Carol Rombro Rider wrote that

I am researching family that were born near Ceres, Santa Fe Province,
Argentina. They were born in a place called Montefiori. Can someone
tell me where exactly this is located and was there a Jewish community
living there in the early part of the 1900's?

I am copying below two mails I sent to the JewishGen Discussion Group four
years ago.

I have not checked for updated information. Hope this helps.

Carlos Glikson
-------------------------------------
From: Carlos Glikson
To: JewishGen Discussion Group
Cc: Marty Meyers
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 1:41 AM
Subject: Re: Colonia Montefiore--what was it?


Marty Meyers asked about what the "Colonia Montefiore" was. It was indeed an
agricultural colony, 15 km >from Ceres in straight line (28 by car), in the
9 de Julio Department, mid to North Western sector of the Argentine province
of Santa Fe. There are no paved roads reaching Montefiore, no buses, and no
hotel to stay overnight. You must drive >from Ceres, where there is bedding.
It is better to drive by day, and not to do so if it has rained on the night
before...

According to Shalom Argentina - "Tracing Jewish Settlement", a guide to the
colony circuit, Colonia Montefiore was established by the Jewish
Colonization Association of Baron Maurice de Hirsch - one of the latest
colonies to be founded (1912).

In 1914 there was a great flood, and five years later 140 families remained
of the 208 at the time of the flood. Yiddish was spoken, and many of the
natives farmhands learned Yiddish expressions before the settlers learned
Spanish. Montefiore grew to have three bilingual schools, five synagogues
and two libraries in the 1940s. It has a few hundred inhabitants today, none
of them Jewish. Many sons and grandsons of pioneers emigrated to the greater
cities in the province, such as Rosario and Santa Fe, or to the national
capital, Buenos Aires. Some descendants
still administer the farms, but moved to the cities or nearby towns.

Marty mentioned relatives leaving Poland prior to WW II. The section in the
book mentions fifteen families arriving >from Poland, Czechoslovakia and
Rumania shortly before WW II. The last group of new settlers arrived in May
1940 under the JCA on board the French ship Florida. With prosperity in the
1950s came depopulation, with settleres moving >from the farms to town.

The only record of burials that survived the floods is kept at City Hall, is
very incomplete, and lists burials for 1942-1962. The cemetery has only 5
rows of graves. The book gives a phone for a contact, Ricardo Colombo, in
City Hall in relation to coordinating visits to the cemetery, calling
earlier than 1 PM. It also mentions you may ask for Ricardo at the town bar
after hours, or at home!. I can't post the phones but I can mail the phone
numbers privately.

Hope this helps,

Carlos Glikson
Buenos Aires
-----------------
----- Original Message -----
From: Carlos Glikson
To: JewishGen Discussion Group
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 1:49 AM
Subject: Re: Colonia Montefiore--what was it?


I may add a clarification to the sources quoted, but it does not clear the
conflicting information on when Montefiore was really founded.

"History of the Argentinean Jews" by Ricardo Feierstein, published by
Planeta, Buenos Aires, 1993, mentions

- pg. 102. There is a list for Colonies established between 1905 and 1914.
It includes Montefiore
(source: Abraham Gabis, quoted by Jose Liebermann in "Los judios en
Argentina, Editorial Libra, Buenos Aires, 1955).

- pg. 104. Montefiore is mentioned as established in 1902, over an area of
29,075 ha

- pg. 411 The Chronology mentions Montefiore as established in 1902

The sources for info in pg. 104 are an unspecified combination of data from
the Jewish Colonization Association and >from Boleslao Lewin. Apparently, the
dates were taken >from Lewin's work, and the areas in hectares >from JCA
official data.

Lewin's data in page 144 of "Como fue la inmigracion judia en Argentina",
Editorial Plus Ultra, Buenos Aires (second edition, 1983) also mentions
1902.

A search on-line for other data did not help in gaining precision, since
data on-line seems to copy the sources already quoted here. There is a
mention to foundation previous to 1908, though, which also contrasts with
the 1912 info in Shalom Argentina - "Tracing Jewish Settlement", the guide
to the colony circuit I mentioned in my original mail yesterday.

For those interested, perhaps the official info may be required at the
Commune of Colonia Montefiore itself. The eMail in official sources is
mentioned as

comunademontefiore@...

Carlos Glikson
Buenos Aires, Argentina