Lot 3032

Description

USA, letter dated 8 August 1814, to Miss Rebecca Gratz, to the care of Doctor Schuylar, Troy (about 300km as crow flies from Philadelphia), a personal 3-page letter from her sister Rachel Moses in Philadelphia which starts, 'My beloved Becky', with postmark 'PHI/8/AU'. Some pieces torn away on folds and a small hole at one fold but all parts of the letter are present and readable, good and scarce to such a prominent person.

Rebecca Gratz, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on 4 March 1781 was one of twelve children. She was founder and secretary of Philadelphia's earliest women's philanthropic organisation. She devoted her adult life to providing relief for Philadelphia's underpriviledged women and children and ensuring religious, moral and material sustenance for all Philadelphia's Jews. She established the first American Jewish institutions run by women including the first Hebrew Sunday School and Jewish Orphanage. There is a very large profile of her with photos on the Jewish Women's Archive website under 'Women of Valor'.



Doctor Nicholas Schuyler was uncle to Rebecca Gratz by marriage to her mother's sister, Shinah Simon. He was a friend of George Washington, a near relative of General Schuyler and a surgeon in the revolutionary army.