All Catholics, Protestants, and Jews Are Invited
We know that early Anaheim was open about religious differences and much more accepting than communities back East and in the Midwest. For example, the town didn’t have any building of worship for its first ten years (although it set up a school almost immediately) for which it received some notoriety, especially as its main economy was wine. Truly, the founding pioneers saw the city more as a business venture than a community, though that changed fairly quickly. One example of this openeness is the announcement in the Southern Californian (later the Anaheim Gazette), describing a service in the German language, which was the “lingua Franca” of Anaheim well into the mid 1870s. In it, the Reverend John Wernly, who was himself Protestant, invites “all Catholics, Protestants and Jews” to attend his lectures, both of which are about the Resurrection. Clearly he was looking for potential converts, but it’s interesting to note how much Jews were a part of the fabric of Orange County’s first incorporated city.
Dalia Taft, archivist of the Orange County Jewish Historical Society, highlights images from the archives every month. For more information, please visit https://www.jccoc.org/pages/oc-jewish-historical-society. You can also contact Dalia at daliat@jccoc.org or at (949) 435-3400, ext. 360. The Orange County Jewish Historical Society is a program of the Merage Jewish Community Center and is funded by the Jewish Community Foundation Orange County.