the passengers. He caught the eye of a Spanish-born Catholic priest, Father Gerard, from Montreal, Canada. Silver taught the priest Hebrew and the priest taught him English. When the ship docked, Silver accompanied Gerard to Canada and studied under him for several years. They became lifelong friends. In the 1850s, after working and traveling throughout the East Coast, Silver settled in Ottawa, Ill., where he met his future wife, Eliza Post, when he retrieved a letter that had blown out of her gloved hand. Silver joined John C. Fremont's grass-roots party, the Free Soilers, whose slogan called for "free soil, free speech, free labor and free men." The party was absorbed into the newly formed Republican Party around 1854. Silver campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and won appointment as a government land assessor during the Civil War. He also recruited volunteer regiments for the Union, receiving a commendation for valor and services "off the field." After the war, he studied law and opened a law practice in Illinois. Rudd lost Silver's trail in the early 1870s but picked it up again in 1874, when he was appointed director of the U.S. Mint in Denver. For a time, he was also managing editor of the Denver Tribune and a lay rabbi." "Silver had moved to Los Angeles in the 1880s, both for his health and for a job with the Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, he and a partner had built a double-track railway from downtown to Boyle Heights." "Before Silver died in 1913, at 82, he watched his namesake community become a movie center and birthplace of the Keystone Kops. Producer William Selig opened a studio at the eastern side of the lake in 1910. Half a dozen or so other studios, including those of Mack Sennett, D.W. Griffith and Tom Mix, also clustered around the reservoir." To read the full article, see: Full Story [A web search found that the journal Western States Jewish History published an article on Silver in their volume 20: "Herman Silver of Silver Lake, Civic Leader and Lay Rabbi, Parts 1&2" by William M. Kramer. The L.A. Times article calls Silver the "director of the U.S. Mint in Denver." The facility opened in 1863 as an Assay office, and I don't believe it was yet an official mint in 1874. Silver's title as head of the Assay office would have been "Superintendent," correct? My Coin World Almanac is the 1990 edition, and it does not list Denver officials from that period. I'd not encountered Silver's name until now. Can anyone verify the dates of Silver's time at the Denver facility? Great name for a mint official, of course - was there ever a Mr. Gold as well? -Editor] Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
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