Hannah Schamberg in her youth
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The violinist Alexander Schamberg (d. 1864) and his wife Rosa Levi Schamberg (1818-1890) lived in Hesse-Nassau, Germany. They had five children, Nettie, Sol, Regina, Max and Hannah. At least two of their children immigrated to Pittsburgh before the Civil War.
Max Schamberg (d.1895) established a foreign exchange and steamship agency in Pittsburgh in 1867. He employed Isaac Hirsch, who later purchased the company. The business prospered as European emigration increased toward the end of the nineteenth century. The staff of the organization prided themselves on the number of languages they spoke, including Dutch, German, Slavic, Hungarian and French, according to The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania, by Jacob Feldman. The business later became the Foreign Exchange Department of the First National Bank of Pittsburgh. Max Schamberg was appointed Austria-Hungary consul in Pittsburgh in 1876 and died while overseas.
Hannah Schamberg (1853-1922) married Philip Silverman.
