Petrolia

Sonneborn Family Papers [MSS 1276]
Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center

Petrolia is a borough in Butler County. It was settled in 1872 and incorporated in 1873.

Siegmund Sonneborn (1872-1940) and Ferdinand Sonneborn ( 1874-1953) immigrated to the United States from their native Germany in the late 19th and early 20th century. The brothers started the petroleum refining company L. Sonneborn & Sons in 1903 and eventually purchased a share in the Daugherty Refinery in Petrolia. The company marketed Amelie Pennsylvania Motor Oil. They named the company for their father Levi Sonneborn and named the product for their mother Amelia (Bacharach) Sonneborn.[1]Sonneborn, Charles Behrend. “Sonneborn: A Celebration of Generations,” p 65. Siegmund Sonneborn withdrew from active business around 1930 to devote himself to cultural pursuits.

In addition to the Sonneborn company, Petrolia has a small local Jewish population. The American Jewish Yearbook counted 10 people in its 1927 and 1940 national population surveys.

Sonneborn & Sons attracted a small number of Jewish chemists to Petrolia, including the Blumer family (Emanuel Blumer, Celia (Haus) Blumer and their children Betty and Robert), Levy family (Benjamin Mark Levy and Ruth (Wurtemburg) Levy), and Phillips family (Joseph Phillips, Bertha (Herman) Phillips, and children Gerald and Adrea).

Bibliography

  • Sonneborn Family Papers [MSS 1276].

Exhibit history

  • Author: Eric Lidji
  • Original: September 18, 2025
  • Current: September 18, 2025

Acknowledgements

  • This entry was created through a Jewish Community Priorities grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

References

References
↑1 Sonneborn, Charles Behrend. “Sonneborn: A Celebration of Generations,” p 65.