Scherek Arbol » Zachariah Swett (1869-1961)

Personal data Zachariah Swett 

• He was born on July 4, 1869 in Odessa, Kerson, Ukraine.
• He died on June 8, 1961 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, USA, he was 91 years old.
• He is buried after June 1961 in Beth Israel Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, Verenigde Staten.
• A child of Leon Leib Swett and Sarah Chaimovich

Household of Zachariah Swett

He is married to Elizabeth Ricen.

married 1st cousin.

They got married April 1899 at Victoria, BC, Canada, he was 29 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Theodore M Swett  1905-1986
2. William Joshua Swett  1908-1986 

Notes about Zachariah Swett

The Agricultural Colony (Am Olam), Swett
Following the pogroms in 1881 in Odessa, as well as in other cities of Russia, its victims (of which my father was one) following many secret consultations and meetings, resolved to leave Russia, some for America and others for Palestine. Organizations for that program were formed in several cities. While they exchanged information, each city was on its own.
Much pressure was brought to have my father join the Palestine group. He was to have been one of a committee to go to Palestine to investigate. He chose America, and he joined the organization called Am Olam. The main ideas of this organization was its determination upon reaching America to follow the life of a Farmer for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren.
The first Am Olam group left Odessa January, 1882. It consisted of about 65 young men and women. The second group (our group) left in May, 1882, about 400 in number. Most of them families. To the best of my knowledge they all traveled on their own, perhaps a number receiving some assistance.
This group left Odessa by train to Hamberg (sic) where it embarked on ship to America. When we passed the borders of Russia and as we entered the various cities on our way, we met with pleasant surprises. It was as if we were celebrating the occasion of our leaving Russia. The good Jewish people of those cities represented by their leaders met us as we entered the depots where tables, in some cities 100 feet long, were covered with every conceivable food, fruit, and drink; with men and women in charge replacing the food as fast as it was absorbed. They showered us with wearing apparel for men, women, and children and last but not least with money.
My father, Leon Swett, was the treasurer of this group of 400. It was his responsibility to properly handle all gifts including moneys. From the day we left Odessa to the day before our ship landed in New York, my father as treasurer concealed its gold in two leather money belts strapped around his body. He was always well guarded. At night my mother was always awake when he slept. On the last day of hour voyage on the ship, all money and goods were distributed share and share alike to all members of the group.
The Am Olam group dissolved, and as we landed in Castle Garden, New York, each went their way. My father and a few others joined the remnants of the first Am Olam group. Together they constituted the group which founded the Agricultural Colony in Odessa, Oregon (city name not of record).
I knew each and every member of the Colony, they were a fine group, 90% of them former students of Russian Universities. In addition to our family of six, there were two families with one child each and two other couples. The rest were single men and women. There were three young women. They married three of the young men in the group. Sonia Kremont married Mrr Kislik, a mechanic. They were blessed with three sons and two daughters which whom I correspond.
Nearly all immigrants thought they would follow farming in America. Many groups were settled in Kansas and New Jersey. How our group was destined for Oregon is not known to me. But I distinctly remember that our New York group dealt with a man named Halplerin of whom they spoke very highly, who must have been a leader in Jewish Welfare Work.
Upon reaching Portland not all went to the farm immediately. Most of them remained in Portland accepting any kind of common labor living very economically to save and help those on the farm. Eventually they all joined the.
Having read its history by Davidson and Goodiam, you know its history and its demise. It was idealistic. Its disintegration was not due to neglect or lack of appreciation on their part. To my knowledge they were men of honor who possessed a conscience which no doubt troubled them much before taking the step to give up the farm. That they were men of ability is proven by their successes in the fields they followed after leaving the farm.
Feierman who was one of its leaders became a man of wealth. He was an inventor and manufacturere of electrical devices. Others entered the professions of medicine an Dentistry with high success.
An effort after leaving the Colony by some was in the laundry business on a communal basis and proved successful. I know of none who ever sought relief.
I am enclosing two copies of letters written 16 years ago relating to Am Olam. Mrr Abraham Cahan was well known as a national writer in the Yiddish Press of America.

Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 24 May 1901, Z.Swett who is interested in the estate of S.Chaimov, a bankrupt, by Isaac Swett, his attorney, yesterday filed objections in the USCourt to granting to Chaimov a discharge from his debts. He alleges that Chaimov subscribed to a false oath in swearing to the satatement of his real and personal estate, by omitting therefrom his interest, in the estate of Froim Chaimovitch, also his interest in the Air-Tight Stove Manufacturing Company. It is alleged that Chaimov swore that he received only 150 rubles from the Chaimovitch estate, when the fact is that he received 200 rubles and had a further interest of 1300 rubles; and he owns nearly all the stock in the stove manufacturing company, although he swore that Henry Adler was the chief owner and he owned but a small share. The names Chaimov and Chaimovitch will not be familiar to many, and they, as well as the rubles, smack of Russia or Russian Poland, or some country where the telegraph tolls are 10 kopecks a word and the lines are down all the time.

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Timeline Zachariah Swett

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