Des Moines: Land Where My Fathers Died

One of the questions I always get is, "Are there really Jews in Iowa?" After I explain that all my great-grandparents are buried in Des Moines comes the next question, "How did Jews get there?" This post attempts to explain how they got there, or, specifically, to their final resting places at Glendale Cemetery.


Aaron and Clara Marcovis, parents of my maternal grandfather Abe, are the only greatgrandparents who lived their entire American lives in Des Moines. Aaron arrived in 1884 or 1885, Clara probably arrived in 1886, and they married in 1888. While Aaron was the first of his siblings to arrive, Clara was preceded by her brother Sol Leon, who was in Des Moines by 1881. Supposedly, Sol went to Iowa because he wanted to be in an grain-growing region, similar to the part of Romania he left behind.


Clara, Sol and their sister Annie Rise are joined in Glendale by their mother Leah Rachel, my only great-great-grandparent buried in Iowa.


David Cecil Feinberg, a baker, brought his second wife Jennie and their five children to Des Moines from Chicago in 1900. Those children included my grandfather Max. In Chicago, David had a strong tie to a Lappen family. One of the Lappens, Morris, moved to Des Moines in the mid-1890s. According to Ann Badower, Morris arranged to bring the Feinbergs because Des Moines' Jews needed a baker "who specialized in wedding cakes."


Maurice and Emma Rubinson, parents of maternal grandmother Esther, both came to Oskaloosa, Iowa, in the late 1890s and married in nearby Ottumwa in 1899. After Esther was born in 1902, they moved to New York City, where Maurice's parents lived, but settled in Des Moines in 1910. At that time, Emma's brother Abraham Rothschild had moved there from Oskaloosa. In addition, Des Moines was home to many immigrants from Pilviskiai, Lithuania, including several of Maurice's Rubinson cousins.  (Maurice himself may have come from Pilviskiai.)  Around 1940, they followed sons Milton and Norton to Cincinnati, only to return in 1959 to live their final years in the Iowa Jewish Home for the Aged.


Nathan and Lizzie Chapman, parents of paternal grandmother Mae, followed their respective older half-siblings Hyman and Esther Chapman to Centerville, Iowa, around 1890. The Chapmans, together with Mae and Max Feinberg, moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in the late 1910s. In 1940 or 1941, seven years after Max Feinberg brought his family back to Des Moines, Nathan and Lizzie joined them to live their final years.


The question remains, what attracted Jews to Des Moines when they could live in large cities like New York and Chicago? For one thing, America in the late 1800s was still mostly rural, and Jews could be found in every corner of the country. Des Moines began a period of rapid growth after getting its railroad connection in 1866. As with Interstate 80 today, the Des Moines was situated on the main  transportation artery linking New York City and San Francisco. Thus, it provided ample economic opportunity for Jewish immigrants from Europe.

All three Des Moines synagogues use the southwest corner of
Glendale Cemetery, located north of University Ave. between
50th and 56th streets in the west side of town.