Solomon Bibo (July 15, 1853 – May 4, 1934) was a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish trader in the
American Old West who became governor of
Acoma Pueblo
Acoma Pueblo (, kjq, Áakʼu) is a Native American pueblo approximately west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. Four communities make up the village of Acoma Pueblo: Sky City (Old Acoma), Acomita, Anzac, and McCartys. These co ...
, equivalent of the
tribal chief
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
. He was the only non-Indian ever to serve as a governor of an Indian Pueblo.
Early life
Bibo was born in
Brakel,
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
, then part of the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
, to Isak and Blümchen Bibo; his father was a
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds.
In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
.
[Gordon Bronitsky, Ph.D.]
Solomon Bibo: Jew and Indian at Acoma Pueblo
Southwest Jewish Archives, University of Arizona. Accessed January 14, 2008. He was the sixth of eleven children. After the
suppression of the liberal government in the mid-19th century, his older brothers Nathan and Simon left for the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in 1866; he eventually joined them, moving on October 16, 1869 at age 16. He arrived in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and, after spending some time learning English on the East Coast, he moved out to meet his brothers in
Santa Fe, then part of the
New Mexico Territory.
[Solomon Bibo (1853-1934)]
The Jewish Virtual Library, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Accessed January 14, 2008. His brothers had established themselves as traders, initially using capital provided by the Spiegelberg family, a pioneer Jewish family that arrived with
Stephen W. Kearny's army during the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
. The Bibo brothers were able to establish stores at
Laguna,
Fort Wingate
Fort Wingate was a military installation near Gallup, New Mexico. There were two other locations in New Mexico called Fort Wingate: Seboyeta, New Mexico (1849–1862) and San Rafael, New Mexico (1862–1868). The most recent Fort Wingate (186 ...
, Cebolleta,
Bernalillo
Bernalillo () is a town in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 8,320. It is the county seat of Sandoval County.
Bernalillo is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Histor ...
, and
Grants
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
* Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
*Grant, Inyo County, ...
. The brothers learned several
Native American languages
Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large numbe ...
in addition to their
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
, and English.
The Bibo brothers developed reputations for fairness in their dealings with the local Native Americans: they would sell the tribes' produce through their stores and supply
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
forts under contracts; in turn the Native Americans received fair prices and improved their farming techniques. The brothers also mediated land disputes between the tribes and the Mexican residents, and also tried to prevent Anglo-Americans from purchasing Indian land at below market prices; such stances did not endear them to these groups.
Involvement with Acoma Pueblo
Solomon Bibo became particularly involved in a dispute between the people of Acoma Pueblo and the
Department of Interior over a federal survey of the Acoma Pueblo Grant in 1876 and 1877.
[ The survey resulted in a treaty that granted of land, far less than the Acoma thought they were entitled to according to historical evidence.][ To help the Acoma people, he learned their ]Keresan language
Keres (), also Keresan (), is a Native American language, spoken by the Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico. Depending on the analysis, Keres is considered a small language family or a language isolate with several dialects. The varieties of each ...
and he and his brother Simon wrote letters to the Department of Interior which resulted in a review of the survey in 1881. The government surveyors, Walter and Robert Marmon, were Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
missionaries and traders who had married into the rival Laguna Pueblo
The Laguna Pueblo ( Western Keres: Kawaika ʰɑwɑjkʰɑ is a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico, near the city of Albuquerque, in the United States. Part of the Laguna territory is includ ...
. However, after the investigation the government ruled against the Acoma and granted most of the disputed land to the Laguna.[
On December 12, 1882, Bibo applied to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a license to trade with the Acoma Pueblo and established the first trading post at Old Acoma high atop its protective ]mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
. In order to protect their remaining land, on April 7, 1884, the Acoma signed a 30 year lease to all their land to Solomon Bibo, in exchange for which he would pay them $12,000, protect their cattle, keep squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
away and mine the coal under the Acoma lands with a royalty of ten cents per ton paid to the tribe.[ The lease got the attention of Pedro Sanchez, the U.S. Indian agent from Santa Fe, who tried to get the federal government to void the lease. A complicated fight over the lease ensued, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ]Hiram Price
Hiram Price (January 10, 1814 – May 30, 1901) was a nineteenth-century banker, merchant, bookkeeper, bank president, railroad president, and five-term Republican congressman from Iowa's 2nd congressional district and as commissioner of In ...
, eventually negated the lease but also removed Sanchez.[
Bibo married into the Acoma tribe. His wife, Juana Valle, was the granddaughter of a former Acoma governor; raised ]Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, she converted to Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
and the couple was married twice: as there was no rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
available in the territory, "Solomon Bibo de Cubero & Johanna (Juana) Valle del Acoma" had an Indian ceremony before a Catholic priest on May 1, 1885 at Acoma Pueblo and a civil one before a Justice of the Peace on August 30. The marriage made Solomon a member of the Acoma tribe.["Rich Man Poor Man...Indian Chief" - The Bibo Family]
, Congregation Albert
Congregation Albert is a Reform synagogue, located at 3800 Louisiana Boulevard NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was established in 1897. The synagogue is the oldest Jewish organization of continued existence in the state.
History Formation and ea ...
, January 1999. Accessed January 14, 2008.
In 1885, the Acomas elected Solomon Bibo as their new governor, the equivalent of the tribal chief. "Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
Solomono", as he was known by the tribe, served as governor four times. The Acoma asked the United States to recognize Bibo as their leader and, in 1888, he was recognized as such by an agent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.[Sandra Lea Rollins]
Solomon Bibo, Jewish Indian Chief
Western States Jewish History, Volume #1, Issue #4, July 1969. Accessed January 14, 2008.[ As governor, he helped install a modern education system and supervised the installation of the first schoolteachers at Acoma and allowed a house of his to be used as the school for the first year before a government school opened in a building he owned; some students were sent to the ]Carlisle Indian Industrial School
The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisl ...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
.[
The Indian schools proved to be very controversial, and caused unrest between the different generations. Bibo sided against advocates of preserving traditional tribal ways. In 1889, after his term as governor, he aided in having the Bureau of Indian Affairs arrest and replace a governor who supported tribal members who had used aggressive methods in punishing younger members for following the "progressive" ways taught in the schools.][ Because of rising tensions surrounding these changes, and because he wanted his children to receive a Jewish education, Bibo and his family moved to ]San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
in 1898. In San Francisco he was an active partner in a fine quality grocery store until 1906. Bibo traveled back and forth between New Mexico and California to manage his business there; he sold his interest in his older Acoma store to his brother Emil in 1904, and opened a new store in San Rafael, New Mexico in 1906. He also made substantial investments in San Francisco real estate.[
The Great Depression and disastrous weather ruined many of the Bibo brothers' stores and investments in New Mexico during the early 1930s. Solomon Bibo's stock investments were also hit hard, leaving him mainly with his San Francisco properties.][
Solomon Bibo died on May 4, 1934; his wife died in March 1941. They were cremated and interred in the cemetery of Temple Emanu-El in ]Colma, California
Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924.
...
. Some of their six children, four girls and two boys, returned in later years to New Mexico. Many of the descendants of Solomon Bibo and his brothers still reside in New Mexico, and include Jews, Hispanics, and Native Americans.[
]
Moses on the Mesa
''Moses on the Mesa'' is a short fiction film that focuses on a few episodes in the real-life tale of Solomon Bibo. The film has won awards including Best Short Film, Orlando Film Festival 2013, and has been selected for inclusion in more than 30 other film festivals.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibo, Solomon
1853 births
1934 deaths
German emigrants to the United States
American people of German-Jewish descent
Native American leaders
People from the Rhine Province
People from Acoma Pueblo