Jewish merchant killed by 'half-drunk frontiersman' at Claiborne in 1811

Israel Jacobson’s tombstone.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Young Jewish merchant lives short life at Claiborne,” was originally published in the April 8, 1976 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

Israel Jacobson came to Claiborne, along with many other Jewish immigrants, during the time when there was much conflict and doubt for new settlers.

He was born in Kornick, Posen, Prussia and along with his family reached the shores of this young nation when it was suffering from the aftermath of the Revolutionary War.

To make things worse, the war drums of the Creek Nation sounded their beat of death on the distant horizon.

The town of Claiborne was the center of activity along the big Alabama River. It was a trade center and the fort that was located nearby offered protection from the many bands of marauding Indians that preyed on the local citizens. And the growing town offered promise to a young merchant such as Jacobson.

But fate was to play the trump card in this young man’s life. The future of this man was to end in the dust of Claiborne’s streets from a gunshot wound in the chest from an assassin.

The town had just finished celebrating Thanksgiving. The streets were still a gathering place for the rough settlers from the outer areas who had come to Claiborne to see and witness the holiday events.

It was on the Saturday following the holiday that Israel Jacobson left his home for the last time to make his way downtown to his thriving business.

On the morning of Nov. 30, 1811, a half-drunk frontiersman stepped from behind the corner of a building and ended for all time Jacobson’s career.

There in the dust of the streets in the town by the river, this man died, never knowing his assassin or the reason. To this day, no one else does either.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)