The "Not So Simple Simon" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just left the front gate of Cemetery Shaaral Shomauim after trying to gain access and take a photograph of the tombstone of businessman and entrepreneur Joseph Simon who was Lancaster's first and last known colonial Jewish resident.  

Entrance to Cemetery Shaaral Shomauim.  Click photos to enlarge.

I found the main gate was padlocked as were the two smaller side gates.  Would have loved to explored the area around Mr Simon's tombstone to see what may have been written about him on its surface.  

Joseph Simon

Mr. Simon was born in 1712, probably in Germany.  One the earliest documents that exists in Lancaster, Pennsylvania that carries his name is a deed for property he purchased sometime around 1746.  By the time Mr. Simon had arrived in Lancaster, the town was the gateway for travel and commerce to the west.  For those leaving Philadelphia and other nearby cities and towns, Lancaster was the last stop where they could buy guns, hardware, tools and even a Conestoga wagon on their way across the mighty Susquehanna River and points west.  Being the entrepreneur that he was, he established a trading post on the southwest corner of what is now known as Penn Square in the center of Lancaster.  

This is the earliest photograph I have ever found
of the center of Lancaster, PA.  I assume the store
of Mr. Simon was located on one of the corners.

At times he would travel west himself to trade with Native Americans for valuable furs.  He would in turn export these furs to his Jewish merchants in Philadelphia who would export them to England.  He also owned and operated a hardware store as well as made potash and distilled liquor.  At one time he was involved in close to a dozen different partnerships and was a powerful economic force west of Philadelphia.  He was also one of the first white men, since the early explorers, to reach the Mississippi when he traveled down the Ohio River in the 1740s.  In 1755 British General Edward Braddock bought provisions from Simon during the French and Indian War.  

This Pennsylvania Historical Marker is at the corner of
North Queen and West Orange Streets in downtown Lancaster.

The Revolu- tionary War saw him supplying blankets, guns and ammunition to the patriots as well as taking care of British prisoners held in Lancaster.  His only deterrent to becoming an extremely wealthy man was the extent that Jews were allowed to gain wealth.  He helped found the Juliana Public Library in 1759 and five years later helped to found the Union Fire Company.  In 1961 he managed the lottery in Lancaster that helped to build a bridge over the Conestoga River.  He was said to have donated powder and lead to the patriots after Lexington and Concord and helped pay for the messenger that made connections between George Washington's army and Lancaster. 

I believe this to be the family graveyard plot of Joseph Simon.
I wasn't able to enter the cemetery and did not take this photo.

He was also known as the leader of Lancaster's Jewish community by holding services in his two story home that held his trading post in the center of town. At the time of his death on January 24, 1804, he owned two Torahs.  He was buried in the cemetery he had developed in 1747 with his friend Isaac Nunes Henriques at 227 East Liberty Street to the north of the town of Lancaster.  It is the fourth oldest Jewish cemetery in the United States and the one I tried to visit.  I have found online that the inscription on Joseph Simon's tombstone read: And Joseph gave up the Ghost, and died in good old age.  An old man, and fun of years was gathered to his people.  Joseph Simon departed this life the 12th day of the month Shebot, in the year 5565, corresponding with the 24th day of January, 1804, aged 92 years, in a good old age. 'And he walked with God, and he was not; For God took him.'  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.