The Simson Thorman Family members are descendants of one of the first Jews to settle in Cleveland. Born in Unsleben, Bavaria, Simpson Thorman (1811-1888) immigrated to America in l831(2?) and after travelling to Missouri while dealing in hides, settled in Cleveland in l837. Thorman was responsible (perhaps with one or two others) for the immmigration of nineteen other Jews from Unsleben. This group, which has become known as the Alsbacher party (named after Moses Alsbacher, the leader of the group) constituted the first major group of Jews to settle in Cleveland. Among those in the party, which arrived aboard the Howard in New York City in 1839, was Regina Klein, whom Thorman married soon after her arrival. Regina and Thorman had 10, 11, or 12 children (sources conflict) including two sets of twins. Also in the Alsbacher party were Thorman's siblings Meyer (Myer), Simon (Simmla or Samuel) and Rose (Ranle). Simson Thorman's grandson Harold (l893 l960), the principal family member represented in this collection, was the founder of H.M. Thorman women's coat making firm and was also associated with the brokerage firm of Joseph Mellen & Miller, Inc.
The Thorman Family Papers, Series II, 1904-1960, consist of letters, miscellaneous family documents and programs from The Temple-Tifereth Israel and other organizations, newspapers and newspaper clippings, real estate documents and a scrapbook of the Thorman family genealogy.
The collection is of value to researchers studying the earliest Jewish settlement of cities with sizable Jewish communities, and the Cleveland, Ohio, Jewish community.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by document type, and then chronologically.
Photographs, including a tintype of Simson Thorman, have been removed to the photograph and print collection.
The researcher should consult MS 4228 Thorman Family Papers
Processed by Jane A. Avner in 1998
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4780 Thorman Family Papers, Series II, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Sophie Thorman, 1995
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.