{geni:about_me} Ephraim Fischel, accompanied by his wife and seven children, arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, 17 May 1849, on the ship "Johann Schmidt" out of Bremen. They later settled in St. Louis where Babette died in 1876 and Ephraim, in 1884.

In 1849 the Jewish leaders of St. Louis Missouri started the B'nai B'rith Congregation. These men included Ephraim Fischel, Isidor Bush, M.A. Taussig, Daniel Block, Ludwig Schwarzkopf and many other businessmen.

From "Zion in the Valley", by Walter Ehrlich, a history of the early development of the Jewish population in St. Louis up to 1900: "In 1849 Ludwig Schwarzkopf, along with Daniel Block, Solomon Steindler, John Fleishman, Moses Epstein, Hyman Epstein, M. Sternbach, Herman Block, Jacob Wachtel, Adolph Wachtel, Joseph Katz, Nathan Aschner, Adolph Aschner, Adolph Klauber, Julius Augstein, Joseph Levi, Moses Brumi, Ephraim Fischel, M.A. Taussig, Daniel Winkler,Benard Singer and Isidor Bush started the B'nai B'rith Congregation in St. Louis."

[For more on the early Jewish congregation in St. Louis, see Jewishlight Newsletter, February 20, 2014, http://www.stljewishlight.com/blogs/cohn/article_0...6-001a4bcf887a.html]

In the 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses of St. Louis, Ephraim Fischel is seen as "FISCHER". Of note, the 1870 census calls him "Abe Fischer", age 66. However, in the 1880 census, he is once again referred to as "Ephraim Fischel", and his gravestone indicates the same.