The 75th anniversary of the founding of Carmel, N.J. as an experimental agricultural settlement for Jews was observed here today. Morris April, chairman of the Jubilee Committee, said the committee has been seeking some 20,000 direct descendants of the original 17 Jewish families from Russia who settled in Carmel in 1883. The committee has received letters from 500 of the descendants, he stated.
The Carmel colony was founded by the Montefiore Agricultural Aid Society of which Michael Heilprin, a leading 19th Century American Jew, was founded. In 1889 there were 286 persons living in 30 homes in the colony, with 82 children of school age. Carmel now has a total of 75 families, 40 of whom are Jewish.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.