Jews in Early America
From Inquisition to Freedom
Early American Jews were unremarkable in many ways. They looked and behaved like other colonists: they wore the same clothes, lived in the same types of homes, worried about their children, and worked to earn a living, just like other colonists. Their religion and their history were the only differences. Their beliefs had previously caused them to be expelled from England in 1290 and from Spain in 1492. The Inquisitions of Spain and Portugal and the forced conversions, torture, and expulsions led to changing names and hiding any trace of Judaism, but never to forget who they were. Jewish families fled Catholic Europe and scattered about the world. North Africa, Turkey, the Kingdom of Poland, and Protestant Europe, including Slovakia, the German states, became home. Frequently, Spanish and Portuguese Jews sought refuge in the more tolerant country of Holland and created a home for themselves in Amsterdam. The Jewish community thrived there; their success in trade allowed them to migrate to Brazil, Suriname, Jamaica, and Curacao, where they built synagogues and purchased ground for cemeteries. And in 1654, these Jews came to Nieu Amsterdam (later New York) in the New World.
Their names were Spanish and Portuguese: Abram De Lucena, David Israel, Moses Ambrasias, Abram De La Simon, Salvator D’Andrada, Joseph De Costa, David Fiera, Jacob Barsunson, Jacob C. Henrique, Isaac Mesa, and Isaac Levy. Their outlook was cosmopolitan, and their trading interests became widespread and varied — all vital to the burgeoning economy of the colonies. As more Jews arrived from Europe and the Caribbean, the Jewish community expanded to Newport, Charleston, Savannah, and Philadelphia. Seeking the freedom to practice their religion and the right to economic freedom was paramount. It was not always easy; the Christian community frequently mistrusted Jewish settlers, often denying them citizenship rights. But the Jewish community grew and prospered, they contributed to the welfare of the cities in which they lived: creating jobs, supporting the prevailing government and when the time came, frequently joining with the forces of revolution.
The Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the “Sephardim”, were later joined in force by those from other parts of Europe: Germany, Poland, Bohemia, and Russia. These “Ashkenazim” used different prayer books and conducted their worship services differently from the Sephardim, but to the Christian community, the distinction did not matter. Throughout the world all Jews were subject to discriminatory rules for trade and citizenship. But in America, it was possible to challenge this discrimination. Little by little, in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and New York, Jews won the right to be naturalized, to trade freely and to worship publicly. They were able to serve in the military and to provide funds for the fledgling country. They were Patriots and Loyalists, Whigs and Tories, rich and poor. They were, in short, just like other Americans.
Jews Honored in Patriots Park
Some individuals stand out for their achievements in Jewish/American history. The thirteen people commemorated in Patriots Park (one from each colony) and nine others were extraordinary in their own time and ours. Additional portraits and biographies of early American Jews can be seen in the Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Database of Early American Jewish Portraits, hosted by the American Jewish Historical Society.
Solomon Bush (1753–1795) — Pennsylvania (Delaware)
Lieutenant-Colonel Solomon Bush was the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the Continental Army, a distinguished public servant, and a leader of the Masons in Pennsylvania. Born Oct 13, 1753, he was the son of Mathias Bush and Tabitha Mears. Bush joined the Pennsylvania Militia in 1776 and was appointed Deputy Adjutant General of the Militia of the State of Pennsylvania. According to a letter of commendation passed by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania in 1779,
…it appears that Major Bush has, on many occasions, distinguished himself in the public service, especially in the winter of 1776, when the service was critical and hazardous . . . in the month of September 1777, acting as Deputy Adjutant General, he was dangerously wounded in a skirmish between the militia and the advance of the British Army, his thigh being broken and he brought off with great difficulty; that being carried to his father’s house, on Chestnut Hill, and incapable of being moved, he fell into the hands of the British Army, when it moved up to Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania in December 1777 and was imprisoned. Colonel Bush was ultimately released in exchange for British prisoners held by the Continental forces.
Bush was an active Mason and went to London in November 1788 on business for the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge. He repeatedly but unsuccessfully petitioned George Washington for a diplomatic post, despite being highly recommended by others close to Washington. In spite of having had no formal medical training, Bush gained enough medical knowledge to be referred to as Dr. Bush. In 1791, he married Nancy Ann Marshall, most likely in Philadelphia. Bush died in 1795 and was buried in the Friends Burial Ground in Philadelphia.
Abraham Cohn (1832–1897) — New Hampshire
Cohn was one of many Jews who fought for the Union (some 2-3,000 Jews fought for the South) in the Civil War. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor above and beyond the call of duty for his heroic actions at the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of the Crater. Born in 1832 in Silesia, Germany, Cohn immigrated to the United States in 1860. He then enlisted in the army, first in the Sixty-Eighth Regiment of New York and later the Sixth Regiment of New Hampshire. At the Battle of the Wilderness, he was known for improving the disorganized fleeing troops from several regiments and establishing a new line of defense that held its ground. At the 1864 Petersburg, VA Battle of the Crater, he bravely and coolly carried orders to the advanced Union line under severe fire from the Confederate troops. While in the New York Sixty-Eighth Regiment, he rose to the rank of Captain. After the close of the war, Captain Cohn settled in New York and began a successful business career. He married and was the father of eight children. Cohn died in New York City on June 2, 1897, and was buried in the Cypress Hills Cemetery, New York.
Jacob Hart (1746–1822) — Maryland
Born in Fürth, Bavaria, Hart immigrated to America, settling in Baltimore in 1775. He became a successful merchant, and though in America only a year at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, aligned himself with the patriot cause. When General Lafayette visited Baltimore in 1791, he spoke about the financial needs of the army. Local merchants joined forces to donate money, and Jacob Hart donated the most, giving 2000 out of the 5,000 pounds contributed.
Hart married Leah Nathan, daughter of Caroline Webb, and Lyon Nathan of Pennsylvania, in November 1778. The wedding took place in the Philadelphia synagogue Mikveh Israel, where Leah’s father served as the shammash [caretaker.] Relocating to New York City, Hart rose to become an influential member of the Jewish community, serving as parnas [president] of Congregation Shearith Israel. In 1809, Jacob and Leah’s daughter Ella married Haym Moses Salomon, son of Haym Salomon, also represented in Patriots Park. Hart died on May 9th, 1822, and was buried in the Chatham Square Cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York.
Moses M. Hays (1739–1805) — Massachusetts
Moses Michael Hays was the most prominent 18th-century Jewish citizen in Boston, MA. He was born in New York City in 1739 to Dutch immigrants Judah Hays and Rebecca Michaels. Moses Michael worked for his father in his shipping and retail business. When Judah died in 1764, Moses Michael inherited the largest share of his father’s assets including his business. Hays continued a legacy of commitment to Congregation Shearith Israel in New York, serving as second parnas [vice-president] in 1766 and parnas in 1767.
Hays married Rachel Myers in 1766, younger sister of famed New York silversmith Myer Myers [also represented in Patriots Park.] In 1769, the couple moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where Hays continued his shipping business. A reversal of fortune landed him in debtor’s prison until he liquidated his assets and repaid his creditors. Hays immediately reestablished himself in the trans-Atlantic trade.
In 1775, seventy-six men in Newport were asked to sign a declaration of loyalty to the American colonies that included the phrase “upon the true faith of a Christian.” Hays publicly objected to this phrase and refused to sign, instead offering a letter affirming his loyalty to the Patriots and the Revolution as a just cause. Hays ultimately signed when the Christian reference in the oath was omitted.
The Hays family left Newport for Boston ahead of the British occupation in 1776. Moses Michael opened a shipping office and was among the first Boston merchants to underwrite shipbuilding, trade, and insurance to newly opened Far Eastern markets. In 1784, Hays became a founder and the first depositor of the Massachusetts Bank, still in operation today as part of the Bank of America.
In 1783, Reverend Isaac de Abraham Touro, husband to Hays’ sister Reyna, died in Jamaica, leaving his widow and three children: Abraham, Judah, and Rebecca. Moses Michael brought the family to Massachusetts and raised the children as his own.
Hays was also instrumental in establishing the New England Masonic movement. In November 1782, when Hays was accepted into the Massachusetts Lodge, he was the only Jew. In 1792, the lodge members elected Hays their Grand Master with Paul Revere as his Deputy.
Moses Michael Hays provided financial support to beautify Boston Common, establish theaters, and endow Harvard College. Hays’s descendants helped found the Boston Athenaeum and the Massachusetts General Hospital and remain prominent in Boston public life to this day.
Moses Michael Hays died in 1805 and was buried at The Colonial Jewish Burying Ground in Newport.
Aaron Lopez (1731–1782) — Rhode Island
Aaron Lopez, known as The Merchant-Prince of Newport, was one of the most successful merchants and traders in the city and was one of the founding benefactors of Touro Synagogue. Lopez, born to a well-to-do Converso family, was named Duarte [Edward] Lopez at his birth in Portugal in 1731. While in Portugal, Lopez married Anna Lopez and had a daughter, Catherine, before deciding to leave for a new, openly Jewish life in British North America. He joined his older brother Moses in Newport, Rhode Island.
In Newport, Duarte, Anna, and their daughter Catherine shed their Catholicism and reassumed their Jewish identities. They changed their names to Aaron, Abigail, and Sarah, respectively. With the help of his brother Moses, Aaron established himself in business. He participated with Jacob Rodriguez de Rivera in the manufacture and sale of spermaceti [whale oil] candles and was engaged in a variety of mercantile activities. By 1760 his business activities had grown to include the export of Newport manufactures such as furniture, axes, plank and board, flour, barrel staves, and salt fish. But, as another example of our nation’s founding ironies, Lopez, himself a victim of the persecutions of the Inquisition, expanded his business to include the slave trade. Between 1761 and 1774, Lopez underwrote 21 of the 347 slave ships that left Newport harbor.
As an English crown colony, trade from Rhode Island to the mother country was a privilege restricted to citizens. In 1761, Lopez and his friend and business partner Isaac Elizer sought naturalization in Rhode Island to gain rights to trade with Britain. However, both men were denied citizenship by the court. To circumvent the ruling, Lopez established residence in Swansey, MA, where the naturalization of Jews was allowed. He was granted citizenship in October 1762, and Elizer was naturalized in New York a year later. The Rhode Island authorities accepted the naturalizations from the sister colonies.
Following the death of his wife Abigail in 1762, Lopez married Sarah Rodriguez de Rivera, the daughter of his business partner, Jacob Rodriguez de Rivera. Together they had ten children in addition to the seven he had with Abigail.
The American fight for Independence brought significant economic upheaval to Newport merchants, including Lopez. One of his ships, the Hope, was seized by privateers in the waters between Newport and Jamaica. In 1780, Lopez successfully petitioned the Continental Congress for protection and restitution. It is doubtful that any damages were ever paid. 1
Fairly early in the war, Newport was occupied by the British. In 1778, Lopez evacuated his family to Leicester, MA, and set up a retail shop and a modest commodities trade via overland routes through Salem, Boston, and Providence. Over the next four years, he became a key supplier to the American forces, providing such necessities as flour and leather breeches. In 1782, while en route back to Newport with his family, Aaron Lopez accidentally drowned when thrown by his horse into Scott’s pond in Smithfield, RI. Lopez and his first wife Abigail were buried in The Colonial Jewish Burying Ground in Newport, Rhode Island.
Aaron Louzada (1693/5–1764) — New Jersey
Aaron Louzada was a wealthy merchant and shopkeeper dealing in spices and liquor. He was the first Jew to settle in New Jersey, establishing his family in Bound Brook in 1698. Aaron was born in London sometime between 1693 and 1695 to a family whose history can be traced to the beginnings of the Spanish Inquisition.
He arrived in New York in 1717 and soon purchased 877 acres of land, which ultimately became much of modern Bound Brook. His business succeeded and he became known for his generous contributions to Jewish communal causes in New York and New Jersey. Prior to 1740, he married Blume Michaels, the daughter of Moses Michael and Catherine Hachar. The Louzada’s had three children. Aaron died in 1765.
Jacob Mordecai (1762–1838) — North Carolina
Jacob Mordecai was both a patriot and a pioneer in the education of women. He was born in Philadelphia in 1762, the son of Moses and Esther Mordecai. At age 13, Mordecai served as a rifleman when the Continental Congress was in Philadelphia. He later helped supply the Continental Army as a clerk to David Franks, the Jewish quartermaster to General George Washington. After the war, Mordecai moved to New York and married Judith Myers. In 1792, the couple moved to Warrenton, North Carolina. Mordecai became a tobacco merchant there, but he was more interested in education and scholarship. In 1796, his wife Judith died in childbirth, and he remarried Rebecca Myers, the younger half-sister of Judith.
In 1808, Mordecai closed his tobacco business due to falling revenue. At the request of the town leaders who respected his knowledge and erudition, he opened the Warrenton Female Seminary (also known as Mordicai’s Female Academy). Initially, Mordecai and his wife Rebecca taught all the classes. As the school grew, their daughter Rachel and two sons joined the teaching staff. 2
The school succeeded due to its innovative plan of moral instruction and sensitivity to both Christian and Jewish observance. Students of all faiths attended, and all were encouraged to observe their holidays and practices. By 1814, praise for the academy had spread so widely that Mordecai had to cap enrollment at 110 students.
In 1819, at age 56, ten years after opening his Female Academy, Mordecai decided to sell the highly successful enterprise and move his family to Richmond, VA. In Virginia, he purchased a farm and became an active member of Richmond’s Jewish community, serving as president of Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome, the sixth oldest Jewish congregation in America, founded in 1789.
Moses Myers (1752–1835) — Virginia
Moses Myers was the first Jewish settler in Norfolk, VA, and had a long career in public service for the City of Norfolk and the United States Government. He was born in New York but moved to Norfolk after marrying Eliza Judah in 1787. Within five years, he had established a five-vessel fleet for his import-export business. In 1795 Myers was elected president of the Norfolk city council, and in 1804 was a commissioned colonel of a regiment of Virginia volunteers. Myers was appointed vice-consul for both Denmark and the Netherlands at Norfolk. In 1828, President John Quincy Adams appointed him collector of customs for the city. Fortune did not always smile on Myers, however. In 1816, Congress passed the Embargo Act, which forced him into bankruptcy. Told he could avoid debtors’ prison by trafficking in slaves or opium, he refused. Although Myers was never able to recover his fortune, he had repaid his debts by the time of his death in 1833. The classic Georgian townhouse that he and his wife Eliza built in 1792 still stands and is a popular tourist attraction. Much of the eighteenth-century furniture in the house today was used by the Myers family. Theirs is one of the few historic homes in which Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, is celebrated. 3
Myer Myers (1723–1795) — Connecticut
Myer Myers was born in 1723, the son of Solomon and Judith Myers, and was a dominant figure among a well-established community of silversmiths during the colonial era. Although it is not known where Myer Myers apprenticed, one possibility is that he learned the art from American silversmith Charles le Roux. Myers became a Freeman of the City of New York on April 29, 1746, and in about 1753 married Elkaleh Myers-Cohen. In August 1754, Myers moved his shop from the Meal Market in lower Wall Street to a house on King Street (now Pine Street), where he continued the goldsmith’s business with much success.
In 1756, silversmith Benjamin Halsted partnered with Myers to create the firm Halsted and Myers. The shop advertised fancy goods, readymade plates, and jewelry for sale at their premises at the lower end of King Street. The business continued to manufacture works, in gold and silver, on a custom, made-to-order basis. His clients included a wide range of New York society, including some from the synagogue Congregation Shearith Isreal, where he was an active member. Myers often crafted religious objects for both Jewish and Protestant congregations.
Myers’ first wife, Elkaleh Myers-Cohen, died in 1765, leaving him with four children. In 1767, Myers married his second wife, Elkaleh (Joyce) Mears. When the British threatened New York with occupation during the Revolutionary War, Myers and his family joined other members of Congregation Shearith Israel in evacuating the city and taking refuge in Norwalk, Connecticut.
In 1776, when the Myers family lived in Norwalk, CT, their daughter, Rebecca Mears Myers, was born. Their fourth son, Benjamin Myers, was born in Norwalk in 1778. The couple had a total of seven children during the period from 1769 to 1778. Myers and his family left Connecticut for Philadelphia, returning to New York in 1783.
He became chairman of the Gold and Silversmiths Society in 1786 and maintained a shop at 29 Princess Street (now Beaver Street), at the corner of Broad Street. By 1792, Myers had relocated to Pearl Street, where he remained until he died in 1795. He was buried in the Chatham Square Cemetery in lower Manhattan.
There are many examples of Myers’ works in places of worship, museums, and private collections. For the synagogues of New York, Newport, and Philadelphia he made silver Torah bells (rimmonim) which are still in use.
Haym Salomon (1740–1785) — Pennsylvania
Haym Salomon was a Polish-born American Jewish immigrant who played a vital role in financing the American Revolution. An astute merchant and auctioneer, Salomon accumulated a fortune that he subsequently devoted to the American government. He acted as a spy for America in British-held New York, was arrested, then escaped and fled to Philadelphia. He supported various members of the Continental Congress during their stay in Philadelphia, including James Madison. Salomon also negotiated sales of a majority of the war aid from France and Holland, selling bills of exchange to American merchants.
Salomon’s contributions to the success of the Revolution have often been acknowledged, including the issuance of a US postage stamp in 1975. The Congressional Record of March 25, 1975 reads, “When [Robert] Morris was appointed Superintendent of Finance, he turned to Salomon for help in raising the money needed to carry on the war and later to save the emerging nation from financial collapse. Salomon advanced direct loans to the government and also gave generously of his own resources to pay the salaries of government officials and army officers.” With frequent entries of ‘I sent for Haym Salomon,’Morris’ diary for the years 1781–84 records some 75 transactions between the two men.
Salomon was also involved in Jewish community affairs, was a member of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, and in 1782, made the largest individual contribution towards the construction of its main building. In 1783, Salomon and other prominent Jews appealed to the Pennsylvania Council of Censors urging them to remove the religious test oath required for office-holding under the State Constitution. In 1784, he answered anti-Semitic slander in the press by stating: “I am a Jew; it is my own nation; I do not despair that we shall obtain every other privilege that we aspire to enjoy along with our fellow citizens.”
Possibly as a result of his purchases of government debt, Salomon died penniless in 1785 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Mikveh Israel Cemetery. Two plaques commemorating his achievements have now been placed in the cemetery.
Francis Salvador (1747–1776) — South Carolina
Francis Salvador was born in London in 1747 and moved to South Carolina in 1773. In 1774, at the age of 27, Salvador was elected delegate to South Carolina’s revolutionary Provincial Congress, which assembled in Charleston in January 1775. He became the first Jew to hold such a high elective office in the English colonies.
When the second Provincial Congress assembled in November 1775, Salvador urged that body to instruct the South Carolina delegation in Philadelphia to vote for American independence. Salvador was also part of a special commission established to preserve the peace in the interior of South Carolina. There the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs was busily negotiating treaties with the Cherokees to induce the tribe to attack the colonists. When the Cherokees attacked settlements along the frontier on July 1, 1776, massacring and scalping colonial inhabitants, Salvador rode nearly thirty miles by horseback to sound the alarm. He then returned to join the militia in the front lines, defending the settlements under siege. Salvador was shot during a Cherokee attack early in the morning of August 1. He fell into some bushes, where he was subsequently discovered and scalped. He died 45 minutes later, the first Jewish casualty of the war.4
Gershom M. Seixas (1746–1816) — New York
Gershom Mendes Seixas was the first native-born Jewish clergyman in the United States, appointed to Congregation Shearith Israel in New York as its hazzan [reader] in 1768. He was an ardent patriot, a spokesman against intolerance, and was the spiritual leader of Shearith Israel from 1768 until 1776 and again from 1784 until he died in 1816. During the British occupation of New York, Seixas served as hazzan for Congregation Mikve Israel in Philadelphia.
Seixas was a strong advocate for American independence. In 1775, he convinced the majority of his congregation that Shearith Israel should close rather than operate during the British occupation of New York. Seixas packed the congregation’s books and sacred scrolls and took them and his family, to his father-in-law’s home in Strafford, Connecticut.
He was well-regarded in both the Jewish and Christian communities and served as a trustee of Columbia College (now Columbia University). In 1787, when George Washington became the first president of the United States, Seixas was one of 14 clergies who participated in the inauguration ceremonies. Seixas died in 1816 and was buried in the Chatham Street Cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York.
Mordecai Sheftall (1735–1797) — Georgia
Mordecai Sheftall was a prominent merchant and leading Jewish citizen of Savannah, Georgia. Born in 1735, Mordecai married Charleston-born Frances Hart in 1761. He became a founding member of Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah and gave land for its first Jewish cemetery. Sheftall was one of the founders of the Union Society, a non-denominational philanthropic association formed by Savannah’s religious organizations to assist widows and poor children.
Sheftall joined the Continental Army when war broke out and was appointed Commissary General of Purchases and Issues to the Georgia militia in 1777. In this position, he was responsible for supplying the colony’s soldiers with food and clothing, often spending his own money to purchase supplies for the volunteers.
He was captured with his 15-year-old son, Sheftall Sheftall, by the British in 1778 and imprisoned. Sheftall refused to provide information about the American supply source and would not renounce the patriot cause. Consequently, they were both sent to prison aboard the ship Nancy. Several months after their incarceration and under close British surveillance, Sheftall and his son were paroled and sent to Sudbury, GA. The Sheftalls managed to flee Sudbury on an American brig bound for Charleston but again were captured by the British. This time they were sent to Antigua, where they remained prisoners until the spring of 1780. Once free, they headed for Philadelphia, where despite financial hardships, Shefftal helped fund a new synagogue for Congregation Mikve Israel.
When the war ended in 1783, Mordecai returned with his wife and children to Savannah. In recognition of his sacrifices for the fight for independence, the State of Georgia granted him several hundred acres of land. Sheftall died in 1797 at the age of 62. He was buried in Savannah with full honors in the Jewish cemetery he created.
Early American Jews Important in American History
Issac Franks (1759–1822)
Issac Franks joined the Continental Army at age 17, was wounded in the Battle of Long Island, captured in Manhattan, and later escaped to New Jersey. Franks served first as a quartermaster and then as a forage master at West Point and became an ensign in the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment in 1781. He resigned the following year due to illness and married Mary Davidson, a practicing Christian. Franks had been a practicing Christian for several years before his marriage.
The couple moved to Germantown, PA, where Franks became a successful financial broker. In 1793, during the yellow fever epidemic that ravaged Philadelphia, Franks rented his large home to George Washington as a temporary White House. Washington met there with his cabinet until the epidemic subsided and he was able to return to Philadelphia. Franks hosted the President and his wife again in 1794 while they were on vacation.
That same year, Franks was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment and posted to Western Pennsylvania during the Whiskey Rebellion. The following year he began his service as justice of the peace for Germantown and Roxborough. In 1819 he came to serve as prothonotary [principal clerk of the court, or high notary] of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, a post he held until his death three years later. Franks’ sister Rachel was the wife of Haym Salomon (see above).
David S. Franks (1740–1793)
David Salisbury Franks, son of Abraham Franks and Lady Elizabeth Cecil, was born in Philadelphia around 1740. Franks’ father, a successful merchant, relocated his family to Quebec when Franks was a young man. In 1775, on the eve of the Revolution, Franks lived in Montreal, serving as parnas (president) of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue there (organized in 1768) even though he was of German Jewish descent. He joined the Continental Army when it invaded Quebec to wrest the city from British control. Franks described his activities as paymaster of the Continental Army in Quebec in a letter to George Washington in 1789:
in which Capacity I was indefatigable in forwarding the public Works, & again advanced considerable Sums of Money, at times when there was not a farthing in the Military Chest to satisfy the demands of the Workmen. 5
Franks returned to Philadelphia in July 1776, joined the Continental Army there, and served actively until October 1777. He attained the rank of major and was assigned as aide-de-camp to Benedict Arnold, the military governor of Philadelphia. When Arnold was convicted of treason, Franks too was implicated because of his association with the disgraced military governor. After two court martial investigations, all charges against David Franks were dropped, although damage to his reputation would be long-lasting.
In 1781 Franks was designated an official courier by Robert Morris to carry dispatches to John Jay in Spain and served as vice-consul at Marseilles from 1784 to 1787. At the time, Franks experienced considerable financial trouble, incurring debt at home and abroad. Upon his return to the United States in 1787, he sought a Federal appointment to support himself and his family. Franks asked Washington to appoint him as Counsel General in France but received a minor appointment as secretary to the commissioners Washington had appointed to negotiate with the Creek Indians. Later he served as assistant cashier of the Bank of the United States. Franks died penniless of yellow fever in October of 1793 at the age of 53. A Christian neighbor rescued his corpse from the coroner’s wagon before it went to potter’s field. Today, Franks lies buried in Philadelphia’s Christ Church Burial Yard.
Harmon Hendricks (1771–1839)
Harmon Hendricks was a metallurgist, businessman, and inventor who helped transform the United States from an importer to a manufacturer of copper.
His father, Uriah Hendricks, had established a successful business in the American colonies, importing copper and brass from England. After Harmon inherited the company in 1797, he stopped bringing in the metals from abroad and began manufacturing them in the states. In 1812, during the American war with England, Hendricks and his brother-in-law Solomon Isaacs built one of the nation’s first successful copper rolling mills in Soho, New Jersey. The firm produced the copper used to sheath three Navy vessels in New York harbor. At the same time, Paul Revere, a good friend of the Hendricks family, was cladding a fourth, the Constitution, with copper probably supplied by Hendricks. When Harmon Hendricks died in 1838, his three sons and four grandsons succeeded him in the business. The company remained family-run until Harmon Washington Hendricks died in 1928.
Harmon Hendricks married Frances Isaacs in 1800 and had five children. He, like his father, was very involved in the New York Congregation, Shearith Israel, and served as parnas from 1824 to 1827. He was also committed to the war effort in 1812, subscribing the then-considerable sum of $40,000 to government-issued issued war bonds.
Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy (1792–1862)
Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy had a long and significant career in the American Navy, beginning in the War of 1812. Moreover, he is singularly responsible for the preservation of Thomas Jefferson’s estate, Monticello.
Levy was born in Philadelphia in 1792, the son of Michael Levy and Rachel Machado Phillips. He ran away to sea at age ten to serve as a cabin boy on a trading ship but returned home in time to become bar mitzvah at age 13. He immediately returned to sea and was an experienced sailor at the outbreak of the War of 1812. In June 1813, Levy began his naval service aboard the USS Argus. That August, British troops seized the ship sending the crew to Dartmoor Prison in England. Levy remained a prisoner there for sixteen months.
After his prison release, Levy served on a series of naval vessels, working his way up in rank. He commanded the USS Vandalia in 1838-39 and 1857 and received the honorary rank of Commodore. Levy commanded the USS Macedonian in 1858 and was Flag Officer of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1860. During the 1850s, he played a primary role in abolishing flogging as a Navy punishment.
In 1836 Levy purchased Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, restored the property to its original condition, and opened it for visitation. The house and grounds remained in the Levy family until 1923. The family sold the estate to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. In 1853, Levy married his niece Virginia Lopez, daughter of his sister Frances Levy Lopez. The couple had no children.
Major Alfred Mordecai (1804–1887)
Major Alfred Mordecai was a career United States Army officer who resigned his commission in 1861 rather than lead Union troops against his native North Carolina. During his illustrious military career, he was responsible for introducing scientific theory into the development of American military munitions.
Major Mordecai, the son of Jacob Mordecai and Rebecca Mears Myers, was born in 1804 in Warrenton, NC. Jacob and Rebecca (see above) ran a school for women where Alfred was the only male student. A brilliant mathematician, he left Warrenton at age fifteen to enter West Point. In 1823 and only nineteen years old, Mordecai graduated top of his class.
He continued at West Point as an instructor, then supervised the construction of fortifications along the Atlantic Coast. His next position was in Washington, DC, as assistant to the Army Chief of Engineers. In 1836 Mordecai became commander of the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia and that same year, married Sarah Ann Hays, niece of Rebecca Gratz (also profiled in these biographies). Alfred and Sarah had eight children, one of whom, Brigadier General Alfred Mordecai Jr, like his father, graduated from West Point. Unlike his father, however, he chose to fight for the Union side against his Southern family. Alfred, Jr. became an instructor at West Point, commanded the National Armory in Springfield, MA, and died with the rank of General in 1920.
During his military career, Mordecai, Sr., attained the rank of Major and assumed command of the army’s most significant arsenal in Washington, DC. He became an assistant to the Secretary of War and the Chief of Ordnance, wrote a highly respected Digest of Military Laws, and served on the Board of Visitors to West Point. As a member of the Ordinance Board, Mordecai instituted scientific testing of munitions and new weapons systems. In 1841, he wrote the Ordinance Manual for the Use of Officers of the United States Army, the first manual for the United States military that standardized the manufacture of weapons with interchangeable parts. The manual was still in use until its revision in 1950.
The reputation of Mordecai as an expert in military technology and armaments grew. For this reason, Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War under President Pierce, sent him to Russia as part of a commission to study the Crimean War. His report Military Commission to Europe 1855–1856 is considered a model of military and technology analysis.
When Mordecai resigned from his military commission during the American Civil War, he supported his family by teaching mathematics at a private school. After the war ended, Major Alfred Mordecai did not return to military life. He worked briefly as an engineer for the Imperial Mexican Railroad. In 1866, the family moved to Philadelphia and strengthened ties to the Jewish community of Congregation Mikve Israel, where both the Gratz and Hays families were prominent. Mordecai died in 1887, and he and his wife Sarah were buried in the Federal Street Cemetery of that congregation.
Abraham Touro (1774–1822)
Abraham Touro, the oldest son of Congregation Jeshuat Israel spiritual leader, Isaac Touro, was born in Newport, RI. During the Revolutionary War, the Touro family remained in the city as British loyalists. When the British occupation of Newport ended in 1779, the family needed to leave and followed the British to New York. Unable to support the family there, in 1782, Isaac moved them to Jamaica. Unfortunately, he died soon after, leaving his wife Reyna and their children. Reyna moved the family back to the states, bringing Abraham and his siblings into the Boston, MA home of her brother, Moses Michael Hays.
As an adult, Abraham lived in Medford, MA. He entered into the merchant trade and insurance business with his cousin, Judah Hays, taking over the family business when his uncle died. Like his brother Judah Touro, Abraham was known for his philanthropy. He contributed to various community institutions such as the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Boston Female Asylum, and the Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys. However, Abraham is well known for his caring and concern for the synagogue and cemetery in Newport.
In 1820, Abraham Touro funded a brick wall to surround the cemetery. In 1822 when he died, the State of Rhode Island received $10,000 for the support and maintenance of the Old Jewish Synagogue in Newport. Abraham made an additional bequest of $5,000 to maintain the street running from the cemetery down the hill to the synagogue building. As a result of his generosity, the street was named Touro Street. When the state legislature accepted these gifts, they were the first to publicly refer to the synagogue as Touro (or Touro’s) Synagogue.
Rev. Isaac de Abraham Touro (1738–1783)
Isaac de Abraham Touro was the first permanent spiritual leader of Congregation Yeshuat Israel in Newport, RI, and served as hazzan (cantor) for the congregation from 1759 to 1776. He was in Newport during the construction of the city’s synagogue from 1759 to 1763 and more than likely was responsible for hiring the building architect, Peter Harrison.
Born in Amsterdam in 1738, Touro and his family had escaped the Inquisition in Spain, moving first to Lisbon, Portugal, and later to Amsterdam. Touro trained for the Jewish ministry in the Netherlands, then traveled to Jamaica before moving to Newport. He married Reyna Hays in 1773, in the synagogue he helped to build. Reyna was the daughter of Judah and Rebecca Michaels Hays of New York and sister to Moses Michael Hays of Newport and later Massachusetts.
Touro, a loyalist and at the time of the British occupation of Newport, remained in the city when most members of the congregation fled elsewhere. To help protect the synagogue from destruction, he allowed the British to use the sanctuary as a hospital. His loyalty to the British crown undoubtedly saved the building but came at a cost to him and his family. In 1782, when it appeared that the British would lose the war, Touro had to leave town. He moved his wife and children first to New York and then to the British colony of Jamaica, remaining there until he died in 1783. Upon his death, Reyna left the Caribbean with her children and moved back to Boston to live with her brother, Moses Michael Hays.
Judah Touro (1775–1854)
Judah Touro, the youngest surviving son of Congregation Jeshuat Israel spiritual leader, Isaac Touro, was born in Newport, RI. During the Revolutionary War, the Touro family remained in the city as British loyalists. When the British occupation of Newport ended in 1779, the family needed to leave and followed the British to New York. Unable to support the family there, in 1782, Isaac moved them to Jamaica. Unfortunately, he died soon after, leaving his wife Reyna and their children. Reyna moved the family back to the states, bringing Abraham and his siblings into the Boston, MA home of her brother, Moses Michael Hays.
According to some sources, Judah fell in love with his cousin Catherine Hays but her father, Moses Michael Hays, forbid them to wed. Consequently, Judah moved to New Orleans, where he made his fortune as a merchant/trader. During the war of 1812, Judah served as a civilian under General Jackson and was severely wounded. It took him a year to recover, but in the end, Judah resumed building his business interests in shipping, trade, and real estate.
Judah Touro was a founding member of the Sephardic congregation, Nefuzoth Yehuda, in New Orleans. He contributed to building the synagogue and attended services regularly. Additionally, Judah provided the land and funds for its religious school, bought land for its cemetery, and annually made up for any deficits incurred.
When Judah passed away in 1854, his estate was worth over half a million dollars, a vast sum for the time. His will represented the prototype for modern philanthropy by its scope and size. The amount bequeathed to such disparate institutions was so large and unusual that it created world interest. Bequests included charitable organizations, orphanages, and religious institutions at home and abroad. He provided support to virtually every synagogue in America, as well as helping Jews living in Jerusalem. He also left bequests to non-Jewish organizations, such as the Massachusetts General Hospital, which his brother Abraham had helped found.
Judah’s most enduring and visible legacy in New Orleans is the Touro Infirmary, a charitable organization for the relief of the Indigent Poor. According to its website, it is the only community-based, not-for-profit, faith-based hospital in New Orleans. For institutions in his hometown of Newport, RI, he left money for the ministry and maintenance of the synagogue. (He had already replaced the cemetery wall his brother had built decades earlier.) Additionally, he provided funds for the restoration of the Redwood Library and the purchase of The Old Stone Mill. The Mill property on Bellevue Avenue was for the city to be used as a public park and still exists today bearing the Touro name.
Endnotes and citations
1 Jacob Rader Marcus, United States Jewry, 1776-1985, p. 241.
2 Malcolm Stern, First American Jewish Families, p 218.
3 Moses Myers House, Norfolk, VA
4 Feldberg, Michael, ed. Blessings of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History, p. 24.
5 The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition, ed. Theodore J. Crackel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2007. Compiled in rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/pgwde/search-Pre02d202 (accessed 08 Jan 2008).
Congregation Jeshuat Israel
