Friedenwald family manuscript collection

The Friedenwald family immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland from Germany during the winter of 1831-1832. Jonas Friedenwald came from Altenbusick, Germany with his elderly father, Chaim, his wife, Merle Baer, their three children, Betsy (Betzy), Joseph, and Isaac, and his stepson, Bernard Stern. He quickly became a prominent figure in Baltimore’s Jewish community. He was involved with many organizations and helped found Chizuk Emunah (Chizuk Amuno), an Orthodox Congregation, in 1871.

His son, Moses, and his wife, Jane Ahlborn, were similarly involved in Baltimore’s Jewish organizations, despite Moses’ poor health. This caused Moses, Jane, and their children to travel to Germany and around the United States, seeking remedies for Moses’ liver and gallbladder problems. Moses was born in Baltimore in 1834. He met Jane in St. Louis, Missouri. Jane, born in 1847 in Manchester, England, immigrated to the United States with her parents, Fannie and Julius Ahlborn, in 1863. They had four children, Belle, Herbert, Racie, and Merle. Moses, his brother, Joseph, and two of his brothers-in-law, joined the Moses Wiesenfeld Company, a wholesale clothing manufacturer. Jane was very active in the Jewish community. She served on the boards of several organizations, helped found the American Jewish Historical Society, and worked to develop and support other cultural institutions. Moses died in 1889, and Jane continued her philanthropic work until her death in 1923.

Moses’ younger brother Aaron Friedenwald was a prominent ophthalmologist in Baltimore. He studied medicine at University of Maryland. Aaron continued his studies aboard in Paris, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. He returned to Baltimore in 1862, and in 1873, he became a professor of diseases of the ear and eye at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He married Bertha Bamberger and had five sons. Their oldest son Harry, with whom Moses frequently corresponded, also became a doctor of ophthalmology and otology and eventually taught at the College of Physicians and Surgeons like his father.