Jonas Phillips Levy
Jonas Phillips Levy (1807–1883) was an American merchant and sea captain. Levy was granted the "freedom of the country" by the government of Peru for signal services rendered in the Peruvian Navy.
Early life and education
He was the younger son of Michael Levy and Rachel Phillips, a Jewish-American couple, and was born in 1807 in Philadelphia. His older brother was Uriah Phillips Levy, who became the first Jewish commodore in the United States Navy.
His maternal grandfather Jonas Phillips had immigrated from Germany in the mid-1700s. A great-great-grandfather had come from London and was one of a group of the earliest settlers in Savannah, Georgia. He was a descendant of Sephardic Jews who had fled to Europe and England after the Spanish Inquisition of the early 16th century.
Marriage and family
Levy married Frances (Fanny) Mitchell on November 22, 1848. They had three sons:
- Jefferson Monroe;
- Louis Napoleon; and
- Mitchell Abraham Cass); and two daughters:
- Isabella; and
- Amelia.
Their son Jefferson Monroe Levy became a lawyer and financier in New York, and an admirer of Thomas Jefferson, as his father and uncle Uriah were. In 1879 the younger Levy bought out other heirs to take control of Monticello, which his uncle Uriah Levy had bought in 1834. Like him, the younger Levy invested his personal funds (in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars) to restore and preserve the mansion and 218 acres of grounds. He also purchased 500 acres that originally belonged to the plantation. In 1923 Monticello was purchased by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to be preserved and operated as a house museum.
Career
Jonas Levy became a merchant and sea captain. He commanded the U.S.S. America during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and was assigned to the transportation of troops to Veracruz. When the port surrendered, Levy was appointed its captain by Gen. Winfield Scott.
In addition, he aided the Peruvian Navy, in which he served for some time. The government honored him with "freedom of the country" for his contributions.
See also
References
- Marc Leepson, Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built (University of Virginia Press, paperback, 2003)
- Melvin I. Urofsky, The Levy Family and Monticello, 1834-1923: Saving Thomas Jefferson's House, Monticello: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2001
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Levy, Jonas Phillips". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.
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