Lost & Found

The Güera's Guide to Discovering Her Jewish Heritage

Photo from the Weil Scrapbooks taken by Fanny and Israel Alexander during a trip to Charles Weil’s hometown, Surbourg, in the Alsace region.

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The journey begins in Surbourg, the home Charles Weil left to start a new life, arriving in America in 1866. Charles left one land of shifting boundaries to end up in another. In both places, Charles was affected by the political volatility of these borderland regions and the resulting changes in languages, culture, economies, and trade routes.

Alsace has a long history of war and upheaval due to changes in leadership. Historically, people in the region spoke German. Yet many became loyal to France during the French Revolution in 1789 when the feudal system was ended and the region was divided into Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. From 1852-1870, this region was under the rule of Napoleon III and the Second Empire. Charles left home just before the War of 1870, when Otto Von Bismark and his Prussian forces defeated Napoleon III in order to unify Germany.*

Meanwhile, the US-Mexican War of 1846 was fought over the boundary between Mexico and Texas. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo finally resolved this dispute in 1848, setting the Rio Grande River as the boundary. The disputed territory that Texas and Mexico fought over was called the Nueces Strip, which included the land south of the Nueces River to the Rio Grande. The ranch Charles would buy, La Palangana, exists within this zone.

While the old world’s customs, rules, and hierarchies had long been at play, the rules were still being written in America. To be a Jew in Alsace had meant for centuries being cast out of large cities and relegated to smaller towns. Jews lived amongst one another, their long-established culture and religion bolstering their isolation. That is, they found strength from within and from one another. While America did not offer the same safety net and strength of community, Weil managed not just to establish a life but a legacy.

*Eckhardt, C. C. The Alsace-Lorraine Question. https://doi.org/22512.