Moses

Moses was born in New York City to Hyam Myers, a merchant from Amsterdam who came to the colonies in the 1740s, and Rachel Louzada, whose family had lived in New York since the 1680s. He moved with his family to Quebec in 1763, where he learned French, which he spoke along with his native English and his father’s Dutch. After serving briefly in the New York Second Battalion during the American Revolution, Moses entered into a business partnership with Samuel Myers, a distant cousin.

They opened offices in Amsterdam and St. Eustatia, which was an important waypoint during the British blockade of North America for supplies needed by the rebelling colonists. The island was occupied by British forces in February 1781. Between business losses at St. Eustatia and hard economic times following the Revolution, Moses, and Samuel were forced to stop payment in 1784. Samuel eventually secured a partial payment of debts owed to the firm, allowing him and Moses a fresh start. After marrying Eliza Judah Chapman in March of 1787, Moses moved to Norfolk and began rebuilding his import/export business.

Moses was actively engaged in the political and social life of his adopted hometown. He sat on the Common Council from 1794–1800, served as counsel to France and the Netherlands, achieved the rank of Major in the militia, was appointed Superintendent of the Norfolk branch of the Bank of Richmond, and was a founder of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. He provided financial support to the Presbyterian Church and donated land on which a theater was built.

Moses’s business suffered some hardship during the embargo of 1808–1809 and the War of 1812. After a rebound, his business was devastated as a result of the crash of 1819. He spent the rest of his years trying to satisfy his creditors and collect on debts owed him, both with little success. In 1827, he was appointed Collector of Customs for the ports of Norfolk and Portsmouth, a position he held until 1830. Moses passed away in 1835.

Eliza

Eliza was born in London in 1760 into the prominent Judah family and moved as a young child to Montreal. At nineteen, she married the frontiersman Abraham Chapman, who had followed the trade routes up the St. Lawrence and through the Great Lakes to become the first Jewish settler in Detroit. Abraham made his will in April 1783 and died shortly thereafter. The will mentions that Eliza was expecting, but as there is no further reference to the child it was probably stillborn or died shortly after birth.

Eliza married Moses on Passover Eve (March 22) 1787 in New York City and in July set sail for Norfolk on the ship Sincerity. In her new home, Eliza gave birth to twelve children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. She was widely known as a charming hostess, a devoted mother, and an excellent household manager.

The deaths, in close succession, of her two youngest sons, Abram (1821) and Henry (1822), broke Eliza’s health. In 1823, Frederick took her to Montreal for what they hoped would be a restorative visit with her family, but she passed away there in November.

Sam

Sam attended William and Mary from 1807–1810 and was the college’s first Jewish graduate. After college, he read law briefly in Richmond but returned home in October 1810. By the spring of 1811, he had taken on a major role in the family business. In May of that year, Sam shot and killed Richard Bowden, a former business partner of Moses’s, after Bowden had beaten his father in the market square.

Sam was charged with manslaughter and jailed, but then released on bail pending his Circuit Court appearance the following May. He stayed with the Cohen family in Philadelphia until then. Sam was found not guilty in May of 1812 and spent the summer of that year in upstate New York with Adeline.

Sam was sent overseas from 1813 to 1815 to attend to family business. When he returned home, he married Louisa Marx and for the next three years divided his time between Richmond and Norfolk. In April of 1819, he closed his Richmond business and suspended payments. Sam and Louisa moved to Pensacola in 1821 to make a fresh start. He ran a successful law practice there but left due to the unhealthy climate and the general poverty in the area. He returned to Richmond and entered the commission business. Sam passed away in 1829.

Frederick

A serious young man, Frederick showed talent as a businessman early on. He kept his head above water financially during the crash of 1819 and purchased the family home in 1826 to keep it from creditors. Frederick was a member of the Franklin Fire Company and a Director of the Farmer’s Bank of Norfolk. He died in 1832.

Henry

A frail and sickly child, Henry dreamed of joining the Navy. Moses was initially opposed to his desire but eventually consented. Midshipman Myers was ordered to Congress in April 1819; he sailed for Asia, returning in June of 1821 with gifts for his sisters and mother. Henry next sailed in Hornet to the Caribbean in search of pirates; he returned home in early 1822 and soon set out again. He died aboard ship of yellow fever in August, three days out of Norfolk.

Augusta

Augusta was so bad-tempered as a young teenager that John suggested she be sent away to boarding school, but by her late teens, she had developed into a charming young woman. In 1826, she married Philip I. Cohen of Baltimore, whose family ran lotteries in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. She had eight children and died in 1876.