ISAAC MENDES SEIXAS
WASH., DC - A quintessential early American family, the emergence of the Mendes Seixas family coincided with the birth of the United States as an independent state.
The patriarch of the Mendes Seixas family, Isaac Mendes Seixas, first arrived in New York in 1734, fleeing anti-Jewish persecution in Portugal.
The young Isaac Mendes Seixas established one of the most well-known Jewish families of early American history.
His eldest son Moses Mendes Seixas led the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island and was one of the co-founders of the Bank of Rhode Island.
Another son, Benjamin Seixas, was a businessman in Newport, in Philadelphia, and later in New York, where, in 1792, he became one of the founders and original brokers on the New York Stock Exchange.
Isaac’s most notable son, Gershom Mendes Seixas, became a leader of the Jewish community in New York City, assuming the role of hazzan—or cantor—of the city’s Portuguese and Spanish Synagogue at the age of just 21; he became the first American-born Jewish clergyman.
A pillar of the New York community at large, Gershom was elected to the first Board of Trustees of Columbia College, in 1787.
The Mendes Seixas family was ardently supportive of the Revolutionary cause, and their lives were shaped by the conflict in the colonies.
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Moses Mendes Seixas led his Newport, RI community in expressing its support for General George Washington, who wrote to the Touro Synagogue after independence, declaring that the, “Government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants.”
Benjamin and another one of Isaac’s sons, Abraham, served in the Continental Army, defending the cause of American independence on the battlefield.
Gershom Mendes Seixas was such a supporter of the patriot cause that he was almost certainly invited to attend the 1789 presidential inauguration ceremony of George Washington, at Federal Hall, in New York.
For more information, read these brief biographies compiled on the basis of a collection of papers left by members of the Seixas Mendes family.
Source: PALCS' Cultural Newsletter - Oct 1, 2024
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