Jacob Leidesdorf –
Immigrant Until the End

Jacob Leitesdorf was found in the 1828 Hungarian Fiscal Census living in Vycapy Opatovce, a small town outside of Nitra, which is currently in Slovakia. Jacob was a farmer, sub-renting land from the landowners. He did not have any noble status and did not own any animals.

Jacob Leidesdorf immigrated to New York in about 1867, settling in Manhattan. The city directories between the 1870s and 1890s showed Jacob working as a distiller, tailor and buttonhole maker. His sons were buttonhole makers, coat and hat manufacturers, and pawnbrokers; none highly educated.
 
He lived the life like most immigrants of his day – hardworking and progressive, but not very wealthy. In the 1870 census, he had a personal estate worth $300 while his son David had a estate valued at $500. An R. G. Dun & Co. report said Jacob was “regarded as a steady, straight-forward man.”
 

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