Letters from Abraham Blackman to his brother Morris, Jewish merchants in colonial British Columbia
- CA JMABC A.2012.017, A.2013.018-002
- Série organique
- April 30, 1862 – February 18, 1864
Fait partie de John Keenlysides Congregation Emanu-El collection
Blackman, Abraham. Eighteen autograph letters, 1-6 pages each, dating from 30 April 1862-18 February 1864, all but one from Victoria. Group of letters to his brother Morris, discussing the expansion of the family mercantile business from Victoria to New Westminster and thence to the Cariboo. The final letter includes a power of attorney for Morris to act on Abraham's behalf. The letters discuss the financial state of the business, especially in New Westminster, shipping details for dispatching goods, business conditions in the Colony and family matters.
Blackman came to Victoria, B.C. in 1858 or 1859 from Stockton, California, to establish a hardware business on Yates Street. He was a prime mover in organizing the Jewish community in Victoria. In May 1859, he helped establish the first Jewish cemetery in Western Canada; in June, he became founding president of the First Hebrew Benevolent Society, the first Jewish organization in Western Canada; he was the first treasurer of the Jewish Congregation in Victoria. He founded the Masonic Lodge in Victoria and arranged for the first public ceremony of the Masons, the laying of the cornerstone of the first Synagogue. He returned to California in the 1870's, dying there in 1888.