Auction 64- Jewish and Israeli History and Culture
Handwritten Note – Request for Payment of Debt – Jewish Merchants and Politicans in the U.S. – Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1785
Opening: $1,500
Sold for: $1,875
Including buyer's premium
Handwritten note, request for payment of debt sent to Jacob Cohen in Richmond, Virginia, by Solomon Etting and Joseph Simon. Lancaster (Pennsylvania), November 1785. English.
Handwritten note attesting to business ties between a number of prominent figures among American Jews in the 18th century: "Please pay unto Mr. Barnard Gratz on order seventeen shillings & six pence it being a book debt appearing against you from Nov. 1780 – agreeable to the Dipreciation".
The note is signed by Solomon Etting, "for Joseph Simon". Appearing in the lower left corner is the name of the addressee, Jacob Cohen of Richmond, Virginia.
During the period when the note was written, the Jewish community in the United States was extremely small: at the end of the 18th century, only about 2,000 Jews lived in the United States.
Solomon Etting (1764-1847), whose signature appears on the note, was a merchant, politician and activist for the rights of American Jews. At the age of 18 he became the first American shochet (traditional Jewish slaughterer). He worked for many years to advance a bill that would allow Maryland Jews to hold public office. The "Jew Bill" was finally ratified in 1826, following which Etting served as a member of the Baltimore city council. Etting's first wife was the daughter of Joseph Simon and his second wife was the daughter of Barnard Gratz.
Joseph Simon (1712-1804) was a merchant and the leader of the Jewish community in Lancaster. Simon engaged in trade with the Native Americans and contributed significantly to the development of Pennsylvania. During the American War of Independence he provided weapons and merchandise to the Continental Army – the unified command of the thirteen American colonies fighting Britain during the war.
Barnard Gratz (1738-1801), born in Lagendorf, Germany, immigrated to the U.S. in 1754 and settled in Philadelphia. Together with his brother Michael he engaged in trade, among others with the Native Americans, providing the United States government with Native American goods. The Gratz brothers formed trade routes between New Orleans and Quebec, and, as the political climate improved, also traded in the vicinity of Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kentucky. Their signatures appear, among others, on the Non-Importation Resolution from 1765 – a resolution against the importation of goods from Britain, declared in protest of the Stamp Act imposed by the British parliament on the American colonies that same year. About a decade later the Gratz brothers also provided supplies to the Continental Army. Barnard Gratz was the first leader of the Mikveh Israel congregation in Philadelphia.
The note's addressee is possibly the merchant Jacob I. Cohen (1744-1823), one of the first settlers of Richmond, Virginia and the founder of the company Cohen & Isaacs.
9X16.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Folding marks and creases. Stains. Tears to margins and along one of the folding lines.
Handwritten note attesting to business ties between a number of prominent figures among American Jews in the 18th century: "Please pay unto Mr. Barnard Gratz on order seventeen shillings & six pence it being a book debt appearing against you from Nov. 1780 – agreeable to the Dipreciation".
The note is signed by Solomon Etting, "for Joseph Simon". Appearing in the lower left corner is the name of the addressee, Jacob Cohen of Richmond, Virginia.
During the period when the note was written, the Jewish community in the United States was extremely small: at the end of the 18th century, only about 2,000 Jews lived in the United States.
Solomon Etting (1764-1847), whose signature appears on the note, was a merchant, politician and activist for the rights of American Jews. At the age of 18 he became the first American shochet (traditional Jewish slaughterer). He worked for many years to advance a bill that would allow Maryland Jews to hold public office. The "Jew Bill" was finally ratified in 1826, following which Etting served as a member of the Baltimore city council. Etting's first wife was the daughter of Joseph Simon and his second wife was the daughter of Barnard Gratz.
Joseph Simon (1712-1804) was a merchant and the leader of the Jewish community in Lancaster. Simon engaged in trade with the Native Americans and contributed significantly to the development of Pennsylvania. During the American War of Independence he provided weapons and merchandise to the Continental Army – the unified command of the thirteen American colonies fighting Britain during the war.
Barnard Gratz (1738-1801), born in Lagendorf, Germany, immigrated to the U.S. in 1754 and settled in Philadelphia. Together with his brother Michael he engaged in trade, among others with the Native Americans, providing the United States government with Native American goods. The Gratz brothers formed trade routes between New Orleans and Quebec, and, as the political climate improved, also traded in the vicinity of Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kentucky. Their signatures appear, among others, on the Non-Importation Resolution from 1765 – a resolution against the importation of goods from Britain, declared in protest of the Stamp Act imposed by the British parliament on the American colonies that same year. About a decade later the Gratz brothers also provided supplies to the Continental Army. Barnard Gratz was the first leader of the Mikveh Israel congregation in Philadelphia.
The note's addressee is possibly the merchant Jacob I. Cohen (1744-1823), one of the first settlers of Richmond, Virginia and the founder of the company Cohen & Isaacs.
9X16.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Folding marks and creases. Stains. Tears to margins and along one of the folding lines.
Anglo-Judaica and American Judaica
Anglo-Judaica and American Judaica