Abraham Cohen Labatt (1802,Charleston, South Carolina - August 16, 1899,Galveston, Texas) was an AmericanSephardic Jew who was a prominent pioneer ofReform Judaism in the United States in the 19th century, founding several early congregations in the South and in San Francisco after theGold Rush. A merchant, in the 1830s he helped pioneer trade between United States interests in Charleston and those in Texas and Mexico.

Abraham Labatt was aSephardic Jew born inCharleston, South Carolina. His parents were David C. Labatt and Catherine Cohen (1773-1846), who came to Charleston by the time of the 1800 census having emigrated from Spain and Portugal, via Germany, France, the Netherlands and England.^[1]

As a young man, Labatt was one of the founders and first settlers ofCheraw, South Carolina, where he joined aMasonic Lodge in 1823.^[2]

In 1825, Labatt helped organize theReform congregation in Charleston, the first in the United States.^[3]

A few years later, he moved with his young family toCharlotte, North Carolina, where he worked as a merchant and trader. He was appointed post master of a small town in what was thenMecklenburg County and is now believed to beMonroe, North Carolina by US PresidentAndrew Jackson, which he named Jacksonville (not to be confused withJacksonville, North Carolina). In 1827 he purchased large plots of land there and in 1830 and 1832 he was granted powers of attorney by his father-in-law Samuel Hyams to sell more land in Mecklenburg and two slaves named Sandy and Gabriel that Hyams owned. On 3 November 1829 he placed an advertisement in theWestern Carolinian for a "House of Accommodation", believed to be same place as Labatt's Crossroads, whereUnion County's first court sat.^[2]

In 1831 he moved toNew Orleans, where he engaged inmercantile pursuits. In that city, he was one of the founders of the first Jewish congregations inLouisiana, which became known as thePortuguese Jewish Nefutzot Yehudah congregation (or Portuguese Synagogue). (In 1870, its rabbi visited Galveston to dedicate the cornerstone of the first synagogue ofCongregation B'nai Israel.) Labatt was also afirefighter and was the secretary and a founder of the Firemen's Charitable Association of New Orleans, which was established in 1832.

In 1831, Labatt visitedVelasco, Texas, then part of Mexico, which had achieved independence in 1821, to explore opportunities for international trade. A settlement had just been started based on a trading post. He visited again in 1837 assupercargo of thesteamshipColumbia. This was the firstcargo ship to trade between the U.S., via Charleston, and Texas (by then an independent republic) andMexico.

Following theGold Rush of 1849, Labatt went to California as a merchant, along with hundreds of thousands of other migrants. He also served as the first president ofCongregation Emanu-El (San Francisco) in April 1851.^[4] One of the founders of the San Francisco synagogueShearith Israel, he laid its foundation-stone in 1856.

Labatt became the Worshipful Master or Postmaster General of theDavy Crockett Lodge, the West's first Masonic Lodge,^[1] named after anAmerican pioneer of the Southeast, a name which he helped choose. He had been a friend of Crockett's, as well as Texas presidentSam Houston. Active politically, Labatt was elected as analderman of San Francisco.^[3]

Labatt's sister Cora was the Queen ofMardi Gras in New Orleans in theRex parade in 1877.^[5][6]

In Charleston, South Carolina, Labatt married Caroline Hyams (born 1802), a sister of Louisiana Lieutenant-GovernorHenry M. Hyams and Samuel M. Hyams, Jr. (Asst. Adjutant General & Lieut. Colonel, 3rd Infantry Regt., LA,Confederate Army).^[1] They had sixteen children together.

One of his sons, Leon L. Labatt (1854-1928), was aLouisiana judge andchess player who won the Louisiana Chess Championship in 1917, and in his lifetime played against fellow LouisianansPaul Morphy andArmand Blackmar, as well as worldwide greatsEmanuel Lasker,Carlos Torre Repetto,Wilhelm Steinitz,Johannes Zukertort,Adolf Albin andJosé Raúl Capablanca.^[7][8]

Another of his sons, Henry Jacob Labatt (1832-1900), became an influential attorney in San Francisco, where he was editor of theVoice of Israel, the first Jewish newspaper in the US West in 1856, along with Rabbi Herman Bien.^[9] He had moved toGalveston, Texas by 1869, when he was elected to the Galveston Board of Aldermen and served as the City Treasurer. He was a member of theTexas House of Representatives 1881-1883, became president of the Zacharias FrankelB’nai B’rith Lodge #242 and had a small town named after him called Labatt, Texas, situated in westernWilson County on theSan Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, which was abandoned in the 1930s. He, his wife Eleanor, their children Ellie and Joseph, and Joseph's wife and four children, all died in the1900 Galveston hurricane.^[4][10]

Other Labatt children include David Cohen Labatt (Captain & Quartermaster, 5th Infantry Regt., LA, Confederate Army; Judge), Samuel Kosciusko Labatt(Commander, Ringgold Lite Artillery, California Militia, 1853-1855), Eliza E. Labatt (never married), Louise C. Labatt (died in the 1900Galveston Storm), Jackson E. Labatt (Private, Co. G, 26th Infantry Regt., LA, Confederate Army), Joseph Isaac Labatt and Miriam Hyams Labatt Smith (Mrs.John B., Brigadier General; Louisiana Confederate Widow's Pension).^[1]

In the 1860s, the Labatt family returned toLouisiana. They moved toWaco, Texas in 1869. After his wife died in the fall of 1878, Labatt moved to Galveston and lived with his son, Henry J. Labatt, until his death in 1899. Labatt joined theCongregation B'nai Israel, which was also Reform. He continued to be active in temple activities.

Labatt died of old age andgastritis at his son Henry's house in Galveston on August 16, 1899, aged 97 or 98. He was the second oldest Mason in the United States at the time of death.^[11][12]

• History of the Jews in Galveston, Texas
• History of the Jews in Charleston, South Carolina

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Cyrus Adler (1901–1906)."Labatt, Abraham Cohen". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

• Natalie Ornish,Pioneer Jewish Texans (Dallas: Texas Heritage, 1989).
• Ruthe Winegarten and Cathy Schechter,Deep in the Heart: The Lives and Legends of Texas Jews (Austin: Eakin Press, 1990).

• Diana J. Kleiner, "LABATT, ABRAHAM COHEN",Handbook of Texas Online, Published by the Texas State Historical Association
• "Telegraph Ticks",The Standard Union (Brooklyn, New York) 17 Aug 1899, Thu · Page 12, link tonewspapers.com