Samuel Rothchild: A Jewish Pioneer in the Days of the Old West by Jack T. Sanders

Abstract

 OHQ vol. 112, no. 4 always implies a point of view” (p. 2). Each sub-region,therefore,has a theme.Great Plains writers’ “told of failure repeatedly averted by women’s pioneer tenacity,”while women of the High Plains “saw the area as underpopulated, underdeveloped, and underappreciated” (pp. 135, 165). The Pacific Northwest generally, and Oregon specifically, was apparently populated by whiners: “Women’s Oregon literature took the form of complaint” (p. 43). There are, perhaps, two reasons for her disparaging conclusion , pointing on the one hand to Baym’s methodology, and on the other to a persistent gap in literary scholarship. In evaluating books alone rather than (or along with) women’s newspaper and journal writings (which admittedly would have been an enormous undertaking), Baym has left unmined a vast collection of women’s writing that also speaks to “self development.” Abigail Scott Duniway’s The New Northwest,for example , provided a publishing home to numerous women throughout the region for their essays, fiction, and poetry. Many of these intriguing works never were reprinted between the covers of a book. Without these texts from which to draw, Baym’s usually insightful descriptions seem desultory when she turns to Oregon. It is also clear from Baym’s acknowledgements , bibliography, and the inclusion of particular authors that her descriptive analyses benefited from literary biographies and scholarly reprints. Yet, in this regard, the Pacific Northwest lags significantly behind other regions,with few such resources available.Ultimately , though, Baym declares: “I’m opening upthesubject,notsayingthelastwordaboutit” (p.2).Scholars of those“complaining”Oregon women should welcome this challenge and push the field of Pacific Northwest women’s literary history forward into the twenty-first century. Sheri Bartlett Browne Tennessee State University, Nashville Samuel Rothchild: A Jewish Pioneer in the Days of the Old West by Jack T. Sanders CreateSpace, Pendleton, Oregon, 2011. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 260 pages. $18.95 paper. At the time of his death in 1930, Samuel Rothchild was forgotten in Pendleton. Yet, as Jack T. Sanders demonstrates, Rothchild should be remembered as a Pendleton pioneer. Coming west from his boyhood home on a Kentucky farm in 1872, Rothchild settled first in Baker City and then Pendleton, quickly emerging as a civic and business leader and even defending the town in one of the last Indian wars.Sanders paints Rothchild not only as a notable Jewish pioneer but also as a quintessential westerner. Rothchild’s experiences capture the vicissitudes of western life.He engaged in every sector of Pendelton’s rapidly growing economy:farming and irrigation,mining,merchandising,and banking.Matching economic success with civic leadership, Rothchild won public office and influenced civic projects. He also suffered the kinds of major losses typical of a boom-andbust economy, leading to his departure from Pendleton in the 1890s. Modest ventures in Prescott, Arizona, and Republic, Washington, followed. Although he eventually regained stability in San Francisco, Rothchild never reclaimed his business or civic prominence. Sanders meticulously mines primary sources, particularly for the Pendleton years at the heart of the story. At times, the level of detail seems excessive.Do readers need to know that Rothchild was twice selected for a jury pool but not chosen as a juror? Do they need month-by-month accountings of his activities in 1891 and 1892? More often, however, Sanders uses these sources to create a compelling narrative, embroidering scraps of information with educated guesses where the record is incomplete. Such speculation, as when he  Reviews discusses the family’s life in Germany or their choice of Kentucky, is generally well reasoned and supported, although a few instances seem to overreach. Sources make clear, for example, that Rothchild was courting and expected to marry in 1878 — a marriage that did not occur; Sanders uses a single, indefinite account to suggest the identity of the girl involved. Later, he bases a discussion of Rothchild’s taste in women in part on this unconfirmed identification . To his credit, Sanders communicates clearly what is known and what is uncertain. Despite the subtitle, Sanders’s coverage of the Jewish aspect of Rothchild’s experience is somewhat uneven. He takes pains to situate Rothchild as a typical Jewish pioneer, drawing most...