4-11-04

by Edward Cone
News & Record

One hundred and fifty-eight years ago next Friday, a man named Joseph Rosengart wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, Herman, who was on his way from Bavaria to the United States to seek his fortune.

The letter to Herman, my grandfather's grandfather, became a sort of founding document for the Cone family in America. I keep a copy of the letter on my office wall, not just as a keepsake but because it is as relevant today as it was in April of 1846.

The letter begins by telling 17-year-old Herman not to despair at leaving his home and family, but to look ahead to the possibilities before him. Joseph invoked the "sweet hope" that immigrants brought and still bring to this country, one of the great promises of America to the people who come here: "You will find a real home land where you as a human being may claim all human rights and human dignity."

Joseph, who was married to Herman's older sister Nanette, included plenty of common-sense good counsel in his letter to the younger man. "Pay attention to your health; Be modest and polite to everybody avoid the company of all but respectable and educated people." But much of his advice was philosophical.

There were multiple admonitions to remain a faithful Jew, many of these couched in worldly terms and promising practical benefits -- keys to a better life, not just a better afterlife. "Try to follow all of the commandments most painstakingly and thereby attain actual happiness on this [Sabbath] day at least think seriously about your existence and your work; Do not sacrifice your faith for worldly goods. They will disappear like dust and must be left behind in due time."

At first, Herman had no worldly goods for which to sacrifice anything. But Joseph was hip to the New World's other big attraction: opportunity. Some of the advice must have seemed far-fetched to a teenager who would arrive in Richmond virtually penniless, addressing problems he must have strained to imagine: "If you should be lucky enough to become wealthy in that distant land, do not let it make you proud and overbearing; Be known as a philanthropist ... do not be extravagant or a spendthrift; Give according to your position and your finances and be particularly liberal toward the poor, and charitable to the needy."

That optimism, the ability to plan for philanthropy while impoverished, has to have been a key to Herman's eventual success. Still, after four years in this country, he had no property to speak of and was living in a boarding house. At that point he might have gotten more use from Joseph's on-the-other-hand advice: "If you do not become wealthy, be satisfied with what you do have and try to be as comfortable and happy as if you had the greatest treasures."

But things did pick up after a while. Joseph told Herman to honor the memory of his parents and to honor directly the sister and brother-in-law he was going to live with in Richmond. "Follow their advice and their suggestions," he wrote. Herman may not have liked the advice his Richmond family gave him -- basically, not to let the door hit him in the butt on his way out -- but after marrying, founding two successful businesses, and fathering 13 children, he no doubt appreciated the tip.

My favorite line in the letter comes at the end, a summary of all that comes before it: "Do right, trust in God, and fear no man." Herman managed to live up to that challenge and to pass it along to his many descendants. Some day I'll give copies of Joseph Rosengart's letter to my own kids, Herman's great-great-great-grandchildren. Good advice never goes out of style.

Edward Cone (www.edcone.com, efcone@mindspring.com) writes a column for the News & Record most Sundays.

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