Читать книгу The Jews of Windsor, 1790-1990 - Jonathan V. Plaut - Страница 9

According to documented evidence, Moses David was the first Jew to settle in the community that is now Windsor. Recognizing the opportunities the interior of the country offered, he extended the reach of his family’s Montreal-based fur trading business to this new frontier. In the process, he would become an equal rights champion for Jews in Upper Canada, establishing an impressive list of “firsts.” Whether in land grants from the Crown, militia appointments, or civil government posts, Moses David set precedents and proved himself unwilling to accept discrimination for being a Jew. The third son of a well-known family of Canadian Jewish pioneers, he never relinquished his ties with them nor with Shearith Israel in Montreal, Canada’s first Jewish congregation and his spiritual home.

Lazarus David and his remarkable progeny were one of the founding families of Montreal’s Jewish community. They were intimately tied to the fur trade, Montreal’s first synagogue and burial ground, and the growing achievements of the Jewish community as they became a part of the Canadian national experience.¹ Lazarus began the process of transformation from supplying military provisions to meeting the needs of the fur trade and settlers, while his sons, especially David, would preside over the modernization of Montreal’s economy into banking, canals, and industrialization.² Second son Samuel joined David as his Montreal partner, while third son Moses — the subject of this chapter — carried the family’s fortunes to Detroit and the new frontier of Upper Canada.

The David Family

Lazarus David was born in Swansea in 1734 and started a fur trading business in Montreal soon after his arrival from Wales in the early 1760s.³ Like other English-speaking merchants, he became involved in the city’s bustling economic life as a contractor and supplier to the British occupational army. In 1761,⁴ he married Phoebe Samuel in New York, where their first child, Abigail — “Branny” — was born on May 13, 1762.⁵ Returning to Montreal, three sons followed in regular fashion, David (1764), Samuel (1766), and Moses (1768) before a fifth child, a second daughter, Frances, completed the family in 1770.⁶ The daughters, first and last of the David children, played the role assigned to them by the customs of the day and entered into appropriate marriages that contributed to the family’s success and reinforced the small Jewish community and the economic connections with the fur trade.

Abigail married Andrew Hayes, a New York City merchant and silversmith of Dutch origin who had moved to Montreal around 1763. He rapidly established himself as a successful merchant and a prominent member of the nascent Jewish community centred around the Shearith Israel synagogue.⁷ The marriage took place in 1778 and the first of their seven children was born the following year. Their most prominent son, Moses Judah Hayes, and other Hayes grandchildren would carry on the family tradition in Montreal’s Jewish community and take a leading part in the revival of the synagogue and restoration of Shearith Israel in the 1830s and 1840s.⁸ In 1777, as a token of esteem for her father, Lazarus David, Andrew and Abigail Hayes had some copper coins minted bearing his name. Deposited in the cornerstone of the first synagogue, these mementos were then moved to the Chenneville Street building when it opened in 1828, and from there, in 1890, to the Stanley Street Synagogue. They still are housed in the present Lemieux Street building that was completed in 1947.⁹

The youngest daughter, Frances (Franny) David, was born in 1770.¹⁰ She married Myer Michaels who was trading furs at Michilimackinac as early as 1778.¹¹ The marriage in 1793 united the families in two ways as Michaels was joined in formal partnership with David David’s company from 1793 to 1795 and informally thereafter. Perhaps Moses David’s growing stature in Detroit and the Great Lakes trade made the partnership redundant, or Michael’s closer ties with the emerging North West Company drew his attention beyond the Great Lakes to the far west. Michaels, according to Samuel’s diary, had teamed up with Mackenzie, the McGillevrays, and other fur traders from the North West Company when, in 1787, that alliance produced the larger organization, which eventually took over control of the entire St. Lawrence fur-trading territory. Michaels was already a member of the prestigious Beaver Club in 1793, while David David and brother Samuel remained more independent and diversified in their interests and did not become members until 1808 and 1811 respectively — at a time when contacts and financial investment, rather than actual participation in the northwest trade was most important for Club membership. While the North West Company consortium increasingly controlled the fur trade, the Davids became most closely associated with the process of diversification and modernization of the economy. The Davids’ fur-trading business was ultimately sold to the North West Company, but upon David David’s death, the company still owed him a substantial sum.¹² Frances shared her family’s dedication to Montreal’s Jewish community and her large contribution of £575 to the Spanish and Portuguese congregation’s building fund served an impetus for others during its 1838 reorganization. Their donations made possible the acquisition of a new piece of land on Chenneville Street, near Lagauchetiere Street, on which the new synagogue, Shearith Israel, could finally be built.¹³

“The David Family had joined the Harts and the Josephs as the acknowledged leaders of Montreal Jewry during these years. In contrast to many of Lower Canada’s early Jewish families, the children of Lazarus and Phoebe David all married Jews, save for the eldest, David David, who remained ‘single.’ ”¹⁴ And as soon as some economic stability had been achieved, Lazarus David began to dream of a synagogue for the nascent community. Settlement had not been easy for the Jews of Montreal. Faced with a hostile environment, they had used their innate survival skills to overcome the rigors and hardships of this awakening frontier. By utilizing their collective strength, they eventually succeeded as merchants, fur traders, and peddlers, and in service-oriented pursuits that not only helped them gain some degree of acceptance within Montreal’s greater community, but also gave them the courage to build Canada’s first synagogue — only the sixth on the North American continent.¹⁵

Shearith Israel held its first public worship in rented quarters on St. James Street.¹⁶ Even though many of its members were Ashkenazi Jews, it had adopted the Sephardic rites, mainly because its founders, who had come from the American colonies and from Great Britain, still had close ties with the Spanish-Portuguese synagogues of New York and London.¹⁷ In 1775, Lazarus David purchased a lot on St. Janvier Street, near Dominion Square in Montreal, in order “to serve in perpetuity as a cemetery for individuals of the Jewish faith.”¹⁸ Lazarus David died on October 22, 1776, one year before the first synagogue was erected at the corner of Notre Dame and Little St. James streets on land he had bequeathed to his son David, who had in turn donated it to the congregation. Even though Lazarus David had not lived long enough to see the building completed, he had the unique distinction of being the first Jew in Canada to be interred in the cemetery.¹⁹

Fortunately, the widow Phoebe David was made of stern stuff. While raising five children, she took over the family assets, managed the mercantile business, and carried out her late husband’s wishes. As she reported to Governor General Frederick Haldimand in 1780, it was a struggle to maintain five children “out of the profits of a small shop, her only support.” Shortly before her death, a visiting British merchant took tea with her and was charmed by “a very sensible clever old woman” who was “very entertaining in her conversation.” Shown the synagogue by one of her sons, the visitor reported that it was “a very neat one for so small a congregation.”²⁰ Phoebe David died on October 10, 1786.²¹ David became the head of the family business with brother Samuel as a partner. Moses was in charge of buying furs from the Indians. That he proved his skills many times over was borne out by the fact that he had established a reputation for his ability to procure and select the finest pelts at the best possible prices for the entire Montreal market.

Moses David: Pioneer Loyalist, Merchant, and Equal Rights Advocate

Moses was acting as the family’s representative in the Detroit area as early as 1790.²² In 1793, an early Detroit trader, Thomas Dugan, complained to Colonel Alex McKee, the British Indian Agent,²³ that Moses David, “another cheap shop adventurer, the same that was here three years ago [1790], is arrived with a Cargo, it appears that he and his competitor Mr. Pattison, are fully resolved to undersell all the other traders of this place.”²⁴ The charge against Moses as a “cheap shop adventurer” suggests that he was not a permanent resident who was part of the community with established premises, and strengthens the notion that Moses was not yet committed to Detroit as a permanent location for his entrepreneurial activities. It is interesting to note that nothing further is heard of the complainant, while David and Pattison become major figures in the region.

By 1793–94, the region was about to undergo a fundamental transformation.²⁵ For years after the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution, the British remained in the border posts in United States territory, using the excuse of unresolved debts and obligations to their native allies. Another outcome of the Revolution was the Loyalist migrations to Quebec fostering settlement and growth and the decision in 1791 to divide British North America into provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Loyalist settlers required provisions and services, which stimulated demand for merchant expertise in the Niagara and Detroit regions. With the Americans developing a military capable of enforcing their boundary pretensions and preoccupied with Revolutionary France on the Continent, Britain in 1794 decided to regularize relations with the new republic.

Jay’s Treaty and the establishment of the international boundary committed British subjects and military forces to relocating to the Canadian side of the boundary. In preparation for handing over Detroit to the Americans in 1796, the Settlement of L’Assomption (later Sandwich) was chosen as the temporary seat of government for the Western District of Upper Canada and land opposite the Island of Bois Blanc (later Amherstburg), because of its strategic position commanding the entrance to the river, was selected as the place where the military post and naval station would be established. The Indian Department also set up its headquarters there. It was assumed that Amherstburg would become the dominant urban centre on this Upper Canadian frontier.²⁶

Since the end of the Revolutionary War, a number of British adherents living in the town of Detroit crossed over and settled on what is now the Canadian side of the river. This was mostly in the Township of Malden near the fort, in the section of Petite Côte north of La Rivière aux Dindes where the original French settlement had started in 1749 or in the New Settlement on Lake Erie. Earlier French settlement, later reinforced by Loyalist grants, resulted in most of the riverfront from the mouth of the river to Lake St. Clair being occupied. British residents who stayed in Detroit in 1796 were given one year to make a declaration of their intention to remain British subjects living in American Territory, or they would be considered American citizens. A number of British subjects made the declaration — enough to alarm the new American officials in Detroit — but many others moved across the river, preferring to live under the British flag. This group included merchants and government officials who contributed much to the development of the business, social, and cultural life of the area.²⁷

Moses David may have anticipated this move as early as 1793–94. The Godfreys suggest that Moses David had already chosen the Canadian side of the boundary when he accompanied the militia force that stopped the American forces under General Wayne at Fort Miami near Detroit. They place him as a merchant in Sandwich as early as 1794 and credit him with having built one of its first residences.²⁸ Whether Moses had already made up his mind to locate his enterprise on the Canadian side of the river, he was an active trader in the Detroit area and volunteered for Lieutenant Governor Simcoe’s Upper Canadian militia during the 1796 war scare.

Sandwich

Merchants still closely tied to Detroit found the military settlement at Amherstburg too far from the centre of economic activity in the area. For the convenience of these citizens, in the summer of 1797, the Honourable Peter Russell, president of the Executive Council of Upper Canada, bought the reserve at the Huron Church containing 1,078 acres on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. It was a barren sandy plain, a gore, that stretched along the river from Rivière à Gervais to the Huron Church. An area of sixty-one acres along the river near the church was reserved for the use of the Huron Indians. The grant also included improved lands of Wm. Hands and Thomas Pajot that had already been alienated from the Indians through private deals.²⁹ June 1797 was the deadline for British subjects to declare whether they would remain British or become Americans. The British could lose them to the American side if there was not an equally convenient place for business provided on the British side of the river. Part of the purchase was divided into one-acre lots for settlement; three streets were laid out parallel to the river — Peter, Russell, and Bedford — and cross streets were established from Detroit Street to South Street — Mill, Huron (Brock), and Chippewa. At the corner of Bedford and Huron (Brock), the four corner lots were reserved for public use.³⁰ Eventually, a military barracks, a courthouse, and St. John’s Anglican Church and burial ground graced this community centre.

A drawing of lots in Sandwich was held July 7, 1797. To encourage building in the new town, Russell directed that those settlers who built the first houses should be given park lots of twenty-four acres to the rear of the town site. The first four to receive this bounty were John McGregor, Robert Innis, Wm. Park, and Richard Pattison, Moses David’s old competitor, who had built houses.³¹ Russell rather over-optimistically reported to Lieutenant Governor Simcoe that several houses had already built there and expressed hope that, “it promises to become soon the most beautiful town in the province.”³² Moses David had not applied for a town lot in Sandwich in the first instance, probably because he was not yet perceived as a permanent resident of the area. He did not fit the Governor General’s categories of “former inhabitants of Detroit” nor “Merchants who seated themselves with the Fort at Amherstburg on the first evacuation of Detroit.”³³ Moses did have, however, sufficient presence and military experience and merit to apply for a two-hundred-acre crown grant in 1797. Surprisingly, he was refused on the cause that he was tied to the Lower Province and not sufficiently rooted in Upper Canada to be awarded land. A deeper and more insidious explanation emerged in the aftermath of his rejection when Chief Justice Elmsley issued his opinion that Jews could not be granted Crown lands in Upper Canada. Apparently, Moses David took Elmsley’s decision seriously because he travelled to Lower Canada and in March 1799 applied for a 2,000-acre grant on the basis of his military service. David was refused a second time in December 1799, his application denied as “too late under present instructions.”³⁴

Moses David had been turned down for government land grants in both provinces, not ostensibly for his Jewishness but for technical reasons. However, Elmsley, as Chief Justice and chairman of the Land Board of York, had proclaimed in early 1798 that “Jews cannot hold land in this province.”³⁵ “For Jews who wanted a place where citizenship was not defined in such a way as to exclude them and where land would be granted equally to Jews and where there would be equality of opportunity,” Elmsley’s decision was potentially devastating.³⁶ Undeterred, Moses returned to Sandwich determined to achieve social justice.

Upon his return, Moses David found that Sandwich had been designated as the Western District capital and, in a further attempt to promote its successful growth, government officials had built a courthouse and jail to uphold the law and provide a proper setting for building houses and businesses.³⁷ And recognizing the need for a Protestant place of worship to uphold British morality and loyalty, officials decided to place a “discreet clergyman” in Sandwich and give him a church there “as an antidote to American contagion.” They chose Richard Pollard, a merchant colleague of Moses David turned minister, to lead St. John’s, the mother parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Western District and State of Michigan.³⁸

Neither the erection of government buildings nor inducements for private housing produced the anticipated building boom. A report received by the Executive Council at York from the Grand Jury of the Western District asserted that a great number of town lots in Sandwich granted in 1797 still remained unimproved, although the times stipulated for such improvements had expired.

Grand Jury Report, Sandwich 8 July, 1800 to Council Chambers at York [Summary]:

Great number of lots still unimproved, 3 years time limit gone; settlement of town impeded, long indulgence, bounty abused, no intentions of improving them sold to others, who could not originally obtain and many have deeds to lots without requirement of improvements.

It has been represented to us by many individuals as a particular hardship, that they cannot obtain a grant of a Lot, although there are only seven or eight houses in the whole town, but that some of them (all British subjects) have been obliged to purchase, and others cannot obtain Lots upon any terms in a suitable situation for their Commerce.

Recommend — to forfeit all the vacant or unimproved Lots in the town of Sandwich, and to grant them to the first applicants, under a restriction and build thereon in a certain limited time; by which means the County Town would soon be settled and add not a little to the wealth of the District.

Brush cut and streets opened in said town immediately and require statute labour from Lot holders whether improved or not.³⁹

Settlement of the town had been greatly impeded, streets were not yet opened and only seven or eight houses had been built. Many of the men who had been granted lots resided elsewhere and were holding these lots for speculation. Moses David was a perfect example of the individuals referred to in the Grand Jury report as suffering from the consequences of the government’s reluctance to enforce their own policies. Unwilling to await the recommended forfeiture process and blocked temporarily by Elmsley’s interpretation, Moses purchased a town lot from one of the original grantees — Jean Baptiste Barthe, a brother-in-law of John Askin. Moses purchased Lot 3 on the east side of Bedford Street and began making improvements. One of his improvements was the purchase of a house on an adjoining piece of property on August 6, 1801, from the innkeeper John Hembrow and one Robert Jonas for £14. (140 Designated as part of Lot No. 4, it contained “6 feet in front upon the said street by 50 in depth, making 300 square statute feet.”⁴⁰ John Askin sheds some light on the purchase of the Barthe property in a business letter dated September 8, 1801. It appears that Moses had an agreement with the Barthes, probably backed by a mortgage or some sort of payment scheme, but they no longer held the deed as they had borrowed from Askin using the deed as collateral. Askin informed Moses David that if he did not take the goods that were charged, “It’s your fault, not mine and as a consequence there can be no deductions made on the account.”⁴¹ Another letter written two-and-a-half months later by Askin, is significant. The letter states:

Sir,

Having your payments to make at this present time, I will thank you for the balance due me. My son John, I believe, mentioned that I had advanced in cash last year 77 pounds, 1 shilling New York Currency for the deed of the lot on which you have built. I need hardly tell you that if anything was to happen, Mr. Barthe, that if Mrs. Barthe and her son I thought proper to take advantage, I had the deed now in my possession you would lose the whole of your improvements.⁴²

In his veiled threat to David, Askin was just applying some pressure on his fellow merchant about the outstanding account mentioned earlier. David contested the account and may have been withholding payment as a matter of principle or while awaiting legal advice. In any case, Moses completed his Lot 3 transactions with the Barthes in February and March 1803:

Memorial of bargain and sale of Lot #3 on the eastside of Bedford Street in the Town of Sandwich in the county aforesaid containing 1 square acre of land and same more or less with all and singular the appurtenance and [to] have and to hold unto the said Moses David, his heirs and assigns forever, for and (in) consideration the sum of 16 pounds of the currency of this province, a receipt whereof the said Jean Batiste [sic] Barthe and Genevieve, his wife have acknowledged and which deed of bargain and sale is witnessed by Lewis . . . James Fields, and Thomas Smith, and is hereby required to be registered pursuant to the said act, by me the said Moses David the grantee named in the said Deed of bargain and sale.

Witness my hand and seal at Sandwich aforesaid on this eighth day of March in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and three.

[signed] Moses David⁴³

As Moses pursued a private strategy, Sandwich real estate was in flux after the 1800 Grand Jury complaints. Although Moses purchased Lot 3 from the original grantees, he was ready to try and leverage that property and his improvements to claim a park lot for his improvements and building a residence on the property. As soon as Moses had struck a bargain with the original grantee, Barthe, he began his improvements and made application for a government granted park lot. In April 1801, David again applied for land in Upper Canada, this time requesting a park lot in Sandwich and forwarding a certificate from the churchwardens of Sandwich verifying that his building was already completed. When his petition received no answer, Moses reapplied on January 8, 1803. By this time, Moses must have been exasperated. He had complied with all of the requirements, was a resident of area, was committed, and, perhaps more importantly, he had a tradition of Jewish rights from Lower Canada. In demanding an answer, the Godfreys suggest that “his family’s long-time success in the colony and his position as a natural-born subject gave him the confidence to push for his rights.”⁴⁴

In any case, on March 9, 1803, he went over Elmsley’s head directly to Lieutenant Governor Hunter. He recited his contributions to the growth and development of this frontier and challenged Elmsley directly by asking whether his petition had been rejected “under the idea that his religion precludes him from any grant in His Majesty’s Colonies.”⁴⁵

The Lieutenant Governor referred David’s petition to the Executive Council headed by Henry Alcock, Elmsley’s successor. David’s application was approved and David was finally given letters patent to twenty-seven acres of land in the township of Sandwich on February 20, 1804.⁴⁶

Moses David’s equal rights challenge went beyond Upper Canada or even British North America; he was demanding recognition of religious rights throughout the British Colonies. And his victory seemed applicable to other aspects of the colony’s life such as military positions and civil or government posts.

Military and Government Posts

Moses David had been participating in militia activities in one capacity or another since the early 1790s, and he had been appointed an ensign in the Essex militia sometime before 1803. In that year, he was promoted to lieutenant. According to the Godfreys, Moses “was the first professing Jew to be appointed a commissioned officer in the militia. And he may have been the first Jew to be appointed a commissioned officer in the whole empire. . . .”⁴⁷ How Moses David managed to obtain his commission without swearing the state oath and complying with the Test Act is unclear, but the practice was repeated when he was made a captain in 1807.⁴⁸

In 1808, Moses David was offered the position of coroner of the Western District by Lieutenant Governor Francis Gore. Again according to the Godfreys, this was the first instance of a Jew “being appointed by commission to a government office” in Upper Canada. “It showed how far the government of Upper Canada was willing to go in adopting innovative solutions to allow a person of the Jewish faith to participate in society, without swearing state oaths.” The innovative solution in this case was the posting of a bond as security for the performance of duties in lieu of the state oaths with their Christian/Anglican declarations. As in Moses’ struggle for land rights, the solution of posting bonds in place of taking the state oaths opened the way for other religious minorities seeking equal rights. “Never again was there to be any doubt as to the rights of Jews to obtain grants of land from the crown in Upper Canada or to receive and hold at least some civil and military positions.”⁴⁹

Trading, Forwarding, Money Lending, and Banking

As were many of his contemporaries, Moses David was a full-service merchant. He dealt with a number of local individuals and companies representative of the whole spectrum of humanity in the area. As a fur trader, Moses had developed close contacts with a number of native groups; as early as April 1794 he was purchasing furs from Antoine Badichon,⁵⁰ and other French Canadians from Detroit. And from his brother David’s rather large consignment of fur packs to Gabriel Godfroy on credit⁵¹ just before the Detroit fire of 1805, one can assume that he relied upon Moses to protect the family’s interests here.

From September 26, 1800, to August 1807, Moses David’s name appears in William Hands’ ledger book. Hands was a merchant of Sandwich and a neighbour of Moses on the next-door property, which he had acquired from the Indians before the laying out of Sandwich. He crossed over from Detroit in 1799 and took up residence at about the same time Moses David began his improvements on the neighbouring property. Hands was a one-man civil service of the Western District, holding a number of posts that included sheriff, treasurer, postmaster, and registrar of the Surrogate Court.⁵² Moses furnished Hands with a diverse list of items—loadstones, wood, sand, bricks, boards, shingles, cabbages, a lamb, a spelling book, paper, a comb, tea, nails, pipes, and even a bottle of peppermint.⁵³ A close connection with Hands was invaluable in business and legal matters.

Moses also participated in banking and lending although these transactions were usually associated with property, at least as collateral. In 1800 Moses loaned John Boyle, a tailor from Malden £41 4s,⁵⁴ probably with property as collateral, and on May 18, 1800, witnessed a land sale of property owned by Jonathan Schieffelin, Indian agent and territorial legislator, and Thomas Smith, merchant and surveyor of both Detroit and Sandwich. Of special interest is the fact that Schieffelin was employed in the 1760s in Detroit by the openly avowed Jewish merchant Chapman Abraham. Schieffelin may have been a Jew, although not openly.⁵⁵ He was called a Jew by Francois Baby during a personal conflict between the two while both were Indian Department officials.

Moses also involved himself in the forwarding business—to Mackinac, the Upper Lakes, and beyond. On May 29, 1800, he wrote to Jacob Franks, a Jewish merchant in Mackinac and Green Bay:

Your boat[s] arrived late last eve. I have provisioned them from this day, for twenty days, should they arrive in a shorter time they will have to account to you. With respect to Duties, which may be laid on at Mackinac, you will no doubt get every information there. I shall write you by the next Boats.

Your humble servant⁵⁶

Legal Business

Although he was not trained as a lawyer, Moses had a good education for his day. He was certainly literate, his activities suggest a fine legal mind and he was aware of the legal requirements of the business of his day. Court records, in which Moses David was involved either as plaintiff, defendant, or solicitor for clients are numerous. Among them is a suit he filed against the partners in the firm of Forsythe, Smith and Company for non-payment for merchandise. Although the document pertaining to the action is almost illegible, it does show that the hearing judge, Elijah Brush, (a trustee of Detroit and treasurer of the Michigan Territory in 1806) had declared in favour of Moses David:

On the first day of December in the year of our Lord 1802, at Sandwich in the presence of Upper Canada, twice at Detroit and in said county of Wayne, and within the transaction of this court was indebted to the said Moses in the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars lawful money of the United States for goods, monies and merchandise by the said Moses, before that time sold and delivered to the said Forsythe Smith and Company and at this special instance and neglect and so indebted they, the said Forsythe Smith and Company in consideration then and these undertook and faithfully promised the said Moses to pay him the said sort mentioned sum of money.⁵⁷

In another court action, Jacques Peltier and Jacques and Francoise Lavelle accused Moses David of “picking out all the good skins to be sent to Canada but keeping the bad ones to pay your debts here.”⁵⁸ The plaintiffs probably were justified in making that claim, since Moses, as his family’s trusted representative in the field, likely made sure that all the best merchandise went to Montreal.

In view of the diversity of his business ventures, Moses David came in contact with many prominent people, for some of whom he did favours on various occasions. One of them was Francis Badgley, who practiced law in Montreal with his brother James. In a letter to Solomon Sibley, written on April 28, 1804, he mentions Moses’ name.⁵⁹ Solomon Sibley was a Detroit lawyer who was elected to the first legislature of the Northwest Territory in 1799, and was named the delegate to Congress from the territory of Michigan between 1820–1823. He subsequently served as a judge of Michigan’s Supreme Court. Sibley acted as Badgley’s attorney, when he, as the last surviving partner of Francis Badgley and Company, sued a Mr. Joseph Campeau for money owed to the firm. The following excerpts, from that letter, show Moses’ involvement in the case:

Sir,

I duly received your favour of the first of December, last, Mr. D. will no doubt have advised you, so this paper as I conceive it was very sufficient. I wrote to Mr. D. that if he made out his objections so stated to his satisfaction what he might allow that amount to be deducted from the account as it then stood and, in order to close the business until I have done with (the gentleman), either in money or good pelts at the current cash prices. Certainly nothing can be more fair on my part. I now repeat with respect to the interest for two years past, I am willing to have it to Mr. David’s discretion, although I shall never think otherwise than that is my just due. The demand Campeau made of 10% more on his furs than the market price is an abominable advantage he wishes to take of me and which no man could admit for a moment in the discharge of a debt long due. At the time there might have been some reason for such an idea, had payment been closed 12 months before the payment was due, but certainly not in the present case. You mentioned that you should write me again with a statement of what proof was necessary. Not having received any further advice from you or Mr. David on the subject, I can say nothing further on the business but that in a few days I shall send you a detailed account of every particular with the book of origin entry which my brother kept in Detroit. In the meantime, please communicate this to Mr. David. In hopes of soon hearing that the matter is settled,

I remain, your obedient servant,

[signed] Francis Badgley⁶⁰

In a subsequent letter of August 25, 1804,⁶¹ Badgley advises Sibley that Moses David had informed him of the judgment the lawyer had obtained in Detroit against Joseph Campeau that “serves to request that you will pay the amount of the claim into the hands of my attorney, Mr. Moses David, whose receipt will exonerate you therefrom.”⁶²

On the back of that letter, Moses had inserted the total sum of the judgment, less court costs. The following notation made at the bottom of the letter, appears to refer to the interest charges Moses had added to the original judgment:

Received Sandwich, September 25, 1804 of Solomon Sibley, attorney at Law the above sum of 1380.50, being the amount of the judgment above S. Sibley 3 percent commission for collection per the written order received by me.⁶³

The Detroit Fire of 1805

The Detroit Fire of 1805 was a major disaster and damaged the area’s economy even across the river in Sandwich, so integral were the communities. The following correspondence demonstrates that David did not always succeed in collecting his debts. James May, the first chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1796 and a prominent Detroit merchant, was a personal friend of Moses David. Although he had owned a shop and had kept slaves, by 1806 he appeared to have fallen on hard times. The following excerpts from a letter he wrote to Moses David in August of that year sheds some light on prevailing general economic conditions, but specifically on May’s personal plight:

Dear Sir:

I have this moment received your letter and am very sorry to inform (you) at this present juncture, it is totally out of my power to assist you with cash. My situation is pretty much the same with your own. I have experienced nothing but a series of disappointments from all quarters. I should have answered your letter enclosing my account, but was in every expectation of seeing you over on this side in order to make some remarks on your account current relative to the deficiency which you have charged my account with. Also the vinegar for Badgley’s estate and the astonishing amount of the box of toys, but more of it when we meet. Suffice my good friend that I am to the trouble to apologize for asking for your own is what I have no right to expect. I am in hopes that something will turn up before long that will give a little circulation of cash. If not, the Lord only knows what will become of the country and the people in it. I never saw anything equal to the great scarcity of money as at present. I remain, dear sir, with sentiments of respect.

Yours truly,

[signed] James May⁶⁴

Moses also was well acquainted with James Henry, another Detroit merchant. Active in politics, he also was the judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions, serving it as commissioner as well. Moses wrote to him on January 30, 1809, requesting help in settling the aforementioned James May’s account, which he agreed to do.⁶⁵ Again on June 25, 1812, Moses wrote to Henry, this time asking him to remit the payment he had promised to make on an overdue draft issued in Philadelphia. Enclosed with that letter was the ledger page of Henry’s account with Moses, which clearly showed the diversity of his business dealings. Covering the period between November 1809 and June 24, 1812, Moses apparently had supplied Henry with such items as a “tea kettle, maid’s hose, table cloths, book, calfskin, flour, drawing knife, and nails.”⁶⁶

Even though Moses David continued to engage in business with prominent Americans, businessmen as well as political figures, he remained loyal to Great Britain. Anxious to come to her aid, should he be required to do so, he became a captain in the Northeast Regiment, Essex County Militia on May 22, 1807.⁶⁷ The company under his command included one lieutenant, an ensign, a sergeant, twenty-two privates, twenty-two arms, and sixty-six rounds of ammunition. On June 4, 1807, his name appeared together with those of other officers, in the papers of his former business associate John Askin, who meanwhile had become a colonel.⁶⁸

Moses David was influential in breaking down barriers in Upper Canada that threatened to limit Jewish opportunity and equal rights concerning land ownership and military and political participation.

In reversing this practice, Moses David, a natural-born British subject resident in Essex, played an important part. The change, however, was de facto rather than de jure. In 1803 the Executive Council granted his prayer for relief and he received the patent, in his own right, for land in Sandwich on 20 February 1804. He did so without swearing the oath of adjuration in its Christian form. He seems to have avoided this when he was commissioned a militia officer prior to 1803 although the state oaths were a formal requirement. When appointed coroner of the Western District in 1808, he again escaped taking the oaths by posting a performance bond, an innovative practice designed to meet the requirement of the oath of adjuration.⁶⁹

The Land Speculator

There is no doubt that Moses David was well respected. He was even favoured by the exclusive Family Compact, a group that had emerged when John Graves Simcoe became Upper Canada’s first lieutenant governor and attempted to create a local aristocracy. Not only had he appointed his Loyalist friends to powerful government positions, he had also granted them enormous tracts of Crown reserves. These were usually kept unproductive and dormant, even though the lands were badly needed for new settlements. This system remained intact until popular discontent forced reform. Under these conditions, Moses David was able to acquire a number of prized tracts of Crown land in the Western District.

In John Clark’s magisterial work, Land, Power and Economics on the Frontier of Upper Canada, Moses David is presented as a major player among the land speculators on this western frontier:

An interesting facet of commerce was that over time the nature of the speculators changed with the economy. In the earlier period, many of the land speculators or mortgage investors were directly involved in the fur trade and Indian trade or at least in supplying the fur trade. Askin and McGill are the most obvious examples, but the list also includes . . . others among the 144 speculators who were recognizably merchants but who had less obvious connections to the fur trade. These included . . . Moses David, William McCormick, George Meldrum, William Munger, Charles Askin, and Francis Baby.⁷⁰

Moses David apparently adopted one of the common strategies of land speculators, that of buying tax delinquent lands much less than he would have paid the Crown or private land companies. Price was one advantage and another was the fact that lands purchased in that fashion could be held for eight years without paying any tax, allowing the speculators to better employ their capital in more profitable ways.⁷¹ A sample of Moses David’s land purchases and sales demonstrate his knowledge of local development trends.

Aside from his urban real estate in Sandwich town, Moses had properties in the village of Amherstburg, the site of Fort Malden, the major British stronghold on the frontier. The community grew and became more influential than Sandwich. On September 27, 1805, Moses paid George Ermatinger ten shillings for a property that included a house and auxiliary buildings,⁷² and on September 11, 1806, at a price of £68 1s 8p, he bought one hundred of the two hundred acres Thomas Smith had received from the Crown free of charge two years earlier. Located in Sandwich East, that parcel of land was no more than a swamp at the time. However, since it bordered on Lake St. Clair, it offered good possibilities for future development as a prime waterfront property.⁷³ This area was a favourite of John Askin, who put together a parcel of lots along Lake St. Clair and the rivers draining into the lake. Accessibility by water remained a crucial component of value in an area still largely devoid of roads. On November 20, 1807, Smith sold the remaining one hundred acres to Moses David,⁷⁴ who resold them to a Joseph Mayoux on January 16, 1808 — just a few months later.⁷⁵

Moses also became owner of additional lands; some in the Township of Sandwich,⁷⁶ as well as 114 acres in the Township of Colchester,⁷⁷ properties that had cost him ten shillings each. Moses apparently later sold this property to Alexander Mackenzie and his partner Frederick William Ermatinger. And in a quirk of fate, six years after Moses’ death, on September 6, 1820, McKenzie resold the property to David David, with F. W. Ermatinger releasing all claims to the property.⁷⁸

Eventually David David inherited all the properties from the estate of his late brother, in particular, the 114 acres in Colchester. Some eight years after David David’s own death on October 9, 1832,⁷⁹ his executors sold the land to Henry Hoffman for £250. However, during David David’s lifetime, as early as 1805, he must have been quite active in the border city area. Records reveal a correspondence he had with a Gabriel Godfroy⁸⁰ of Detroit to whom he had shipped a consignment of fur packs, for which he had not received payment in the amount of £1,766 18s 11p.⁸¹ Since David also allowed his brother to act as his agent in a variety of local land deals, there is no justification for the notion that Moses was not on good terms with his family. David not only visited his brother but also took an interest in his affairs.

Additional Family Connections

Taking on apprentices was common practice among many businessmen and David was instrumental in arranging a two-year apprenticeship in March 1805 for Jean Baptiste Dodlain,⁸² for whom Moses had to provide all the necessities of life. David subsequently became involved on his brother’s behalf with the drafting of another contract. This involved the apprenticeship of their nephew David Hayes in Sandwich. That agreement, reproduced here in part, is of even greater significance since it contains the first reference to Andrew and Abigail Hayes’ son David, whose birth had remained unrecorded until May 6, 1805, the date on which the following document was drawn up:

Before the subscribing public notaries residing in the city of Montreal in the province of Lower Canada, personally came and appeared David Hayes, a minor son of Andrew Hayes of Montreal, aforesaid merchant being duly assisted by and with the consent and approbation of his said father testified by his present and as subscribing these presents. And declared the said David Hayes that he hath of his own free will and accord placed and bound himself apprentice to Moses David of Sandwich in Province of Upper Canada a merchant, his brother David David of Montreal merchant being present and accepting for him and in the name of Moses David, to be taught in the art of science and trade; to live, continue and serve him as an apprentice henceforth unto the full term of four years hence next ensuring and fully to be compleat and end.⁸³

Listed as residing in Sandwich, the name of David Hayes subsequently appeared as a witness to several land transactions concluded by Moses David.⁸⁴

Moses David, besides acquiring properties for himself, his brother David, and for others in trust, he also lent money to various people, including Jean Baptiste Parre, who borrowed £50 11s from him on June 21, 1806.⁸⁵ Among Moses’ land purchases were two hundred acres known as South Gore for which he paid £200. The lands were located between lots No. 11 and No. 12, in the Second, Third, and Fourth Concessions of the Township of Colchester.⁸⁶ Other land transactions show that on April 6, 1807, he bought land in Gosfield from John Bell,⁸⁷ and purchased a lot in Elizabethtown on September 12, 1809, from Robert Livingston.⁸⁸ As well, he acquired property from James Heward, to whom he may have given a longterm mortgage, as he did not take possession of it until January 31, 1811.⁸⁹ Among the land Moses took as collateral for loans was Lot No. 42 in the Second Concession and another property against which he registered a mortgage on July 2, 1807, in the amount of 127 pounds, 13 shillings, 9 pence, and 3 farthings.⁹⁰

Moses and Charlotte

Although a great deal of material has been uncovered about Moses David’s business activities, the only somewhat oblique reference to his social life is contained in a March 12, 1805, letter written to him by his friend James May of Detroit. Inquiring about an illness Moses appears to have had, he expresses the hope that “it did not proceed from your frolic at Mr. Henry’s — when you were imprudent enough to cross this river at midnight.”⁹¹ Moses’ religious life, although interesting, also is enigmatic. We know that he owned a set of Hebrew prayer books, inscribed, “Sandwich, Upper Canada 1803,”⁹² that he supported the synagogue in Montreal, and that he occasionally returned to that city on business and religious missions. But Moses was isolated in Sandwich/Detroit from fellow Jews and forced to choose between Assumption, the existing Roman Catholic church, and St. John’s Anglican Church, both in Sandwich. St. John’s was the only Protestant place of worship in the Sandwich area and it would seem natural for Moses to have chosen the Protestant church for social and business reasons, if no other. It is also quite traditional for Jews to support wider community needs with contributions — his family in Montreal, for example. In Quebec, it was also tradition to consider Jews as Protestant in terms of rights, being non-Catholic. Reverend Pollard of St. John’s was a former fur trader and probably good company for Moses — and not overly sanctimonious given his merchant background.

Since his name appears at the end of a list of persons who attended a vestry meeting on March 23, 1807, his only interest in the gathering was likely the fact that the sale of various properties was one of the topics.⁹³ He was also a witness to the marriage of Joseph Eberts, merchant and Ann Baker, spinster,” performed by Reverend Richard Pollard at St. John’s Church on July 24, 1810.⁹⁴ Dr. Eberts was a fascinating character who left Montreal in the dead of night after performing an autopsy in violation of church and civil law. In Detroit in 1804, he suffered through a highly publicized divorce, which damaged his reputation further. It is possible that Moses was the only person in Sandwich willing to stand up for him.⁹⁵ Back in Montreal, his older brother Samuel also married in 1810, perhaps giving Moses pause to consider his own marital status.

Because of Moses David’s position in the community, he had an association with that church and even held a pew seat there, as claimed by Windsor historian George F. Macdonald in his compilation of data about Moses’ life,⁹⁶ but that he remained a Jew throughout his life is borne out by the fact that he was buried in the backyard of his Sandwich home, rather than in the cemetery adjoining St. John’s Church.

Moreover, there were indications that Moses David occasionally visited his family in Montreal, since a journey he made in the summer of 1804 is mentioned in his brother Samuel’s diary,⁹⁷ as well as in a letter to Moses from Francis Badgley.⁹⁸ On one of these trips he must have been introduced to Charlotte, daughter of Dorothea (née Judah) and Aaron Hart,⁹⁹ — Canada’s first Jewish settler. Born on June 4, 1777,¹⁰⁰ in London, England, she became an astute and active businesswoman in her own right, a most unusual phenomenon in the nineteenth century. Using a portion of the money she had inherited from her father, on October 6, 1804, Charlotte registered a £500 mortgage against a property held by Robert Lester and Robert Marrogh.¹⁰¹ It stipulated that the loan be repaid within three months and that if Charlotte married and/or in case of her death, her brothers would be entitled to the repayment.

Moses must have asked for Charlotte’s hand in marriage some time before September 29, 1811, when he and his bride-to-be entered into a pre-nuptial agreement that stated, in part, that they

shall and will have and take each other to be man and wife and that their marriage shall be celebrated without delay according to the rites and forms of Jewish laws and, further, that there shall not be any communacity or community property between them, the said Moses David and Charlotte Hart, either of the real and personal property, which now belongs to them or either of them, or shall or may be acquired by or come to them or either of them during their intended marriage in any manner or way whatsoever any have wage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.¹⁰²

In addition, Moses David had to give £1,000 to his prospective wife in lieu of dower — that part of a husband’s property that his widow inherits for life after his death — allowing her to use it in any way she deemed proper. Even though the contract further stipulated that the marriage should take place “without delay,” no exact date was given. According to a notebook kept by Harline David Ruben, the wedding did not take place until some time in 1812. One might wonder why this 44-year-old groom and his bride, who was close to her thirty-fourth birthday, would have delayed the wedding at all. It also is unclear why he would have gone to Montreal twice — first, in September 1811 to sign the marriage contract, and again several months later to attend his wedding. The only conclusive proof that the ceremony had been performed some time before October 2, 1812, is the fact that on that day Moses and Charlotte met at her mother’s house on Gabriel Street in Montreal,¹⁰³ where they signed an addendum to their marriage contract as a married couple. It not only acknowledged their original agreement of September 29, 1811, but also reaffirmed the circumstances relating to the disposal of the monies Charlotte had inherited from her late father.¹⁰⁴ In addition, the addendum gave David David and Alexander Hart joint powers-of-attorney to purchase bills at interest.

Returning to Sandwich after the onset of cold weather when travel was far more difficult,¹⁰⁵ Moses would have brought his new wife to a house built on one of the lots he owned. It was likely the one he purchased on August 6, 1801, from John Hembrow and Robert Jonas for £14.¹⁰⁶ In 1813, a few months before Moses’ death, he and Charlotte sold a piece of lots No. 3 and No. 4 on the east side of Bedford Street, where they resided, to Augustine Roy.¹⁰⁷

Throughout her marriage to Moses, Charlotte remained in full control of all the properties she owned, as well as continuing to conduct her own business affairs. Indicative of her activities as a moneylender, is the following note in French:

Le 2 September 1812, Charlotte Hart qui avait éspousé Moses David, de Sandwich, Haut-Canada, transportait à sa mère une créance de deux cent cinquante livres à elle léguée par son pêre et due par Sir John Johnson.¹⁰⁸

On March 18, 1813, Charlotte gave birth to a son named Moses Eleazer. Regrettably, his father died when the boy was only about 18 months old. He was subsequently “educated in Edinburgh and Paris, and lived almost half of his life abroad.”¹⁰⁹ On November 25, 1846,¹¹⁰ in Philadelphia, at the age of 33, Moses Eleazer David married Rosina, who was born on February 11, 1827,¹¹¹ the daughter of Jacob Levy Florance. She bore him two children,¹¹² Charlotte (Nina), born in London in December 1847, and Arthur Meredith, called Florance, born on October 5, 1849, in Montreal.¹¹³ Rosina David died on December 8, 1850, in Teignmouth, England, and was buried in Philadelphia on February 9, 1851.¹¹⁴ On December 8, 1853, her daughter Nina died in Montreal at the age of 6, and was buried next to her mother.¹¹⁵

On April 15, 1872, at the age of fifty-nine, Moses Eleazer David married a second time to Ada S. Abraham of Bristol, England.¹¹⁶ We must conclude that he returned to Montreal with his new wife, since records show that he laid the cornerstone for the new synagogue building on Chenneville Street.¹¹⁷ Following in his family’s footsteps, he was an active supporter of the Spanish-Portuguese congregation, as well as becoming involved in more mundane ventures. Keen on horse racing, he entered a horse in the first King’s Plate race,¹¹⁸ run at Trois Rivières on July 27, 1836. Records also show that he was a founder of the St. James Club,¹¹⁹ served as a militia officer in 1837 and 1851,¹²⁰ and had an interest in the Grand Trunk Railway.¹²¹ In 1891, he sold the land in Sandwich that his late father had originally received from the Crown.¹²²

The End of the Moses David Family Line

Moses David died on September 26, 1814, the cause of death unknown. Although some have wondered why he was not buried at the same place as other members of his prominent family, the answer may lie in the fact that it would have been very difficult for his wife to travel to Montreal for the funeral with her infant son.

On January 14, 1811, Moses David had bought a piece of land from George Meldrum and William Park, for which he paid £10. According to the diagram attached to the memorial of bargain and sale, he may also have intended that narrow strip running the full depth of Lot No. 4 to be his gravesite. Its precise location is described in that document as follows:

An indenture of Bargain and Sale dated the fourteenth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven, made between George Meldrum and William Park of Sandwich in the Western District Esquire of the one part and Moses David of Sandwich merchant of the other part. Whereby the said George Meldrum and William Park for and in consideration of the sum of ten pounds New York currency to them in hand paid, grantee, bargained, sold alien and confirming unto the said Moses David and to his heirs and assigns for ever a certain piece of ground being the northern part of lot number four Bedford street with the appurtenances situated lying and being on the east side of Bedford street, aforesaid, in the town of Sandwich in the county of Essex, which said piece of ground is butted and bounded as follows, that is to say, beginning at a jog or offset at the Easterly end of a purchase made from John Hembrow, containing six feet in breadth and thence running the whole depth of the lot along the sideline of lot number three as described in the margin from A to B six feet thence in depth to C-D and all profits, commodities, and appurtenances whatsoever to the premises belonging or in any wise appertaining and the reversion and reversions remainder and remainders, rents, issues and profits of all and singulars the said premises, which saw indenture of bargain and sale is witnessed by the Reverend Richard Pollard of Sandwich, clerk and John McGregor of Sandwich, Esquire and is hereby required to be registered pursuant to the said act by the said Moses David.¹²³

Although Moses David owned all of Lot No. 3, as well as a strip of Lot No. 4, there is no specific record of his intentions for a Jewish cemetery or his own burial. However, later documents reveal that his actual burial plot was on land acquired on October 22, 1913, by Adolphe S. Gignac from Jane Phyllis McKee, which included the

Northerly fifty-feet in width lot number three on the east side of Bedford street by the full depth of the said lot, excepting therefrom the Jew Cemetery at the east corner thereof.¹²⁴

The so-called “Jew Cemetery” had only one grave, that of Moses David.¹²⁵

After returning to Quebec, Charlotte David continued to look after her own business interests, as well as those of her deceased husband. Attempting to wrap up his affairs, she wrote to tell Detroit lawyer Solomon Sibley in August 1819:

Sir,

Will thank you to inform me if Mr. George Meldrum has made you any payment in account of the bond due the estate of the late Mr. Moses David and what sum you have received from the estate of the late Mr. James Henry.

I am sir, your obedient servant.

[signed] Charlotte David¹²⁶

By 1825, Charlotte was residing in Montreal with her young son. As part of her business activities that year, she lent £500 to the Church of Our Lady of Montreal¹²⁷ on July 15, against which she registered one mortgage on November 29, 1825,¹²⁸ and another one on December 17, 1825.¹²⁹ Four years later, when she was getting ready to travel in Europe, she appointed Alexander Hart and Moses J. Hayes to act as her attorneys during her absence.¹³⁰

Charlotte David died one day after her sixty-seventh birthday, on January 5, 1844.¹³¹ Reverend David Piza officiated at her funeral, which was recorded in his registry book as follows:

Charlotte Hart, widow of the late Moses David, in his life-time of Sandwich, Canada West, died on the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty four, and was buried by me on the twelfth day of January, one thousand eight hundred forty four, in the presence of Moses Samuel David of the city of Montreal, Advocate, and of Moses N. Binley of the same place, Advocate, and of G. Joseph of the same place, Advocate, aged sixty-seven years.

[signed] David Piza, Minister.”¹³²

Moses Eleazer David, son of Charlotte and Moses and the last direct descendant of Moses David, died on October 1, 1892, at his residence at 704 Sherbrooke Street in Montreal.¹³³ The following is the death notice for Moses Eleazer as it appeared in the registry book of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue:

Moses Eleazer David, of the city of Montreal died on the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and ninety two, and was buried by me on the third day of October, one thousand eight hundred ninety two, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses J. L. Samuel, A. Hirschberg.

[signed] D. Mendola de Sola, Minister.¹³⁴

With Moses Eleazer’s death, the Moses David family line came to an end.

An Epilogue for Windsor’s First Jewish Citizen

On June 25, 1880, Moses David’s tombstone became the subject of an article published in the Amherstburg Echo. Although the given date of his death is incorrect, the description of that particular memorial is of interest:

Sandwich has an old relic in the shape of a tombstone which was erected to the memory of Moses David by his wife, Charlotte David. The stone fence is 6 feet wide by 5 1/2 feet long. On the tombstone are engraved the following words: “in memory of Moses David, who departed this life August 21st, 1815 aged 46.” Those wishing to see, can do so by asking Mr. Dentz, of the Dominion House, or James McKee.¹³⁵

As a consequence of this study of Moses David’s life, as well as an assessment of the contributions he had made to Windsor’s Jewry, interest in him was regenerated and the question of desecration of his gravesite entered discussions. From the time he purchased parcels of land, which he may have designated as his burial ground, ownership had changed many times. Yet, in most of the pertinent documents the “Jew Cemetery” was excluded from each sale, such as in the transaction between Jane Phyllis McKee and Adolphe Gignac on October 22, 1913.¹³⁶ The specific clause was omitted, however, when Gignac transferred ownership of the property to his wife, Homeline, on November 20, 1923.¹³⁷ After her death, the property passed to her heirs, specifically, Marie Louise Gignac, who resided there until her own death.¹³⁸ In accordance with the terms of her will on May 12, 1977, the land was sold to Steve Riolo.¹³⁹ Since the law does not require a title search beyond a forty-year period, the new owner was free to use it in any way he wished. Word that a high-rise apartment building might be erected on the site not only rekindled interest in Moses David, but also in the sanctity of his burial plot.

Jewish law requires that burial grounds remain undisturbed and there were discussions in 1978 to consider the feasibility of disinterment and reburial of Moses David’s remains. In response to my requests for action in this regard, Joseph Eisenberg, executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Windsor contacted archaeologist Leonard Kroon, a professor at the University of Windsor.¹⁴⁰ His offer of assistance was the first step in the process to uncover the gravesite, which had remained undisturbed for over 160 years.

To help survey the burial ground, Professor Kroon brought in Kirk Walstedt of Maidstone Township, another archaeologist. After locating the grave’s surface in the southeast corner at the back of Miss Gignac’s former home, workers proceeded to remove, piece by piece, the large, covering mound of trash. Trowels and brushes were used to cautiously hand pick and sift their way through the rubble. While so doing, numerous items were revealed: handmade bricks, cut limestone blocks (forming the north, east, and west portions of the rectangular piece of land), broken pieces of ceramic and glass, all of late-nineteenth-century vintage, and even a newspaper fragment dating back to 1914. The search was rewarding for these determined explorers — it reached its pinnacle with the discovery of an extremely large memorial stone. Still entirely intact, and set upon a brick floor, it bore the following inscription:

In Memory of Mr. Moses David

Who Departed this life Sept 27, 1814

Age 46 years

This tomb was erected by His Affectionate Wife

Charlotte David

That archaeological find was indeed the gravesite of Moses David! It revealed that what was believed to have been a southerly “brick wall” was the remnants of a pedestal, on which the memorial stone had once rested. After viewing the stone “in situ,” it was removed to a safe place for further study. During the final stages of exploration, it became clear that the pedestal had a solid foundation, consisting of several thick and heavy slate slabs that had been set on the floor in a level position. When the rest of the “tomb” was later cleared, it provided evidence that the floor, pedestal and inner wall were composed of brick. Eleven geese, symbols normally used by Indians as part of their funeral rites, had been placed around the pedestal, and inner wall, including a padlock found on the floor of the tomb.

Five feet below ground, in a test pit area measuring five feet by five feet, the skeleton was finally uncovered. Dr. Samuel S. Stollman, who had been the rabbi of Shaar Hashomayim congregation for over a quarter century and then was its rabbi emeritus, was called upon to act as religious authority in the disinterment, which was performed in accordance with Jewish law. That law not only forbids the viewing of skeletal remains, so that the soul of the deceased may rest in peace, but also requires that the coffin be made completely of wood. Professor Kroon meticulously followed these religious stipulations. Without disturbing the consecrated earth surrounding the skeleton, he exposed, solely for verification purposes, only a small area of bone. He then removed the remains in situ, making sure that iron did not come into contact with them.

A special plywood casket was designed, equipped with wooden dowels and corner blocks, and held together with glue, with a separate bottom or palette that would fit into a cement vault. After using a back hoe to excavate a wide area around the burial site, an archeological team again trowelled and brushed its way to the shredded remnants of the original rough box that then was pedestalled before setting the plywood framing over it and positioning the palette beside it.

On the day of disinterment, the complete unit was lifted up and out of the pit and set inside the cement vault resting on the bed of an open truck waiting nearby. After placing a cover over the vault, the earthly remains of Moses David were transported to Pillette Road, the site of Shaar Hashomayim cemetery. It was there that Windsor’s illustrious first Jew was re-interred with all the Jewish religious rites due to him. Adorned with the original tombstone, this new grave is a fitting resting-place for the man who had established the first familial and cultural links between Montreal and Windsor — the new frontier. It is a monument to all those Jews who came after him to pioneer in this very challenging environment.¹⁴¹