In 1870, nine years after her husband died, Elizabeth Kaiser left her home in Mobile, Ala., and brought her five children to live in San Luis Obispo. At the time of the move, Lazarus, her eldest son, was 22 years old, and her youngest daughter, Hannah, was 15. Why they chose San Luis Obispo isn't clear, but history has proven that the family prospered.

Not much is known of the family's earliest days on the Central Coast, except that Lazarus immediately became connected with A. Blochman & Company, a position that he held until 1888, when he resigned his partnership to devote more time to the banking business. He was serving as vice president of the Commercial Bank in San Luis Obispo at the time.

Kaiser is recorded as having purchased a portion of the Rancho Guadalupe on April 12, 1875, shortly after Theodore LeRoy began selling off the property on behalf of the Estudillos. LeRoy was soon to acquire the rancho through foreclosure proceedings.

L.M. Kaiser & Company, a general merchandise store, thus became one of the earliest businesses in the newly organized town.

According to Shirley Boydstun, the wooden building was located approximately where the Katayama store operated for many years. All of the wooden structures were replaced with brick buildings around the turn of the century.

In 1880, in partnership with brothers, Joseph and Soloman, the Kaiser Brothers general merchandise store was established in Santa Maria in the 100 block of East Main Street. The brothers later moved into their new building on the corner of West Main Street and North Broadway, a building designed by their cousin Lazar Blochman.

The Kaiser brothers were the sole operators of the store until 1882, when Abraham Blochman and brothers Moses and Ernest Cerf were admitted and the firm's name changed to Kaiser Bros. & Co. The business dissolved in 1884, when the building was sold to Alfred Weilheimer and Samuel Coblentz.

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After the sale, Joe and Sol Kaiser continued to occupy the western portion of the building where they ran their real estate business, while Coblentz and Weilheimer sold dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, hardware, crockery and groceries in the remaining space in the store.

The Kaisers had their fingers in many businesses from Los Alamos to San Luis Obispo, both as owners and silent partners.

Joseph Kaiser, 10 years younger than Lazarus, was a prominent realtor in Santa Maria and served as president of the Kaiser Land and Fruit Company. In 1875, after graduating from Heald's Business College in San Francisco, he served as bookkeeper for his brother at his store in Guadalupe before becoming one of the partners.

The company owned 300 acres west of town, known as Fair Lawn, which was subdivided and platted into lots measuring from 2 1/2 to 40 acres, and offered for sale to the incoming settlers. They also owned 2,700 acres of ranch property used for growing fruit trees, as well as for farming.

When the Santa Maria Union District (which was organized in June 1891) was looking for a site on which to build a high school, the Kaisers offered to donate 10 acres of their Fair Lawn property. However, the board decided to buy 10 acres on South Broadway from Ezra Morrison, and in the fall of 1894, classes began in Santa Maria's first high school.

The Kaiser name was also associated with the history of banking in Santa Maria, which began in 1889, when a young German man came to work for Commercial Bank in San Luis Obispo and was assigned the project of establishing a branch office in Santa Maria.

On Nov. 1, 1889, Paul Tietzen opened a small branch of the Commercial Bank in the former B.F. Bell Hardware store, located about 50 feet from the southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway. Using a bar as a countertop, borrowing a desk from a neighbor, adding a small safe from the Commercial Bank and a shotgun in his desk drawer, Tietzen hung out a sign proclaiming that Santa Maria now had a bank.

At about the same time, when the County Bank in San Luis Obispo was also interested in doing business in the town, it sent Fred Jack down to set up a branch office.

With barely enough business in town for one bank, let alone two, on May 1, 1890, the two banks joined together to form the Bank of Santa Maria, with Lazarus M. Kaiser serving as its first president, as well as a member of the board of directors. A. Pezzoni served as vice president; F.B. Jack as manager, while Paul Teitzen served as cashier and secretary. Articles of Incorporation were filed, with capitol stock at $100,000. The largest stockholder was the Consolidated Banking Company of San Luis Obispo, which owned two-thirds of the stock.

In October 1897, Kaiser's connection with the Bank of Santa Maria ended when he tendered his resignation. Close attention to the detail work of the bank was telling on him, and he found that his health demanded a change.

Even though the Kaisers all moved to Mexico around the turn of the 20th century, they often came back to check on their business interests. In 1903, while on his way back to San Luis Obispo, Lazarus was suddenly taken ill, and died just a few hours later. He, along with his mother and wife are buried in the Jewish section of the San Luis Obispo Cemetery.

His sister Hannah, who was married to Isadore Weill, died in 1893. Weill was the founder of Weill & Company in Lompoc, and was also founder, vice president and manager of the Bank of Lompoc. Both Isadore and Hannah are buried in the Jewish section of the San Luis Obispo Cemetery.

Although Rebecca Kaiser was married to Armand Weill, brother to Isadore and also connected to Weill & Company, I could find no information relative to their deaths and where they were buried. The same is true with the brothers Joseph and Soloman Kaiser.

Many thanks to Laura Abeloe of Los Alamos, who, in addition to being an authority of Los Alamos history, never fails to willingly share the historic information that she's gathered with me.

The Santa Maria Valley Historical Society is proud to present a display of local Jewish culture through May 13 at its museum at 616 S. Broadway. The exhibit includes artifacts and antiques, photographs and memorabilia dating back to the mid-1800s. This interesting segment of Santa Maria's population has a rich and varied history. Several of the items on display are from private collections and will be available for public viewing only during this exhibit. Museum hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For information, call Richard Chenoweth at 922-3130.

Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Historical Society. Contact her at 934-3514 or at shirley2@pronet.net. Her book “The Good Years,” a selection of stories she's written for The Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society on South Broadway.