The Jews of Windsor, 1790-1990. Jonathan V. Plaut

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