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

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