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Overview of the Collection
Creator:	First Jefferson Benevolent Society (N.Y.)
Collection Title:	Records of the First Jefferson Benevolent Society
Dates:	1917-1979
Abstract:	These are the records of the First Jefferson Benevolent Society, a landmanshaft or benevolent association. Upon the dissolution of the society, the records were collected by the New York State Department of Insurance. Although many of these societies were founded around the turn of the twentieth century, the records collected in this way primarily date from the second half of the century (1950-2000). The landsmanshaftn collections generally include constitutions, by-laws, minutes, correspondence with members, financial ledgers, deeds to graves, cemetery maps, and membership lists. For details on this particular collection, see the scope and content note.
Language of Materials:	English, German
Physical Description:	2.54 linear feet
Identification:	RG 1789
Repository:	YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

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Administrative History

Organized March 23, 1917 in New York under the name First Jefferson Sick Benevolent Society. The Society provided for the payment of funeral expenses and death benefits, and purchased graves. It had an entertainment committee that planned social events. In the first part of its history it also provided sick benefits, but was no longer doing so by 1952, when the constitution was amended to reflect the change of name to the First Jefferson Benevolent Society. The Society used three cemeteries: Mount Hebron, United Hebrew, and Beth Moses. Lots that it held for a time in New Mount Zion Cemetery were sold in the 1960s. The Society was dissolved in 1979.

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Scope and Contents

This finding aid is a collection-level record. Box and folder list, if any, are found here in the scope and content note.

Box 1: Minute books, 1917-1933, 1972-1979 (minutes recorded in German through October 1923 and in English thereafter). List of new members, 1928-1936 (in same volume as minutes ending 1933). Constitution as revised 1942, with amendments, 1946-1978. Membership application form and fragment of member newsletter, The First Jeffersonian, ca. 1940s. List of presidents and vice presidents of the Society. Receipt for filing Certificate of Report of Existence, 1952. Box 2: General ledgers, 1955-1978. Cashbooks, 1955-1972, 1974-1978. Membership dues ledger, 1974-1978. Box 3: Membership dues receipts, 1974-1978. Burial receipts, 1950-1979. Lists of grave reservations and burials, ca. 1940-1979. Correspondence concerning payment of funeral expenses and death benefits, 1957, 1961, 1972-1979. Beneficiary designations for death benefits, 1934-1975. Box 4: Death certificates, 1965, 1972-1978. Deeds to graves (recorded upon dissolution), 1978-1979. Meeting notices, 1971-1972, 1977-1978. Correspondence with members, mainly concerning dues and recording of deeds, 1973-1979. Correspondence pertaining to complaint lodged against the Society by the family of Anne Marke (Markowitz), 1976. Correspondence with Beth Moses Cemetery, 1951-1969. Legal documents and correspondence pertaining to the sale of the Society's lots in New Mount Zion Cemetery to Temple Beth-El (Rutherford, N.J.), 1938, 1962-1975. Documents related to the sale of some of the Society's lots in United Hebrew Cemetery to Congregation Rodfeh Zedek (Brooklyn), 1968. Correspondence with attorney concerning dissolution, 1978. Notes related to dissolution. Miscellaneous legal documents (general releases), 1920, 1926, 1928. Membership list and postal receipts for mailing to membership, 1979. Box 5: Balance sheets, 1932-1934, 1947, 1950-1979. Invoices, 1974-1978. Check stubs 1969-1974. Box 6: Cemetery maps. Box 7: Membership dues ledgers, 1968-1973.

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Access Points

This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

• Geographic Terms

  • United States

• Topical Terms

  • Benevolent Societies
  • Burial Societies
  • Cemeteries
  • Charitable Societies
  • Fraternal Societies
  • Immigrant Societies
  • Mutual Aid Societies

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