There are many observant Jews who contributed much to secular and Jewish life in America and yet have, unfortunately, been essentially forgotten. One such man is Adolphus Simson Solomons (1826-1910).
Solomons was active in a plethora of communal causes and organizations. A founder of the American Red Cross and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln’s, he took an active part in the development of Washington, D.C., though he declined President Grant’s request to serve as governor of the District (during a brief period of self-government) because the position required work on Shabbos.
The material below is taken from Necrology by Louis Marshall, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, 20, 1911, pages 166-170):
Adolphus S. Solomons…. was born in the city of New York on October 26, 1826. His father, John Solomons, came to the United States from England in 1810, and was associated with James Watson Webb in conducting the New York Courier and Enquirer. His mother was Julia, a daughter of Simeon Levy.He received his education at the University of the State of New York. On his graduation be engaged in mercantile pursuits, in which he continued for many years, finally establishing the publishing house of Philp & Solomons in Washington. At the age of fourteen he enlisted as a color guard in the Third Regiment of the New York State Militia, known as the Washington Greys, and later became a sergeant. In 1851 he was appointed by Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, as a special bearer of despatches abroad. On his return he took an active part in the organization of the Jewish Hospital of New York, which had been founded by Sampson Simson, from which developed the palatial Mount Sinai Hospital of today.
On his removal to Washington, he took an active part in the development of that city, and in 1871 became the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the District of Columbia. He became prominent in all public activities at the Nation’s capital, and was on terms of cordial friendship with Abraham Lincoln, the last photograph of the martyred president having been taken at Mr. Solomons’s place of business.
He was one of the founders of the Garfield Hospital, established in commemoration of the president, and continued an active director of that institution until his death. He projected the free night lodging-house for men, which is now the Municipal Lodging-House of Washington.
For fifty years he was a member of the board of directors of Columbia Hospital, and for many years was in the directorate of the Providence Hospital at Washington. He was the organizer of the first training school for nurses in the District of Columbia. The Red Cross Society held its first meeting at his home, being called into existence as the result of his initiative. For seventeen years he was an active member of the National Association of the Red Cross, and one of its two vice-presidents. President Arthur appointed him, with Clara Barton, to represent the United States Government at the International Congress of the Red Cross, which was held at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1881, and he was elected vice-president of that Congress. He was one of the five original members of the New York Executive Board of the Red Cross Relief Committee. He was regarded by men of every shade of thought as one of the first citizens of Washington.
Early in its history he became affiliated with the Alliance Israelite Universelle, and continued to be the American representative of its Central Committee, and its treasurer for the United States, until his death.
On the occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sir Moses Montefiore, he advocated the establishment of the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids in the city of New York, to commemorate that occasion, and he ever after continued to be a member of the board of that great benefaction.
From the time of the organization of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association of New York until it became merged with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America [JTS was originally founded as an Orthodox institution of higher education], he was a trustee of that organization, being its acting president at the time of the merger. He was largely instrumental in the formation of the present seminary, and was one of its charter members and life directors. His interest in that institution was unflagging and intelligent, and it was largely due to his sincere devotion for what he considered a sacred cause that it became revivified and powerful.
Advertisement