Julius Ochs was a German emigrant to the USA, where he was first a French teacher and soldier, and after the Civil War the Commissioner of the Government in Washington, judge and rabbi.
Background
Julius Ochs was born on June 29, 1826, at Munchen, Bayern, Germany, where for generations his ancestors had lived. He was the son of Lazarus and Nannie (Wetzler) Ochs. Lazarus Ochs was a man of education and ability; he spoke several languages fluently, and was an authority on rabbinical law.
Education
Julius OChs had his father's linguistic gifts and, having received his preliminary schooling at the Hyman-Schwabacher Institute, was proficient at an early age in the classics and able to converse in German, English, French, and Italian. When he was thirteen years of age he went to Cologne, where he pursued further studies and, permitted access to the military post there, acquired knowledge which later stood him in good stead.
Career
By scholastic ability and taste Julius seemed destined for a professional career, but at the death of his father he was apprenticed by an elder brother to a bookbinder at Frankfurtam-Main. Dissatisfied with his lot, he walked 600 miles to Bremen, embarked for New York, at which port he arrived in the summer of 1845, and then made his way to Louisville, Kentucky, where a brother and two sisters, who had emigrated earlier, were living. His knowledge of languages attracting attention, he was soon engaged to teach in the Female Academy at Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Circumstances again conspired to thrust him into business, however, for in a short time the institution met with financial difficulties and was unable to pay salaries.
While Julius was in Mount Sterling the Mexican War began and young Ochs enlisted in a company formed there, of which he was made sergeant and drill master. Its services were not required, however, and he returned to Louisville. During the next dozen years he was associated with various business enterprises, spending much of his time in the South, where his contacts with slavery made him an ardent abolitionist. A resident of Cincinnati during the Civil War, he took an active part in local military affairs, organizing in 1861 a company, known as "Julius Ochs Company, " which became a part of Lieut. -Col. A. E. Jones's Independent Battalion of Ohio Volunteers and did guard duty in the state. Ochs served both as captain and as adjutant to Colonel Jones. In 1864, having removed to Knoxville, Tennessee, he again enlisted, and was an officer in a regiment organized to protect the city from anticipated attack.
In 1878, Julius Ocks went to Chattanooga to become treasurer of the Chattanooga Times, which his twenty-year-old son, Adolph, had recently acquired. While living in Knoxville, he was a delegate to the state convention which nominated William G. Brownlow for governor and campaigned in his behalf. From 1868 to 1872 he was justice of the peace and member of the Knox County court. As a delegate to the national convention of Liberal Republicans in 1872 he supported Horace Greeley for the presidency. He was one of the commissioners who built the first bridge across the Tennessee at Knoxville. For the little group of Jews in Knoxville he acted as rabbi. At Chattanooga he organized the first humane society there, helped to establish Erlanger Hospital, and was chaplain of the G. A. R. post. Here, too, he was influential in building up a prosperous Jewish congregation, of which he acted as rabbi, and a synagogue erected in 1927 bears the name, Julius and Bertha Ochs Memorial Temple. He was a lover of music and composed some light operas, among them, The Megilah; or The Story of Esther, for performance by Sabbath-school children.
Julius Ochs died at Chattanooga, where he was buried with distinguished honors. He was survived by three daughters and three sons, the latter all prominent in the journalistic world, Adolph Simon, publisher of the New York Times.
Achievements
Membership
Julius Ochs was a member of the Knox County court (1868-1872) and a delegate to the national convention of Liberal Republicans (1872). He also organized the first humane society and a Jewish congregation at Chattanooga.
Personality
Julius Ochs was a man of incorruptible integrity, firm but kind, devoted to the faith of his fathers, yet tolerant, active in public affairs and philanthropically inclined.
Connections
In Nashville, Tennessee, on February 28, 1855, Julius Ocks was married to Bertha, daughter of Joseph Levy. They had 6 children.