Naphtali Phillips
| Naphtali Phillips | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 19, 1773 New York City, Province of New York |
| 💀Died | November 1, 1870 (aged 97) New York City, U.S.November 1, 1870 (aged 97) |
| 💼 Occupation | Newspaper publisher, customs inspector |
| Known for | Proprietor of the National Advocate; president of Congregation Shearith Israel |
| 👩 Spouse(s) |
|
| 👶 Children | 12 or more, including Isaac Phillips |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) | Jonas Phillips Rebecca Mendez Machado |
| 👪 Relatives | Moses Seixas (father-in-law) Uriah P. Levy (nephew) N. Taylor Phillips (grandson) |
Naphtali Phillips (October 19, 1773 – November 1, 1870) was an American newspaper publisher and Jewish communal leader. He was the proprietor of the National Advocate, a leading New York daily, and is regarded as the first of a line of Jewish newspaper publishers in the United States. He served fourteen terms as president of New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, having earlier been president of Philadelphia's Congregation Mikveh Israel.[1][2]
Early life
Phillips was born in 1773 on Whitehall Street in New York City, the son of the merchant Jonas Phillips and his wife Rebecca, daughter of David Mendez Machado, a former minister of Shearith Israel.[3] During the Revolution the family left New York for Philadelphia, where his father served in the militia.[2] He was one of twenty-one children; his sister Rachel was the mother of Commodore Uriah P. Levy.[4]
In Philadelphia, Phillips worked for David C. Claypoole's newspaper, the American Daily Advertiser. In September 1796 he took the first copy of Washington's Farewell Address off the paper's press; in 1848 that copy was placed in the cornerstone of the Washington Monument.[5] At the age of 25 he was elected president of Congregation Mikveh Israel.[2]
Marriage
On July 5, 1797, Phillips married Rachel Hannah Seixas, daughter of the Newport merchant and banker Moses Seixas.[4][6] She died in 1822, and he later married her first cousin Esther Seixas, a daughter of Benjamin Mendes Seixas.[4][7]
New York
Phillips moved back to New York around 1801.[2] For many years he was editor and proprietor of the National Advocate, and he later served as an inspector in the New York customhouse until about 1850.[1][3] He was prominent in the city's Democratic Party, served on many political committees, and at his death was the oldest member of the Tammany Society.[5][7] He was also an active Freemason.[8]
Phillips was a mainstay of Congregation Shearith Israel for more than half a century, serving as trustee and clerk and, beginning by 1816, fourteen terms as president.[1][5] He wrote a history of the congregation and kept extensive notes on early American Jewish history and genealogy, now held with his family's papers by the American Jewish Historical Society.[5][8] In 1827 he corresponded with former president James Madison.[1]
Phillips died in New York in 1870, at the age of 97.[4]
Family
His son Isaac Phillips was also president of Shearith Israel, and his grandson N. Taylor Phillips was a lawyer, state assemblyman and longtime clerk of the congregation.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Naphtali Phillips to James Madison, 9 July 1827 (editorial note)". Founders Online. National Archives.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Phillips". Encyclopaedia Judaica – via Encyclopedia.com.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Phillips, N. Taylor (1954). "Unwritten History" (PDF). American Jewish Archives. 6 (2).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Adler, Cyrus; Hühner, Leon; Sulzberger, David (1906). "Phillips". Jewish Encyclopedia.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Levine, Yitzchok (April 29, 2009). "N. Taylor Phillips: Scion of One of America's First Jewish Families". The Jewish Press.
- ↑ "Rachel Hannah Seixas Phillips". Loeb Database of Early American Jewish Portraits.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Newport, Rhode Island Land Deed to Oliver Hazard Perry, Signed by the Wife, Six Daughters and Two Sons-in-law of Moses Mendes Seixas". Seth Kaller, Inc.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Phillips Family Papers". American Jewish Historical Society.
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