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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030283216
THE JEWS AND MASONRY
IN THE
UNITED STATES
BEFORE 1810
BT
SAMUEL OPPBNHBIM
Reprint from
PUBUCATIOITB OF THE AMEBICAI;^, JEWISH HlBTOBICA£ SOCIETY,
No. 19 (1910)
COPXEIGHT, 1910,
BY SAMUEL OPPENHEIM,
Residence, 811 Dawson St., Bronx, New York City, N. Y.
Formerly at 141 East lllth St., N. Y.
THE JEWS AND MASONRY
IN THE
UNITED STATES
BEFORE 1810
BY
SAMUEL OPPBNHEIM
Reprint from
Publications of the American Jewish Histoeicai, Society,
No. 19 (1910)
COPYRIGHT, 1910,
BY SAMUEL OPPENHEIM,
Residence, 811 Dawson St., Bronx, New York City, N. Y.
Formerly at 141 East 111th St., N. Y.
•/
^.^so^.^\
CONTENTS.
PAGE
iNTEODtJCTioN. Jews in Masonry. — Early relation to Order 1
Massachusetts. Moses M. Hays. — Introduces Scottish Rite
into United States. — Grand Master. — Judah Hays>-^Abra-
ham Jacobs : 5
Rhode Island. Jewish Masons in Newport, 1658. Evidence
considered. — Abraham Moses, Mordecai Campanall, Moses
Pacheco. — St. John's Lodge Jewish membership, 1760-
1810. — King David's Lodge. Masonic address to George
Washington, 1790. — Moses Seixas, Grand Master. — His
Masonic Work -. . . . 9
Maine, New Hampshibe, and Vermont. Abraham Isaacs in
New Hampshire 26
CoNNECTictTT. Solomon Plnto, Ralph and Benjamin Isaacs. . . 27
New York. Jonas Phillips and Aaron Hart, 1760. — Early Ma-
sonic certificate. — Moses M. Hays, Isaac Moses, King
David's Lodge. — Jews in Union, No. 1, St. Andrew's, No. 3,
Holland. No. 8, Phenlx, No. 11, Clinton, No. 453, I'Unitg
AmSricaine, Warren, Albion, Erin, Ancient Chapter,
No. 1, Royal Arch, No. 2, Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, Wash-
ington Lodges. — Society for Promotion of Masonic Knowl-
edge. — Mordecai M. Noah. — ^Lodge of Perfection, Abraham
Jacobs, Joseph Jacobs, Sampson Simson, Mordecai Myers,
Joel Hart, Moses L. M. Peixotto. — Supreme Council, North-
ern Jurisdiction. — Emanuel DeLaMotta 28
New Jersey. Samuel Hays, Jacob Benjamin 40
Pennsylvania. Lodge of Perfection, Philadelphia, 1781. —
Deputy Inspectors General. — Solomon Bush's address to
King of Prussia. — Abraham Forst. — Lodge No. 2, A. Y.
M. — Lancaster Lodge, No. 43.— Concordia Lodge, No. 67. —
Columbia Lodge, No. 91. — Corner-Stone Mikve Israel
Congregation laid by Jewish Masons, 1782. — Solomon
Bush and Grand Lodge. — Solomon Bttlng, Benjamin
Nones, Barnard and Michael Gratz, Isaac Franks, Hyam
Solomon, Simon Nathan, Benjamin Seixas, Jonas Phillips,
Moses Cohen, Myer M. Cohen -. 41
ill
PAOB
Delawaeb. David Bush, Lewis Bush, George Bush 53
Mabyland. Jacob Hart, B. Wolf, John Tobias, Isaac Mordecai,
S. Block, Samuel Jacobs, Hyman Samuel, Solomon Etting 55
ViBGiNiA. Hezekiah Levy and George Washington. — Jewish
Masons, 1785-1810. — Joseph Darmstadt, Grand Treas-
urer. — Solomon Jacobs, Grand Master. — Samuel Myers,
Jacob I. Cohen, Zalma Rehine, Benjamin Wolfe, Mordecai
Marks, Joseph M. Myers. — Richmond Lodge, No. 10. —
Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19. — Jerusalem Lodge,
No. 54. — Naphtali Lodge, No. 56, Norfolk 58
NoETH Carolina. Jacob Mordecai, Aaron Lazarus, Jacob
Henry 74
South Cakolina. Isaac DaCosta, 1753. — Lodge of Perfection,
1783. — Abraham Jacobs. — Joseph M. Myers. — Supreme
Council and Jewish Ofla.cers in Scottish Rite, 1802. —
Corner-stone, Beth Elohim Congregation, Charleston,
laid with Masonic ceremonies, 1793. — Friendship Lodge,
Charleston. — Lodge No. 10, Columbia. — La Candeur
Lodge. — Abraham Alexander, Emanuel De La Motta,
Jacob Deleon, Israel Delieben, Abraham Saportas, Moses
C. Levy, B. M. Spitzer, Hyman Isaac Long, Israel Myers . . 76
Georgia. Oglethorpe and Solomon's Lodge. — Jewish Masons,
1733-4, 1756-7.— The Sheftalls, Nunes, Isaac Pranks. —
Abraham Jacobs' initiations 87
Resume. With Names of Principal Jewish Masons 92
THE JEWS AND MASONEY IN THE UNITED
STATES BEEOEE 1810.
By Samuel Oppenheim.*
In an article in Moore's Freemason's Monthly Magazine,
Vol. XV., p. 183 (Boston, April, 1856), the editor, comment-
ing on the religious views of several Jewish ministers, took
occasion to make the following remarks in regard to what had
been said by the then late M. M. Noah:
We have understood that Dr. Noah was a Mason, but know not
how that may have been.' With his liberal views there is cer-
tainly nothing in Masonry to which he could have taken exception.
Many of the most eminent of his Jewish brethren were in his day
filling high and honorable places in the fraternity. The Grand
Lodges of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Louisiana,
and perhaps some others, have at different times elevated dis-
tinguished brethren of the Jewish faith to the dignity of Grand-
mastership. They were gentlemen and Masons of enlarged views
and liberal minds; and by the exercise of a tolerant spirit and a
courteous bearing towards those who differed from them in mat-
ters of conscience endeared themselves to their Christian brethren,
and contributed largely to elevate the social position of those to
whom they were allied by ties of kindred blood.
In line with the first part of this quotation is the following
excerpt from an editorial by Dr. Isaac M. Wise,' in The Israel-
ite for August 3, 1855 :
Masonry is a Jewish institution whose history, degrees, charges,
passwords, and explanations are Jewish from the beginning to
* The author is not a Mason.
' M. M. Noah was admitted a member of Independent Royal
Arch Lodge, No. 2, in New York, in 1825. See By-Laws and List
of Members of that lodge.
' Dr. Wise was a Mason. See Reminiscences of Isaac M. Wise,
by Rev. Dr. David Philipson, p. 264.
1
2 American Jewish Historical Society.
the end, with the exception of only one by-degree and a few words
in the obligation.
Dr. Wise, in a further editorial on August 17, 1855, also
said:
The beauty and pride of Masonry is its universal character, its
tendency to fraternize mankind, and its being free from the ele-
ments which have been ever the efficient causes of hatred, perse-
cution, fraud, and rude barbarism.
That the connection of Jews with Masonry in the early
history of the United States was of benefit to them, as well
as that it was to the advancement of the Order, is probably
true, though little has been written on the subject by Jewish
historians. An examination of the various publications acces-
sible here, relating to Masonry, reveals the names of Jews who
have been often mentioned in works treating of their race,
and who have been representative men in their respective
States. Their names appear in lists of members of the sub-
ordinate and Grand Lodges of many of the original thirteen
States. They were, however, always a small minority in the
few lodges with which they were connected. Among their
fellow members or those with whom they were brought into
relation through Masonry were men prominent in the affairs
of the nation. Several Jews are known to have been members
of the lodge with which Governor Oglethorpe, of Georgia, was
connected. In the lodge to which Washington belonged, a
Jew, as will be shown, was a member. Jews, also, were mem-
bers of the lodge to which belonged Edmund Eandolph and
John Marshall, of Virginia, and DeWitt Clinton, of New
York, all of whom were Grand Masters in their respective
States. In Ehode Island, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina
prominent non-Jewish names are likewise met with as mem-
bers of lodges to which Jews were admitted. The relationship
of the Jews to the Order brought them naturally more directly
in contact with their Christian brethren than would otherwise
have probably been the case, and the respect and esteem with
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 3
which the individual members of the race were regarded no
doubt tended to the advantage of their coreligionists as a body.
A connection with Masonry may possibly be traced through
the letters written to President Washington in 1790 by the
Jewish congregations of N'ewport, New York, Philadelphia,
Eiehmond, and Charleston, as many of the members of those
congregations were, like Washington, Masons. In one case,
the presiding officer of one of these congregations who, as
such, made his well-known address to Washington, also at the
same time, in his capacity as Master of a Masonic lodge, made
a further address to the President of the United States. Eef-
erence to this wiU be made in treating of Ehode Island.
It is impossible to obtain here, other than through the
printed records of the Grand Lodges of the various States
and of a few of their subordinate lodges, satisfactory informa-
tion as to the character of the early membership of those
lodges, and even the information so obtainable is somewhat
meagre. If arrangements could be made with those connected
with the Masonic fraternity in each State for an examination
of the lists of members of the various subordinate lodges ex-
isting in the early history of Masonry in the United States,
many additional Jewish names could no doubt be brought to
light, and fuller details obtained for biographical and historical
purposes.
Freemasonry is said to have been established as a regular
institution in the colonies through duly constituted lodges
deriving their authority from the Grand Lodge of England,
about the year 1727, although prior to that time it may have
been practiced here without regard to warrant or charter. The
active work of the Order, as an independent American organi-
zation, however, did not really begin until during and after
the Eevolution, when the Eepublic had begun to live. Accord-
ing to a writing confirming a tradition, which Masonic his-
torians refuse to accept, as uncorroborated, although accepting
4 American Jewish Historical Society.
in other cases traditions as binding, Jews may be said to have
had the honor of being among the first, if not the first, to
work the degrees of Masonry in this country, by bringing these
with them on their arrival in Rhode Island in 1658. This
subject will be discussed later on.
The results of the limited investigation the writer has been
able to make among the printed records to be found at the
Grand Lodge library in Masonic Hall in New York, and in
the Astor, Lenox, Columbia University, and New York His-
torical Society libraries, have been incorporated in this paper,
which does not pretend to be complete, and are submitted as
a slight contribution to the history of the Jews in this country
and as a basis for further work. Many of the earlier records
have either been lost or destroyed, and there has always been
some difficulty, according to the historians of the subject, in
getting the officers of the subordinate lodges to search their
archives for information. The influence of the Order in the
early history of the United States is so well known that the
connection of the Jews with it at that time, forming part of
the same influence, justifies this contribution, incomplete
though it be.
The greatest activity among the Jews in Masonry was dis-
played in this country during the latter part of the eighteenth
century in Ehode Island, Virginia, South Carolina, New York,
and Pennsylvania, where they were largely settled. The names
of many of the leading members of the Jewish congregations
in those States are to be found in lists of members of Masonic
lodges. Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, and Geor-
gia also give evidence of their early relation to the fraternity.
Mention is made of Jews as Masons in New Hampshire, Con-
necticut, New Jersey, and Delaware where they had not set-
tled in numbers; while no mention is to be found, so far as
ascertainable from the printed records, of Jewish Masons in
Maine and Vermont.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 5
MASSACHUSETTS.
The leading figure among the Jews in connection with early
Masonry in the United States was Moses Michael Hays, a
member of the well-known Hays family, of which a connected
account is given in The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, p.
270."' His name is sometimes spelled " Hayes " in the early
Masonic records. An interesting article on his Masonic activ-
ity is to be found in the New England Freemason for 1875,
written by Sereno D. Kickerson, who also wrote on the same
subject in The New Era for October, 1902. Mckerson says
that Hays was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1739, though in
various other Masonic accounts, and in documents. Hays is
spoken of as a native of London, and even of New York. N'o
attempt will be made here to repeat the details given ia the
two articles referred to. Hays was prominently identified with
the introduction into the United States of what is called in
Masonry the "Ancient Accepted Scottish Eite," which now
comprises, according to Albert G. Mackey's Encyclopedia of
Freemasonry, p. 667, 33 degrees, divided into the following
sections: Symbolic Lodge, 1st to 3d degrees; Lodge of Per-
fection, or, as it was called in its early history, Sublime Grand
Lodge of Perfection, 4th to 14th degrees; Council of Princes
of Jerusalem, 15th and 16th degrees; Chapter of Eose-Croix,
17th and 18th degrees; Council of Kadosh, 19th to 30th de-
grees; Consistory of Priaces of the Eoyal Secret, 31st and
32d degrees; and Supreme Council, 33d degree. Previous to
1801 the number of degrees was less, but they covered the
" He was an uncle of Judah Touro, the celebrated Jewish-
American philanthropist. See Publications of the American Jew-
ish Historical Society, No. 13, p. 95, where Max J. Kohler gives
an interesting reference to his life and character. See also Id.,
No. 12, pp. 104-110, for further mention of him and pp. 108-109 for
an extract from Life of Samuel J. May, pp. 13, 14, giving a vivid
picture of Hays' beautiful home life, and showing the respect and
esteem in which he was held in Boston.
6 American Jewish Historical Society.
various sections named, except the Supreme Council. A de-
gree is the equivalent, in ordinary language, of grade or rank.
These names will be occasionally met with in this paper, and
are here given as explanatory.
During Hays' life his authority was recognized, but after
his death considerable criticism, due apparently to his Jewish
origin and to his designation of Jews in whom he had con-
fidence for some of the higher oflBces, was made in anti-Masonic
circles and by some discontented Masons and rival Masonic
bodies, with reference to the steps taken by him and those
acting under his authority for the furtherance of the interests
of the Order. Into the merits of that controversy this is not
the proper place to enter. His proceedings are now accepted
by the Masonic fraternity as part of their approved history,
and title is traced through him and his appointees, for the
Scottish Eite in America. Nickerson speaks of him as " the
only Hebrew who ever held prominent office in the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts." In recognition of the powers con-
ferred upon him he was elected Grand Master of that Grand
Lodge at the annual elections from 1788 to 1792, having be-
come a member of the subordinate Massachusetts Lodge in
1783, in which year he was elected its Master, and re-elected
for the two succeeding years.' Paul Eevere, the Eevolutionary
patriot, was Deputy Grand Master under him.' Before be-
coming Grand Master, Hays had been Junior Grand Warden
of the Grand Lodge in 1785. Previous to that time he had
been Master of King David's Lodge in Newport from 1780 to
1782.° Prior to 1780 he had been Master of that lodge in
' History of Massachusetts Lodge, Boston, 1871.
* Mass. Grand Lodge Proa, for 187S, List of Ofllcers.
"Henry "W. Rugg, History of Freemasonry in Rhode Island,
Providence, 1895, and letter to the writer from Mr. S. Penrose
Williams, Grand Secretary of the Rhode Island Grand Lodge. The
fact that Hays was Master of King David's Lodge in 1781 and
1782 does not appear in Rugg's hook.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 7
New York where it had been originally organized under a
warrant issued to him by George Harrison, Provincial Grand
Master of ISTew York, February 33, 1769.° His connection
with Masonry probably commenced about 1768 when he was
appointed Deputy Inspector General of Masonry for North
America by Henry Andrew Francken, who had been com-
missioned by Stephen Morin, of Paris, acting under the au-
thority of Frederick II of Prussia, the Grand Master of
Masons of Europe and holding jurisdiction over America.
The appointment was made with the view of establishing the
Scottish Eite ia America, and power was given to Hays to
appoint others with like powers. Under this authority he
appointed several Deputy Inspectors General of Masonry for
various States, of whom mention will be made in treating of
those States.' Why such extraordinary powers were granted
to Hays, a Jew, is a question remaining to be answered.
Hays is reported as having been in Philadelphia, New York,
Newport, and Boston in furtherance of the mission entrusted
to him, settling finally in Boston, in 1783, although one
writer speaks of him as residing in Boston in 1767. When
the Supreme Council of the Scottish Eite for the Southern
Jurisdiction was organized in 1801, at Charleston, S. C, as
a transformation of the former Eite of Perfection or Ancient
Accepted Eite which had been established in Charleston in
1783, through his appointee, Isaac DaCosta, Hays was on its
rolls as an honorary member of the Sublime Grand Lodge of
Perfection,' and holder of the thirty-second degree. His per-
"Rugg, supra, pp. 44, 48.
'A copy of the patent from Francken, dated December 6, 1768,
Is printed in the AntirMasonic Review, Vol. II, p. 343. In it Hay3
is described as " of the Jewish Nation, native. Inhabitant and
merchant of the City of New York." This patent is also printed
in publications relating to the Scottish Rite.
' Albert G. Mackey and William R. Singleton, History of Free-
masonry, New York, 1898, Vol. VII, p. 1846.
8 American Jewish Historical Society.
sonal activity in connection with the Eite seems to have ceased
after he became Grand Master in Massachusetts.
He died in Boston, May 9, 1805, and his remains were taken
to Newport and buried in the Jewish cemetery there. An
elegiac sonnet on his death was written by Eobert Treat
Paine, Jr., son of Eobert Treat Paine, one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence.'
Hays is described in a recent Masonic work published in
Massachusetts'" as follows:
Worshipful Brother Hays was truly " an Israelite in whom there
was no guile," a man of broad and liberal culture, astute in busi-
ness, sociable and friendly with all, of open-hearted and open-
handed charity which his well-filled purse allowed him to extend
to all who required fraternal aid, whether among Masons or other-
wise. Such aid he extended in a truly Masonic spirit and in no
intrusive manner.
Kickerson, in The New Era, says that Hays' son and all his
granasons and great-grandsons were Masons. Hays left one
son and five daughters."
Hays' son Judah is the only other Jew listed as a member
of Massachusetts Lodge, of Boston, before 1810. He was
initiated ia 1788, and became a member in 1790." He was
a resident of Boston in 1805 when his father died. The issue
of the Columbian Centinel of that city, for May 11, 1805,
which contains a tribute on the death of Moses M. Hays,
quoted by Nickerson in articles already referred to, includes
an item of the election of Judah Hays as a "fireward" in
Boston, in place of another official who had resigned.
° Robert Treat Paine, Jr., Collected Works in Verse and Prose,
Boston, 1812, p. 292. See, too. Publications of the American Jew-
ish Historical Society, Nos. 11 and 12.
" Celebration of the 125th Anniversary of Massachusetts Lodge,
1770-1895, Boston, 1896.
" The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, p. 270.
^History of Massachusetts Lodge, Boston, 1871.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 9
Abraham Jacobs was, according to his certificate, " initiated
into the second degree of Masonry " on July 32, 1782, in St.
Andrew's Lodge, of Boston." He will be met with later. His
original certificate of membership is in the possession of the
Grand Lodge of New York, and will be referred to in treating
of New York. It reads :
And the Darkness Comprehended it Not.
in the East, a Place of Light where Reigns Silence and Peace.
We, the Master, Wardens and Secretary of St. Andrew's Lodge,
held In the Town of Boston and State of Massachusetts, do Certify,
that the Bearer hereof, our Worthy Brother Abraham Jacobs has
been Regularly Initiated into the Second Degree of Masonry. As
such he has been Received by us, and being a True and Faithful
Brother is hereby Recommended to the Favor and Protection of
all Free and Accepted Masons Wheresoever Dispersed.
In Witness Whereof, We have caused the Seal of our said Lodge
to be hereunto affixed this twenty-second day of July, 1782, and of
Masonry 5782.
Patji, Reveee, Master.
Robert McElbot, Senior Warden.
N. Willis, Junior Warden.
Ben Coolidge, Secretary.
(Seal)
We have caused the Bearer
to afiax his name on the oppo-
site column.
Abbaham Jacobs.
RHODE ISLAND.
In Ehode Island, the name of Mordeeai Campanall, one of
the first Jews at Newport, is connected by tradition and a
document with Masonry.
Mr. J. L. Gould, of Connecticut, in his Manual entitled
Guide to the Chapter, published in 1868, made this statement :
The earliest account of the introduction of Masonry into the
United States is the history of a lodge organized in Rhode Island,
"Robert Folger, The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, 2d
edition. New York, 1881, Document No. 15, first page.
10 American Jewish Historical Society.
A. D. 1658, or 59 years before the revival in England and 75 years
before the establishment of the first lodge In Massachusetts.
In its support Gould quoted the following passage from
Eev. Edward Peterson's History of Rhode Island (New York,
1853, p. 101) :
In the Spring of 1658, Mordecai Campannall, Moses Peckekoe
[Pacheco], Levi, and others, in all fifteen families, arrived at
Newport from Holland. They brought with them the three first
degrees of Masonry, and worked them in the house of Campan-
nall; and continued to do so, they and their successors, to the
year 1742.
Dr. Peterson gave Mr. IST. H. Gould, of Newport, as Ms
authority.
The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, wishing in 1870 to
obtain further information in regard to this assertion, wrote,
through its Grand Master, to Mr. Nathan H. Gould, 33d
degree, who had been Master of St. John's Lodge of Newport
in 1857, and was a member of the Grand Lodge of Rhode
Island, for the evidence upon which Dr. Peterson's statement
was based. There was received a long reply, which is printed
in the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, for
1870 (p. 358). In this reply Gould, writing from Newport,
stated that inquiry on the subject had been made of him at
various times by Masons and by Israelites, and that he had
shown his data to Dr. Peterson who had studied them out with
him, and that he had also spoken about the matter in an ad-
dress before St. John's Lodge, of Newport, when he was its
Master." He added that there were well-authenticated tradi-
tions among some of the Masons who had devoted not a little
time and energy in collecting and preserving them, supporting
Dr. Peterson's statement. He then recounted the finding, in
1839, when he was not yet a Mason, of certain papers in an
old chest among the effects of a deceased relative of his, who
"This address is not in print, and a statement of its contents
cannot be obtained.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 11
was a great-great-grand-daughter of John Wanton, Gk)vernor
of the Colony of Ehode Island from 1734 to 1740; and among
them a memorandum, called by him a " document of a dual
nature," relating to the early Israelites and referring to
Masonry.
This memorandum, or " document," he wrote, was in a
somewhat tender state and much worn when found and could
not be photographed, and in 1870 was, for reasons given by
him, not accessible for inspection by the inquiring Masons. As
far as it could be deciphered, he added, it read as follows:
Th3 ye [day and month obliterated] 165 [6 or 8, not certain
which, as the place was stained and broken; the first three figures
were plain] "Wee mett att y House off Mordecai Campunall and
affter Synagog Wee gave Abm Moses the degrees of Maconrie.
Gould, in his reply, continued :
Thus we find, at one and the same time, confirmation of the
traditions that those early Israelites opened a synagogue in the
house of Campannall, and continued to worship there as long as
they and their descendants resided in that town. They were part
of a colony of Israelites from Holland who, as such, were induced
to go out to what has since been known as the Spanish coast of
South America, probably Brazil, and collect precious stones, were
driven out and scattered to the islands. A portion, with their
Rabbi, Isaac Abboab, having, after wanderings, found their way
to Jamaica (with which island and this town [Newport], at that
early day, there was a regular trade), and they hearing from one
of the captains of the packets that in the North there was an
island healthy and beautiful, where full and perfect toleration,
or liberty of conscience was allowed, where the " Mohommedan and
the Jew " could worship according to the dictates of their own
consciences, a church without a bishop and a State without a
king, they made further inquiries; and being satisfied it was to
them like the dry land to Noah's dove — a place where they could
rest — thither, with their Rabbi, came, viz., Mordecai Campannall,
Moses Packeakoe [Pacheco], Levi, Moses, and others, in all about
fifteen (15) families, and continued to reside here for many
years; and the names of some of the families are not yet extinct
in this State; such as the Moses, James, Benjamins, etc. The
13 American Jewish Historical Society.
site of the house formerly occupied by Campannall was pointed
out to me, when a child, by an aged relative to whom it was
pointed out when she was a child, and what is a little remarkable,
that when the second emigration of Israelites came here about
1750 to 1760, a family of them purchased and occupied a house
standing on the same spot, and continued to do so until about
1820.
Gould in 1839, when tlie document was foimd, was not
over twenty-one years old.""
Though not disputing the genuineness of the document, the
historian of the Massachusetts Grand' Lodge, as well as the his-
torian of the Rhode Island Grand Lodge to whom Gould's letter
was submitted for opinion, insisted that it did not prove the
existence of a Masonic lodge in Newport, or that there was legal
Masonic authority for the work done there, or that any one ever
was legally made a Mason in Newport between " 1658 and 1742,"
though the degrees might have been given to Abraham Moses, as
stated in the memorandum. The first lodge established in Rhode
Island, it was claimed, was one in Newport in 1749, under the
authority of Thomas Oxnard, and was known as St. John's Lodge,
of Newport.
It was also claimed that as the document was not signed or cor-
roborated and its author unknown, it cannot be regarded as an
authority.
It is also asserted by an eminent Masonic writer that " in the
seventeenth century the craft was most unlikely to have been thus
patronized by Israelites, seeing it was Christian in character." "
Another Masonic writer" remarks that three degrees of Ma-
sonry were not recognized at the time the document appears to
be dated, and therefore inferentially argues that the statement
of Peterson that the Jews brought with them the first three de-
grees of Masonry proves the document unworthy of credit.
The arguments with regard to the document have always been
against it, the subject being usually dismissed with a curt or con-
temptuous notice. No one seems thus far to have attempted to
"' See The Wanton Family, B. I. Hist. Tracts, No. 3, p. 115.
"William James Hughan, Origin of the English Bite of Free-
masonry, tiondon, 1884, p. 12.
"J. Ross Robertson, History of Freemasonry in Canada, To-
ronto, 1900, Vol. I, p. 138.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 13
consider the arguments In Its favor from a Masonic or other point
of view. No facts have ever been presented to Impeach the story
of the discovery or the genuineness of the document.
It -will be seen that the document Itself does not mention
three degrees, but uses only the word " degrees." Peterson's refer-
ence to three was no doubt due to his belief that in the use
of the word " degrees " the writer of the document meant the
first three degrees which since 1721 have been generally recog-
nized. Apparently he was unacquainted with the history and
theories regarding degrees before that time. Modern Masonic
writers, with the meagre data of the period before 1717, known
as the prehistoric period, find no records to show references to
three degrees prior to 1721. They agree, however, that there
were three classes of Masons, namely, Masters, Fellows, and Ai)-
prentices, and say that one form of initiation was common to all,
but that there was no such thing as a series of degrees as that
term is now Masonlcally understood." All this does not militate
against the reference to degrees in the Gould document which does
not say that the degrees were numbered, or that Abraham Moses
was given the first, second, and third degrees. The use of the
word " degrees " may have had reference to what was then re-
garded as the steps taken by the candidate before becoming a full
Mason, which steps may have been termed degrees, without divid-
ing them into numbers, and the three grades of initiation may
have been conferred at one meeting and been termed degrees by
the writer of the memorandum. The conclusion of some Masonic
writers that three degrees did not exist Is merely presumptive,
and is based on the absence of data on that point and many others,
and upon an examination of the few remaining old records which
make no mention of numbered degrees. Some of the older writers,
such as Anderson and Payne, speak of " degrees," and in an ad-
dendum to Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Charles T.
McClenachan shows. In " Degrees, when were Three Created? "
by citations from the older writers, that more than one degree
was known before 1721, and even as early as the late sixteenth
century in Scotland. The want of data on the subject may there-
fore be a point in favor of the statement in the document. Even
though there were not then three degrees, the term degrees no
"Mackey and Singleton, History of Freemasonry, supra, Vol.
Ill, p. 869.
3
14 American Jewish Historical Society.
doubt had in 1658 another signification than as now Masonically
understood.
Whether the institution was Christian in character in the middle
of the seventeenth century, or unlikely then, under any circum-
stances or conditions, to have been patronized by Israelites, is a
subject properly discussible in a Masonic publication by experts
on both sides of the question, and its consideration cannot be
entered into here, under the limitations prescribed for this paper.
The question being an open one does not militate against the
document, bee Buppiemeuial Note, p. 'd-t
It is admitted by Masonic writers that lodges existed In America
before the revival of the Order there and in Europe, and Mackey,
Rugg, and others refer to the tradition regarding one of these in
Rhode Island."' No claim is made here that the lodge Indicated In
the Gould document was one directly constituted by a central au-
thority, but it Is urged that it was as regular as any of those
existing here before the revival. The document, considered as a
writing of the seventeenth century and before the revival, there-
fore contains the first mention of the Order in what Is now the
United States, antedating, as it does, any other known reference.
An Important element in considering the value of the document,
in connection with other elements here considered, is proof of
the existence, at the time, of such a person as Mordecal Campan-
all named in it.
Campanall's name appears as one of the grantees In a deed
of the Jewish cemetery at Newport, dated in February, 1677-1678.
That deed contains a provision indicating that Campanall, with
other Jews, was In Newport some time before that date, and that
he and they had at one time before 1678 departed as a body. It
speaks of them all leaving the island " again." It is just possible
that after their settlement there about 1657 or 1658 they were
compelled to leave because of the operation of the English Navi-
gation Act of 1660, which prohibited foreigners or aliens, not
made denizens, from trading in the colonies, or of the operation
of the prior Navigation Act.
"• See Mackey and Singleton, supra, Vol. V, pp. 1226-1241, 1411;
Rugg, supra, pp. 21, 25, 44; Robertson, supra. Vol. I, pp. 135-140;
Robert P. Gould, History of Freemasonry, Yourston & Co., edition
1905, Vol. IV, p. 424; Leonard Stlllson, in "Masonic Fraternity,"
column 6, in Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. X, unpaged.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 15
The cemetery deed is important to us as establishing the exist-
ence of Campanall in Newport, and its authenticity cannot be
doubted, though a recent writer has questioned it and intimated
that Gould fabricated it. Absolute proof, however, regarding it
exists. Ross, in 1838, when Gould was not yet 21, and Peterson,
in 1853, both mention it in their accounts of Newport, and a
copy made from a copy certified in 1767 is on record in Newport.
The whereabouts of the original deed itself is unknown. The
volume of. land evidences of Newport in which the original was
recorded is lost, but the certified copy made by William Codding-
ton, Town Clerk of Newport, in 1767, is in existence. It was
recorded in 1872. It was recently found in possession of Gould's
son Stephen, of San Antonio, Texas, and by the latter presented,
at the writer's suggestion, to the American Jewish Historical
Society, which now owns it. A comparison of the writing with
a specimen of the known handwriting of Coddington, now also
with the Society, and with records in Newport, leaves no doubt
of its genuineness as a certified copy made in 1767, and proves
the recording of the original in 1678 in the book and page men-
tioned in the certified copy and by Ross and Peterson. In this
way the fact that Campanall and other Jews were in Newport
in 1677-1678, when the deed is dated, is established, and from one
of its provisions, as remarked, is also established the fact that
they were there some time before, presumably at the time men-
tioned by Gould.
Writers on Newport, like Ross and Peterson, deriving their
data from families long resident in that town, whose ancestors
were in the colony from almost its foundation, and in position
to give them correct information regarding the date of the first
arrival of the Jews there, fix the date as 1657 or 1658. The gen-
eral trend of knowledge on the subject of the early settlement of
the Jews in the United States goes to confirm that date, though
contemporary record proof is lacking aside from the document
quoted by Gould and the information derived from the cemetery
deed just referred to, and also the data in Gould's possession, upon
which he based his statements regarding the early arrivals. This
lack of contemporary proof arises from the loss of many of the
records of Newport and the colony prior to 1700.
Campanall's existence is also proved by another record made
in 1685. This is a Newport court record detailing the proceedings
in a suit against him and other Jews questioning their right to
16 American Jewish Historical Society.
trade in the colony in view of the Navigation Act of 1660. The
suit -was decided in their, favor. A certified copy of that record
has been filed with the American Jewish Historical Society. It
is referred to, with mention of Campaaall's name, in an address
by the late Thomas Durfee, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of Rhode Island, entitled " Gleanings from the Judicial History
of Rhode Island." " This record appears in Book A, p. 73, in the
oflBce of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Rhode Island, at
Newport.
As Campanall is not known to have lived beyond the seven-
teenth century, the reference to his house, indicating he was
alive when the meeting was held, as the house would not have
been called his if he were dead, is a strong evidence that the
document was written in the seventeenth century, and therefore,
as such a writing, establishes the truth of its statements re-
garding Masonry.
That there was at one time a Campanall house is evidenced by
the reference in Gould's narrative to its site, and may also be
inferred from Campanall's residence in Newport, indicated by the
cemetery deed and court record just mentioned.
Abraham Moses, mentioned in the document, was In all proba-
bility an ancestor of the Moses family living in Newport in the
eighteenth century. The extant records do not disclose his name.
There was, however, a Samuel Moses In Newport in 1760," and
an Isaac Moses in 1774; " also a Samuel Moses in 1810," and the
last of the family, Samuel Moses, died in 1881." The existence
of the Moses family in Newport, as mentioned by Gould, thus
confirmed, tends to corroborate the existence of the Abraham
Moses mentioned in the document.
The period of composition of the document may be practically
determined, independently of the date given in it, from the style
of its orthography. In the doubling and raising of letters, in the
unusual forms " Maconrie " and " oS " for " of," and even in the
apparently Inconsistent variation in the manner of spelling " oft "
and " ye " in a single writing, the orthography is peculiarly of the
"B. I. Hist. Tracts, No. 18, pp. 123, 134.
" See Book B, p. 154, in office of Clerk of Superior Court of
Rhode Island, at Newport.
=° Book F, iUd.
" Probate Book at Newport, No. 4, p. 734.
"Ibid., No. 34, p. 412.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 17
seventeenth century and not of a later period and is thus con-
firmatory of genuineness.
Its language and style of composition Indicate a Jewish hand
as the author.
Proof that the document was written before 1700 suffices to
give weight to the statements in It even if its authorship he not
established. We may, however, relatively determine the probable
author, and thereby also definitely prove the existence of the
document as a writing of the seventeenth century, through the
following considerations. That author, it is submitted, was Moses
Pacheco, one of the grantees named in the Jewish cemetery deed,
and mentioned by Gould as among the first Jewish arrivals in
Newport. A reason for believing him so to be, in addition to its
Jewish character, is to be found in the following indication that
the document came through him to Gould:
Gould stated in his Grand Lodge letter that the document had
come to him from a relative who was a descendant of John Wan-
ton, Governor of Rhode Island from 1734 to 1740. A connection
between Wanton, Pacheco and the document is shown as follows.
From an official record we learn that administration on the
estate of Moses Pacheco was granted in 1688 to Caleb Carr, whose
son's widow was related to Wanton. A copy of this record has
been filed with the American Jewish Historical Society. It is
certified by the Clerk of the Superior Court of Rhode Island, at
Newport, as being a transcript from Book A, p. 97, in his office.
It proves the existence of such a person as Moses Pacheco, men-
tioned by Gould, in addition to the mention of him in the cem-
etery deed. A further mention of him appears in the will of
Governor Caleb Carr, of Rhode Island, a copy of which is given
in the Rhode Island Historical Magazine, Vol. Ill, p. 226. There
the name is erroneously printed as Moses Pachech.
Comparing the genealogical records" of the Wanton and Carr
and Gould families, we find that Governor John Wanton's brother
Michael married the widow of Caleb Carr's son William, who had
died after his father's death, and who no doubt had possession
of all the papers belonging to or in the custody of his father,
including those of Pacheco, of whose estate his father was admin-
istrator. Wanton, said Gould In his letter to the Massachusetts
"The Wanton Family, R. I. Hist. Tracts, No. 13; Austin's Gen.
Diet, of R. I., under Carr and Wanton; and Edson I. Carr, The
Carr Family Records, Rockton, 111., 1894.
18 American Jewish Historical Society.
Grand Master, was a highly respected merchant of Newport to
whom many valuables were entrusted for safekeeping. Pacheco
was also a merchant of that town. It is fair to conclude that thus,
through the relationship indicated with Caleb Carr, Pacheco's ad-
ministrator in 1688, the papers of Pacheco finally came into Wan-
ton's possession and that the Masonic document was among them,
and thus came to be handed down to Gould who was of the Wanton
family. Found, as the document was, among the old papers of the
family adds to our reasons for accepting It as a writing of the
seventeenth century, and as such alone the conclusions flowing
from its statements regarding Masonry must be accepted whether
the document was signed or not.
Mr. N". H. Gould is also given as the authority for the
following statement, quoted in Judge Charles P. Daly's Settle-
ment of the Jews in North America (p. 78) :
Among the earliest lodges of Freemasons were the following
Israelites: Isaac Isaacs, money-broker; Solomon Aaron Myers,
Joseph Jacobs, Abraham Mendez, Eleazar Eleazar, Moses Isaacs,
and Isaac Eleazar.
These names are given in Judge Daly's work as names of
seventeenth century Jews. This is evidently a misinterpreta-
tion of Gould's communication. " Earliest lodges " refers to
the earliest of the regularly constituted lodges after the revival
of Freemasonry — St. John's Lodge of Newport, organized in
1749. These names and others are found in a list of 113
"members of St. John's Lodge of Newport previous to the
24th of June, 1791," appearing in a reprint of the Proceedings
of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, 1791-1820.
The Jewish names mentioned in that list are as follows :
Moses Seixas, Master; Moses M. Hays, Jacob Isaacs, Isaac
Isaacs, Moses Isaacs, Eleazer Elizer, Isaac Elizer, David Lopez,
Sen., Ab. P. Mendez, David Lopez, Jr., Joseph Jacobs, Isaac
Judah, and Barrak Hays. The name Solomon A. Myers seems
to have been omitted from this list, though he was known to
be a Mason before 1791.
On inquiry of Mr. Ara Hildreth, the venerable secretary of
St. John's Lodge, of Newport, regarding early Jewish mem-
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 19
bers of that lodge, and the dates of their admission, the fol-
lowing reply was received :
I find that Christian Myers joined St. John's Lodge In 1755;
Moses Isaacs, Isaac Isaacs, 1760; David Lopez, 1762; Jacob Isaacs,
1763; Moses Lopez, 1763; Isaac Elizer, 1765; Eleazer Blizer, Isaac
Elizer, Moses M. Hays, Isaac Isaacs, David Lopez, Jr., Solo. A.
Myers, Abraham P. Mendez, Moses Selxas, Jacob Jacobs, 1790;
Barrak Hays, 1791. All who joined in 1790 came from King
David's Lodge, and I think they remained members of St. John's
Lodge until their death.
The name Christian Myers given by Hildreth is probably
that of a converted Jew, being spelled in the reprint Just men-
tioned Mayers. It was no doubt given because of the appear-
ance of the name Solo. A. Myers. He also gives Jacob Jacobs,
and does not give Joseph Jacobs, whose name appears in the
reprint. A Jacob Jacobs married a sister of Moses M. Hays.'*
He is probably the Mason referred to by Hildreth.
In the reprint a Joseph Jacobs is also mentioned as a mem-
ber of St. John's Lodge, of Providence, before 1791. He is
probably identical with the Joseph Jacobs of the lodge at
Newport.
From the same volume of reprinted lodge proceedings, it
appears that Sheftall Sheftall, in 1793, and Abraham Massias,
in 1800, became members of St. John's Lodge of Newport.
Sheftall Sheftall was the son of Mordecai Sheftall and was
born in Savannah in 1763. At the early age of 15 he was
assistant to his father who was Commissary General to the
Georgia troops during the Eevolution.""
Abraham Massias may be identical with A. A. Massias men-
tioned by Eev. H. S. Morals " as serving in the War of 1813,
" The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, p. 270.
"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
17, pp. 174 and 94; cf. Isaac Markens, The Hebrews in America,
pp. 49 and 50.
"• The Jews of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1894, p. 459.
30 American Jewish Historical Society.
and also by Eev. B. A. Elzas. The last gives the epitaph on
his tombstone in Charleston where he died June 28, 1848,
aged 76 years." The epitaph reads : " Eeceiving his brevet
for twenty years' service in the field, he was subsequently ap-
pointed Paymaster of the Army of the United States, discharg-
ing his duties with distinguished integrity and uprightness."
Massias was also a member of the Beth Elohim Congregation
of Charleston in 1804."
Isaac Elizer, mentioned by Hildreth as admitted as a Mason
in 1765, is no doubt the same whose naturalization was re-
fused by the Superior Court of Ehode Island in 1763, on the
ground that he was a Jew."
The Isaac Elizer, mentioned by Hildreth as admitted in
1790, in King David's Lodge, if not the same as the Mason
admitted in 1765, was perhaps his son or nephew. He and
Eleazer Elizer, admitted in 1790, seem to have gone to Charles-
ton, as they are mentioned as members of the Beth Elohim
Congregation there in 1800." Eleazer Elizer there became
connected with the Masonic fraternity.
Of Moses Isaacs, mentioned by Hildreth as a Mason in
1760, it is said that he had the honor of entertaining George
Washington as a guest at his house in Newport. The date
is not given. Isaacs served in the Eevolutionary War."
King David's Lodge, spoken of by Mr. HUdreth above, was
a lodge originally organized in New York in 1769 by Moses M.
Hays, as Master, and removed by him to Newport in 1780
" The Old Jewish Cemeteries of Charleston, 8. C, 1901.
"B. A. Elzas, History of the Beth Elohim Congregation of
Charleston.
"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
6, p. 71.
'° Elzas, supra.
'^ Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citi-
zen, p. 49, and H. S. Moraia, The Jews of Philadelphia, pp. 241 and
458.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 21
when it was established there with Hays as Master, Moses
Seixas as Senior Warden, David Lopez as Junior Warden, and
Solo. A. Myers as Deacon." Shortly after its establishment
in Newport, General Washington was expected in that city.
The lodge then considered the question of addressing him as
a Mason, and Hays, Seixas and others were appointed a com-
mittee to draft the proposed address. At a meeting of the
lodge, held at the request of the Master, February 14, 1781,
the committee presented their report to the effect that, for
reasons stated by them, they thought it inexpedient for the
lodge then to make the address. It seems that Washington
had not at that time been Master of his lodge. The report
was received, and the address ordered to be laid aside at that
time." When Washington again visited Newport in 1790,
King David's Lodge, of which Moses Seixas was then Master,
presented him with the following address, which, on the even-
ing of August 17, 1790, Seixas and two others, as a committee,
had been appointed to prepare (Hayden, supra, pp. 130-132) :
ADDRESS
Of the Mastee, Wabdens and Bbethren of King David's Lodge,
to Geoege Washington, Peesident of the United States of
Amebica.
Sir.
W E, the Master, Wardens and Brethren of King David's Lodge,
in Newport, Rhode Island, joyfully emhrace this opportunity, to
greet you as a Brother, and to hail you welcome to Rhode Island.
We exult in the thought, that as Masonry has always been pa-
tronized by the wise, the good, and the great, so hath it stood,
and ever will stand, as its fixtures are on the immutable pillars
of faith, hope and charity.
With unspeakable pleasure, we gratulate you as filling the
Presidential Chair, with the applause of a numerous and en-
" Henry W. Rugg, History of Freemasonry in R. I., pp. 44, 49.
■" Sidney Hayden, Washington and His Masonic Compeers, New
York, 1866, p. 77; Joseph Ritner, Vindication of George Washing-
ton, Boston, 1841, p. 41. v
33 American Jewish Historical Society.
lightened people; whilst at the same time, we felicitate ourselves
in tlie "honour done the brotherhood, by your many exemplary
virtues, and emanations of goodness proceeding from a heart
worthy of possessing the ancient mysteries of our craft, being
persuaded that the wisdom and grace, with which Heaven has
endowed you, will eventually square all your thoughts, words and
actions by the eternal laws of honour, equity and truth; so as
to promote the advancement of all good works, your own happi-
ness, and that of mankind. Permit us then, illustrious Brother,
cordially to salute you, with three times three, and to add our
fervent supplications, that the Sovereign Architect of the Uni-
verse may always encompass you with his holy protection.
Moses Seixas, MasterT „
y Committee.
Henbt Sherbuene J
By Order,
WmiAM LrrTLEFiELD, Secretary.
Newport, August 17, 1790.
This address, though dated August 17, was not delivered
until the next morning."
Washington responded as follows:
To the Master, Wardens and Brethren of King David's Lodge
in Newport, Rhode Island.
Gentlemen :
I Receive the welcome which you give me to Rhode Island with
pleasure: and I acknowledge my obligations for the flattering
expressions of regard contained in your Address with grateful
sincerity. Being persuaded that a just application of the prin-
ciples on which the Masonic Fraternity is founded, must be pro-
motive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be
happy to advance the interest of the Society, and to be considered
by them as a deserving Brother. My best wishes. Gentlemen, are
offered for your individual happiness.
G. Washington.
The authenticity of this correspondence, which was ques-
tioned during the anti-Masonic excitement but as to which
" The GolumHan Gentinel, of August 25, 1790, speaking of
Washington's visit to Newport, says he was addressed by the
Town, Clergy and Society of Freemasons, on Wednesday morning,
August 18, 1790.
The Jems and Masonry — Oppenheim. 23
there is now no doubt, was aiSrmed by Hayden (supra), who
speaks of it as " the earliest Presidential Masonic correspond-
ence that exists on record." "
There was no Grand Lodge in Ehode Island when the letter
to Washington was written. That was formed only in 1791.
King David's Lodge and a Providence lodge were the only
working lodges in the State when Washington visited Newport,
the former being more active. '
An account of the activity of Moses Seixas in Masonry is
to be found in Engg's History. From this it appears, as
already stated, that Seixas became connected with King
David's Lodge of Newport, on its establishment in that city
by Moses M. Hays, June 7, 1780. At that time Hays con-
ferred on him the degrees of the Scottish Eite. The lodge
flourished for some ten years, when it was determined to close
it, and at its close to revive the St. John's Lodge of Newport,
which had declined during the Eevolution and many of the
members of which had joined King David's Lodge when or-
ganized. Seixas was one of the committee appointed to revive
the St. John's Lodge when King David's should cease to exist.
In the revival 130 members of King David's and 11 members
of St. John's Lodge participated. The merger took place
October 19, 1790, the merged lodge being known thenceforth
as St. John's Lodge, No. 1, of Newport. Moses Seixas was
elected its first Master, and held that ofSce until his death
"This correspondence, as well as that of the Hebrew Congre-
gation of Newport, with Washington, had at the same time, is
printed in full in the Providence Oazette and Country Journal,
September 18, 1790, a copy of which is at the Lenox Library, and
also in the volume entitled A Collection of the Speeches of the
President of the United States to toth Houses of Congress at the
Opening of every Session, with their Answers. Also the Addresses
to the President loith his Answers, from the time of his Election:
With an Appendix, printed at Boston, July, 1796, by Manning &
Loring, for Solomon Cotton, Jun.
24 American Jewish, Historical Society.
in 1809. His position in King David's Lodge after 1780,
when he was Senior Warden, is not stated by Dr. Eugg, but
a letter to the writer in 1905 from Mr. S. Penrose Williams,
Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, is
authority for the statement that Seixas was Master of King
David's Lodge from 1783, and thereafter by successive elec-
tions until the lodge was merged with the old St. John's
Lodge in 1790. Previous to 1783, says Mr. Williams, Moses
M. Hays was Master.
Seixas as Master of King David's Lodge, in December, 1787,
wrote a long letter to the Grand Lodge of Virginia, in answer
to an inquiry as to the standing of Masonry in Ehode Island.
This letter, says Eugg," was undoubtedly composed by Seixas
who, he adds, was a respectable merchant in Newport, and
whose residence on Washington Square was later the property
of Commodore 0. H. Perry.
Seixas was elected Master of the Grand Lodge of Ehode
Island in 1791, and held that office until 1800 when he became
Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge. This position he
held until 1802 when he became Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge. He held the office of Grand Master for seven con-
secutive years, his successor being elected June 26, 1809. He
was exalted to the Eoyal Arch Degree in 1793, being then
Deputy Inspector General of Masonry for Ehode Island, ap-
pointed by Hays. The Eoyal Arch has been termed, remarked
Eugg, " the root, heart and marrow of Masonry." When the
Grand Eoyal Arch Chapter of Ehode Island was established
in 1799, Seixas was elected its first Grand High Priest, and
served in that capacity until the election of 1804.
As Grand Master he conducted, in 1803, the dedication
ceremonies of the Masonic Hall of St. John's Lodge, No. 1,
in Newport, and also signed the charters of the following
lodges : St. Alban's, No. 6, in Bristol, in 1802 ; Friendship,
"History of Freemasonry in B. I., p. 44.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 25
No. 7, Chepachet, in 1805; Mount Moriah, No. 8, Smithfield,
in 1805; Harmony Lodge, No. 9, Pawtuxet, in 1808, and
Union Lodge, No. 10, Pawtucket, in 1809.
Seixas was widely and favorably known among Masons, and his
Masonic skill was evinced in many ways and on frequent occa-
sions. He was foremost among those who established the Grand
Lodge of Rhode Island, being at that time Worshipful Master of
St. John's Lodge in Newport, and the Chairman of a committee
representing that lodge, which committee, acting in conjunction
with a similar committee appointed by St. John's Lodge, Provi-
dence, formulated a plan for constituting the Grand Lodge of
Rhode Island. Because of his representative capacity, and his
ability, he was called upon to preside at the constituting of Grand
Lodge, 1791, and as installing officer he inducted Christopher
Champlin into his office as Grand Master of Masonry, and the
other designated officers into their respective places. ... In 1802
he was elected Grand Master, continuing to hold office, by annual
re-elections, until 1809. His administration of Grand Lodge af-
fairs during this long term of seven years was very much to his
credit. It was at this period, and somewhat by his efforts, that
Masonry made rapid progress in Rhode Island, and became more
systematized in the expression of its principles and purposes.
Seixas was active and proficient in all departments of Free-
masonry as recognized at his time, and had been advanced to
foremost place in the Scottish Rite. His greatest interest, how-
ever, was centered in the Blue Lodge. . . .For the last fourteen
years of his life Seixas held the position of Cashier in the Bank
of Rhode Island, Christopher Champlin being the President of the
same institution."
Seixas died in New York, at the house of his son-in-law,
Naphtali Phillips, November 39, 1809, aged 66, while on a
visit to that city.
His body was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery at Newport,
and the burial place marked by a monument which states the
fact of his connection with the Masonic fraternity, and of his
having held the office of its Grand Master.
"Rugg, supra, p. 276.
36 American Jewish Historical Society.
The Inscription on his monument is as follows:
MATSEBETH
MONUMENT OF
MOSES SBIXAS
Died 4th Chlslev 5570
Being November 29, 1809,
aged 66.
He was Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of the Masonic
Order of this State and Cashier of
the Bank of Rhode Island from its
Commencement to his Death."
MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND VERMONT.
Maine and Vermont Masonic lodge proceedings, accessible
to the writer, show no reference to Jews before 1810.
In New Hampshire, Abraham Isaacs is noted" as present
at a Grand Lodge meeting in 1798. In 1799 he was appointed
as one of the Grand Stewards, and also acted in that year
as Junior Grand Deacon. In 1801 he is noted as member of
Washington Lodge, No. 13, of Portsmouth, and in 1803 again
as Grand Steward. His name appears as one of the signers
on November 15, 1799, of a petition to the General Court of
the State of New Hampshire, by St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M.,
for leave to become incorporated."
No other printed reference to Jews is found for this State.
" See Rugg, supra, p. 94. See also The Jewish Encyclopedia,
Vol. XII, title Seixas, for a photo-engraving of this inscription.
" Reprint of Proceedings of Grand Lodge of N. H., 1789-1841.
"Leon Hiihner, Publications of the American Jewish Historical
Somety, No. 11, p. 98, makes mention of this petition, and gives
other facts in regard to Isaacs. His authority spells the name
Isaac.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 27
CONNECTICUT.
In Connecticut, Solomon Pinto is met with as a Mason in
Few Haven, in 1763. From December of that year to Decem-
ber, 1764, he was Junior Warden of Hiram Lodge, No. 1,
organized in 1750, and was probably a member some time
before becoming Junior Warden. In 1770 he is noted as Sec-
retary."
He served during the' Eevolution as aji oflBcer from Con-
necticut."
Ealph Isaacs was also a member of the same lodge, of which
he was elected Secretary in December, 1762, and Master in
1770."
Benjamin Isaacs is mentioned** as the first Master of St.
John's Lodge of Norwalk, constituted May 33, 1765.
David Marks, as Senior Warden of Aurora Lodge, No. 35,
of Harwinton, is noted as present at a Grand Lodge meeting
in 1799, and later is noted as Junior Warden of his lodge."
His name is suggested as possibly Jewish.
Fontaine Eaphael, who may have been a Jew, was admitted
a member of St. John's Lodge, of Hartford, on August 36,
1789."
" Centennial Celebration of Hiram Lodge, No. 1, at New Haven,
Sept. 5, 1850. Address by Benjamin Huntoon, and Historical
Sketch by Francois Turner.
"Leon Hiihner, "The Jews of New England," Publications of
the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 11, pp. 93-95.
" Centennial Celebration of Hiram Lodge, No. 1, supra, and see
infra, p. Ill, article by Leon Hiihner, " Jews in Connection with
the Colleges of the Thirteen Original States Prior to 1800."
"E. C. Storer, Records of Freemasonry in the State of Con-
necticut, New Haven, 1859, p. 54.
" Storer, supra, pp. 18, 123.
" Constitution and By-laws of the Qrand Lodge of Connecticut
and By-laws of St. John's Lodge, No. 4, of Hartford, published at
Hartford, 1861.
88 American Jewish Historical Society.
NEW YORK.
Jonas Phillips was a Mason in New York City in 1760.
This date is the earliest we have as to Jewish Masons in New
York. His certificate as printed" is dated 1760, but does
not give the month or the name of the lodge. It was nndoTibt-
edly Trinity Lodge, No. 4, said to be a military lodge, judging
from the copy of the certificate dated in the same year to
Aaron Hart, the form of which is similar and contains the
names of the same certifying officers. Jonas Phillips' name
also appears in a list of " Masons belonging to lodges in New
York State who fought on the side of liberty and independence
in the War of the Eevolntion." " The entry is as follows :
Jonas Phillips, Lodge No. 4, Registry of New York. Enlisted
October 31, 1778, In Capt. John Linton's Company, Col. William
Bradford's Regiment of Philadelphia Militia. Subsequently mus-
tered into the service of the United States. Died in Philadelphia,
Pa., January 28, 1803, aged 67 years. Buried in New York City.
Grandfather of M. W. Isaac Phillips, of New York. Data furnished
by Bro. N. Taylor Phillips, of Albion Lodge, No. 26, his great-
grandson.
Aaron Hart, in 1760, was a member of Trinity Lodge, No.
4. He joined in that year General Amherst's army of invasion
into Canada as an officer and then settled there, at Three
Eivers, where he and his children became prominent. A sketch
of his life appears in the Dictionary of National Biography.
A certificate dated June 10, 1760, showing his membership
in the lodge is in the possession of Gerald E. Hart, of New
York, a descendant, who, at the writer's suggestion, supplied
a photograph of it to the American Jewish Historical Society.
It is dated within a few years of the oldest extant Masonic
" A copy of his certificate of membership is printed in Publica-
tions of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 2, p. 53.
Facts about him are given there and in The Jewish Encyclopedia,
Vol. X, p. 4.
" Procs. of the Grand Lodge of N. Y., for 1900, p. 308.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 29
certificate in this country. It is in handwriting on a broad
sheet of parchment, now somewhat faded with age, but its
terms can still be deciphered. Whether it is the original
certificate making him a member of the lodge, or a dimit on
his joining Amherst's army for Canada, is not certain. It
reads as follows:
And the Darkness Comprehended it not.
In the East, a Place Full of Light, where Reigns Silence &
Peace.
We the Master & "Wardens, of the Worshipfull Trinity Lodge
No. 4 of the Registry of New York, Adorn'd with all our Honours,
& Assembled in Due Form, Do Hereby Declare, Certify & Attest,
unto all Men Enlightened & Spread on Face of The Earth, That
The Bearer Hereof, Aaron Hart, hath been Received an Entered
Apprentice, & Fellow Craft, and after Tryall & Due Proof have
Given him The Sublime Degree of a Master Mason, and he Law-
fully and Safely may, Without any Demur, be Accepted of & Re-
ceived into any Society to Whome these Presents may Come.
Given under our Hands, & the Seal of our Lodge, in City of New
York, in North America, this Tenth day of June, in the Year of
our Lord 1760, & in Year of Masonry 5760.
JoHiT Mabshaix, Master.
John Thompson, Senr. Wardn.
Geobqb Habbis, Junr. Wardn.
Abbh. Skinneb, Secr'y.
(Seal of Lodge)
Aabon Habt
Moses M. Hays, as noted under Massachusetts, received a
warrant for the organization of King David's Lodge in New
York. A copy of that warrant, dated February 33, 1769,
signed by George Harrison, Provincial Grand Master of New
York, is entered in the minute book of King David's Lodge,
No. 1, of Newport, now in the archives of St. John's Lodge,
No. 1, of Newport, where it was seen by the writer. It ap-
points Moses M. Hays Master and Myer Myers and Isaac
Moses Senior and Junior Wardens. It is probable that under
4
30 American Jewish Historical Society.
this warrant and the patent already referred to from Henry
Andrew Prancken which Hays received in 1768 as Deputy
Inspector General in New York, where he then resided, many
additional Jewish Masons were made, but their names are
not ascertainable as the minutes for King David's Lodge of
New York cannot be found. We know, however, that Simon
Nathan and Benjamin Seixas, who like Isaac Moses, were
prominent New Yorkers, were Masons in Philadelphia in
1781, whither they and Myers and Moses, Just named, and
other Jews had removed on the British occupancy of New
York during the Eevolution. These four are noted as among
the members of the Philadelphia Congregation Mikve Israel
in 1783." They subsequently returned to New York.
The printed records do not give as much information as
one would expect to find about the activity of the Jews in
Masonry in New York previous to 1810.
In several publications lists of members of some of the early
lodges in New York City appear, from which names of Jewish
members before 1810 have been selected, with dates of admis-
sion to membership. Some of these may possibly be non-
Jewish, although, judging from names alone, appearing to
be of the race. In some cases dates are given after 1810,
but these indicate a membership prior to that year. Names
of officers are also found in the early New York City di-
rectories.
Union Lodge, No. 1 : Isaac Gecion. The name is suggestive
of Gerson or Giershom. It appears as the 65th in a long list
of members between 1765 and 1805. The date of admission
is not given."
" Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, Historical Sketch of the Congregation
Mikve Israel, Philadelphia, 1909, p. 11.
"Charles T. McClenachan, History of Freemasonry in New
York, N. y., 1894, Vol. I, p. 175.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 31
St. John's Lodge, No. 1 : Isaac Heymes, 1794, Junior
Warden, and H. Hays, 1795, Junior Warden."
In later years the record shows Jonas Bush Master of Cere-
monies in 1814, and Senior Warden in 1816." In 1823 he
was Grand Scribe of the Grand Chapter, R. A. M. (See Hard-
castle's Annual Masonic Calendar for 1833.) He was probably
a Mason before 1810, and may have been a relative of Solomon
Bush, to be named under Pennsylvania. He served in the
American Eevolution."
St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 3, known as No. 1 in 1791. A
Mr. Levy was Secretary in 1791; J. H. Levy, Steward, in
1795; Isaac H. Levy, Treasurer, in 1796. These names are
probably all of the same person." The New York Directory
of 1790 to 1793 gives the name Isaac H. Levy, occupation,
merchant.
Holland Lodge, No. 8; Prince of Orange Lodge, No. 16,
and Holland Lodge, No. 16. These lodges have the same
membership :
J. L. Aarons, 1804; Alexander Brochez, 1793; Abraham
Delaparra, 1806; Isaac Gomez, Jr., 1803; J. S. Gomperts,
1803; Henry Haymen, 1806; J. B. Jacobs, 1803; Simon
Lupardo, 1803; Moses Monsanto, 1808; Joshua Moses, 1809;
Seixas Nathan, 1807; Rufino Cavello Pereira, 1805; Isaac B.
Seixas, 1808, and Joseph Sterlitz, 1791." Seixas Nathan was
Junior Deacon in 1808 and Secretary in 1809.°'
"Proceedings on the Occasion of the Centennial Celebration of
St. John's Lodge, No. 1, December 7, 1857, N. Y., 1869. The re-
cords from 1757 to 1792 are imperfect.
"N. Y. City Directory, 1814 and 1816.
" Wolf, supra, p. 46, and Morals, supra, p. 458.
•* N. Y. City Directory for 1791, 1795, 1796.
" Joseph N. Balestler, Historical Sketches of Holland Lodge,
No. 8, N. Y., 2d ed., 1878; By-laws of Prince of Orange Lodge, No.
16; By-laws of Holland Lodge, No. 16.
" N. Y. City Directory, 1807, 1808, 1809.
33 American Jewish Historical Society.
Phenix Lodge, No. 11: Asher Hart, Secretary, 1795; M.
Myers, Junior Warden, 1797, and Senior Warden, 1798 and
1799, of Mark Lodge annexed to Phenix Lodge, No. 11; A.
Myers, Senior Warden, 1797;" Barnebas S. Judah, Secretary,
1796.°" B. S. Judah is noted in the Grand Lodge Proceedings
for September, 1796, as having been suspended for 13 months,
the reason not being stated."
Washington Lodge : Mordecai Myers, Junior Warden, 1800,
Senior Warden, 1801, Master, 1802, 1804, 1805; Hyman
Abrams, Junior Warden, 1801 ; " Joseph Jacobs, Tiler, 1801,
1804, 1805 ; Naphtali Judah, Treasurer, 1800, Junior Warden,
1802, Senior Warden, 1803; Aaron Judah, Treasurer, 1802;
Joel Hart, Master of Ceremonies, 1808." John Moss, in 1805,
was also a member of this lodge."
Clinton Lodge, No. 453 : Sampson Simson, initiated 1807,
Senior Master of Ceremonies, 1808, Senior Warden, 1809,
Master, 1810. Joseph Jacobs, Tiler, from 1810 to 1831." In
1812, Solomon I. Isaacs was Steward."
L'Unite Amdricane: Joseph Furtado, Treasurer, 1799."
"N. T. City Directory for 1797 gives the flrm of Abraham &
Mordecai Myers, brokers, 404 Pearl St.
" N. T. City Directory, 1795-1799.
"Procs. of Or. L. of N. T., reprint, Vol. I, p. 189.
"N. Y. City Directory, 1800 to 1805. In the Directory for 1801
the name of Abrams is spelled Hyman Abrahams, tobacconist, 24
Water Street.
" Id., for 1800 to 1805, and 1808.
" See Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society,
No. 2, p. 173; No. 10, p. 127. Morals, In The Jews of Philadelphia,
p. 407, says that he served at one time, about 70 years ago, as a
member of City Councils in Philadelphia.
" History of Clinton Lodge, No. 45S, from 1806 to 1898.
" N. Y. City Directory, 1813.
« N. Y. City Directory, 1799. The Furtado family is mentioned
in Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 5,
pp. Ill, 113, 114, 115.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 33
Warren Lodge : Moses Judah, Senior Deacon, 1800 ; Junior
Warden, 1803 ; Senior Deacon, 1804."
Albion Lodge: Joseph Jacobs, Tiler, 1804, 1805, 1807.
Erin Lodge: Joseph Jacobs, Tiler, 1808."
Ancient Chapter, No. 1, Royal Arch Masons, known in 1804
as the Old Grand Chapter, R. A. M. : Nathan Eisenhart,
1804; Abraham Delaparre, 1808;" Jacob Frank, member in
1806 and Scribe in 1807.™
Independent Eoyal Arch Lodge, No. 2: Henry David,
1795; Isaac Isaacs, 1797; Dufty Jacobs, 1784; Elisha Jacobs,
1785; Jonas Lyon, 1804; M. Myer, 1784; Levi Nathan, 1809;
John Pollock, 1793; David Eayner (?), 1810; Stephen Wise
( ?), 1798; John J. Zeitman ( ?), 1784; " Henry Hays, Treas-
nrer, 1797; David Henry, Tiler, 1799; Seixas Nathan, Deacon,
1808; Levi Nathan, Junior Deacon, 1810, Senior Deacon,
1811, Treasurer, 1812, Master, 1815; and Joseph Jacobs,
Tiler, 1808, 1810, 1811."
Phenix Eoyal Arch Lodge, No. 3: Joseph Jacobs, Tiler,
1808."
Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, Eoyal Arch Masons: Isaac
Gedalia, 1799; Gompert S. Gomperts, 1808; Joel Hart, 1807,
Secretary, 1808, High Priest, 1812, Scribe, 1815; William
Hays, 1799; Naphtali Judah, 1800; Moses Monsanto, 1808;
Seixas Nathan, 1808; Moses L. M. Pexota [Peixotto], 1808."
"N. r. City Directory, 1800, 1803, 1804.
"N. Y. City Directory, 1804, 1805, 1807, 1808.
"History and By-laws of Ancient Chapter, No. 1, B. A. M., of
the State of New York, N. Y., 1874, p. 34, etc.
"N. Y. City Directory, 1806 and 1807.
" By-laws of Independent Royal Arch Lodge, No. 2.
"J^. Y. City Directory, 1797, 1799, 1808, 1810, 1811; Procs. of
N. Y. Or. L., 1902, p. 93.
"N. Y. City Directory, 1808.
'"Centennial History of Jerusalem, Chapter, No. 8, Royal Arch
Masons, 1799-1899.
34 American Jewish Historical Society.
Washington Chapter of Eoyal Arch Masons, No. 8: Joel
Hart, D. S., 1808.
Washington Chapter, No. 2 : Sol. Simson, 1st G. M., 1811."
This Simpson was no doubt a Mason before 1810."*
A " Society for the Promotion of Masonic Knowledge " also
existed in 1796, with Asher Hart as President and Bernard S.
Jndah as Secretary."
In 1795, Hyman Isaac Long, a physician, is noted as pre-
senting a petition as a distressed brother from the Island of
Jamaica, and the standing committee on charity was ordered
to give him such assistance as its members thought proper."
Long was also the object of a charitable appropriation by the
Virginia Grand Lodge, in 1795. He will be again referred
to as a Deputy Inspector General of Masonry in South
Carolina.
Mordecai M. Noah, referred to at the beginning of this
paper, was no doubt a member of the Order before 1810, as
he was then already prominent politically. He was a grand-
":V. Y. City Directory, 1808, 1811.
"* He was elected one of the trustees of the Congregation
Shearith Israel In 1784. See Publications of the American Jewish
Historical Society, No. 6, p. 130.
'"N. Y. City Directory, 1796. Bernard S. Judah, Barnebas S.
Judah, and B. S. Judah, already mentioned, are probably iden-
tical with Barnueb S. Judah, who was a member of the Philadel-
phia Congregation Mikve Israel In 1782. Morals, supra, p. 15.
The New York City Directory for 1794 gives a Barney Judah as
a surgeon, and for 1796 Bernard S. Judah as a druggist. Bernard
S. Judah Is also noted In a New York newspaper as having mar-
ried at Three Rivers, Canada, in 1797, Miss Catherine Hart, daugh-
ter of Aaron Hart, merchant, of Three Rivers. Greenleaf's N. Y.
Journal and Patriotic Register for September 20, 1797. William
Hays and Henry Hays, above mentioned, are probably of the
Hays family, as a William Henry Hays was the son of Jacob
Hays, the High Constable. See Publications of the American Jew-
ish Historical Society, No. 2, p. 71.
"Procs. Or. L. of N. Y., Feb. 25, 1795, reprint. Vol. I.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 35
son of Jonas Phillips, the Mason of 1760. In later years his
relation to the fraternity was strikingly displayed in connec-
tion with his well-known project for the founding of a Jewish
" City of Eefuge " at Niagara Palls, 1825. Various Masonic
Lodges, Master Masons, Eoyal Arch Masons and Knights
Templars, with their officers and Masonic jewels and para-
phernalia, attended at the dedication ceremonies."
Abraham Jacobs, who is described as a native of 'New York,"
and who, as will appear, was active in Masonry in Georgia
in 1801 and 1803, is the same who has been already noted
as a Mason in Massachusetts in 1782. He came in for some
animadversion from Masonic writers for "peddling" the
higher degrees. He is said, in an unidentified note against
his name in a list of officers in one of the records, to have
been expelled from the Scottish Kite in 1810 for un-Masonic
conduct, though the proof of the charge against him does
not appear." He seems to have remained a Mason, however,
as he was one of the charter members of York Lodge, No. 197,
" See Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society,
No. 8, pp. 104-105; and Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia, supra,
pp. 396-400.
" Robert Folger, The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Bite, 2d ed.,
N. Y., 1881. Copyright, 1862, Document 15, Register of Abraham
Jacobs.
"See Procs. of the Supreme Council, A. & A. S. R., Nor. Jur.,
reprint, 1781-1862, p. 6. See also Folger, supra, containing many
deprecatory references to the relation of the Jews to the Rite. It
is not regarded as an authority, so far as its opinions are con-
cerned. The documents in it are valuable, however, for reference.
Folger designates as Jews men known to be Christians. He was
scored for his work by Albert Pike, in various publications, and
his inaccuracy is shown by Pike in his Historical Inquiry, written
in 1872, but published as a separate pamphlet in 1885, and quoted
with approval by Masonic writers. Pike gives an account of a
number of Jews connected with the Rite. See also E. T. Carson,
in R. F. Gould's History of Freemasonry, 1st Am. ed.. Vol. IV, p.
654.
36 American Jewish Historical Society.
in 1834, and was connected with that lodge nntil his death
in 1834."
Jacobs, as an answer to the attacks of his enemies, prepared
a record of his proceedings in the Lodge of Perfection which
he established in New York and Georgia, with copies of docu-
ments showing his authority to act. This record he called his
" Eegister." " He confided it, fearing death, to Joseph Jacobs,
who is said to have been his son." A copy of his certificate of
membership in St. Andrew's Lodge of Boston appears ia this
book. The original certificate is in the possession of the Grand
Lodge of New York, and is copied in its publication giving an
account of its collections of Masonic Antiquities, 1905, under
No. 19, Collection of Charters."* It is signed by Paul Eevere
as Master. In a note, Jacobs is there referred to, as receiving
his Master's degree at Charleston, as made a Knight of the
Sun in Jamaica in 1790, and later as receiving the thirty-
second degree of the Scottish Eite at Charleston.
Jacobs' "Eegister" gives these facts about Jewish Masons
in New York :
Joseph Jacobs, described as an old Eoyal Arch Mason, re-
ceived, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection, various
degrees between 1804 and 1806, in which latter year he re-
ceived the degree of Knight of the Sun. He was also Grand
Tiler in that lodge, and was Grand Tiler of the Grand Lodge
in 1805. He has already been referred to as Tiler in Clinton
Lodge from 1810 to 1831. In 1809, 1810, and 1811 he is
also noted as Grand Pursuivant at a Grand Lodge meetiug,*'
and is mentioned " as having held that office for many years.
" History of York Lodge, No. 197, F. & A. M., List of Members.
» Document No. 15, in Folger, supra.
" Id., and Folger, supra.
°^" For a copy see p. 9, supra.
" Procs. of the Grand Lodge of N. T., for 1809, 1810, and 1811.
"7d., for 1903, p. 179; also John Stewart, History of Aliion
Lodge, No. 26.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 37
He seems to have been Tiler in various lodges, probably because
of his large acquaintanceship.
Sampson Simson, Joel Hart, Mordecai Myers, and Isaac
Moses, Jr., late of Charleston, received various degrees between
1807 and 1808, up to that of Prince of Jerusalem, and in
October of the latter year Mordecai Myers and Sampson Sim-
son received the degree of Knight of the Sun.
Moses Levi Maduro Peixotto is also noted in the record
as K. H. and Prince of the Koyal Secret in 1808.
Peixotto, Simson, and Abraham Jacobs, at a meeting in
November, 1808, after Jacobs' proceedings had been exam-
ined and confirmed, were appointed a committee to corre-
spond with the Supreme Councils of Sublime Lodges in other
States, and wrote a letter to John Mitchell, the head of the
Supreme Council in South Carolina, giving him a list of the
members composing the Council of Princes of Jerusalem in
New York. Prom this list, it appears that in 1808 Mordecai
Myers was Grand Master in the Council of Princes of Jerusa-
lem ; Joel Hart, Grand Orator and Keeper of the Seals ; Abra-
ham Jacobs, K. S., K. H., and P. E. S.; Joseph Jacobs,
Grand Tiler, and Isaac Moses, Jr., Knight. Peixotto received
about this time the degree of Select of Twenty-Seven, then
the 20th degree.
A Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction was
formed in New York, in 1813, on the lines of the Supreme
Council for the Southern Jurisdiction formed in Charleston,
S. C, in 1801. Emanuel DeLaMotta, of Charleston, had come
to New York as special Deputy-Eepresentative of the Charles-
ton Council, and was instrumental in forming the New York
Council, becoming its head. In 1814, DeLaMotta became
engaged in a controversy with the founders of a rival Masonic
body, claimed to have been organized without due authority,
and in the course of it felt called upon to refer to his Judaism
as the cause of some of the attacks upon him. In his Eejoin-
38 American Jewish Historical Society.
der" he showed that the fact that he was a Jew did not
militate against his holding high ofBee ia the Order."
Sampson Simson also was an officer of the Supreme Council
for the Northern Jurisdiction in 1813, heing Inspector Lieu-
tenant, or Lieutenant Grand Commander." He was then 33
years old. He represented Clinton Lodge at Grand Lodge
meetings, and in 1812 and 1813 was Grand Treasurer of the
Grand Lodge of New York." Simson was the founder of
Mount Sinai Hospital. An account of him is given by the
late Myer S. Isaacs." He studied law with Aaron Burr and
is said to have been the first Jewish lawyer in New York,
being admitted to the bar in 1802."
Moses Levi Maduro Peixotto was also an officer of the same
Supreme Council, being Captain of the Life Guard. He was
then 49 years old. His birth place is given as at Curagoa,
and the date of his death, July 17, 1828."
Joel Hart was Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand
" DocumeHt No. 19, Folger, supra, p. 160.
" On this point The Israelite of May 24, 1872, in an editorial,
reprinted in Official Bulletin of the Supreme Council, Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Bite, Southern Jurisdiction, for X889, p. 625,
claims that in the Rite under the Southern Jurisdiction the rituals
are modified so that a Jew can, without sacrifice of conscience,
take some of the higher degrees which he cannot take in the
Northern Jurisdiction with substantially the same degrees.
" Procs. of the Supreme Council, A. & A. S. R., Nor. Juris., re-
print, 1781-1862. Tableau of the Northern Council.
*» Procs. of the Grand Lodge of N. Y., for 1812 and 1813, reprint.
Vol. I, p. 498, etc.
"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
10, p. 109.
■" Id., and see Lewis Abraham, " The Jewish American as a
Politician," Am. Jews' Annual for 1888, p. 113.
"^ Procs. of the Supreme Council, supra. He became prominent
in the organization after DeLaMotta's retirement. He was min-
ister of the Congregation Shearith Israel, of New York.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 39
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in 1815 and 1816." He was a
physician, and one of the charter members of the New York
County Medical Society. He was U. S. Consul at Leith,
Scotland, from 1817 to 1833. An account of him is given by
Gustavus N. Hart."
Mordecai Myers was Deputy Grand High Priest of the
Eoyal Arch Grand Chapter from 1831 to 1833, and Grand
High Priest in 1834." Previously he had been Deputy Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge from 1829 to 1834. In 1830 he
had received the nomination of Grand Master, but had de-
clined the office."
Myers was a soldier in the War of 1812, with the rank of
Captain, and was wounded at the battle of Chrysler's Field.
He was a member of Assembly for New York City from 1831-
1834, and was Mayor of Schenectady in 1851 and 1854. He
died January 20, 1871, aged 95 years." In 1804 he seems to
have been at Charleston."
Isaac Gomez, Jr., of Holland Lodge, No. 8, in 1802," was a
member of the well-known Gomez family of New York.
Isaac B. Seixas, mentioned as of Holland Lodge, No. 8,
was, in 1838, minister of the Shearith Israel Congregation."'
"Procs. of the Grand Chapter, B. A. M., for 1815 and 1816.
"' Fublications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 4,
pp. 217-218.
" Procs. of the Grand Chapter, R. A. M., 1831 to 1834.
^ Procs. Gr. L. of N. Y., for 1830. See infra, p. 99, paper by
Albert M. Friedenberg, " A List of Jews Who Were Grand Masters
in Various States in this Country."
"Markens, The Hebrews in America, pp. 127, 128; McClena-
chan's History of Freemasonry in New YorTc, Vol. Ill, p. 395;
Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812; and Civil List of the
State of New York, 1887.
" B. A. Blzas, History of the Beth Elohim Congregation, p. 4.
"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
11, p. 139 et seq.
»»• Id., No. 6, pp. 133, 135.
40 American Jewish Historical Society.
He is noted in the Virginia Grand Lodge proceedings as at-
tending in 1808 and 1810 as a visitor.
Seixas Nathan, of the same lodge, was the son of Simon
Nathan, a Mason in Philadelphia."
Joshua Moses, also of the same lodge, was a prominent New
York merchant engaged in the China trade. He died in
1837.'°*
Abraham Delaparre, also of that lodge and of Ancient
Chapter, No. 1, was probably related to DelaPera or dela-
Parra, of Surinam.'"
Moses Monsanto, of Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, in 1808, was
probably of the family of D. N. Monsanto, president of the
Jewish Congregation in Surinam in 1785,™ and of M. R.
Monsanta and Eodrigues Monsanta who appear in 1804 and
1805 tohave been " contributors " towards the expenses of the
Congregation Beth Elohim of Charleston.""
Gompert S. Gomperts, of the same Chapter, appears to have
been a candidate in 1839 for the position of " Chazan," in
the Philadelphia Congregation Mikve Israel.^
Isaac Isaacs, of Independent Eoyal Arch Lodge, No. 2, in
1797, may be identical with Isaac Isaacs of St. John's Lodge,
of Newport, in 1790.
NEW JERSEY.
In New Jersey, Samuel Hays, in 1796, represented St.
John's Lodge, of Philadelphia, at a Grand Lodge meeting.'"
" An account of him appears In The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol.
IX, p. 178. He was born In 1785 and died in 1852.
"* Markens, The Hebrews in America, p. 128.
'" PuftZicotions of the American Jewish Historical Bocietv, No.
9, pp. 131, 134. 137, 142.
""Id., No. 4, p. 6.
"" B. A. Elzas, History of the Congregation Beth Elohim, p. 4.
'" Morals, The Jews of Philadelphia, p. 46.
'" Joseph H. Hough, Origin of Freemasonry and the entire Pro-
ceedings of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey from its Organization
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 41
Jacob Benjamin was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge
from 1796 to 1806.™ He was a merchant in Trenton in 1778,
and may have been a Jew though not a strictly obserying one.
He advertised sales every Saturday.'"
PENNSYLVANIA.
In Pennsylvania Jewish Masons were quite active, particularly
In the Scottish Rite.
In that State we have the full record of the early proceed-
ings of the Sublime Lodge of Perfection in Philadelphia, which
marks the beginning of the Scottish Rite there. It was first
printed in Hyneman's Mirror and Keystone, at Philadelphia, in
1854, Vol. Ill, pp. 139, 196, 205, 212, 221. It was reprinted in
1878 as the first part of a small volume entitled By Laws of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Bite, Orient of Philadelphia. The
title page of the proceedings reads: " Minute Book for the Lodge
of Grand Elect, Perfect and Sublime Masons, in the City of Phila-
delphia, 25th June, 1781." The minutes, however, run to 178'9.'
This lodge played a most Important part in the early history of
Masonry in America, and Is referred to in all accounts of the
Scottish Rite there. Its Jewish membership and control are par-
ticularly noted.
A list of members of the Sublime Lodge of Perfection in
Philadelphia in 1781, prefacing the minutes of that lodge, as
printed in the volume above referred to, shows 56 names,
among which the following Jewish ones occur :
Solomon Bush, Isaac Da Costa, Simon Nathan, Samuel
Myers, Barnard M. Spitzer, Benjamin Seixas, Moses Cohen,
Myer M. Cohen, Benjamin Nones, Isaiah Bush, Solomon Et-
ting, Lazarus Levy, and Isaac Pranks. In addition the
minutes show in the same year Joseph M. Myers, and in
1782 Solomon M. Cohen, and in 1784 Solomon M. Myers
in 1786, Trenton, N. J., 1870. Hays is mentioned as a member of
the Philadelphia Mikve Israel Congregation In 1782. Dr. S.
Morals speaks of him as being still connected with it in 1813,
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 2,
p. 157. ^^ Hough, supra.
^"N. J. Archives, Second Series, Vol. II, p. 602.
43 American Jewish Historical Society.
and Michael Gratz. Etting and Levy, however, are first noted
in the minutes in 1785 and Pranks in 1786.
All of these except Levy were members of the Mikve Israel
Congregation of Philadelphia at its organization in 1783."*
The record shows the following details relating to Jews:
Solomon Bush, who was the Deputy Inspector General of
Masonry for Pennsylvania, having been appointed by Moses
M. Hays (who had also appointed the other inspectors below
named) under the authority vested in him, as already stated,
ordered a chapter to be held on the 35th of June, 1781. On
that day a meeting of the Sublime Lodge of Perfection was
held in Philadelphia, at which, among others, are noted as
present the following Jewish members :
Solomon Bush, Deputy Grand Inspector General for Penn-
sylvania, in the chair.
Isaac Da Costa, Grand Warden, Grand Inspector General
for the West Indies and North America.
Simon Nathan, Deputy Grand Inspector General for North
Carolina.
Samuel Myers, Deputy Grand Inspector for the Leeward
Islands.
Barnard M. Spitzer, Deputy Grand Inspector for Georgia.
Benjamin Seixas, Prince of Jerusalem.
Moses Cohen, Knight of the Sun.
Myer M. Cohen, Knight of the Sun.
Joseph M. Myers is noted as Grand Secretary pro tern..
Inspector for Maryland.
At the next meeting held October 23, 1782, the same
Jewish members were present except Samuel Myers. Isaac
"' Morals, The Jews of PhiladelpJiia, pp. 15-16, and Dr. A. S. W.
Rosenbaoh, Historical Sketch of the Congregation Mikve Israel
of PMladelpMa, 1909, p. 11. Rosenbach does not give Bttlng and
Levy in his list of members.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 43
Da Costa was in the chair and Solomon Bush was Grand
Warden Inspector. Benjamin Seixas was appointed Treasurer.
Motions relating to organization were made by Joseph M.
Myers, Myer M. Cohen, Seixas, and Nathan.
At the next meetings, held October 30 and 31, 1783, Bush
appears as Chairman, Da Costa as Grand Warden, Seixas as
Treasurer. As members Simon Nathan, Joseph M. Myers,
B. M. Spitzer, and Solomon M. Cohen are noted.
No further meeting appears to have been held before October
33, 1784. Between October 23, 1784, and October 6, 1785,
Benjamin Nones and Isaiah Bush received various degrees in
the Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Eite from the 4th to
the 14th. Solomon Bush, at these different meetings, deliv-
ered lectures on the duties connected with these degrees. At
one of these meetings, November 11, 1784, Simon Nathan
presented a petition on behalf of Michael Gratz, described as
an Ancient Master Mason, praying to be admitted in the
Sublime Degree of Masonry, which, being seconded by Benja-
min Nones, was approved of-
At the meetings of May 4 and 11, 1785, Myer M. Cohen
presented at cost 21 plates or representations in his possession
for the benefit of the lodge. He stated that he was about to
leave the city.
On May 19, 1785, the lodge met at Benjamin Nones' house
in Market Street by special order. Moses Cohen acted as
Sublime Grand Secretary pro tern.
On June 24, 1785, Benjamin Nones was elected Steward,
but declined in favor of Moses Cohen, who was elected to that
oflSce. At that meeting he presented to the lodge a copper-
plate for the embellishment of certificates of membership.
In August he was elected Master of Ceremonies, and on De-
cember 25, 1785, and also in 1786 was elected Steward.
On July 6, 1785, Moses Cohen presented 2000 bricks to be
applied to the use of the lodge room in Black Horse Alley,
which had been rented of Joseph Morris.
44 American Jewish Historical Society.
On July 13, 1785, Solomon Etting, an Ancient Master
Mason, was passed to the chair, and thereafter received the de-
grees of Secret Master and Perfect Master, and on October 5,
1785, that of Intimate Secretary.
Lazarus Levy, between September 25 and October 5, 1785,
received the degrees of Secret Master and Perfect Master.
Isaac Pranks, on December 5, 1786, received the degree of
Secret Master, and on February 21, 1788, was elected Steward.
He resigned that office April 2, 1788. On October 1, 1788,
he appears as Junior Warden.
Solomon M. Myers appears as a member in 1784 and again
on April 7, 1788, when he submitted a request, which was
granted, to be discontinued as such.
Solomon Bush, on November 2, 1785, was appointed one
of a committee of four to prepare a letter to the Grand Council
at Berlin and Paris, of which the King of Prussia was the
head, informing them of the establishment of the Sublime
Lodge in Philadelphia, and of the names of the several mem-
bers who composed the same and their several degrees.'"
'"The form was submitted to the meeting held December 7,
1785. This letter was first published in 1854 in TJie Mirror and
Keystone, Vol. Ill, p. 212, and has since been frequently reprinted.
It was signed by Solomon Bush. It is also given in the By Laws
of tfie A. d A. 8. R., supra, p. 51, and a facsimile of the document
with Bush's signature appears in William Homan's The Scottish
Rite, p. 172, published in New York in 1905. It was addressed to
the "Most Sublime and Powerful Sovereign! Illustrious Chief of
the Grand Council of Masons! .... Frederick, the Third! " Bush
described himself in the letter as follows : " I, Solomon Bush,
Grand Elect, Perfect and Sublime (Knight of the East and
Prince of Jerusalem, Sovereign Knight of the Sun and of the
Black and White Eagle, Prince of the Royal Secret, and Deputy
Inspector General, and Grand Master over all Lodges, Chapters,
and Grand Councils of the Superior Degrees of Masonry in North
America, within the State of Pennsylvania), by letters patent
from the Sovereign Council of Grand Princes," etc. The letter
The Jems and Masonry — Oppenheim. 45
Solomon Bush, at the elections in 1787 and 1788, was elected
Grand Master of the Sublime Lodge of Perfection. On April
3, 1788, he is reported as much indisposed. On November 5,
1788, he informed the lodge that he was shortly about to leave
for Europe. He then retired as Grand Master, and an address
of thanks was ordered to be prepared on November 7, 1788,
and presented to him. No Jews are noted as present at that
meeting except Bush, and none thereafter are recorded in the
minute book which ends February 21, 1789.
Bush is noted as connected with the Sublime Lodge in 1796.
His name then appears as Deputy Grand Secretary.""
Abraham Forst, of Philadelphia, was Deputy Inspector Gen-
eral for Virginia in 1781. A copy of his patent, issued by
Moses M. Hays, as Deputy Grand Inspector General over the
two Hemispheres, attested by S. Bush as Deputy Grand Sec-
retary, dated April 4, 1781, is given in a recent work with a
facsimile endorsement of authenticity June 35, 1781, showing
the signatures of Solomon Bush, Isaac Da Costa, Samuel
Myers, Simon Nathan, and Bd. Mos. Spitzer as Deputy Grand
Inspectors General. Forst is therein described as a merchant
of Philadelphia, late of London. The document is said to be
the most ancient of the kind known, and is in the library of
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania."* He still held that office
in 1788, when he went to Charleston to assist in the establish-
ment of a Council of Princes of Jerusalem.'" He is noted as
being in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1790, on Masonic busiaess."*
He was the son-in-law of Eev. Jacob E. Cohen, minister of
asked for Masonic intercourse, direction, and advice. The answer.
If any, is not of record.
"° Stephens' Directory of Philadelphia, 1796.
™ Norris S. Barratt and Julius F. Sachse, Freemasonry in Penn-
sylvania, 1727-1907, Philadelphia, 1908, Vol. I, pp. 426-428.
^Procs. Supreme Council, A. & A. B. B., Nor. Jur., reprint,
1781-1862, p. 6.
""Register of Abraham Jacobs in Folger, supra.
5
46 American Jewish Historical Society.
the Congregation Mikve Israel of Philadelphia from 1784-
1811, and was connected with it in a ritual capacity."'
Lodge JSTo. 3, A. Y. M., of Philadelphia, from the proceed-
ings recently printed, the following appears:
A Brother Solomon is noted as a visitor May 13, 1767, and
Isaac SoUomon, of Lancaster, October 17, 1768."'
Abraham Franks is noted as a visitor January 12, 1773."^'
Ezekiel Levy was proposed by Solomon Bush in 1781, balloted
for and accepted as a member, but his initiation delayed until
receipt of orders from the Grand Lodge.™ This would indi-
cate that Solomon Bush was a member, though he is not re-
corded as such, being noted only as a visitor.
The following became members : Isaiah Bush and Benjamin
Nones in 1783,"' and Moses Cohen, Haym Salomon, and Sol-
omon Btting in 1784."° Isaiah Bush in 1784 was elected
Senior Deacon, and also Secretary, and in 1785 Senior War-
den."" Moses Cohen, in 1784, was Steward, and in 1786,
Senior Warden, and also Secretary pro tem^ Benjamin
Nones was Senior Warden in 1784.'^ At various dates be-
tween 1783 and 1785 Solomon Bush, Simon Nathan, Lazarus
Levy, and Isaac Da Costa are noted as visitors. George Bush
appears as a visitor in 1785, as also an M. Cohen, of Lodge
No. 19, in 1787, when Moses Cohen was still a member of
Lodge No. 2r
"' Morals, supra, p. 18, where the name is spelled Furst. Dr.
A. S. W. Rosenbach, in his Historical Sketch of the Congregation
Milcve Israel of Philadelphia, 1909, p. 11, gives the spelling Porst
in his list of members in 1782.
■^^ Norris S. Barratt and Julius F. Sachse, supra, Vol. I, pp. 174,
181.
"'Id., p. 250.
"'7(i., pp. 424, 429, 430.
"=!(?., Vol. II, 1909, pp. 48, 49, 65.
™J(Z., pp. 65, 66, 73, 75.
'^la., pp. 79, 87, 90. ^Id., pp. 71, 72, i;i4.
"Id., p. 79. ""Id., pp. 48-149. Index.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 47
Isaiah Bush ceased being a member in 1785 when he stated
he intended to go to Charleston, S. C. A specimen of his
handwriting as secretary is lithographically reproduced ia
the historical account of the lodge."*
Joseph Miranda appears to have been Secretary of Lodge
ISTo. 4, of the Moderns, on June 24, ITSg,'"' and of Lodge No. 1,
of the Ancients, in the same month, and Deputy Master of
Lodge No. 2 on February 12, 1760."' The name is Jewish, but
whether he was a Jew or of Jewish descent the writer has not
been able to ascertain positively.
Solomon Bush became instrumental in 1788 in bringing
about fraternal relations between the Pennsylvania Grand
Lodge and the two rival Grand Lodges of England, Ancients
and Modems. The Pennsylvania Grand Lodge had established
itself as independent, and announced that it would no longer
consider itself a Provincial Grand Lodge, owing to the result
of the War of the Eevolution. Bush, who acted as the repre-
sentative of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge, of which he ap-
parently was a prominent member, delivered in London in
1788 its letter, announcing the change, to the English Moderns
with which Pennsylvania was not in affiliation, instead of to
the Ancients with which it was. Through this error, com-
munication was opened up and continued with two rival bodies,
a condition of affairs said to be exceptional in Masonry, and
to have been the precursor of the ultimate union of the two
English Grand Lodges in 1813.""
Solomon Bush is well known to students of Jewish history
as having served in the American Eevolution, and as a prom-
inent man in the Jewish community.™ He is described by
Solomon Etting, who was quoted by Col. J. W. Worthington
^Jd., Vol. II, pp. 97, 82. ''Ud., Vol. I, pp. 38 and 52.
'^Id., p. 67. ^""Id., Vol. II, pp. 132-143, and p. viii.
"'Markens, The Hetrews in America, p. 126; Morais, The Jews
of PMla., pp. 455-457.
48 American Jewish Historical Society.
in his address before the House of Delegates, Maryland, in
1834."
Solomon Btting's name is also well known. In addition to
the accounts by Markens, p. 93, and Morals, pp. 270, 393, he
is described in another work,*" as follows :
Solomon Ettlng was born In York, Penn. He married a daugh-
ter of the celebrated Indian trader, Joseph Simon, of Lancaster.
He then removed to Lancaster and entered into partnership with
his father-in-law, under the firm name of Simon & Etting. They
conducted a general merchandise business in a store room on the
southeast corner of East King and Centre Square. He afterwards
removed to Philadelphia, and finally to Baltimore, where he died
at a great age, leaving a large family. He was a man of sterling
integrity, of great wit and drollery, and was beloved and respected
by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was distin-
guished for his considerable and indiscriminate charities, and was
in his old age affectionately hailed by all as " Father Etting." He
was one of the founders of Lodge No. 43, and being a Master was
deputized by R. W. Grand Master William Adcock to constitute
the lodge and install the officers. He was the first Treasurer of
the lodge, serving as such until 1786. . . . He was elected Junior
Warden in 1788, serving as such until June, 1790, when he was
elected Worshipful Master, filling the office for one year, when he
withdrew from the lodge and removed to Philadelphia.
Lodge 'No. 43, of Lancaster, Pa., was organized September
25, 1785, with Etting as one of the foimders.
Other Jewish members of the lodge were Myer Solomon,
admitted March 13, 1790; Abraham Henry, June 19, 1790;
Simon Gratz, February 10, 1796, and Samuel Jacobs, March
1, 1798. Abraham Henry is described as a gun-maker, and
as one of the first to engage in that business ia Lancaster. He
was elected Senior Warden in December, 1797, and served as
"• H. M. Brackenridge and others. Speeches on the Jew Bill, p.
113 : " Colonel in the American Revolution, a distinguished officer,
and who died after the Revolution of the wounds received, or
effects arising out of them."
™ George R. Welchans, History of Lodge No. 43, F. & A. M.,
Lancaster, Pa., 1875, p. 109.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 49
such until June, 1799, when he became Master, filling that
oflBce for one term of six months."'
Myer Solomon is mentioned as a Lancaster subscriber in
1777 for £1 10s. to a fund to pay for intelligence to and from
"Washington's army.™
Samuel Hays, as noted under New Jersey, was a member of
St. John's Lodge of Philadelphia. He was a son-in-law of
Michael Gratz.""
Simon Nathan was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Seixas "'
and was President of the Mikve Israel Congregation of Phila-
delphia from 1783 to 1784. He was also prominent in New
York.""
Benjamin Nones was President of the Congregation from
1791 to 1799."* He was a soldier in the American Kevolu-
tion, with the rank of Major."" He was aide-de-camp on the
staffs "" of Washington, Lafayette, DeKalb, and PulasM."'
"^Id., p. 601.
^Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
8, p. 148.
™ Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 1,
p. 122. "'/(?., No. 4, p. 212.
^ For an account of him, see The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. IX,
p. 178. ""Rosenbach, supra, p. 25.
"' See Morals, supra, p. 457, where an interesting account of him
appears. A view of him Is also obtained in " A Political Docu-
ment of the Year 1800," in Publications of the American Jewish
Historical Society, No. 1, p. 111.
™ Markens, The Hebrews in America, p. 126, who adds that Ben-
jamin Nones, Jacob Deleon, and Jacob DeLaMotta bore Baron
DeKalb from the field at the Battle of Camden, S. C, when the
latter was fatally wounded. Lossing and others do not mention
this incident, and for that reason some Jewish writers hesitate to
accept the statement as authentic. Mr. Markens informed the
writer that his authority was a statement made to him by Major
Joseph B. Nones, a son of Benjamin Nones.
"'National Register of Sons of the American Revolution, 1902,
pp. 240 and 806.
50 American Jewish Historical Society.
These two statements of rank, however, appear to lack official
confirmation, though there is no doubt he served in the war.
Nones had a son, Solomon B. Nones, also a Mason, whose
life was saved through his connection with the Order. In the
earliest years of this Government he was our Consul-General
to Portugal. It is related of him that, while on his way to
his post of duty, the vessel on which he sailed was captured
on the Mediterranean Sea by Corsairs; that all his fellow
passengers were killed, and that he was saved by giving a
Masonic sign.""
Isaac Franks '" is said to have been an aide-de-camp to Gen-
eral Washington.'" He appears to have been in Savannah,
Georgia, in 1801 and 1802, and was an active Mason there.
Benjamin Seixas, mentioned as possessing the degree of
Prince of Jerusalem, was Treasurer of the Philadelphia Con-
gregation Mikve Israel in 1782,"" and one of the founders
of the New York Stock Exchange in 1792."' He is referred
to in The Jewish Encyclopedia by Max J. Kohler, Vol. IX,
p. 269, as serving early in the Eevolutionary War.
Moses Cohen was a broker and shopkeeper in Philadelphia
in 1785."' He seems to have been in Jamaica, W. I., in
1790."'
Myer M. Cohen appears to have removed to Eichmond, and
to have been an active Mason in that city between 1794 and
"" Morais, The Jews of PMla., p. 401.
'^'^ Puilications of the American Jevnsh Historical Society, No.
5, p. 7 et seq., giving some documents relating to his military-
career, and a statement showing he served under the immediate
command of Washington. Id., p. 31.
"" See I A., p. 33, giving a statement to that eftect by his grand-
son. See also Morais, The Jews of Phila., p. 455.
'^" Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
2, p. 57.
^" m.. No. 2, p. 85.
"° Morais, supra, p. 444.
"" Folger, supra. Doc. 15, p. 103.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 51
1799. He died in the latter year. He will be referred to in
treating of Virginia.
Samuel Myers was a native of New York, and in 1781,
when he is mentioned as present at the Lodge of Perfection
in Philadelphia, was about 33 years old. In 1803 he was an
honorary member of the Charleston Sublime Lodge of Per-
fection, being then a merchant in Virginia. He was at the
time 43 years old."' He will be referred to under Virginia.
Isaac Da Costa, previous to 1783, when he was in Philadel-
phia, had been in Charleston, and was also there afterwards,
until the latter part of 1783, when he died. He will be re-
ferred to under South Carolina.
Benjamin Nones, Isaiah Bush, and Moses Cohen are men-
tioned in 1785 as among the members of Lodge No. 3, of
Philadelphia, subscribing to a fund to purchase a house called
the Lodge, in Lodge Alley. Nones subscribed £3, Bush £1
Ss. 6d., and Cohen £1 15s.'"
Joseph Capella is also mentioned'" as among the signers
of an agreement to establish a Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
which should be independent of Great Britain. A Joseph
Carpelles seems to have been a member of the Philadelphia
Congregation Mikve Israel in 1783, and may have been
identical with Capella.""
Haym Salomon, of Lodge No. 3, was the patriot-banker
who was of great assistance to the American cause during the
Eevolution. His very large loans to the government were
never repaid. He was the friend, in need, of Madison, JefiEer-
son, Eobert Morris, and other of our early public men, and
was in other ways famous.'""
"'Mackey and Singleton, History of Freemasonry, Vol. VII, p.
1821.
^^ Proas. Grand Lodge of Penn., March 28, 1785, reprint, Vol. I.
"' Id., for 1786. "° Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 16.
Moa Morals, supra, pp. 23-25; Markens, supra, pp. 66-70; PuiUca-
tions of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 2, pp. 1-19.
52 American Jewish Historical Society.
Concordia Lodge, No. 67, of PhiladelpMa : Members, with
dates of admission, were Abraham Cohen, 1800 ; Jacob David,
1806 ; Adam Pranks ( ?), 1795 ; Jacob Horn ( ?) , 1801 ; Henry
Eies ( ?), 1786, and Michael Winterberger ( ?), 1810."' Simon
Gratz appears as Senior Warden of this lodge. Adam Franks,
in. 1797, is noted as Junior Warden."*
Columbia Lodge, No. 91 : Abraham Cohen was admitted ia
December, 1801, as a member; was its Secretary December,
1805, to June, 1806, and Treasurer from December, 1806,
to November, 1807. Isaac Lyon was another member in De-
cember, 1803, and Simon Eovira September 35, 1809."*
Abraham Cohen was a member of the Grand Eoyal Holy
Arch of Pennsylvania in 1807,"* and A. H. Cohen, probably
the same person, is noted as its Grand Scribe in 1809 and
1810. A. H. Cohen is probably identical with Eev. Abraham
H. Cohen, Eeader in Mikve Israel Congregation of Philadel-
phia in 1815,"* and afterwards Eeader in the Eichmond Con-
gregation Beth Shalome before 1830.'"
Jonas Phillips, who has been mentioned as a Mason in New
York in 1760, is noted as having been connected with the
Order in Philadelphia in 1785,"' being then described as a
merchant. He was a prominent member of the Mikve Israel
Congregation of Philadelphia in 1782-1783, being then its
President,"' and, with Isaac Moses, Jacob Mordecai, and Bar-
"^ By-laws of Concordia Lodge, No. 67.
"' Proas. Orand Lodge of Penna., reprint, 1779-1801, Vol. I, pp.
274, 342, 429.
"" Julius F. Sacbse and James P. Rellly, Centenary of CoXwm-
bia Lodge, No. 91, Phila., 1901.
"• History of the Grand Royal Holy Arch of Pennsylvania, 1795-
1872, Phila., 1882.
"* Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 43.
'"Post, Note 249 and its text.
"• Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 28.
'"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
1, p. 16; Rosenbach, supra, p. 25.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 53
nard Gratz, laid the corner-stones of their new synagogue in
that year. Isaac Moses was the ITew Yorker of that name
already noted as a Mason there. He was a prominent merchant
during the Eevolution and a co-worker with Eobert Morris in
rendering financial assistance to the government."' Jacob
Mordecai will be noted as a Mason in Korth Carolina, and
was probably then one in Philadelphia. Barnard Gratz was
an uncle of Simon Gratz mentioned as a Mason in Lancaster
and Philadelphia, and also no doubt a Mason."" An Isaac
Moses also laid one of the comer-stones for the Charleston
Beth Elohim Synagogue in 1793. An Isaac Moses, Jr., of
Charleston, has already been mentioned as a Mason in New
York in 1806.
Hyman Marks was a member of [Montgomery] Lodge, Wo.
19, in 1804.'" He was a resident of Philadelphia in 1815,
being then President of the Mikve Israel Congregation."'
Later he was in Virginia.'" He will be again referred to in
treating of that State.
DELAWARE.
In Delaware, David Bush became a member of Washington
Lodge, No. 1, of Wilmington, on December 16, 1784."" The
lodge was established in 1769 under the jurisdiction of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and a new warrant, also from
the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge, was granted to it in 1789
"• See Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society,
No. 1, pp. 16 and 17; No. 2, p. 86; No. 3, p. 84.
"• Morals, The Jews of Phila., pp. 269-270.
"° See Ya. Gr. Lodge Procs. for Dec. 11, 1804.
^^ Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 45.
^"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
11, p. 72.
"» Robert C. Fralm, Freemasonry in Delaware, being a History
of Washington Lodge, No. 1, from 1769 to 1889, Wilmington, Del.,
1890.
54 American Jewish Historical Society.
with Bush as its first Senior Warden. He was its Treasurer
in 1791, and again Senior Warden in 1795.
David Bush may have been related to Solomon Bush, al-
ready mentioned under Pennsylvania."""
David Bush, of Wilmington, Del., had four sons, one of
whom. Major Lewis Bush, was fatally wounded at the Battle
of Brandywine in 1777.'" Bush appears as one of the signers
in 1737 of a petition "to the Honrb. Thomas Penn, Bsqr.,
one of the Proprietors of Pensilvania," for the " erecting of
a Market House in Willing Town," as Wilmington was then
called.'" His name does not appear in any of the full lists
of church members of Wilmington.""'
Another son of David Bush, who also fought in the Eevolu-
tion, was Major George Bush who was for a long time Col-
lector of the Port at Wilmington."' George Bush was Senior
Warden of Washington Lodge, Ho. 1, in 1790, Master in 1791,
Treasurer in 1792 and 1793.
John Bush, who was probably another son of David Bush,
was Junior Warden in 1793.
^"The name David Bash, which may be a misprint for David
Bush, appears in the list of members of the Congregation Mlkve
Israel of Philadelphia in 1782. Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 16,
and H. P. Rosenbach, The Jews of Philadelphia before 1800. A
David Bush also was a member of the Congregation Beth Elohlm
of Charleston, S. C, in 1800. B. A. Elzas, History of the Congre-
gation Beth Elohim.
'"Elizabeth Montgomery, Beminiscences of Wilmington, Bel.,
Phila., 1851, pp. 278-279. Major Lewis Bush is mentioned by
Morals, supra, p. 458, and by Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot,
Soldier, and Citizen, p. 45, as a Jew, and, if correctly so, this
would confirm the Jewish character of David Bush.
i» Benjamin Ferris, History of the Original Settlements on the
Delaware, &c., and History of Wilmington, Wilmington, Del., 1846,
p. 216.
'«» lUd.
"' Reminiscences of Wilmington, supra, p. 279. See Note 123.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 55
Joseph Capelle was a member between 1769 and 1784, dur-
ing which years the records are not complete. He was Treas-
urer from 1789 to 1791, Master in 1792, Junior Warden in
1795.'"
MAHYLAND.
In Maryland, Joseph Myers, or Joseph M. Myers as he is
sometimes described, was the Deputy Inspector General of
Masonry, having been appointed by Moses M. Hays."' He
was present, as already stated in treating of Pennsylvania, at
a meeting of Deputy Inspectors General in Philadelphia in
1781. Myers succeeded Isaac Da Costa as Inspector General
of Masonry for South Carolina after Da Costa's death in
November, 1783."° Apparently nothing was done by him in
Maryland with reference to the propagation of the Scottish
Eite, as in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, though it is
asserted that he probably conferred the degrees of the Kite on
Henry Wilmans, who established a Lodge of Perfection in
Baltimore, in a list of 76 members of which no Jewish names
appear."'
Myers settled in Eichmond, Va. Eeference will be made to
him in treating of Virginia.
Lists of members of many Maryland lodges at their forma-
tion contain but few Jewish names. Probably if a full list of
the members of each lodge since its organization were obtained
Jewish names would be found among the members previous
to 1810.
^" A name somewhat similar, Joseph Carpelles, is given by Mo-
rais, supra, p. 16, as a member of the Congregation Miltve Israel
in 1782. He has also been mentioned under Pennsylvania.
"'Mackey and Singleton's History of Freemasonry, Vol. VII,
p. 1846.
"'Id., p. 1846.
™/d., p. 1843. Edward T. Schultz, History of Freemasonry in
Maryland, Balto., 1884, Vol. I, p. 327.
56 American Jewish HistoricaJ Society.
Daniel Bamett, in 1765, was a member of Lodge No. 1,
Joppa, Baltimore County, and a Master Mason.™ In Decem-
ber, 1765, the lodge attended church and Bamett was fined
for non-attendance. In January, 1766, complaint was made
against him for attending at the irregular passing of certain
members in a clandestine lodge. In answer Bamett said he
would abstain from seeing any makings, passings, etc., in any
lodge that hath not a warrant of dispensation in the future.
Bamett was probably a Jew.
William Jacobs, Past Master, A. Phillips, Joseph Modinay,
and William Hayes are noted as among the members of Balti-
more Lodge, No. 15, organized in 1770, and afterwards known
as Washington Lodge, No. 3. These names are given as prob-
ably Jewish."' William Jacobs is also mentioned as having
been elected in 1787 a member of the Eoyal Chapter of
Jerusalem."' In that year also he appears as Past Master at
a Grand Lodge meeting."' In 1790 he was Master of Wash-
ington Lodge, of Baltimore, and in 1794 was elected Grand
Treasurer of the Grand Lodge."' His name is sometimes given
as Jacob and sometimes as Jacobs. He also appears as a mem-
ber of Baltimore Lodge, No. 16, some time between 1773 and
1789.'"
Jacob Hart was also a member of that lodge during the
same period, having been initiated November 20, 1773. Hart
was the father-in-law of Haym M. Salomon, son of the patriot
Haym Salomon. He was one of the patriotic merchants of
Baltimore who loaned money to Lafayette to relieve the suf-
ferings of his soldiers. Lafayette mentioned the loan in a
letter to Washington in 1781."'
"' Schultz, supra, Vol. I, p. 35. "'Id., p. 58. "*Id., p. 60.
"• Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, 1788-1797.
"•Id. •" Schultz, supra. Vol. I, p. 60.
"• Max J. Kohler, " Incidents Illustrative of American Jewish
Patriotism," Puilications of the American Jewish Historical Bo-
dety, No. 4, pp. 94-95.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 57
William Hayes was at a Grand Lodge meeting in 1790/"
B. Wolfe, John Tobias, Sam White ( ?) , Isaac Mordecai, S.
Block, S. Mordecai, and M. Suberon ( ?) were among the mem-
bers of Baltimore Lodge, Ko. 23, formed May 31, 1797, from
a previous lodge in which they had been early members."" Ben-
jamin Wolfe was reported by the Maryland Grand Lodge to
the Virginia Grand Lodge as suspended in 1800.
John Tobias is mentioned "" as a member of the Eichmond
Congregation Beth Shalome in 1791, of which Wolfe was also
then a member. The Tobias family were among the first
Jewish settlers in Charleston, S. C.'"'
Samuel Jacobs was elected Grand Warden and Hyman
Samuel Grand Steward at the election of the Grand Lodge,
June 23, 1798."^ Jacobs, in 1797, was a member of Spiritual
Lodge, No. 33, of Baltimore."* He is noted as Senior Grand
Warden in 1799 and Deputy Grand Master pro tern., in 1800,
1801, and 1803; and Grand Treasurer in 1803."" In 1803
Davidson David and Abraham Larsh were also members of
the Grand Lodge, David being noted as a member of Har-
mony Lodge, Elkton, Cecil County, in 1801."°
Hyman Samuel was again elected Grand Steward in 1799.
In September, 1798, he is noted as making a complaint against
a member of Baltimore Lodge, Ko. 32, for un-Masonic con-
duet.""
Benjamin Solomon is recorded as a member of Benevolent
Lodge, No. 33, of Baltimore, in 1803."" He was reported as
"" Schultz, supra, Vol. I, p. 159.
"'Id., Vol. I, p. 238.
"^Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
4, p. 21.
"•Id., No. 12, p. 44.
"» Schultz, supra. Vol. I, p. 255.
"• Procs. of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, for 1797.
"'Id., for 1801-1803. "'Schultz, supra, Vol. I, p. 287.
"^Id., Vol. I, p. 221. "'Id., Vol. II, p. 37.
58 American Jewish Historical Society.
having been suspended from that lodge in 1803, and as having
appealed to the Grand Lodge, which gave directions to receive
him on certain conditions."'
Joseph Jacobs, Moses Jacobs, Hymen Lowenstein, and Jacob
Lewis were members of Concordia Lodge, No. 13, Baltimore,
prior to 1803."°
Solomon Etting has been described under Pennsylvania as
having finally settled in Baltimore, and a short account of him
has already been given. He was undoubtedly active as a
Mason in Baltimore, but to what lodge he belonged in that city
the writer has not been able to ascertain. He was a Masonic
guest of the Grand Lodge at the laying of the corner-stone of
Masonic Hall, on St. Paul Street, in 1814."' Etting was one
of the directors of the Baltimore & Ohio Eailroad Company
at the time it commenced the construction of its road in
1828.™ He was the first Jew to be elected by the people to
office in Maryland. This was in 1826, when he was elected a
member of the City Council, of the first branch of which he
was chosen President."'
VIRGINIA.
In Virginia, Hezekiah Levy is the earliest Jewish name ap-
pearing in a list of Masons in that State. He was a member
of Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, of which George Washington
was a member. The lodge was organized in 1752 and became
dormant in 1771. Levy's name appears in a list of about 250
members between those dates. The time of his admission is
not given."'
"» Procs. Grand, Lodge of Maryland for 1803.
'■" Centenary of Concordia Lodge, No. 13, of Baltimore, organized
in 1793, Balto., 1894.
^" Schultz, supra. Vol. II, p. 192.
^"'Niles' Register, Vol. XXXIV, p. 318.
i» Id., Vol. XXXI, p. 102. Cf. Markens, supra, pp. 100 and 94.
"* S. J. Qulnn, Historical Sketch of Fredericksburg Lodge, No.
i, in wfiich George Washington was made a Mason, and in which
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 59
Joseph Myers, or Joseph M. Myers, noted herein under
Maryland, shortly afterwards removed to Richmond, where
he settled in business. He there conferred the degrees of the
Scottish Eite upon Masons whom he deemed worthy.'"
Abraham Forst, already referred to under Pennsylvania,
and to be referred to under South Carolina, was Deputy In-
spector General of Masonry for Virginia, but the records do
not disclose what he did in that State with reference to the
Scottish Eite, the introduction of which he was to further.
he held his membership for life, Fredericksburg, Va., 1890. Efforts
to find some reference to him In works treating of Fredericksburg
or Virginia, have not met with success. An Bzekiel Levy is men-
tioned as a vestryman in the Protestant Episcopal Church in Wil-
liamsburg, Va., between 1787 and 1802. Bishop Meade, The Old
Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, Vol. II, p. 176.
He may have been the sinner in Israel mentioned by Rev. S.
Morals, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society,
No. 1, p. 18, as shaving on a Sabbath in Baltimore in 1782. An
Bzekiel Levy has already been noted as a Mason in Philadelphia
in 1781, and is possibly the Hezekiah of Virginia. It is somewhat
unusual to find a Levy noted as a Christian, and we may assume
that Bzekiel Levy became a convert, and Hezekiah Levy, in the
absence of testimony to the contrary, was a true believer in the
ancient faith. Hezekiah Levy may have been a descendant of
John Levy to whom 200 acres of land upon the main branch of
Powells Creek, in James City County, were patented in 1648 dur-
ing the regal government. See Williams and Mary Quarterly
for 1901-1902, Vol. X, p. 95.
»"> John Dove, Text Book of Royal Arch Masons, for 1853, p. 91.
Among those who received those degrees from him was Rev. John
Dove, a non-Jew, who was Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter
of Virginia for more thon 50 years. Dove refers to his acquaint-
anceship with Myers from whom, he adds, he acquired knowledge
of the principles and practice of Masonry, and says it was fortu-
nate for Masonry that both Da Costa and Myers, who had been
appointed through Frederick the Second on the mission of Ma-
sonic propagandism in America, " were Israelites and well-edu-
cated men." John Dove, History of the Grand Lodge of Ya.,
Richmond, 1854, p. 59.
60 American Jewish Historical Society.
The printed Virginia records here are fuller as to the Jew-
ish members in the early Masonic lodges than those of other
States, though further information could no doubt be obtained
in Eiehmond.
Nearly all of those who we know were members of the
Beth Shalome Congregation of Richmond in 1791 were Ma-
sons, as will be seen on comparison with the list below."*
The following is a list arranged in alphabetical order of
Jewish Masons who are known to have been members of Vir-
ginia lodges between 1785 and 1810, with the names of the
lodges to which they belonged, and dates between which they
are noted in the printed proceedings as members.""
Charles Z. Abrahams, Jerusalem Chapter, No. 54, Richmond, In
1810, Past Master, at Grand Lodge meeting in 1819, and was
Grand Master of the 3d Veil of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons in 1820, according to Dove's Text Book for 1853.
Lewis Barnett, Winchester Hiram Lodge, No. 21, Winchester,
in 1808.
Simon Z. Block, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
from 1805 to 1808.
William Block, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
1804 to 1805.
Isaac Burres, Marshall Lodge, No. 39, Lynchburg, 1800; Rich-
mond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1802 and 1803.
Abraham N. Cardozo, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1797
to 1800; Manchester Lodge, No. 14, Manchester, Chesterfield Co.,
1800 to 1805.
^^ The names of these members are given in " The Jews of
Richmond," by Jacob Ezekiel, Publications of the American Jewish
Historical Society, No. 4, p. 21; and by Markens, in The Hebrews
in America, p. 83.
^" See Reprint of Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Virginia,
1777-182S, and original issues of yearly proceedings of the Grand
Lodge between 1791 and 1810. In 1799 the lists of members of all
the lodges are first given, but names can be gathered in previous
years from notes of attendance at Grand Lodge meetings. See
also Charles P. Rady, History of Richmond Randolph Lodge, No.
19, Richmond, 1888.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 61
Israel I. Cohen, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1793 to
1800; St. John's Lodge, No. 30, Richmond, 1800.
Jacob I. Cohen, at Grand Lodge in 1792; Richmond Lodge, No.
10, Richmond, in 1795; Georgetown Lodge, No. 46, in 1798; Rich-
mond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1798 to 1805.
Myer M. Cohen, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
1794 to 1799. Master, October 1795 to June 1796. At Grand Lodge
meetings. Death reported in 1799.
Joseph Darmstadt, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1787 to
1810. Grand Treasurer of Grand Lodge, 1794 to 1807. In 1792
and 1793 Deputy Grand Master pro tem.
Isaac Delion, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1800 to 1805.
Lyon Elcan, noted as withdrawn from Richmond Randolph
Lodge, No. 19, in 1797.
Marcus Elcan [Blkan or Blkln], Richmond Randolph Lodge,
No. 19, Richmond, 1787 to 1797, when he withdrew; was at Grand
Lodge meeting in 1785.
Gersham Galutha, Petersburg Lodge, No. 15, Petersburg, 1803.
Michael Garber, Sen. (?), Staunton Lodge, No. 13, Staunton,
1800 to 1805.
Michael Garber, Jun. (?), Staunton Lodge, No. 13, Staunton,
1800 to 1805.
Dayid Greiner (?), Staunton Lodge, No. 13, Staunton, 1802.
Isaac Hays, Staunton Lodge, No. 13, Staunton, 1803. Death re-
ported in 1805.
Joseph Hays, Abingdon Lodge, No. 48, Abingdon, 1800.
Isaac Henry, Naphtali Lodge, No. 56, Norfolk, 1800 to 1802;
Salem Lodge, No. 81, Salem, Fauquier Co., 1807.
David Isaacs, Door to Virtue Lodge, No. 44, CharlottesTille,
1794 to 1806.
Joseph Israel, Naphtali Lodge, No. 56, Norfolk, 1800 to 1802.
Benjamin Jacobs, Norfolk Lodge, No. 1, Norfolk, 1802.
Solomon Jacobs, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
1798 to 1827. Master, 1804 to 1807. Grand Master of Grand Lodge,
1810 to 1813.
Lazarus Joseph, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
1805.
Isaac H, Judah, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1794 to
1805.
Marcus Levi, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
1810.
6
63 American Jewish Historical Society.
A. S. Levy, visitor at Grand Lodge, from Stanvasdegoed Lodge,
Surinam, 1810.
Jacob Lyon, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1808 to 1809.
Hyman Marks, at Grand Lodge as visitor from Lodge No. 19,
of Pennsylvania, Dec. 11, 1804.
Mordecal Marks, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1809 to
1810.
Solomon Marks, Jr., Naphtali Lodge, No. 56, Norfolk, 1804.
Solomon Marx, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond,
1795.
Isaac Miller, Door to Virtue Lodge, No. 44, Charlottesville, 1799
to 1800.
Isaac Mordecai, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1792 to
1799; Scottsville Lodge, No. 20, 1799.
Mordecal M. Mordecai, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond,
1792 to 1797; Frederick Argyle Lodge, No. 10, 1797. Grand Treas-
urer, pro tern., 1792.
Joseph A. Myers, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1787
to 1799; Jerusalem Lodge, No. 54, Richmond, 1800 to 1805; Rich-
mond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Richmond, 1802 to 1827. Master
of Lodge No. 19, in 1819.
Michael Myers, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1802 to
1805.
Philip Myers, Fredericksburg American Lodge, Fredericksburg,
1805.
Samuel Myers, Honorary Member of Charleston, S. C, Lodge of
Perfection, in 1802; Jerusalem Lodge, No. 54, Richmond, 1805.
Death reported in 1805.
Joseph Ober, Norfolk Lodge, No. 1, Norfolk, 1802.
Solomon Raphael, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, Rich-
mond, 1800 to 1810. Frequent attendant at Grand Lodge meetings.
David Rattsay, Manchester Lodge, No. 14, Manchester, Chester-
field Co., 1810.
Zalma Rehine, Richmond Lodge, No. 10, 1798 to 1799; reported
as having removed from that lodge in 1799, and in 1806 as present
at Grand Lodge meeting as representative of that lodge.
Isaac Salle, Manchester Lodge, No. 14, Manchester, Chesterfield
Co., 1800 to 1803.
Joseph Samuel, Norfolk Lodge, No. 1, Norfolk, 1800 to 1802.
Benjamin Seixas, Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, 1805 to
1807.
The Jews cmd Masonry — Oppenheim. 63
Isaac B. Selxas and Isaac V. Seixas, visitors at Grand Lodge,
from New York, 1809 and 1810.
Benjamin Wolfe, St. John's Lodge, No. 30, Richmond, 1792;
Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, 1795; reported removed from
Lodge No. 19, in 1799; Richmond Lodge, No. 10, Richmond, 1800;
suspension from Grand Lodge of Maryland notified to Grand Lodge
of Virginia, 1800; Naphtall Lodge, No. 56, Norfollc, 1800; Jerusa-
lem Lodge, No. 54, Richmond, 1802.
Jacob Wolfe, Lodge No. 37, 1808.
Lewis Wolfe, Lodge No. 21, 1808.
Of Eichmond Lodge, No. 10, Edmund Eandolph, Governor
of Virginia, and also John Marshall, who later was Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, were mem-
bers. Each was a Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Virginia.
Alexander Yuille was a member of Eichmond Lodge, 'No.
10, in 1789, and was Grand Deacon in 1793. His name is
suggested as possibly Jewish. He appears as one of the mem-
bers of the Amicable Society of Eichmond in 1789, the name
being then spelled Youille."'
William TJrie appears as Grand Tiler in 1788."""
David May, in 1788, was authorized to constitute Wash-
ington Lodge, No. 36, to continue for one year. James Barnet
was to be one of its members.*'"
Zachariah Vowles ( ?) was at a Grand Lodge meeting in
1798.'°'
Myer PoUax had his application for membership rejected
in 1807.*"' He may be identical with Myer Pollack, of New-
port, mentioned by Mr. Kohler "' and by George A. Kohut.'"
^" Samuel Mordecai, Richmond in By-gone Days, 2d ed., Rich-
mond, 1860, p. 256.
i»" Procs. Va. Grand Lodge, 1788.
'^Id., for 1788. '^ Id., for 1798. '"■Id., for 1807.
'"'Publications of the American JevAsh Historical Society, No.
6, p. 73.
'"'Ezra Stiles and the Jews, p. 45.
64 American Jewish Historical Society.
Isaac Henry, mentioned as of Kaphtali Lodge, of Norfolk,
1800 to 1802, is named in a list of addressees of letters re-
maining unclaimed at the Washington post-office on July 1,
1804, the letter for him being addressed in care of Isaac
Polock."*
Marcus Elcan, whose name in the proceedings is also spelled
Elkan and Elkin, appears as the earliest member in. the above
list of Virginia Masons, being noted as attending a Grand
Lodge meeting in 1785. He was an active attendant at many
of the meetings. He was a member of the Philadelphia Con-
gregation in 1783.^^ He was dead in 1816, in which year it
was said of him that he had been for many years President of
the Eichmond Congregation Beth Shalome.°°° Whether he
was President in 1790 when Washington was addressed by
the various Jewish congregations does not appear, but as he
ceased being noted as present at lodge meetings after 1797
we may, in the absence of the congregation's records, infer that
he was President in 1790.
Joseph Darmstadt is next in order of early Jewish Masons
in Virginia. His name is first mentioned in 1786. Its spell-
ing in the records varies at different meetings, appearing as
Darmsdat, Darmsdadt, Darmsdaat, Darmsdatt, Darmstat,
Darmstatt, Darmstaat, Darmstadt, and Darmstaadt. It is
signed at two meetings in 1792, as Deputy Grand Master pro
tern., Darmsdaat and Darmstaadt, and in 1795, as Chairman
of a committee, Darmsdatt. Before 1795 he filled temporarily
in the Grand Lodge the offices of Grand Sword Bearer, Junior
Grand Deacon, Senior Grand Warden, and Deputy Grand
Master. Prom 1794 to 1807 he was Grand Treasurer of the
Grand Lodge. In 1804 he was the subject of a reprimand by
the Grand Lodge for aspersing the character of some of the
'"National Intelligencer, July 9, 1804.
^ Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 16.
'°° Puilieations of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
4, p. 25.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 65
members of Eichmond Lodge, No. 10, who had a controversy
with him regarding the amount claimed by him from that
lodge, the lodge being at the same time ordered to pay him a
balance found to be due to him according to the report of a
committee of investigation. He continued to hold the office
of Grand Treasurer for three years longer, retiring at his own
request in December, 1807.*"
He is noted as one of the visiting brethren at the organiza-
tion of Eichmond Eandolph Lodge, No. 19, in December,
1787, and as having advanced that lodge and Eichmond
Lodge, No. 10, in 1788, the sum of £347 to prevent a sale of
the lodge building on a claim for the balance due for its con-
struction. That building, erected in 1785, is still in existence,
and is claimed to be the oldest Masonic edifice in America.
A question of title to the property arose in 1793, and in a suit
in chancery a decree was entered requiring the execution of a
deed to trustees for both lodges, and among those named as
such trustees were Joseph " Darmsdat " and Jacob L. Cohen.
The Jacob L. Cohen there mentioned may be the Jacob I.
Cohen herein noted as a prominent Mason connected with
Eichmond Lodge, No. 10."'
Darmstadt was a member of the Beth Shalome Congrega-
tion of Eichmond in 1791.'"'
'"Procs. GranA Lodge of Virginia, reprint, 1777-1823.
"°Rady, History of Richmond Randolph Lodge, No. 19, supra,
pp. 2, 6, and 7.
^Publications of the American Jetoish Historical Society, No.
4, p. 21. A sketch of him appears in Samuel Mordecai's book,
Richmond in By-gone Days, 2d ed., Richmond, 1860, p. 147. Sam-
uel Mordecai was a son of Jacob Mordecai, of Warrenton, N. C,
to whom reference as a Mason will be made in treating of North
Carolina. That writer says, among other things, that Darmstadt
was, as his name implies, a Hessian, who came to this country
as a sutler with the troops that were sold by their prince at so
much per head to fight the battles of despotism. On his arrival
he renounced his foreign allegiance and established himself shortly
afterwards at Richmond.
66 American Jewish Historical Society.
He is noted"* as a member of the Amicable Society of
Richmond in 1789. Its object was to relieve strangers and
wayfarers in distress for whom the law made no provision.
. His name also appears, printed as J. Darmsdale," among the
signers of a petition to the president and directors of the
Bank of the United States for the establishment of a branch
bank in Eichmond.
Israel J. Cohen was another signer of ibis petition. His
name also appears as one of the subscribers for the shares of the
Academy of Arts and Sciences of the United States of Amer-
ica, established at Eichmond in 1786."° The firm of Cohen &
Isaacs also appears as subscribers, as also Benjamin Lewis and
Barnet Price. Cohen is said to have come to Eichmond after
the Eevolution, and to have died in 1803."°
Jacob I. Cohen, an elder brother, who appears to have been
an active attendant at lodge meetings, was first at Lancaster,
Pa., and Charleston, S. C, before coming to Eichmond. He
took part in the Eevolution, serving under Moultrie and Lin-
coln. After being honorably discharged he settled at Eich-
mond, where he became a successful merchant and afterwards
a banker, rendering important services to the young Eepublic.
Frequent references to him are to be found in the Madison
papers. He was a magistrate and member of the City Council
of Eichmond,"' and was also Eecorder of that city."*'
Myer M. Cohen has been mentioned under Pennsylvania as
an active member of the Sublime Lodge of Perfection, and as
a member of the Philadelphia Congregation Mikve Israel in
'"Id., p. 255.
"" Virginia Magazine of Bistory and Biography, 1900-1901, Vol.
VIII, pp. 291-295.
'^ S. Mordecai, supra, p. 206.
"' Markens, The Hebrews in America, p. 86.
="7(J., pp. 85-87.
^** PuiUcations of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
12, p. 164.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 67
1783. He was a Senior Warden of Eichmond Eandolph Lodge
in 1795, and on the death of the Master succeeded him. He
held the office of Master from October 6, 1795, to June 26,
1796. He died in 1799."° He is mentioned by Rev. Gteorge A.
Kohut in connection with a Prayer Book presented by him
to Isaac H. Judah, at Eichmond, in September, 1797."°
Isaac H. Judah was a frequent attendant at Grand Lodge
meetings. He was Eeader in the Beth Shalome Congre-
gation."'
Isaac B. Seixas was Eeader in the same congregation, after
Judah's death."" He appears to have been still in Eichmond
when Isaac Leeser arrived there in 1834."'
Zalma Eehine was Grand Master pro tern, of the 4th Veil
of the Grand Eoyal Arch Chapter of Virginia in 1808."" He
was a storekeeper and the uncle of Isaac Leeser.™ He was
still a resident of Eichmond in 1834," and apparently as late
as 1839.*" Eehine was later a resident of Baltimore.
Mordecai M. Mordecai is mentioned by Morals ™ as a Min-
ister, and also by Dr. S. Morals "^' as a member of the Phila-
delphia Congregation Mikve Israel in 1783, and as writing a
letter of appeal to the Jews of Surinam for funds to aid in
building the synagogue. In 1793 he is noted at Grand Lodge
*" History of Bichmond, Randolph Lodge, No. 19, supra, p. 14.
'^'Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
3, p. 120.
'''Id., No. 4, p. 22.
™'' Markens, supra, p. 84.
'"H. S. Morais, Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century,
N. Y., 1880, p. 196.
^' Dove's Text-Book of R. A. M. of Va. for 1853, p. 128.
"™ Markens, supra, p. 85.
^Morals, supra, p. 196.
'^ See Isaac Leeser's The Jews and the Mosaic iow, 1833, Preface.
'"^ The Jews of Phila., pp. 29 and 290.
''^ Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
1, p. 18.
68 American Jewish Historical Society.
meetings as Junior Grand Deacon pro tern, and Grand Treaa-
urer pro tern.
Solomon Jacobs was a very active member of the Grand
Lodge and held various oflBces ia it. In 1810 he was elected
Grand Master, and was agaia elected in 1811 and 1813, serving
imtil 1813. A fine steel engraving of him as Grand Master
in 1813 appears in the printed Grand Lodge proceedings."
He was Master of Kichmond Eandolph Lodge, No. 19, from
1804 to 1807, and was one of the members attending at the
reception to Lafayette at Eichmond on his visit to that city
on October 30, 1834. Lafayette was then made honorary mem-
ber of the lodge.^
Jacobs was President of the Beth Shalome Congregation
of Eichmond.""
"^ Reprint of Proceedings of the Qrand Lodge of Virginia, 1777-
1823, p. 409. Rev. John Dove, The Qrand Lodge of Virginia, p. 71,
speaks of Jacobs as Past Master of Richmond Randolph Lodge,
No. 19, and as having presided over the Grand Lodge of Virg:inia
from 1810 to 1813, and as " a well-educated Israelite, and a man
of high standing in the community as well as with the Frater-
nity."
"""Rady, supra, pp. 19, 27.
"" Markens, The Hebrews in America, p. 87. He is said to have
been for ten successive years Mayor of Richmond. (Lewis Abrar
ham, " The Jewish American as a Politician," American Jeios'
Annual for X888, p. 104.) This last statement cannot be verified
other than through a doubtful reference to his incumbency of that
oflace found in an English publication relating to the Jews, written
about 1830, and giving " a list of some persons who hold or hava
held oflace in the United States of America." Among the names
there mentioned is "Jacobs, Mayor of Richmond, Virginia." (Sea
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 18, p.
210.) The inscription on Jacobs' tombstone at Richmond says that
he died at the age of 52 years, on the 12th of Cheshvan, 5588, cor-
responding to November 3, 1827, and that he was called to oflfices
of distinction in the municipality and other corporate institutions,
and discharged his duty with firmness and ability. For this last
information thanks are due to the kindness of Mr. Isaac Markens
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 69
Solomon Raphael, Mordecai Marks, and Joseph A. Myers
were active members and frequent attendants at Grand Lodge
meetings. Their names occur in connection with the great
fire in Richmond in 1811. Joseph A. Myers was one of a
committee appointed to ascertain the names of the dead and
missing, and among those reported by that committee were
Solomon Raphael's wife Charlotte and Mordecai Marks' wife
Cyprian, and also Joseph Jacobs and Barach Judah's child.'^
Mordecai Marks was probably the " Marks, Recorder of Vir-
ginia," mentioned in the English publication already referred
to.""
Joseph A. Myers also was an active member of Richmond
Randolph Lodge, ITo. 19. His name is noted in 1787 as one
from whom a petition was received by that lodge shortly after
its organization. Presumably he was then a member of Rich-
mond Lodge, No. 10, which he is noted as representing at
Grand Lodge meetings. He was Master of Richmond Ran-
dolph Lodge, Ko. 19, from June to September, 1819. With
Solomon Jacobs and others he was one of the attendants at
the reception to Lafayette in 1824. He died September 29,
1827. His son, Joseph Albert Myers, was Master of the
Lodge from 1830 to 1832, and died in 1834."*" Joseph A.
Myers is mentioned as a member of the Philadelphia Congre-
gation Mikve Israel in 1782,'"' though his name does not ap-
pear in the list of members of the Richmond Congregation in
1791. He was probably related to the Joseph M. Myers noted
and his Richmond correspondent who examined the tombstone.
The Richmond directory for 1819, the first issued, mentioned
Jacohs' name as Recorder, among the officers of the municipal
government. This book is in the Library of Congress.
™ See A Particular Account of the Dreadful Fire at Richmond,
December 26, 1811, Baltimore, 1812; at Lenox Library.
^ See Puhlications of the American Jewish Historical Society,
No. 18, p. 210.
=^°Rady, supra, pp. 2, 3, 27, 54.
=^' Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 16.
70 American Jewish Historical Society.
as a member of the Sublime Lodge of Perfection of Philadel-
pliia in 1781.
David Isaacs, of Door to Virtue Lodge, No. 44, Charlottes-
ville, was the son of Isaiah Isaacs who died in Charlottesville
in 1806, leaving six children, Francis, Isaiah, Henrietta,
David, Martha, and Hays. They, for the most part, removed
to Eichmond. David remained in Charlottesville, and was
one of its merchants in the decade of 1830 and died in 1837.*"
Isaiah Isaacs has just been mentioned twice, once as father
and once as brother of David. The father was probably the
member of the Beth Shalome Congregation of Eichmond who
in 1791 sold part of his land in that city to the congregation
for cemetery purposes.'^' He is probably identical with the
Isaiah Isaacs mentioned as among those who fought in the
Eevolution.^
David Isaacs is also mentioned as a member of the Eich-
mond Congregation Beth Shalome in 1791.^°°
Joseph Israel, of Naphtali Lodge, No. 56, Norfolk, may
have been a descendant of Michael Israel who patented 80
acres of land in North Garden, near Stockton's Thoroughfare,
Albemarle County, in 1757, and who bought, in 1772, 300
acres in Mechum's Eiver, in the same section, which he sold
in 1779.™ The name of the pass known as Stockton's
Thoroughfare was changed to Israel's Gap. Michael Israel
belonged to the Albemarle Company of Militia in actual ser-
vice for the protection of the frontier against the Indians in
1758."°'
'^ Rev. Edgar Woods, Aliemarle County in Virginia, Charlottes-
ville, Va., 1901, pp. 359-360.
^'Markens, The Hebrews in America, p. 84.
'^PuWcations of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
4, p. y6; No. 12, p. 50.
^ Markens, The Hebrews in America, p. 84.
=^'' Rev. Edgar Woods, supra, p. 359.
^'Jd., p. 363. Joseph Israel is mentioned by Wolf, supra, as
having volunteered during the Revolution, and may have been
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 71
Benjamin Wolfe was an active member of the Order. The
first record of him is in 1792.°" The Grand Lodge then, on
Wolfe's appeal, sustained the Master of Eichmond Lodge, No.
10, in revoking a dispensation to initiate Wolfe after his re-
jection by the votes of two brethren who were alleged to have
acted from private pique, it having been represented to the
Master that Wolfe was an exceptionable character and would
be obnoxious to his fellow members. Wolfe, however, seems
after this to have been a member of Richmond Lodge, Wo. 10,
being noted as a visitor from it to the Grand Lodge in 1795,
and as a member of it in 1800. He also appears to have been
a member of other lodges in 1803 and 1803. He was a mem-
ber of the Common Council of Richmond in 1816."' Wolfe
has been mentioned as a member of a Baltimore lodge in 1787.
Hyman Isaac Long is mentioned in the Grand Lodge pro-
ceedings for 1795 in connection with a petition stating his
deplorable condition. An appropriation of sixty dollars was
made for him. He has been mentioned as having presented
a similar petition to the New York Grand Lodge. He was
one of the Deputy Inspectors General for Jamaica, and had
been appointed by Moses Cohen, who had been appointed by
B. M. Spitzer. He will be referred to again imder South
Carolina.
Benjamin Seixas, noted as of Richmond Randolph Lodge,
No. 19, was a son of Moses Seixas, of Newport,^ and not the
Benjamin Seixas mentioned as Treasurer in 1782 of the Phila-
related to Isaac Israel whose military record Wolf gives, and who
is elsewhere named as Captain of the 8th Virginia Regiment
among the Albemarle County soldiers of the Revolution. Woods,
supra.
^ Procs. Gr. Lodge of Ya., for Oct. 30, 1792.
'"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
4, p. 25, where other particulars about him are given.
""Id., No. 4, p. 204.
73 American Jewish Historical Society.
delphia Congregation Mikve Israel,"" and already noted under
Pennsylvania."'
Samuel Myers has been referred to in treating of Pennsyl-
vania as present at a meeting of the Sublime Lodge of Per-
fection in Philadelphia ia 1781, as Deputy Inspector of Ma-
sonry for the Leeward Islands, and as of the Philadelphia
congregation in 1782. In 1802 he is described as a native of
New York, but a merchant of Virginia.*" He married Judith
Hays, a daughter of Moses M. Hays, of Boston, on September
27, 1796, being at that time of Petersburg, Va."*
Samuel Myers is probably the one mentioned in a facsimile
reprint of the first New York City Directory, for 1786, pub-
lished by David Franks, in which, specially prepared for the
reprint, are compiled from the newspapers of the day, " Annals
of City for 1786." Under date of January 7, the following
reference to him occurs:
The partnership of Isaac Moses, Samuel Myers, and Moses Myers
under the firm name of Isaac Moses & Co., late of Phil, and now
of New York is dissolved. Likewise the co-partnership of Samuel
Myers, Moses Myers, and Isaac Myers under the firm name of
Samuel & Moses Myers, formerly of St. Eustatia and late of Am-
sterdam.
This indicates why Samuel Myers, ia 1781, appears as
Deputy Inspector of Masonry for the Leeward Islands.""
'^m.. No. 2, p. 57.
^ Ante, notes 143, 144.
^ Mackey and Singleton, History of Freemasonry, supra. Vol.
VII, p. 1821.
'^^ Newport Mercury, Notices of Marriages and Deaths before
1800, reprinted between July 8, 1899, and February 3, 1900.
Mounted clippings at Lenox Library. See also Mason's Reminis-
cences of Viewport. Sally, another daughter of Hays, was mar-
ried to M. M. Myers, of Petersborough, Va., September 27, 1796.
'^^ Samuel Myers was probably identical with the Samuel Myers
mentioned in a late biographical work. (Eminent and, Representor
tive Men of Virginia and the District of Columbia, of the Nine-
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 73
David Eattsay, mentioned as of Manchester Lodge, may
have been related to Eatse Seixas, who was a member of the
Beth Elohim Congregation of Charleston, S. C, in 1803.""
Hyman Marks must have been a well-known resident of
Eichmond, as he is mentioned as such in a petition, not dated,
of Israelites to the Common Council of that city."' An en-
graving of Marks is in the possession of the American Jewish
Historical Society.™ He is there spoken of as a merchant of
Eichmond, and as having afterwards moved to Philadelphia.
He died in Philadelphia November 5, 183 5."" He has been
mentioned as a visitor at the Grand Lodge from [Montgomery]
Lodge No. 19 of Philadelphia.
teenth Century, Madison, Wis., 1893, p. 523. At Lenox Library.)
In a sketch of Barton Myers, the statement is made that his
paternal grandfather was Samuel Myers, a native of Norfolk and
a lawyer by profession, and that a great-great-grandfather wag
Hyman Myers, born in Amsterdam, Holland, who emigrated to
New York City in the early days of the settlement of that place,
and became prominently identified with its interests. The lat-
ter's son, it is there stated, Moses Myers by name, removed to
Norfolk, Virginia, in 1786. This is the date of the dissolution of
the partnership of Samuel & Moses Myers, above referred to.
There is a conflict in regard to the birth-place of Samuel Myers
in this account and in the statement of his nativity in the list
to be given of members of the Charleston Lodge of Perfection,
but the latter may have been the correct account, being made
closer to the date of the birth, while the former followed the
residence of the father, and was made long after the event. It is
also possible that the reference to Samuel Myers as a lawyer
and native of Norfolk may have been to a son of Moses Myers.
Moses Myers also had two brothers, John and Myer, who fought
in the War of 1812. (Eminent and Representative Men of Va.,
supra.)
^' B. A. Elzas, History of the Congregation Beth Elohim.
"'' Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
11, p. 72.
'^Id., No. 1, p. 123; No. 6, pp. 153-154. See also Morals, TTie
Jews of Phila., pp. 45, 292.
«" Id., No. 6, p. 110.
74 American Jewish Historical Society.
Comparing the names of the Masons of Virginia herein
given with the names of the Israelites mentioned in the im-
dated petition to the Common Council just referred to, it will
be seen that the date of the petition was probably between
1830 and 1835, as those mentioned therein are stated to have
been then already dead. Solomon Jacobs, one of those named,
died in 1837, and Zalma Eehine, another of those named, was
alive in Eiehmond as late as 1830. The Eev. Mr. Cohen, also
named in that petition, was Abraham H. Cohen referred to
as Grand Scribe of the Grand Eoyal Holy Arch of Pennsyl-
vania. He had been a Eeader in the Philadelphia Congrega-
tion Mikve Israel, and is spoken of by Isaac Leeser as late
Eeader of the Eiehmond congregation in 1839.^°
NORTH CAROLINA.
In Forth Carolina we find°'° that Jacob Mordecai was
Master of Johnston Caswell Lodge, No. 10, of Warrenton, in
1797, 1798, and 1799, and is noted as a member in 1801.
An account of him has been written by Gratz Mordecai.'"^
Jacob Gaster and Jacob Hartman, two names possibly Jew-
ish, appear as members of Pansophia Lodge, N'o. 25, 1797 to
1799. Gaster was a member of the House of Commons for
Moore County, liTorth Carolina, between 1796 and 1815, and
of the Senate in 1806 and 1812."'
^" See Isaac Leeser, The Jews and the Mosaic Law, Preface,
Note.
==»Procs. of the Qrand Lodge of N. C, 1797-1814.
'^'■Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
6, p. 39. His son, Samuel Mordecai, was the author of Richmond
in By-gone Days, cited in treating of Virginia. Jacob Mordecai
seems to have been In New York in December, 1784, being then
noted as a purchaser of forfeited lands of loyalists, belonging to
James DeLancey (Id., No. 10, p. 164), and also in 1786 when his
name appears in the New York City directory for that year as
vendue and commission merchant, 22 Wall Street.
""'John H. Wheeler, Sistorical Sketches of North Carolina,
Phila., 1851, Vol. I, p. 273.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 75
Zachariah Hart was a member of Davie Glasgow Lodge, No.
26, Glasgow County, in 1798 and 1799. In the latter year
the spelling of the name is Harte.
Abraham Isaacs was a member of St. Tammany Lodge, N"o.
30, of Wilmington, in 1798. In 1799 he is noted as A. M.
Isaacs, Senior Warden.
Aaron Lazarus and M. Levy were also members of St. Tam-
many Lodge, No. 30, in 1803, J. M. Levy in 1807, and Aaron
L. Gomez and Philip BenjamiQ in 1813 and probably before.
Aaron Lazarus is mentioned as one of the earliest Hebrews
to reach Wilmington and as one of the first directors of the
Wilmington & Weldon Eailroad Company. He was born in
Charleston in 1777 and died at Eichmond in 1841.'°'
Benjamin Jacobs was Tiler in that lodge in 1799, and in
1803 is noted as Junior Warden of St. John's Lodge, No. 1,
of Wilmington.
Joseph Jacobs was a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 1,
in 1803, Senior Warden in 1807, and still a member in 1813.
Jacob Henry, in 1807, was a member of Taylor Lodge, No.
48, Beaufort County. He was a member of the House of Com-
mons of North Carolina, for Carteret County, in 1808 and
1809. His seat was sought to be vacated on the ground that
he " denied the divine authority of the New Testament," but
on his appeal to the House he successfully defended his right
to it."*
Henry, in 1813, was also a member of St. John's Lodge,
No. 3, of Newbern. Other members of that lodge were Abra-
ham Cutten, 1797 to 1799, Samuel Hart and Jacob Sabiston."°"
Simon Nathan is not recorded as active in North Carolina,
for which State he was, as already noted under Pennsylvania,
appointed Deputy Inspector General in 1781.
^ Markens, The Heirews in America, p. 113.
2" Wheeler's Historical Sketches of North Carolina, pp. 74-76.
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 16,
article by Leon Hiihner.
'^ Proas. Or. L. of N. G., 1797-1814.
76 American Jewish Historical Society.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
Our earliest reference to a Jewish Mason in Soutli Carolina
is to Isaac Da Costa, already referred to. In 1753 he was a
member of King Solomon's Lodge, of Charleston, and in 1759
its Treasurer.*"
A Sublime Lodge of Perfection was organized by him in
Charleston in February, 1783, he being then Deputy Inspector
General of Masonry under appointment from Moses M. Hays.
At that meeting Moses C. Levy received the degree of Royal
Select Master, and was still a member in 1827.'°' Da Costa was
a merchant and old resident of Charleston, and for years
Eeader of the Jewish congregation of that city. In 1781,
owing to the British occupancy of Charleston,"* he went to
Philadelphia and became one of the original members of the
Mikve Israel Congregation of that city in 1783."' In 1783
he returned to Charleston, where he died in November of that
year.^ Of him, as of Joseph M. Myers, it was said '^ that it
was fortunate for Masonry that both were Israelites and well-
educated men.
On Da Costa's death, Joseph M. Myers was appointed as
his successor by Moses M. Hays, thus becoming Deputy In-
spector General of Masonry for South Carolina. Eeference
to him has already been made under Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and Virginia.
Myers established a Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem
in Charleston on February 20, 1788.'°' With Barend M.
^° See B. A. Blzas, The Jews of South Carolina, p. 36.
""'R. P. Gould, History of Freemasonry, supra, Vol. IV, p. 663;
A. G. Mackey, History of Freemasonry in S. 0., p. 182; Mackey
and Singleton, History of Freemasonry, Vol. VII, p. 1846.
=*' Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina, Pamphlet II, pp. 5-6.
=" Morals, The Jews of Philadelphia, p. 15.
"'° Elzas, supra.
'^ John Dove, History of the Orand Lodge of Virginia^ p. 59.
"'Procs. Supreme Council, A. <& A. S. R., Nor. Jur., reprint,
1781-1862, p. 6; Mackey and Singleton, supra, Vol. VII, p. 1843;
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 77
Spitzer, Deputy for Gteorgia, and Abraham Forst, Deputy for
Virginia, he installed the officers. The Eite in South Carolina
was only worked at Charleston."" Myers shortly afterwards
removed from Charleston, and resided at various times at
Norfolk, Richmond, and Baltimore, and about 1795 left the
country for Europe.*" His name, with Abraham Alexander,
Moses Bleazer, and Marcus Lazarus, is mentioned in 1780 in
a petition offering allegiance to his Majesty's person and
government.*" On August 31, 1791, we find that he delivered
an excellent discourse at Charleston at the synagogue in sup-
port of a plan for a non-sectarian orphan asylum to be erected
by the city.*"
Abraham Jacobs, in 1787, was Master of King Solomon's
Lodge, of Charleston, and in that year received various de-
grees in the Sublime Lodge of Perfection up to the Royal
Arch. Hie certificate is signed by Abraham Sasportas, as
Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Grand Lodge of Perfec-
tion, Knight of the East and Prince of Jerusalem, Prince
Mason and Knight of the Sun. It is also signed by Joseph Da
Costa, Grand Elect, Perfect and Sublime Mason, Knight of
the East and Sublime Grand Secretary. Jacobs afterwards
resided in Kingston, Jamaica, and in 1790 was there made a
Knight of the Sun at a Consistory presided over by Moses
Cohen, who, as already stated, was a Knight of the Sun at the
meeting of the Lodge of Perfection in Philadelphia in 1781,
and Abraham Porst, already referred to, both acting as Deputy
Inspectors General. His certificate as Knight of the Sun is
E. T. Carson, in Yourston edition of R. F. Gould's History of Free-
masonry, Vol. IV., p. 633.
*^Mackey and Singleton, supra, p. 1846; Mackey, History of
Freemasonry in S. C, p. 483.
™ Mackey, ibid.
^ So. Car. Gazette, Sept. 21, 1780, cited in Elzas' Jews of South
Carolina, Pamphlet III, p. 19.
'^ Charleston Year Book, for 1883, p. 306.
7
78 American Jewish Historical Society.
signed by Moses Cohen, and also by A. M. Bonito as Keeper of
the Seals pro tern., and Jacob Delion as Grand Secretary pro
tern,. Jacobs left Kingston for Georgia in 1790, his certificate
giving him authority to promote the interests of the craft
there."' We shall meet him again in that State. He has al-
ready been noted under New York.
Barend (or Barnard) M. Spitzer who had been commis-
sioned by Moses M. Hays, June 35, 1781, seems to have com-
missioned Moses Cohen as Deputy Inspector General in Jan-
uary, 1784, and Cohen commissioned Hyman Isaac Long as
Deputy Inspector General January 11, 1795.°°* Spitzer was a
resident of Charleston between 1770 and 1783,™° a member of
the Mikve Israel Congregation of Philadelphia in 1783,™ and
was again in Charleston in 1784, when he left for the West
Indies."" He died in 1796.="
Hyman Isaac Long, on March 13, 1796, constituted a Grand
Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the hall
of La Candeur Lodge, No. 13, of Charleston."' He has al-
ready been mentioned under New York and Virginia. Israel
Myers, from 1788 to 1803, was Grand Tiler of the Grand
Lodge of Ancient York Masons, and Alexander Alexander was
Secretary from 1788 to 1800."'
*" Register of Abraham Jacobs, Document No. 15, p. 103, In
Polger, supra.
'^ Statutes and Regulations, &c., of the A. & A. S. R., prepared
by the Supreme Ciouncil, 33d Degree of the U. S. A., McCoy &
Sickles, N. Y., 1862.
"■° Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina, Pamphlet II, p. 3.
™ Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 15.
"'■ Elzas, supra.
"''Robert Folger, The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, 2d
ed., 1881, p. 38.
'"^ Mackey, History of Freemasonry in S. C, p. 496.
"*Ibid., p. 5; and Ahiman Rezon, by Frederick Dalcho, Charles-
ton, 1807. It is doubtful that Alexander was a Jew.
2'he Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 79
Masonry and the synagogue were connected in 1793 at the
laying of the corner-stone of the new synagogue of the Beth
Elohim Congregation on September 14 of that year.'" The
committee of arrangements consisted of Daniel Hart, Gershom
Cohen, and Moses C. Levy. The ceremony, according to the
glowing report of this committee to the vestry, " was conducted
by the rules and regulations of the ancient and honorable
fraternity of Freemasons." ™
The building was completed in 1794, and at the consecra-
tion in that year G-overnor William Moultrie and numerous
civil and military dignitaries were present. It may be in-
ferred, in the absence of records, that Governor Moultrie was
a Mason, as a near kinsman of his. Dr. James Moultrie, was
prominent in the Order in South Carolina, being one of the
Sovereign Grand Inspectors General for that State on the
establishment of the Supreme Council for the Southern Juris-
diction in 1801, and a Mason for many years before. Eefer-
ence will now be made to this Council, which has played an
important part in the history of Masonry, and which, at its
organization, included a number of Jews.
The Supreme Council of the 33d Degree of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Eite of Freemasonry, said to be the
first Supreme CouncU known, and superseding all previous
analogous organizations, being, it is also said, a transformation
of the former Rite of Perfection or Ancient Accepted Eite, was
^^ Nathaniel Levin, " The Congregation Beth Elohim," Charles-
ton Year Book, 1883, p. 307.
-'° A. B. Prankland, " Fragments of History," American Jews'
Annual for 1889, p. 17. The eight marble stones were laid hy the
following members of the congregation: Israel Joseph, Philip
Hart, Lyon Moses, Isaac Moses, Emanuel Abrahams, Mark Ton-
gues, Hart Moses, and Abraham Moses, all of whom, judging from
the account, and in the absence of Masonic records of the time,
may have been Masons. (Charleston Year Book, 1883, pp. 306-307.
Cf. Markens, supra, p. 55.) Isaac Moses we have seen to be one in
New York.
80 American Jewish Historical Society.
organized at Charleston, on May 30, 1801, by John Mitchell,
Frederick Dalcho, Emanuel DeLaMotta, Abraham Alexan-
der, Major T. B. Bowen, and Israel Delieben. A list exists
of the officers composing this Council in 1802, and also of the
officers and members of the different sections or divisions of
the degrees of the Scottish Eite in that year."'
Many Jewish names appear in this list, as also many non-Jewish,
prominent in South Carolina affairs. The list gives the ofiBcers
and members in 1802 of (1) the Sublime Grand Lodge of Per-
fection in South Carolina, which had been established in 1783;
(2) of the Council of the Princes of Jerusalem in South Carolina;
(3) of the Sovereign Chapter of the Rose-Croix de Heroden, or
Heredom, in South Carolina; (4) of the Grand Consistory of
Princes of the Royal Secret in South Carolina; and (5) of the
Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General of the 33d Degree
in South Carolina. It also gives the age, occupation, and nativity
of the ofBcers and members, in 1802, of the Grand Lodge of Per-
fection which had been established in Charleston in 1783.
The Jewish names have here been arranged in alphabetical
order, giving to each his rank. The titles will be better
understood by reference to what has been said of the degrees
in treating of Massachusetts.
Abraham Alexander, Grand Secretary of the Sovereign Chapter
of Rose-Croix; K. D. in the Grand Council of the Princes of Jerusa-
lem; Grand Secretary of the Grand Consistory of Princes of the
Royal Secret; and Illustrious Secretary General of the H. Em-
pire, in the Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General of the
33d Degree.
William Alexander, native of Charleston, factor, aged 26 years.
Secret Master, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Isaac Canter, native of Santa Croix, factor, aged 33 years.
Knight of the East, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Emanuel Cantor, native of Santa Croix, merchant, aged 30 years.
Intimate Secretary, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Emanuel DeLaMotta, native of Santa Croix, commission mer-
chant and auctioneer, aged 42 years, K. H.-P. R. S., Sovereign
Grand Inspector General of the 33d Degree and Illustrious Treas-
=''Mackey and Singleton, supra, Vol. VII, pp. 1820, 1821 et seq.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 81
urer General of the H. Empire, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of
Perfection; Grand Treasurer of the Sovereign Chapter of the Rose-
Croix de Heredom; Grand Treasurer of the Grand Consistory of
Princes of Jerusalem; and Illustrious Treasurer General of the
H. Empire in the Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General
of the 33d Degree.
Jacob Deleon, native of Jamica, commission merchant and auc-
tioneer, aged 38 years, Intendant of the Building, In the Sublime
Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Israel Delieben, native of Bohemia, commission merchant, aged
60 years, K. H.-P. R. S., Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the
33d Degree; Grand Treasurer of the Grand Council of Princes of
Jerusalem; Keeper of the Seals and Archives of the Grand Con-
sistory of Princes of the Royal Secret; and Sovereign Grand
Inspector General of the Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors
General of the 33d Degree.
Morris Goldsmith, native of London, merchant, aged 21 years.
Secret Master, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Solomon Harby, native of London, commission merchant and
auctioneer, aged 40 years, K. H.-P. R. S., in the Sublime Grand
Lodge of Perfection; Grand Orator and Keeper of the Seals of the
Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem; and member of the
Grand Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret.
Moses Michael Hays [spelled Hayes], native of [place blank],
merchant, of Boston, K. H.-P. R. S., honorary member in the Sub-
lime Grand Lodge of Perfection.
David Labat, native of Hamburg, storekeeper, aged 42 years,
member of the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Moses C. Levy, member of the Grand Consistory of Princes of
the Royal Secret, and Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the
Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General of the 33d Degree.
Samuel Myers, native of New York, merchant, of Virginia, aged
43 years, K. H.-P. R. S., honorary member, in the Sublime
Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Abraham Sasportas, native of Bordeaux, merchant, aged 56
years. Knight of the Sun, in the Sublime Grand Lodge of Per-
fection.
Others in the list. Dr. Frederick Dalcho, Dr. Isaac Auld,
and John IMitehell, who were claimed to have been Jews, are
known not to have been of that race."^
™ Pike's Historical Inquiry.
83 American Jewish Historical Society.
Abraham Alexander's nativity and age are not given in the
list. He is said to have been a Sonth Carolinian, and there
was some question as to whether he was a Jew."°
William Alexander's history is not known. He is noted
as a native of Charleston, and was probably a son of Abraham
Alexander, Sr., or brother of the other Abraham Alexander.
Isaac Canter and William Cantor were both members of
the Congregation Beth Elohim.^"
Emanuel DeLaMotta was Master, in 1803, of Eagle Mark
Lodge, Fo. 1, of Charleston, and in 1806, 1807, and 1809
was Master of Friendship Lodge, Ko. 9, of the same city.^'
™ Pike's Historical Inquiry, pp. 133, 196. Jacob C. Levy, a son
of Moses C. Levy, of whom information was requested, said that
he remembered Abraham Alexander, who was by birth an Eng-
lishman and a caligraphist of the first order, and that he was
Secretary of the Collector of the Custom House in Charleston, his
son, of the same name, residing in 1872 at Atlanta, Georgia.
There were two persons of the name of Abraham Alexander in
Charleston at the time. (B. A. Elzas, The Old Jewish Cemeteries
of Charleston, 1903.) One of them, Abraham Alexander, St., was,
according to the epitaph on his tombstone (ibid.) a native of Lon-
don, and died in 1816, aged 73 years. He was also Minister of the
Beth Elohim Congregation from 1765 to 1790. (The Charleston
Year Booh, for 1883, p. 315.) The other Abraham Alexander is
noted (Elzas, supra) as a native of London, also, who died in
1844, aged 73 years. This would make him about 31 in 1802.
Both were probably connected with the Masonic fraternity, and
the latter was probably the caligraphist and secretary of the
Supreme Council. Another Alexander, John J., was Grand Master
in South Carolina in 1836 and 1837 (Albert G. Mackey, Ahiman
Rezon, &c., of 8. C, 1852, p. 179), but it is doubtful that he was
a Jew.
^'' Elzas, History of the Beth Elohim Congregation.
^''Mackey's History of F. in 8. C, p. 511. The Freemason's
Vocal Assistant and Register of the Lodges of Masons in 8outh
Carolina and Georgia, Charleston S. C, 1807. At N. Y. Historical
Society Library. When the Supreme Grand Council for the
Northern Jurisdiction was formed in New York on August 5,
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 83
He was bom November 2, 1760, and died May 17, 1821,
according to the epitaph on his tombstone, which states only
the day of his death, and says he was aged 60 years, 6 months
and 15 days.''''
DeLaMotta's family fled from Spain to avoid persecution,
and branches of the old stock settled in Savannah and Charles-
ton, having rescued sufficient of their former fortune to render
them free from want. Emanuel devoted himself to Jewish
literature and Masonic study. One of his sons was Dr. Jacob
DeLaMotta, of Charleston, at one time a surgeon in the
United States Army and afterwards a practicing physician in
Charleston."' Emanuel was a resident of Charleston between
1770 and 1783.^* In 1790 he seems to have been at Savannah,
being then described as one of the incorporators of the Con-
gregation Mikve Israel there."'
Jacob Deleon was a distinguished officer of the War of the
Kevolution, serving as Captain on the staff of General De-
1813, lie was one of its founders, as special deputy-representative
and member of the Supreme Council at Charleston (Mackey and
Singleton, supra. Vol. VII, p. 1873), and, as already appears under
New York, was its head at its organization.
"-^^ Blzas, The Old Jewish Cemeteries of Charleston, 1903. These
dates are given differently by Nathaniel Levin, in Pike's Histor-
ical Inquiry, where it is said that DeLaMotta was born January
5, 1761, and died May 15, 1821. The epitaph says of him: " The
noblest endowments of man were his: united to a respectable
character which he sustained with undeviating rectitude. Strict,
yet unbigoted in his faith — liberal, yet unostentatious in his
charities — dignified, yet assuasive in his manners — he merited
the eulogy pronounced of being truly a good man. This tomb
is erected by his bereaved widow and eight children."
=^ Pike, Historical Inquiry. Statement by Nathaniel Levin.
^ Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina, Pamphlet III, p. 4.
^ A. E. Frankland, " Fragments of History," American Jews'
Annual, for 1889, p. 10. Nathaniel Levin says of him (Pike's
Historical Inquiry, p. 201) that he served his country in the
War of the Revolution and in the War of 1812, and rose from the
ranks to a military position of honor and trust.
84 American Jewish Historical Society.
'Kalh."" His name has been mentioned in connection with
Benjamin Nones, imder Pennsylvania, as assisting in carry-
ing DeKalb from the battle field when mortally wounded.
Deleon appears to have been at Kingston, Jamaica, in No-
vember, 1790, being then noted as Grand Secretary pro tern.
in the Grand Sublime Lodge of Perfection, and one of the
signers, with Moses Cohen and Abraham Bonito, of a patent,
already referred to, to Abraham Jacobs, as Knight of the
Sun, in the Lodge of Perfection.^' He was a member of the
Beth Blohim Congregation.
Israel Delieben was a member of the Beth Blohim Congre-
gation of Charleston in 1800."^ He was born in Prague,
Bohemia, in 1740, and emigrated to the United States in
1770, settling in Charleston, where he engaged in mercantile
pursuits. He died January 28, 1807, and was buried ^'' in the
Charleston cemetery .°°°
Monis Goldsmith was a member of the Beth Blohim Con-
gregation of Charleston in 1810.^' In that year he also ap-
pears to have been a member of Lodge 'No. 46, of Spartan-
burg.'"^ He was one of the committee on correspondence of
the Grand Lodge between 1809 and 1814, and was quite active
in relation to the proposed union of the two Grand Lodges
then existing. He was Secretary of the Grand Lodge.
=" Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citi-
zen, p. 51.
*' Register of Abraham Jacobs, Doc. 15, p. 103, in Folger, supra.
'^^ Elzas, History of the Beth Elohim Congregation.
'^"At the bead of bis tombstone the following symbol was en-
graved: ri a\' ^^® Nathaniel Levin, in Pike's Historical In-
quiry, p. 204, who there says of him that he served his country in
the War of the Revolution, and rose from the ranks to military
positions of honor and trust.
-" Blzas, The Old Jewish Cemeteries of Charleston.
™ Elzas, History, supra.
■""Procs. Grand Lodge of S. C, for 1810.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 85
Solomon Harby, in 1803, was Junior Warden of Eagle
Mark Lodge, No. 1, of Charleston/" Markens "* says that
Harby's father had been Lapidary to the Emperor of Morocco,
and that his son was Isaac Harby, a well-known author.
David Labat was a member of Beth Elohim Congregation
in 1800."°'
Moses C. Levy has already been mentioned as one of the
committee of arrangements at the laying, in 1793, of the
corner-stone of the Beth Elohim synagogue building, and
reference was made to the fact that the ceremony was con-
ducted in accordance with Masonic rules and regulations. He
was President of the congregation in 1791, and was remarkable
for his piety and learning.^""
Samuel Myers, of the Lodge of Perfection, has been de-
scribed under Virginia.
Abraham Sasportas was a member of the Beth Elohim Con-
gregation in 1810.'" He was a member of the Philadelphia
Congregation Mikve Israel in 1783.'°' In 1788 he was in
Charleston, and with Joseph Da Costa signed a commission
^'' Mackey, History of Freemasonry in S. O., p. 510.
^ Tfie Hebrews in America, p. 58.
^'' Elzas, supra.
™ The Charleston Year Book, for 1883, p. 315. An account of
him written in 1872 by his son, Jacob C. Levy, of Savannah, then
in his 84th year, is to be found in Pike's Historical Inquiry, in a
statement obtained by Nathaniel Levin, 32d Degree. See also
B. A. Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina, Phila., 1905.
His tombstone In the Charleston Cemetery has the following
inscription (Pike, supra) :
Sacred to the Memory of MOSES CLAVA LEVY, who died on
the 5th Nissan, 5999 [corresponding to March 20, 1839]. Nearly
Ninety Years old, a Native of Poland, and for 54 Years an In-
habitant of this City. He was a Kind Husband, a Fond Parent,
a Firm Friend, an Indulgent Master, Incorruptible in Integrity,
Sincere in Piety, and Unostentatious in Charity.
=" Elzas, History of the Congregation Beth Elohim.
"" Morals, The Jews of Phila., p. 16, and Rosenbach, supra.
86 American Jewish Historical Society.
to Abraham Jacobs in connection with his work as a Mason,"""
signing as Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Lodge of Per-
fection, K. of E., P. of J., P. M. and Sovereign Knight of the
Sun.
Eleazer Blizer, who has been mentioned under Ehode Is-
land, is noted as an officer of the Grand Council of Princes
of Jerusalem in 1801, viz., S. G. S., K. H., P. E. S.,'°° and
also in the same year as having been appointed Sublime Grand
Warden, K. H. and P. E. S., and signing himself Sublime
Grand Secretary.""
Leaving the Supreme Council, we find the following officers
of lodges in 1807, mentioned in a Masonic publication : ""''
Lodge No. 3, meeting at Charleston: Solomon Nathan, Senior
Warden.
Lodge No. 9 (Friendship), a York Mason Lodge, meeting at
Charleston: Emanuel DeLaMotta, Master; Samuel Hyams, Senior
Warden; Samuel Jacobs, Junior Warden; and David Mordecai,
Treasurer.
Lodge No. 10, meeting at Columbia: Zachariah Philips, Senior
Warden.
Lodge No. 39, meeting at Coosauhatchie : Benjamin H. Mark,
Tyler.
Sublime Grand Lodge: Israel Delieben, Hospitaller Brother;
Isaac Canter, Secretary, and David Labat, Tyler.
Sublime Grand Council: Emanuel DeLaMotta, Treasurer; A.
Alexander, Secretary.
Prom information furnished through the courtesy of Mr.
Isaac Markens and his Charleston correspondent, obtained
from an old Charleston directory, it appears that in 1806 the
^""Register of Abraham Jacobs, Doc. 15, in Polger, p. 103.
300 Proceedings of the Supreme Council, A. & A. 8. R., Nor. Juris.,
reprint, 1781-1862; Proceedings, for 1813, pp. 38 and 40.
'" Offioial Bulletin of the Supreme Council, SSd Degree, A. £ A.
S. R., Sov. Jur., Vol. VIII, 1888, p. 722.
"" The Freemason's Yocal Assistant and, Register of the Lodges
of Masons in South Carolina and Georgia, Charleston, S. C, 1807.
At N. Y. Historical Society.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 87
Jewish officers of the Sublime Grand Lodge and of the Su-
preme Council were the same as have just been mentioned for
1807, and that of Friendship Lodge, No. 9, the officers in
1806 were E. DeLaMotta, Master; David Brandon, Senior
Warden; Samuel Hyams, Junior Warden; Ch. Moise, Treas-
urer, and M. L. Henry, Secretary, and that of La Eeunion
Prangaise, No. 41, a French Masonic lodge, David Labat
was Treasurer.
Through the same source it has been learned that in the
minutes of LaCandeur Lodge, written in French, and now
at the Home of the Temple, in Washington, D. C, the fol-
lowing Jewish names are entered among the visiting Masons
in 1798:
Abraham Alexander, Moses Alexander, Isaac Canter, Emil
Canter, E. DeLaMotta, Abraham Depass, Myer Derkheim,
Hjrman Harris, Jacob Harris, Bmil Jones, and Benjamin
Melhado.""'
Elsewhere, Jacob Lazarus, in 1809, is noted as a member
of Lodge No. 10, of Ancient York Masons, held at Columbia."'
Jacob DeLaMotta, the eldest son of Emanuel DeLaMotta,
is noted™' as a member of Friendship Lodge, No. 9, of
Charleston, in 1809, and Samuel Hyams as Junior Warden.
Myer Moses was Master of the lodge in 1810 and 1819. He
was a member of the Legislature in 1810.™°
GEORGIA.
In Georgia, Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, of Savannah, was
regularly organized in 1735, though work had been done
before by its members. Governor Oglethorpe, who is said to
^ Myer Derkheim is noted as having died August 2, 1810, aged
70. He was buried in Philadelphia. PuMications of the American
Jewish Historical Society, No. 6, p. 109.
"°* Procs. of the Or. L. of Ancient York Masons, for 1809.
^'^Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of 8. G., 1809.
""Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
12. p. 163.
88 American Jewish Historical Society.
have been a Mason in England before coming to Georgia, was
one of its founders. That lodge occupied a prominent place
among the corporate bodies of Savannah in its early history,
and vras recognized officially on more than one occasion. Gov-
ernor Henry Ellis, Eoyal Governor of the Province of Georgia,
in his account to the home government of his reception on his
arrival in Savannah, in 1758, mentioned the Masonic frater-
nity as one of the distinguished bodies that received him.'"'
Dr. Herbert Priedenwald °°° called attention to the fact that
in the Library of Congress is to be found a part of the min-
utes of a Masonic lodge of the period of 1756-1757, which
shows that Daniel, David, and Moses Nunes, and Abraham
Sarzedas were then members of the lodge (which no doubt was
Solomon's Lodge), and that Daniel and Moses Nunes are
therein referred to as having been admitted as Masons in
Georgia in 1733-1734, and that David Nunes and Abraham
Sarzedas were among those who participated in the address
of welcome to Governor Ellis.'™'
Oglethorpe's friendly reception of the Jews in 1733, on their
arrival in Georgia from England, has been noted by his-
torians.™'
Why may not imagination trace one of the causes of this
friendly reception to the recognition by Oglethorpe, through
Masonic signs, of members of the craft among the new ar-
" The Old Lodge. Freemasonry in Georgia in the Days of the
Colony. A Brief History of Solomon's Lodge, from 1735 to 1782.
Address by J. H. Estill, Dec. 17, 1885, at 150th anniversary of the
lodge.
'"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
8, p. 147.
sraa These minutes have also heen examined by the writer.
Though the name of the lodge does not appear in the incomplete
record, the lodge must have heen Solomon's, as that was the only
lodge in Savannah, Georgia, in 1756-1757 and before.
'"^ PuT)lications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
10, pp. 71-72.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 89
rivals, and thus attribute, in part, his consideration for them
afterwards to the brotherly sentiments created by their con-
nection with the Order of which he himself was one ?
That there is a reasonable presumption that Jewish Free-
masons were among the arrivals from England in 1733 can
be maintained in all seriousness. Gould "° refers to a meeting
of the Grand Lodge of England in 1733, at which the Deputy
Grand Master "recommended the new Colony of Georgia in
North America to the benevolence of the particular Lodges."
A probable connection exists between a Jewish member of
one of these lodges and one of the first Jewish arrivals in
Georgia, the names being somewhat similar. This appears
from a reference to an initiation in London in 1733, reading
in part as follows:
" In the presence of several brethren of distinction, as well
Jews as Christians, Mr. Edward Eose was admitted to the
fraternity by Mr. Daniel Delvalle, an eminent Jew, the Mas-
ter, Captain WUmot, etc."
Among those to whom land was allotted in Georgia with
others of the first arrivals from London was Isaac DeYal, a
Jew.™
David Nunes is stated to have held the office of Waiter for
the Port of Savannah in March, 1765, and Moses JTunes that
of Searcher of the same port, 1768-1774."'
'^° Gould, History of Freemasonry, 1st Amer. edition. Vol. IV,
p. 407.
^' See CllfEord P. MacCalla, Early Newspaper Accounts of Free-
masonry in Pennsylvania, England, etc., Phila., 1886, and The Key-
stone, Sept. 26, 1885, citing Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 225, March
15-22, 1732-1733. — News from London, Sept. 23, 1732. See Publi-
cations of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 10, pp.
78-79, and No. 17, p. 170. The resemblance between the two names
Delvalle and DeVal is striking.
'"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
3, p. 150; No. 10, pp. 92-93.
90 American Jewish Historical Society.
The Sheftalls were also members of Solomon's Lodge. They
are thus referred to by the historian of that lodge : '^'
During the War of Independence, the lodge was well represented
in the patriot army. We find on its list, soon after the close of
that struggle, the names of Stephens, Jackson, Houston, Stirk, the
Habershams, the Sheftalls .... and others.^*
Abraham Jacobs has already been mentioned under New
York and South Carolina. He was also in Augusta and Savan-
nah in 1792 and 1796, and was then aetiye in initiating Ma-
sons in those cities, but no Jewish names are found in his
record for those years. In 1799 and 1800 he was Master of
Forsythe Lodge in Augusta. He was again in Savannah in
1801 and 1803. In 1801 he attended a meeting of the Sublime
Lodge of Perfection in that city, and his record shows that
among those initiated were Isaac Pranks, Dr. Moses Sheftall,
Jacob Cunes, John Cackles, Myer Durham, and James Simp-
sis
son.
Isaac Pranks, according to the record, received degrees up
to Prince of Eose-Croix; Myer Durham up to Provost and
Judge, which is the 7th Degree ; Dr. Moses Sheftall, Elect of
Fifteen, which is the 10th Degree. Jacob Cunes was ap-
pointed Grand Tiler in the Grand Lodge of Perfection.
='=J. H. Estill, supra.
''*Mordecai Sheftall and his son Sheftall Sheftall, both of
whom served on the American side during the Revolution, are
specifically mentioned elsewhere as such members. Puilications
of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 17, p. 185. Levi
Sheftall, a brother of Mordecai, was also no doubt a member.
The address, signed by him as President of the Hebrew Congre-
gation of Savannah, to Washington in 1790, was presented by
Gen. James Jackson, the Mason above referred to, who was Grand
Master in Georgia. Id., and No. 3, p. 88. See Rosenbach, supra,
p. 16.
"° Register of Abraham Jacobs, Document No. 15, in Folger,
p. 92. The name Myer Durham is probably an error in writing
for Myer Derkheim, already referred to as a visitor at a Charles-
ton lodge.
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 91
Emanuel DeLaMotta, as a member of the Supreme Council
at Charleston, visited Savannah in 1801 and attended a meet-
ing of the lodge, being then described as K. H., P. of the
E. S., which is the 33d Degree.
In 1802 a meeting was held at the house of Jacobs to re-
ceive a warrant and constitution from the Grand Council of
Princes of Jerusalem in Charleston, for the establishment of
a like Council in Savannah, with the following officers : Abra-
ham Jacobs, Sublime Grand Master; James Simpson, Sublime
Grand Warden; Isaac Pranks, Sublime Grand Treasurer;
Moses Sheftall, Sublime Grand Junior Warden, and John
Cackles, Grand Master of Ceremonies.'"
Moses Sheftall was a member of the Legislature, and also
had been a Judge of the County Court."'
Other records of Jews in Georgia lodges before 1810 are
not accessible here. The names of a few Masons appearing
at later dates, but no doubt initiated before, may be noted.
In the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Jacob Cunes, who has just
been mentioned, was Grand Tiler in 1807, and also in 1813.°''
Eobert Isaac, in 1818, was Grand Treasurer of the Grand
Lodge. His name is spelled Isaacs in 1813 and 1814, when
he was Senior Grand Warden. S. M. Mordeeai appears as
Grand Tiler from 1813 to 1816, Isaac DeLyon as Grand
Steward in 1818, Jacob DeLaMotta as Grand Secretary in
1830 and 1831, and A. DeLyon as Grand Pursuivant in the
same years.
In other States the records do not give any Jewish names
among Masons before 1810, nearly all the records commencing
after that date.
='" Register of Abraham Jacobs, supra.
-" Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No.
12, p. 163.
="W. S. Rockwell, Ahiman Rezon of Orand Lodge of Georgia,
and History of Freemasonry in Georgia, Savannah, Ga., 1859.
93 American Jewish Historical Society.
The reference in the quotation at the beginning of this
paper to a member of the Jewish race as Grand Master in
Louisiana, has, through the kindness of an inquiry by Mr.
Isaac Markens, been found to relate to Lucien Hermann, who
was Grand Master in 1849. He is said, however, to have de-
parted from the faith.
A consideration of what has been said herein shows the
probability of Jews having been the first to introduce Masonry
into the Colonies, and that the period of their greatest activity
as Masons in the early history of the Eepublic was between
1780 and 1810. The Jews described in this paper were men
of parts and character, and distinguished in the early Ameri-
can annals of their people. Their connection with the Order
was no doubt of benefit to their coreligionists, as it was to
themselves, and brought them into relations with many not
of their race, prominent in the official and civil life of the
country, who were also members of the fraternity. Nearly
all were members of the Hebrew congregations in the cities
where they resided. Though it is not maintained that be-
cause they were Masons they arranged during 1790 for the
addresses of their various congregations to Washington, yet
the facts presented herein may very well be considered in sup-
port of a theory that their connection with the Order made
them feel doubly desirous to Join in the welcome to the head
of the nation, who like themselves was a Mason. The singular
fact stands out that in Newport the Jewish Master of the
Masonic Lodge delivered, on behalf 'of his lodge, the first
Masonic address to Washington as President, at the same time
that he delivered his address on behalf of his congregation,
and that many members of the Hebrew congregations in New
York, Philadelphia, Eichmond, Charleston, and Savannah
which likewise addressed Washington were also Masons. Many
of the Jewish Masons of whom an account has been given
were also soldiers in the Eevolution and probably met Wash-
The Jews and Masonry — Oppenheim. 93
ington and exchanged Masonic greetings with him. Some of
them, as shown, were aides-de-camp on his staff. Many of
them held public ofBce.
The number of Jews here in our early history was com-
paratively small. Aside from the reference to them in Ehode
Island in the seventeenth century, we saw in the foregoing
pages, taken from printed accounts which other sources will
undoubtedly amplify, that they were already connected with
the Order soon after its revival here about 1737, and before
the Revolution. Among these, we found the well-known names
of Daniel and Moses Nunes in 1733-1734, and David Nunes
and Abraham Sarzedas in 1757, in Georgia; Isaac Da Costa
in 1753, in South Carolina; Jonas Phillips and Aaron Hart
in 1760, Moses M. Hays in 1768, and Myer Myers and Isaac
Moses in 1769, in New York; Moses Isaacs and Isaac Isaacs
in 1760, David Lopez in 1762, Jacob Isaacs and Moses Lopez
in 1763, and Isaac Blizer in 1765, in Rhode Island; Solomon
Pinto and Ralph Isaacs in 1763, and Benjamin Isaacs in 1765,
in Connecticut; Isaac Solomon in 1763 and Abraham Pranks
in 1773, in Pennsylvania; Daniel Barnett in 1765 and Jacob
Hart in 1773, in Maryland; and Hezekiah Levy, before 1771,
in Virginia. After the Revolution we saw the names become
more numerous. A few of the prominent among these, in
addition to all those stUl to be mentioned, were Solomon Et-
ting, Isaac Franks, Michael Gratz, Jacob Henry, Benjamin
Nones, the Sheftalls, Haym Salomon, Joseph Darmstadt,
Marcus Elcan, Hyman Marks, Jacob Mordecai, Joshua Moses,
John Moss, Levy Nathan and Benjamin "Wolfe. Among
Grand Masters we found Moses M. Hays, in Massachusetts,
1788-1793; Moses Seixas, in Ehode Island, 1803-1809; and
Solomon Jacobs, in Virginia, 1810-1813. A number were
Grand Treasurers and held other prominent positions in the
Grand Lodge. Many were Masters or held some office in the
lodge. In the early history of the Scottish Rite branch of the
94 American Jewish Historical Society.
Order in Ehode Islajid, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
South Carolina, and Georgia we saw them as the leading and
apparently controlling figures, among these being Moses M.
Hays, Moses Seixas, Isaac Da Costa, Solomon Bush, Abraham
Forst, Samuel Myers, Joseph M. Myers, Barnard M. Spitzer,
Simon Nathan, Benjamin Seixas, Hyman Isaac Long, Abra-
ham Jacobs, Emanuel DeLaMotta, Israel Delieben, Jacob De
Leon, Moses C. Levy, Sampson Simson, Joel Hart, Mordecai
Mj^ers, and Moses Levi Maduro Peixotto.
StrppLEMENTAL NoTE. — In all the lack of early Masonic records
it is of interest to note, as bearing upon the claim of Hughan,
referred to at pages 12 and 14, supra, that Israelites were unlikely
to have patronized the Order in the seventeenth century, that a
reference appears, by a well-known Masonic authority of the
eighteenth century, to a prominent Jew of the seventeenth as a
" brother." Lawrence Dermott, in his Ahiman Rezon, second
edition, London, 1764, p. xxxiv, speaks of Rabbi Jacob Jehudah
Leon, of Amsterdam (who was surnamed Temple from his con-
struction of a finely executed model of Solomon's Temple), as
" the learned Hebrewist, architect and hrotUer," and says that he
saw in 1759 the original design of the Masonic coat of arms, now
used by the Grand Lodge of England, made by Leon, which design
Dermott described in his book. Cf. The Jewish Encyclopedia,
title Leon, Vol. VIII, p. 2, and Transactions of the Jewish Historical
Society of England, Vol. 2, p. 156. Leon was in England prior to
1678 and was a colleague of the Dutch Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel
who was also in England prior to 1658. The latter was a colleague
of Rabbi Isaac Aboab, of Amsterdam, referred to by Gould in his
narrative, though the authority for Gould's reference Is not known.
Hughan himself apparently recognized Leon as connected with the
fraternity by presenting to the Grand Lodge of New York for its
Collection of Masonic Antiquities, catalogued in 1905, photo-
gravures, referred to by Dermott in his Ahiman Rezon, of a por-
trait of Rabbi Leon, made in 1641, and of Illustrations of a model
of Solomon's Temple designed by the Rabbi. See Nos. 62 and 63,
of Printed Books, described in the catalogue of that Collection.
Cf. further as to Leon and Dermott, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum,
Vol. XII-XIII, pp. 150 et seq.
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