GOLDWATER

GOLDWATER , family of early settlers in Arizona and the American West. Originally named "Goldwasser," the first of the family to reach America were the brothers michael and joseph, who were born in Konin, Poland, in the 1820s. They immigrated first to Germany, then to England, where they worked as cap makers, and in 1852, along with Michael's young wife, to the United States. Attracted by the gold rush, they went West, selling whiskey and hardware to the miners and then settling in Los Angeles, where they operated a combined general store and saloon. In 1862 Michael Goldwater led a mule train to the gold-rush settlement of La Paz, Arizona, along the Colorado River. He remained in the area and later founded the town of Ehrenburg, which he named after a friend who had been killed by Indians. Subsequently he was joined by his brother Joseph and the two opened a large store in Phoenix and another in Prescott. Michael retired in 1883 and died in 1903, leaving the business, Goldwater Inc., to his sons morris and baron. Baron married an Episcopalian. Their son, barry m. goldwater (1909–1998), served as U.S. senator from Arizona from 1952 to 1964 and again from 1968, and was the unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Republican Party in 1964. In 1968 he won back his seat in the Senate. After serving three more terms as one of the Senate's most respected members, he retired in 1987. Goldwater wrote The Coming Breakpoint (1976) and his autobiography, With No Apologies (1979).

bibliography:

O. Jensen, in: American Heritage (June 1964).