Carrollton, Missouri
Initial settlement came to Carrollton in the 1820s but growth would prove slow. The town would not be incorporated until 1833, and the first post office opened in 1834.
Jewish Merchants
See Herman David, Simon Rosenthal,
Because Carrollton was so slow to grow, Jewish merchants were hesitant to move to town. During the antebellum years, many Jewish merchants and peddlers traveled through town, but few, if any, stayed during this period. For example, Joseph Baum, frequently travelled through Carrollton beginning in 1849, but would not stay and open a store until 1860. It would not be until after the Civil War that most Jewish-owned stores opened in the city.
By 1870 S. Berkenwald opened a clothing store. He arrived from Baltimore with his wife, Hanna, and their four children. The oldest of these children, Kossuth Berkenwald worked as a clerk in the store before taking over the business from his father in the late-1870s. Kossuth lived in Carrollton with his wife Sophia, their two children, and Sophia's brother Solomon Rosenstock. Kossuth and Solomon ran the family clothing store together, which at this point was named Berkenwald & Rosenstock Clothier. The business proved fairly successful, attracting other Jewish migrants in town to work for the store and apprentice under Kossuth and Solomon. For example, Moses Saphra moved to Carrollton in September 1882 and ran the men's clothing department.
German-Jewish immigrant Herman David arrived with his wife, Caroline (née Baum) in 1864. He arrived to work with his brother-in-law, Joe Baum, at their dry goods store, Baum & David. Herman and Caroline had four children, all of whom were born in Missouri.
Other merchants would arrive in Carrollton during the latter-half of the 19th century. William Wolf boarded in town and worked as a clerk in a dry goods store starting in 1880, and by 1900 he purchased a stake in a store of his own. Similarly, Aaron Levy arrived in 1868 and was working as a dry goods store clerk in 1880. And finally Simon Rosenthal ran a hide and fir trading business in town during the 1880s and 1890s.