Joseph Nudelman and Hirsh Lauterstein - at Cotopaxi before Painted Woods

When I first started researching the Cotopaxi Colony, one of the earliest names I came across was that of Joseph Nudelman.  I contacted some other researchers and they insisted that Joseph had never been in Cotopaxi.  I just put it on the back burner.....but I was always thinking about it.  How could he have made a land declaration at Cotopaxi?  Was it a different Joseph Nudelman?  How many Jews named Joseph Nudelman who were farmers were in the US in 1882?

Then I found the name Hirsh Lauterstein as a resident of Cotopaxi in the City Directory.  This is the 1883 directory.

 Now the plot thickened.  Hirsch was married to Katherine (Kaile)  and their children were Laura, Jacob and Rebecca.  Turns out, Katherine Lauterstein was Joseph Nudelman's sister.

So now, we have a brother and sister at Cotopaxi.  Joseph Nudelman is mentioned in several of the "critical documents" about Cotopaxi - yet neither he or Lauterstein are mentioned in Flora Satt's thesis or in the list of names provided by the "Spivak report".

Was this because they left Colorado and had no known association with the Denver community?  Quite possibly!

Much has been written about Joseph Nudelman.  He was married to Anna Sheechmann when he arrived at Cotopaxi.  She died in 1884 in Washburn ND where they had gone to be part of the Painted Woods Colony.   Note - they did not give up on farming after Cotopaxi - they tried again in a different location.  How much better was North Dakota?  Probably none.

In the Schwarz report, we learned that a Nudelman baby had died at Cotopaxi in 1882.  I have never found their ship's manifest, so I do not know the first name of this child, or if it was born before they arrived in Cotopaxi, or during their stay.

You can read about the family of Joseph Nudelman here.  This says that he immigrated in 1882 and that he worked in the Leadville mines before going to Painted Woods in 1883.  Yet it also states that Hirsh Lauterstein came a year later....and we know he immigrated in August 1882.  It also tells us that his wife (Anna) had been too ill to travel in 1881.

I was able to track down almost every family mentioned in this report and find their ship's manifests, but Joseph and his family were not on any of those ships.

There's a good deal of information on Painted Woods here.  And a list showing us that Joseph Nudelman was there:

Joseph remarried Fannie Kasofsky sometime after Anna died in 1884 and before their first child was born in 1886.  The Kasofsky's were another family listed above as Painted Woods settlers.

Going back to Joseph's sister, Katherine (aka Kaile).  Her husband, Hirsch, died Oct 1, 1885, in Portland, Oregon.  He buried in the Neveh Zedek cemetery.  Their last child, Rebecca, was born in October, 1883, in North Dakota.  Kaile then married Israel Bromberg (listed as H. Bromberd above) and their first child was born Aug 7, 1886, in North Dakota.

So something is amiss here.  Had Kaile and Hirsch moved to Portland where he died, then she returned to Painted Woods where her brother Joseph was, and then she married Bromberg, had her daughter, then both of them moved to Portland where we find them in the 1900 census?  That is the most likely scenario.

Here we have a brother and sister who both lost their spouses, both remarried, both had an additional child - all between 1883 and 1886.  A lot going on....and in areas where they were trying to form agricultural colonies.

One more link with interesting relationships between the Colonists at Painted Woods is here.  This is interesting as there is a possible connection between the Nudelman's and the Cohen's and there are Cohen's who claim to have been part of the Cotopaxi Colony.

Dora Bromberg, the daughter of Kaile Nudelman Lauterstein Bromberg, married Alexander Goldstein who was the son of Herman Goldstein who was at Painted Woods.  So, much in the chart in the above link is accurate.

Two photos of Joseph Nudelman that I came across online:

This is one of the stories that I received regarding Joseph Nudelman...a little different from the links above.

At an early age,joseph worked as an apprentice carpenter for 8 rubles a month including room, board and clothes. Joseph was the definition of a wandering Jew. He was born in Russia. Before 1880, he moved his family to Bucharest, Rumania where he opened a schenk (wine establishment for farmers). Then he moved back to Russia. Things were turning bad for the Jews at that time in Russia. In 1881, he arranged with Joseph Schiff in New York for a group to go to the U.S. to start a colony. At the last minute,

 Anna Bertha became ill, so Joseph and his family were not able to go with the group. In 1882, He immigrated to U.S. with his family.  In 1883, he moved to MCLean County, North Dakota, approximately 35 miles from Bismark.  They all built sod houses. Anna Bertha dies in 1884. He soon married Fanny Kasofsky. In 1886 son Hyman was born, In 1888 Robert was born, and in 1890, Dora was born. Joseph left North Dakota because his farm was not successful. The "black soil" was later found to be full of oil. He moved his family to Portland in 1892 where Louis was born in 1893. About a year later,Joseph, who still wanted to farm took the train to San Francisco. After touring California, he decided to In 1894, settle a new colony in Tulare County, California. In 1895. He moved to Orangeville, California. In 1896 he moved to San Francisco, CA. Moved to Nevada about 50 miles from Carson City in 1897. In 1897-98, he moves to a ranch near Genoa, NV. He purchased 20 milk cows and 25 steers which were taken care of by sons Maurice, Hymen, and Robert. They would mik the cows and deliver the milk to the creamery which was about 2 miles away, and get back to be at school by nine O'Clock in the morning. The income from the milk ranged from 28-32 dollars per month. He went back to San Francisco in 1902 and then in December 1902, he decided to move back to Portland where many of his extended family lived.

In Portland, Joseph opened a meat market,.one side of the market was kosher. Son Hymen left school to become a delivery boy. 

In the year 1920, Joseph and Labe Shank were instrumental in founding the Jewish Old Men's home in Portland and for many years they devoted their time to it's operation. He also organized the first Talmud Torah in Portland. He was the guiding influence in the establishment and building of Congregation Shaarie Torah and was elected it's first President. 

In 1934, when Joseph was 90, a party was held a the now demolished Congress Hotel, attended by friends and family, filling the banquet hall to capacity, to celebrate his birthday and the 50th anniversary of his marriage to Fanny. Joseph died later that year. Fanny died 3 years later in 1938 at age 81. 

Joseph was honored and respected all of his life. He inspired people to press on for a greater and more bountiful life, at the sacrifice of his own fortunes. His life was full of Jewish culture, he gave wise leadership and counsel. He was revered by his family and he will be long remembered by his descendants and the communities in which he lived and labored.

After all this research, I am more than convinced that Joseph Nudelman and his first wife, Anna, along with Kaile Nudelman Lauterstein and her first husband, Hirsh, were both part of the Cotopaxi Colony.   Most likely they left Cotopaxi sometime in 1883 and went to Painted Woods.

Without finding Lauterstein in the Cotopaxi Directory, I would have made an assumption that this was a different Nudelman.

 I have never gone back to my original contacts because it is not my position to try and "prove" to anyone else what happened in Cotopaxi.  I am only writing what my findings are.  But that's what genealogy does. It "proves" history.  If you can put the relationship together, you can build the correct story.


Updated:  I forgot to add this link which explains that Painted Woods in North Dakota was joined by families from COTAXPY.....a new spelling of Cotopaxi!


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