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by Mordecai Sheftall.
In giving place to the subjoined article of Mr.
Sheftall, we cannot avoid saying a few words in relation to the names of
the first settlers in Savannah.
Our
correspondent, in No. 5, had spelled the names differently from
what we printed them; as we thought that there was a slight inaccuracy
in some of them, such as Nunis, Moranda, from the fact that among
the names of Portuguese families with which we are familiar, there are
those of Nunes and Miranda only. Since, however, Mr.
Sheftall attaches some importance to the accuracy of the spelling of the
pioneers of his native place, it affords us pleasure to be able to
correct them.
We also think that Mr. Sheftall has omitted to do
justice in his history of the Synagogue of Savannah to Dr. Jacob De la
Motha, now of Charleston, who was mainly instrumental in erecting the
first house of God in that city, and officiated without compensation as
Hazan during his residence there. Perhaps it is owing to the fact that
the Doctor is yet among the living, that Mr. S. omitted making mention
of him; still we deem it a matter of sheer justice not to avoid giving
credit where it is deserved, although the subject is a personal friend
of ours.
We will cheerfully find room for any future
corrections; and hope that the labours of our correspondents in
Charleston and Savannah relative to the history of their congregations
will soon be imitated by the residents of other cities, as we are very
anxious to present a history of all our congregations in America; since
so very little is known concerning them in Europe, or even in this
country. Shall our wishes be gratified? We trust that our friends will
answer in the affirmative, and do whatever is in their power to carry
our plan into execution.—Ed. Oc.
Early Settlement of the Israelites in
Savannah—Their Religious History—That of their Successors, &c.
Mr. Leeser—The "Occident," a periodical
under your editorial auspices, I had the pleasure of reading,—a
pleasure sincerely felt, not only from the dignified calmness with which
its subject-matter is clothed, but the integrity and fearlessness of
detail, in relation to the oppression of the Israelites in some portions
of the "Old World." How long the fury of a blind fanaticism
will be permitted to prevail, appears to be a problem of difficult
solution. The ruling powers are enslaved by their malignant prejudices,
which place them in open hostility with the hallowed principles of free
toleration. The moral sense of all enlightened nations must turn with
feelings of deep disgust from a benighted bigotry, which seeks to fetter
the human mind, and bow down man's conscience,—that arbitrarily
institutes a system of supervision, in which cruelty and intolerance
compose its cardinal points. Can we trust for an amelioration of the
condition of the Israelites to the onward march of science? Must we
conclude that from "the clouds that lowered on our house,"
persecution, like some absolute monarch, who dispenses life and death,
is still for time to come, to superadd to the great mass of iniquity
which so unrelentingly afflicts the humble worshippers of one God? In
these United States, as you well know, citizens professing different
religions or different religious sects, are constitutionally placed on
the same political footing. The federal compact recognises no
ecclesiastical establishment, no union of church and state, and
"FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OF THE PRESS," are deeply inscribed in
capitals on its enduring pillars.
I propose, Mr. Editor, to furnish you for the
"Occident," with the names of the Israelite emigrants who
embarked at London for Savannah, their arrival and landing, also some
portion of the religious history of these early settlers, and of others
of like religious faith, who succeeded them. And I am the more induced
to do this, from the very "imperfect historical sketch of the
Jews, and the Hebrew congregation of this city," furnished by
your correspondent over the signature of "A Southern Jew." The
author's omissions are so manifest, that one, feeling no ordinary
interest in the history of the Israelites of 1733, and the "Hebrew
Congregation," is constrained to step forward to supply his
omissions, and correct, as early as practicable, his mistakes. I
entertain not a vestige of doubt, that they have arisen from the scanty
materials the author possessed, and the injudicious haste which signally
marks his communication. The highly interesting facts which I am about
to narrate, are derived from two authentic sources. First, from the
writings of my grandfather, Mr. Benjamin Sheftall, who recorded in the
Hebrew language, and translated them into English at the request of his
son. Second, from the writings of his son, Levi Sheftall, Esq., who,
after his father's decease, recorded every important event connected
with the condition of the Israelites; arrivals, departures, marriages,
births, deaths, &c., to the first of July in the year 1808. The
manuscripts are in my possession and have been since 1809, (the year my
father departed this life.) I transcribe verbatim et literatim.
You have the facts in the phraseology in which they are stated. On the
first page of one of the manuscripts, my father, who was one of the
number who arrived at Savannah 11th July, 1733, kept a book,
of which this is a copy, of ALL the Jews that came here, were born here,
and went away. I was anxious to have it, and my father, translated it
into English for me from the Hebrew."
"Levi
Sheftall."
Manuscript pages 1 and 2. "The names of the
Jews who arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on the 11th day of
July, 1733. Doctor Nunis, Mrs. Nunis his mother, Daniel Nunis, Moses
Nunis, Sipra Nunis, Shem Noah their servant, Isaac Nunis Henriques, his
wife Mrs. Henriques, Shem their son, Raphael Bornal, his wife Mrs.
Bornal, David Olivera, Jacob Olivera, his wife Mrs. Olivera, David their
son, Isaac their son, Leah Olivera their daughter, Aaron Depivea,
Benjamin Gideon, Jacob Costa, David Lopass Depass and his wife, Vene
Real, Molena, David Moranda, Jacob Moranda, David Cohen and his wife,
Isaac Cohen their son, Abigail their daughter, Hannah their daughter,
Grace their daughter, Abraham Minis and his wife, Leah their daughter,
Esther their daughter, Simeon Minis, brother to Mr. Minis, Jacob Yowall,
Benjamin Sheftall and his wife, Abraham Delyon. Isaac Nunis Henriques
had a child who died on board the ship*. These persons were the first of
our nation who came to this country. They brought with them a Safer
Tora, with two cloaks, and a Circumcision Box, which were given to them
by Mr. Lindo, a merchant in London, for the use of the congregation they
intended to establish."
*Of the first settlers, I find very
few of their deaths recorded, which strongly confirms the information I
received and have stated elsewhere, that many of them emigrated to
Charleston in 1740 and 1741.
The following are the names of the
males who dies in Savannah, viz.:
Abraham Minis died 13th
January, 1757, aged 63 years. Benjamin Sheftall died 3rd
October, 1767, aged 73 years. Daniel Nunis died 20th
September, 1789, aged 85 years. Moses Nunis died 6th
September, 1787, aged 82 years.
Descendants.
Philip Minis, son of Abraham Minis,
born in the city of Savannah, on the 11th day of July, 1734,
died 6th March, 1789, aged 54 years, 7 months, 23 days.
Mordecai Sheftall, son of Benjamin
Sheftall, born in the city of Savannah, on the 2nd of
December, 1735, died 6th July, 1797, aged 61 years, 6 months,
23 days.
Levi Sheftall, son of Benjamin
Sheftall, born in the city of Savannah, on the 12th of
December, 1739, died 26th January, 1809, aged 69 years, 1
month, 14 days.
The manuscript being silent as to the Hechal, I
applied to my venerable kinsman, Sheftall Sheftall, Esq., anticipating
from his advanced age, unblemished integrity, and unworn memory,
that he could probably furnish some information as to the time it was
received here, and from whence it came. He stated to me, that he was
told by his father, the late Mordecai Sheftall, Esq., (eldest son of
Benjamin Sheftall,) that the Hechal was brought from London by the
Israelites who arrived in Savannah 11th July, 1733. It is the
same which is now used in the Synagogue. The manuscript does not
contain the name of the ship in which the embarkation of the Israelites
took place, nor the day of the month that she left London for her port
of destination. The Sheftalls, Mordecai and Levi, had it from their
father, Benjamin Sheftall, and which they frequently related with
sensations of honest pride, that all the Israelites who came to Savannah
paid their passage, laid in all necessary supplies for their
intended voyage, and were in nowise dependent on the favour or charity
of the British crown for one dollar to facilitate their emigration. The
captain of the ship which brought them to Savannah was named Beverly
Robinson. It is strange, that neither M'Call, in his History of Georgia,
the biographer of General Oglethorpe, nor Doctor Stephens, in his
"Historical Notices of Savannah," mentions one word of the
early arrival and location of the Israelites here, particularly, as in
July 1733, they actually composed ONE-THIRD (rather more) of the
population of Savannah. How facts so intimately associated with the
settlement of Georgia, should have escaped the scrutiny, vigilance, and
acute research of these writers, I cannot reasonably conjecture; but
this much I feel no hesitation in asserting, that the arrival and
settlement of the Israelites in Savannah on the 11th July,
1733, is part of and inseparably interwoven with, the rise and progress
of the then colony of Georgia, and will not be disregarded by any future
accurate historian.
The Israelites sailed from London in the second
ship which left that port for Savannah. When the ship first started, she
sustained some serious injury in the river Thames, and was compelled to
land her passengers and undergo repairs. After this was accomplished, a
re-embarkation of the passengers took place, and the ship set sail for
the "New World." The passage was a disagreeable and boisterous
one; gale succeeded gale, and the ship came near being wrecked off the
coast of North Carolina, and was forced to seek safety in "New
Inlet," where she was necessarily detained for some weeks. She
again set sail, and arrived and landed her passengers in Savannah on the
11th day of July, 1733, four days after "the
wards and tithings were named," and the assigning of the lots. The
first vessel which left England for Savannah was the "Ann, galley,
of 200 tons burthen;" she "set sail from Gravesend, 17th
November, 1732, with about 130 persons," (116 persons,
none of them Israelites.) "All the people arrived in
Savannah 1st February, 1733." The next embarkation of
colonists, (after the Israelites,) numbering about 220 persons,
sailed from England on the 13th October, 1735, more than two
years after the arrival of the Israelites in Savannah. Of the first
Israelite settlers, there live here the descendants of only three,
viz., Sheftalls, Minises, and Delyons.
Now for the religious history, manuscript page 4.
"Month of July, 1733. The Jews met, and agreed to open a Synagogue,
name K. K. Mickva Israel." A house was rented in Market Square, on
a lot now the property of Mr. Aaron Champion, and put in proper order,
where divine service was regularly performed for years.—Manuscript
page 7. "1737, July 12. Mr. Benjamin Mendez, of London, sent to
this congregation a Safer Tora, also a lamp for the Feast of Hannucca,
and a quantity of books: they were consigned to the particular care of
Mr. Isaac De Cunica, who delivered them." The Safers which we now
have are those given by Messrs. Lindo and Mendez, and are the same that
were used in the consecration of the present Synagogue. The congregation
must have been dissolved by removals in the year 1740 and 1741; as I
have been credibly informed that in those years many of the Israelites
emigrated to Charleston, in the State of South Carolina.
(To
be Continued.) |
