Abraham Mendes Seixas
Abraham Mendes Seixas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1750 New York City, Province of New York |
| Died | 1799 Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ | Continental Army South Carolina militia |
| Rank | Lieutenant (Continental Army) Captain (militia) |
| Spouse(s) | Richea Hart (m. 1777) |
Abraham Mendes Seixas (1750–1799) was an American Jewish merchant and officer in the American Revolutionary War. Born in New York, he moved to the South on the eve of the Revolution, served in the Continental Army and the South Carolina militia, and after the war became a merchant and magistrate in Charleston and president of its congregation, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. He was a younger brother of Gershom Mendes Seixas, the leading American Jewish religious figure of the period.[1][2]
Early life
Seixas was born in New York City in 1750, a son of the merchant Isaac Mendes Seixas and his wife Rachel Levy.[1][3] His siblings included Gershom, minister of New York's Congregation Shearith Israel; Benjamin Seixas, a founder of the New York Stock Exchange; Moses Seixas, who addressed the Newport congregation's letter of welcome to George Washington in 1790; and Grace, who married the merchant Simon Nathan.[1][4]
Revolutionary War
In June 1774 Seixas left New York for Georgia.[5] During the Revolution he served as a lieutenant in the Continental line and later as a captain in the South Carolina militia, and he carried dispatches for General Harry Lee between Charleston and Georgia.[1][5][6] In 1777 he married Richea Hart, daughter of Joshua and Rebecca Hart of Charleston.[3]
After the British captured Charleston, Seixas was banished from the city for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown, and in May 1782 he sailed to Philadelphia.[2] That year he took an oath of allegiance to the state of Pennsylvania.[1][3]
Charleston
Seixas later returned to Charleston and re-established his mercantile business. He applied to Washington for a federal appointment but did not receive one.[5] He died in 1799.[1][2]
Portrait
An unsigned portrait of Seixas from about 1795, showing him in a patriot officer's blue coat with epaulets, is held by the New-York Historical Society.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Adler, Cyrus; Hühner, Leon; Haneman, Frederick T. (1906). "Seixas". Jewish Encyclopedia.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "A Portion of the People: First Families". College of Charleston Libraries.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Richea Hart Seixas". Loeb Database of Early American Jewish Portraits.
- ↑ "Guide to the Papers of the Seixas Family". American Jewish Historical Society.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Editorial note on Abraham Mendes Seixas". Founders Online. National Archives.
- ↑ Levine, Yitzchok (May 1, 2014). "Gershom Mendes Seixas, American Patriot". The Jewish Press.
Further reading
- Rosengarten, Theodore, and Dale Rosengarten, eds. A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002.
This article "Abraham Mendes Seixas" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Abraham Mendes Seixas. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
