history of Claiborne Jewry and photographs. Jews arrived in Claiborne by the early 1840s as peddlers and rural merchants and acquired land for a Jewish cemetery in 1843. [January 2009]
Monroe County Heritage Museum, the Monroe County Historical Society newsletter, Alabama Historical Quarterly (Summer 1957) and "The Gates of Heaven: Congregation Sha'arei Shomayim, Mobile, 1844-1994" by Robert Zeitz, and staff research.)
- Claiborne Jewish Cemetery: Turning off U.S. 84 onto a dirt road near the landmark, Dellet House, one finds the neglected cemetery by driving through a cow pasture (private property). About twenty feet into the woods are rusting coils of barbed wire that once marked the cemetery. For a detailed description of area Jewish history see: detailed description . (AJA) American Jewish Archives, 3101 Clifton Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45220-2488; phone (513) 221-1875. Description and list of names in the cemetery. 1828-1867. SC-2151 and Microfilm No. 3002 Claiborne Historical documents (history, tombstone, inscriptions, etc.) of Jewish population. Claiborne, Ala. and Cincinnati, Ohio. n.d. Histories file Tombstone inscriptions. 1828-1867. Vital Statistics file. Tombstone inscriptions from the Jewish cemeteries in Claiborne and Eufaula, AL and correspondence concerning these towns. Claiborne, AL and Meridian, MS and various places. Nov. 22, 1978 and July 3, 1979. Vital Statistics File.
- UPDATE: There is an error in descriptions. The listing of "1828" is incorrect -- The graves in question were from 1898. Dawn Crook is in charge of cemetery restoration in Monroe County and can give further information on the cemetery's condition. Contact the Monroe County Heritage Museum. Source: Larry Brook, Deep South Jewish Voice, Birmingham, AL. [June 2001]
- inactive since 1899, the date of the last burial. "Currently, the Claiborne Jewish cemetery is in good condition. In 1967 it was vandalized and in the years since weeds and brush covered most of the gravestones. In 2000, 85 rising high school freshmen and sophomores from the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi helped to restore the cemetery by clearing brush and uncovering the graves. Thirty-two graves were revealed. There may be no Jewish soul left in Claiborne, but its history illuminates important aspects of Alabama Jews. Claiborne’s Jews showed strong support for the Confederacy, the ease with which Jews assimilated into the merchant class, and the powerful desire to maintain their religious traditions, despite their small numbers." Source: [January 2009]
- Burial List. [January 2009]