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The Judah Will
About
The Document
Family Tree
African Americans
Women
Judaism
Places
Text


ABOUT

This project was produced by the five students and two instructors of Virginia
Commonwealth University’s HIST 691 Digital History course in Spring 2017, with
assistance from the VCU ALT-Lab.

This course, taught by Ryan K. Smith of the Department of History and Tom
Woodward of the ALT-Lab, marked the university’s first graduate offering in the
field. We wanted the students to practice research and collaboration in an
online environment, so we designed an annotation activity for us all to try out
together. For our particular subject, we began with a will — the Isaac Judah
will — selected from the Hustings Court of Richmond, Virginia, available on
microfilm at the Library of Virginia.

Over several weeks, we transcribed the will from its manuscript. Then we asked
questions about its content while assembling historical context, all in an
effort to see where this source could lead us. Google Docs served as our initial
collaborative tool (we used its comments feature extensively). Our file soon
became messy as the research piled up from various perspectives.  It was
exciting to see how different students offered distinct contributions to our
reading of the will, and the work had a productive, compounding effect. At the
end, we could watch it all unfold again by viewing the doc with the Draftback
plugin.

With so much fruitful research on this rare document, we decided to share our
collaboration results publicly. We are still wondering how best to do so — how
to distill our comment threads and contextual notes for public consumption and
instruction — and this site represents a first step. We knew we wanted the text
of the will to remain central, with all the content visible around it. Tom
used Codepen.io to experiment with a multi-frame format and then designed a
standalone site pulling WordPress pages for the content. Tom describes this
process on his Bionic Teaching blog here and here. Ryan distilled the student
annotations, drew the family tree (using draw.io), and offered a few conclusions
for the content pages. The students seemed pleased with the results.

We hope you enjoy following the trails of this will as much as we did.

More information about our work can be found at our course website.



For feedback, contact rksmith3@vcu.edu or woodwardtw@vcu.edu


FAMILY TREE2




SAMUEL COLEMAN

Samuel Coleman was born in 1755. Apparently, during the Revolutionary War, he
served in the Continental army’s 1st Artillery as lieutenant. After the war, he
served as clerk to the Council of State of Virginia. From 1789 through 1805, he
corresponded with presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,
respectively.

In March 1810, he advertised for sale in the Enquirer “a two story WOOD HOUSE,
upon a Cellar Story of brick, pleasantly situated in a retired part of the city
of Richmond, on Shockoe Hill,” apparently near Isaac Judah’s property (perhaps
even the “Dutched roof house” mentioned therein). “There are six rooms,”
Coleman’s ad continued, “including the Cellars, all of which have fire places.”

Coleman died one year later, in 1811.

References:

“Samuel Coleman (1755-1811), of Richmond, VA.,” Sons of the Revolution in the
State of Virginia Semi-Annual Magazine 5-7 (1927): 80-85

“To George Washington from Samuel Coleman, 19 October 1789,” Founders Online,
National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017


R YOUNG

Richard Young is best known today for the detailed plan, or map, of the city of
Richmond he drew in 1809. He served as the city surveyor for many years
thereafter.

In July 1820 he corresponded with Thomas Jefferson during the latter’s
retirement, contributing to their discussions of meteorology, geography, and
mapmaking. Young offered to show the onetime governor his newest Richmond map.
“The Streets as named by you when you were a director of Publick buildings have
been retained,” he explained, “and the number added within the Jurisdiction had
nearly exhausted my powers to find apropiate names.” Lamenting the city’s recent
real estate bubbles, Young proclaimed that he had “often witnessed the Grocers,
the Blacksmith the Shoemaker Carpenter Bricklayer even the Night watch become
land speculators, this by way of Geting rich as some few had done by the rise of
property.”

In his will, Isaac Judah points to a survey of his tenement completed by Young,
showing how the surveyor’s work was used to clarify new properties in the
expanding city.

References:

“To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Young, 10 July 1820,” Founders Online,
National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017, early access version.


SIMON BLOCK

The extended Block family moved to America from Bohemia following the American
Revolution. Among them, Simon Block of Richmond, Virginia, was sometimes
referred to as “Jr.” in order to distinguish him from his relation, Simon Block
of Williamsburg, Virginia.

In Richmond, Simon was a member of Beth Shalome. He accumulated a fair share of
property around the city. In the 1810s, Block would relocate with other family
members to Missouri, where he worked as a merchant.

Upon his death, in 1826 the Richmond Hustings Court assigned Eleazer Block,
 soon-to-be husband of Abigail, to be the guardian of his ten orphans, though
the children would remain with their own mother in Missouri.


REFERENCES:

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

Ira Rosenwaike, “Eleazer Block — His Family and Career,” American Jewish
Archives 31 (November 1979): 142-49


RYNE JUDAH

Ryne Judah was the daughter of Baruch Judah, making her Isaac’s niece. Ryne
split one-eighth share of the estate (after the named distributions) with his
father Baruch and brother Manuel.


MANUEL JUDAH NEPHEW

Manuel Judah was the son of Baruch Judah, making him Isaac’s nephew. Manuel
split one-eighth share of the estate (after the named distributions) with his
father Baruch and sister Ryne.


GERSHOM JUDAH BROTHER

Gershom Judah was born in 1767. Like Isaac Judah’s other brothers, he was among
the founders of Beth Shalome in Richmond. Isaac’s will provides him with
one-eighth share of the estate, to be split with their sister Rachel Rehine
following the other named distributions.


ISAAC MARKS

Isaac Marks was the son of Grace Marks, Isaac Judah’s sister. In the will, Isaac
admits to some pride in noting that the nephew was his namesake. He gave the boy
an eighth share of the estate following the named distributions.


TOBY

Toby was an elderly enslaved man for whom Isaac Judah’s will makes a special
provision. Isaac describes him as “my faithful old slave” and directs that his
executors provide Toby with clothes and necessities for the remainder of his
life.

White families would frequently use the word “faithful” to describe long-serving
servants following the Civil War, as in the phrase “faithful unto death.”

An inventory taken upon Isaac’s death valued Toby at $5, essentially a token
appraisal.


HARRY

Harry, an enslaved man owned by Isaac Judah, found himself delivered to Isaac’s
executors according to the terms of the will, “to be held by them in trust for
the use & benefit of” Isaac’s favored niece Abigail De Pass.

In March 1815, twelve years prior to Isaac’s death, the Richmond Hustings Court
had jailed Harry, accusing him of going at large and hiring himself to Paul
Christian. Isaac must have defended his arrangements with the enslaved man, for
the case was dismissed the next day.

Harry’s apparent ability to set the terms of his own hiring reflects the
disordered nature of slavery in the city. White Richmonders passed restrictive
laws against such practices, but the need for labor in the city, coupled with
the monetary benefits of such arrangements to slaveowners, meant that some
enslaved people like Harry could negotiate with employers.

An inventory taken at the time of Isaac’s death valued Harry at only $100 –
three hundred dollars less than Isaac’s enslaved man Henry and also less than
most of Isaac’s enslaved women. This suggests that Harry’s earning power had
greatly diminished since 1815.


REFERENCES:

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

Marianne Buroff Sheldon, “Black-White Relations in Richmond, Virginia,
1782-1820,” Journal of Southern History 45, no. 1 (February 1979): 27-44

James Sidbury, Ploughshares into Swords: Race, Rebellion, and Identity in
Gabriel’s Virginia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997)


HENRY

Henry is mentioned with Daphney, as two of Isaac Judah’s slaves he instructs his
executors to sell in order to pay his debts. Isaac’s language here is harsh;
unlike his other slaves provided with emancipation, retirement, or delivered as
named “gifts,” Henry and Daphney were to “be disposed of and sold.”

Did Henry have a familial relationship with Daphney? Or did Isaac mention them
together for another reason of his own?

Upon Isaac’s death, Henry was the most valuable slave in the estate, valued at
$400. In contrast, Daphney was Isaac’s lowest valued female slave. Both shared
the experience so common among enslaved Richmonders – separation from onetime
companions.


DAPHNEY

Daphney is mentioned with Henry, as two of Isaac Judah’s slaves he instructs his
executors to sell in order to pay his debts. His language here is harsh; unlike
his other slaves provided with emancipation, retirement, or delivered as named
“gifts,” Henry and Daphney were to “be disposed of and sold.”

Did Daphney have a familial relationship with Henry? Or did Isaac mention them
together for another reason of his own?

In the inventory of Isaac’s estate taken at his death, Daphney is valued low at
$50, compared to the $300 valuation of his other enslaved women. She is titled
“1 Negro woman,” indicating that her valuation was not due to a very young age.
Instead, she might have been elderly or infirm. She would have to face the end
of her life with a new owner.


WOMEN

Isaac Judah remained a bachelor for life. But his will indicates that he
maintained meaningful relationships with the women around him. It also suggests
that in bequeathing his wealth, he focused primarily on unmarried women, who
seem to have been able to hold on to property at the time more easily than some
scholars have acknowledged. Also, the patterns shown in Isaac’s will countered
the accusations made by gentiles at the time of female “degradation” among Jews
(as the New York Herald would opine in 1836).

The very first beneficiaries named in the will are women, though not Jews. In
the will’s points two and three, respectively, Isaac arranged for the
emancipation of his enslaved servants Maria and Betsey. In contrast, Isaac’s
enslaved women Daphney and Aggy, mentioned later, were simply directed to be
sold.

Members of the extended Judah family compose the remainder of the women
mentioned in the will. Three were named Abigail, including Isaac’s mother, whom
Isaac names first among his family’s beneficiaries. His “honoured mother” had
died eight years prior, and Isaac arranged for his estate to provide a tomb
stone for her.

Isaac’s unmarried nieces made up the bulk of the rest.

Isaac’s apparently unmarried niece Abigail De Pass, the next female relation
mentioned, received Isaac’s own home, several other Richmond lots, and “the use
& benefit” of the enslaved man Harry. Isaac did not invest her with these fully,
however; perhaps to ensure they did not pass out of the family (she would wed
Eleazer Block around this same time), Isaac directed that upon her death, these
assets were to be to returned to “some one or more of my brothers or sisters, or
their descendants as she the said Abigail may designate.” Later in the will,
however, in item 13, Isaac contradicted this impulse and further enriched
Abigail by awarding her a prime city lot on Second Street, with full ownership.

Likewise, for his unmarried niece Rachel Judah, Isaac gave a large lot on Brook
Road “to her and her heirs and assigns forever.” Interestingly, he also awarded
Rachel the property on Duval Street with the “Dutched roof” house outright,
following the death of her father, who had use of it – not ownership – until
then. 

For his unmarried niece Abigail Judah, Isaac awarded full ownership of a lot on
Leigh Street equal to her brother Gershom’s portion. She also received Isaac’s
slave Aggy, which her brother did not.

For his widowed aunts Grace Nathan and Zipporah Seixas, Isaac provided $125
each.

Lastly, Isaac’s will accounted for all his sisters, including Sarah De Pass
(widowed), Grace Marks (widowed), Rebecca Seixas (married), and Rachel Rehine
(married), in addition to his unmarried niece Ryne Judah and his male family
members, by giving them shares in the remainder of his estate.

So of twenty-three named beneficiaries in the will, over half (13, including
Maria and Betsey) are female. Unmarried or widowed women make up most of these,
and Isaac favored them over his gifts to men. He surely understood that while
the color line mattered in Richmond, so did gender and religion.


REFERENCES:

Suzanne Lebsock, The Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a Southern
Town, 1784-1860 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1984)

Marylynn Salmon, Women and the Law of Property in Early America (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1986)

Jonathan D. Sarna, “The Debate Over Mixed Seating in the American Synagogue,” in
Jack Wertheimer, ed., The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1987), 363-394


MOSES H. JUDAH

Moses H. Judah , a younger brother of Isaac Judah, was born in 1779. He married
a woman named Abigail, and the couple had at least one daughter, Rachel. In
1819, the Richmond city directory described Moses as a “manufacturer of tobacco”
located “on the basin.” Like several of his other brothers, Moses also served in
the Richmond Light Infantry Blues militia.

Isaac’s will provided Moses a significant piece of property: one-fourth of a
square on M (Duval) Street, with 167 feet on the street front. The property held
a notable house (with a Dutched roof – similar to Richmond’s Tucker cottage,
seen here). Isaac showed his favor for his niece Rachel by specifying that the
property descend to her upon her father’s death.

Moses died in 1838.


REFERENCES:

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

The Richmond Directory, Register and Almanac, for the Year 1819 (Richmond: John
Maddox, 1819)


SARAH DE PASS

Sarah (also known as Sally) Judah was born in 1760, making her a rare sibling
older than Isaac Judah.  In 1798, she married the sixty-five-year-old widower
Raphael (or Ralph) De Pass (de Paz) from Jamaica, and they settled in
Charleston, South Carolina. The couple had at least two children: Abigail De
Pass and Aaron De Pass.  David Judah described Abigail De Pass as his sister in
his will, implying that Sarah had given birth to David out of wedlock, prior to
her marriage.

In Charleston, Raphael entered a stage of poor health around 1809, and Sarah
visited Richmond after her husband sailed to the Caribbean in search of
restoration. Sarah, presumably with her children in tow, intended to stay in
Richmond with her mother and family until her husband’s fate became known. Sarah
also brought with her “a female attendant slave, named Eliza” to accompany her
in her journey, and this presented a legal problem in Virginia, as the state had
outlawed the importation of slaves. Consequently, Sarah appealed to the General
Assembly to allow an exemption from this law. The legislature complied with her
wishes, and passed “An Act for the relief of Sarah De Pass” on February 2, 1809,
enabling her to retain Eliza without penalties.

Her husband apparently died in 1812, and Sarah made her way to Baltimore. She
died there in 1842 and was buried in the Etting family cemetery.


REFERENCES:

Acts Passed at a General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (Richmond:
Pleasants, 1809)

Joseph L. Blau, and Salo W. Baron, eds., The Jews of the United States,
1790-1840: A Documentary History 3 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press,
1963)

Elizabeth Jo Lampl and Kay Fanning, “Etting Burial Grounds,” National Register
of Historic Places Registration Form

Ira Rosenwaike, “Eleazer Block — His Family and Career,” American Jewish
Archives 31 (November 1979): 142-49


GRACE MARKS

Grace Judah was born in 1780, as a sister of Isaac Judah. In June 1803, the
Virginia Argus printed the announcement that her brother Isaac had presided over
a wedding between “the amiable Miss Grace Judah” and “Mr. Abraham Myers,
Merchant of New York.” After Myers died, Grace married Haymen Marks, who also
left her widowed in 1825.

Isaac’s will gave her two eighth shares of the estate remaining after the
specified distributions. It was “for her tender regard and love from a child,”
indicating a fond relation between them. Indeed, Grace had named one of her sons
after Isaac, and he recognized that, too, by also giving his namesake and her
son an eighth share of the remaining estate.

Grace died of “old age” in Philadelphia in 1867 at eighty-seven years old.


REFERENCES:

death certificate for Grace Marks, held by the Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission, Harrisonburg, Pennsylvania, certificate number range:
031161-034160


BARUCH JUDAH

Baruch Judah was born in 1763, making him Isaac Judah‘s younger brother.

He served in the militia, attaining the rank of lieutenant. In 1821, he served
as keeper of the Virginia Museum, which presented exhibits on natural history
and fine arts.

Isaac’s will gave Baruch and Baruch’s two children, Manuel and Ryne, one-eight
of a share of his estate remaining after all specified distributions.

Baruch died in Richmond in 1830.


REFERENCES:

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)


REBECCA SEIXAS

Rebecca Judah was born in 1782, making her Isaac Judah’s younger sister. In
1809, she married Isaac B. Seixas, who, like her brother, served as a reader for
Richmond’s Beth Shalome. They had eight children.

Judah’s will gave her one portion of the estate remaining after the other named
distributions. Following Judah’s death, the couple returned to New York. Rebecca
died in 1867.


REFERENCES:

Papers of the Seixas family, American Jewish Historical Society, New York


RACHEL REHINE

Rachel Judah was born in 1772, as a younger sister to Isaac Judah. She married
Zalha (Zalman or Zalma) Rehine, a native of Westphalia and one of the founding
members of Beth Shalome in Richmond. From Isaac’s will, Rachel received
one-eight portion of the estate remaining after the other distributions, and
that eighth portion was to be split with her brother Gershom.

Following Isaac’s death, the couple relocated to Baltimore, where Zalha worked
as a merchant and helped organize the first Jewish congregation there. His death
in 1843 left Rachel a widow, whereupon she moved to New York.

When Rachel died in 1863, her body was returned to the Etting family cemetery in
Baltimore, to rest alongside her husband.


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

Elizabeth Jo Lampl and Kay Fanning, “Etting Burial Grounds,” National Register
of Historic Places Registration Form


HERBERT CLAIBORNE

Herbert Claiborne served as a witness to Isaac Judah’s will when it was entered
into court. Born in 1784, he was an attorney in Richmond. Historian Ted
Maris-Wolf notes that free blacks made up about one-third of his clients, making
him especially amenable to Judah’s situation. He was trusted by other members of
Richmond’s Jewish community; in 1821, an orphan of Benjamin Wolfe chose
Claiborne to be his guardian. He died in 1841.


REFERENCES:

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

Findagrave entry for Herbert Claiborne

Ted Maris-Wolf, Family Bonds: Free Blacks and Re-Enslavement Law in Antebellum
Virginia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015)


GRACE NATHAN

Grace Seixas, sister of Abigail Seixas, was born in 1752. In 1780, she married
Simon Nathan, a merchant in Philadelphia then giving considerable aid to the
American revolutionaries.

Her husband died in 1822, leaving her a widow. Isaac’s will awards his aunt and
her sister-in-law Zipporah Seixas $125 for “having always ~~ retained their
kindness & care of me.”

Grace had literary talent, having composed a number of poems on pious themes.
She died in 1831 in New York.


REFERENCES:

David de Sola Pool, Portraits Etched in Stone: Early Jewish Settlers, 1682-1831
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1952)


ZIPPORAH SEIXAS

Zipporah Levy was born in 1760. She married Benjamin Seixas (Isaac’s mother’s
brother) in 1779, making her Isaac’s aunt.  The couple resided in New York, and
Zipporah gave birth to at least twenty-one children. Her husband died in 1817,
leaving her a widow. Isaac’s will awards her and her sister-in-law Grace
Nathan $125 for “having always ~~ retained their kindness & care of me.”

Zipporah died in 1832.


REFERENCES:

David de Sola Pool, Portraits Etched in Stone: Early Jewish Settlers, 1682-1831
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1952)


JOHN GODDIN

Captain John Goddin was a tavern keeper near Bacon’s Quarter Branch — a stream
flowing into Shockoe Creek — and therefore a neighbor of Isaac Judah. Goddin’s
tavern was also known as “Baker’s Tavern,” as represented on an 1835 map. Goddin
also worked for a time as constable of the city of Richmond.

Earlier, Judah had purchased a “lot of ground on the north side of Bacon Branch”
from his “esteemed friend & neighbour Capt John Goddin” and wife. In his will,
Judah returned that piece of property to the Goddins. John Goddin died at 86
years old on February 22, 1865, and the Richmond Whig of the following day
announced his funeral at Grace Street Baptist Church.


REFERENCES:

R. A. Brock, Virginia and Virginians vol. 2 (Richmond: Hardesty, 1888)

Moses Ellyson, The Richmond Directory and Business Advertiser for 1856
(Richmond: Ellyson, 1856)

Findagrave entry for Capt John Otey Goddin

RVA Legends — Goddin’s Tavern


ABIGAIL SEIXAS JUDAH

Abigail Seixas was born to Isaac Mendes Seixas and Rachel Franks Levy Seixas
in 1742. She married Hillel Judah in 1759 and gave birth to at least eleven
children, including Isaac Judah.

The family lived around Rhode Island and New York. Abigail’s brother, Gershom
Mendes Seixas, led New York’s famed Congregation Shearith Israel during the
American Revolution.

After Abigail’s husband died in 1815, she moved to Richmond. Abigail died on
September 1, 1819 and was buried in Richmond’s Hebrew Cemetery. Her son’s will
directed that his estate cover the costs of “a suitable Tomb stone,” to “be
placed over the remains of my honoured mother.” Her neoclassical headstone would
match his. Below her inscription in Hebrew, an English language inscription
reads:

In Memory of
Abigail Judah
wife of Hillel Judah
who was born November 17th 1742
and departed this life
on the 11th of Elul 5579
corresponding with the 1st of Sept.
1819
May her soul repose in peace.
Amen


REFERENCES:

David de Sola Pool, Portraits Etched in Stone: Early Jewish Settlers, 1682-1831
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1952)


GERSHOM JUDAH

Gershom Judah was the son of Manuel and Grace Judah. From his uncle’s will, he
received a lot with thirty feet fronting Leigh Street.


ABOUT

This project was produced by the five students and two instructors of Virginia
Commonwealth University’s HIST 691 Digital History course in Spring 2017, with
assistance from the VCU ALT-Lab.

This course, taught by Ryan K. Smith of the Department of History and Tom
Woodward of the ALT-Lab, marked the university’s first graduate offering in the
field. We wanted the students to practice research and collaboration in an
online environment, so we designed an annotation activity for us all to try out
together. For our particular subject, we began with a will — the Isaac Judah
will — selected from the Hustings Court of Richmond, Virginia, available on
microfilm at the Library of Virginia.

Over several weeks, we transcribed the will from its manuscript. Then we asked
questions about its content while assembling historical context, all in an
effort to see where this source could lead us. Google Docs served as our initial
collaborative tool (we used its comments feature extensively). Our file soon
became messy as the research piled up from various perspectives.  It was
exciting to see how different students offered distinct contributions to our
reading of the will, and the work had a productive, compounding effect. At the
end, we could watch it all unfold again by viewing the doc with the Draftback
plugin.

With so much fruitful research on this rare document, we decided to share our
collaboration results publicly. We are still wondering how best to do so — how
to distill our comment threads and contextual notes for public consumption and
instruction — and this site represents a first step. We knew we wanted the text
of the will to remain central, with all the content visible around it. Tom
used Codepen.io to experiment with a multi-frame format and then designed a
standalone site pulling WordPress pages for the content. Tom describes this
process on his Bionic Teaching blog here and here. Ryan distilled the student
annotations, drew the family tree (using draw.io), and offered a few conclusions
for the content pages. The students seemed pleased with the results.

We hope you enjoy following the trails of this will as much as we did.

More information about our work can be found at our course website.



For feedback, contact rksmith3@vcu.edu or woodwardtw@vcu.edu


RACHEL JUDAH

Rachel was the daughter of Isaac’s brother Moses Judah. From Isaac’s will,
Rachel received a lot with sixty feet fronting Brook Street at the corner of
Leigh Street on the north side of town amid Judah’s other properties.


ABIGAIL DE PASS

Born in 1800, Abigail De Pass was Isaac’s niece, and daughter of Sarah and
Raphael De Pass of Charleston, South Carolina.

Abigail received use of a great deal of property from Isaac Judah’s will,
indicating that he was quite attached to her. For one, she received his dwelling
house and its lot. After her death, this piece of property was to descend to
another one of Isaac’s relatives of Abigail’s choosing, keeping it in the
immediate family. Likewise, Abigail received the use of lots on Leigh Street and
Second Street, presumably to benefit from their rents, before they, too,
returned to the immediate family upon her death. Lastly, she received “the use &
benefit” of Isaac’s enslaved man Harry.

Abigail married Eleazer Block around the time of her uncle’s death. Eleazer, a
relation of Simon Block, had recently arrived in Richmond from St. Louis,
Missouri. Though trained as a lawyer, Block moved the family to Cincinnati to
work as a merchant. They would continue looking for new opportunities, moving to
Baltimore and then to New York and then to New Orleans by 1880. The family grew
to include at least four daughters — Rosalie, Sarah, Eleanor, and Josephine —
and one son, Rehine. Abigail died a widow on November 16, 1893 and was buried in
Dispersed of Judah Cemetery in New Orleans.


REFERENCES:

Findagrave entry for Abigail De Pass Block

U.S. census, 1880

Ira Rosenwaike, “Eleazer Block — His Family and Career,” American Jewish
Archives 31 (November 1979): 142-49


JUDAISM

Isaac Judah‘s faith formed a core part of his identity.

We see its importance in the first line of his will: “In the name of God Creator
of Heaven & of ~ Earth Amen,” followed by the Hebrew script for Amen. Other
contemporary wills commonly made reference to God or the soul at their start,
but Judah’s language emphasizes a single God as creator, not savior.

Nearly forty years earlier, Judah and several of his own brothers had been among
the founders of Congregation Beth Shalome, the sixth Jewish congregation in the
United States and the first in Virginia. The congregation was founded in 1789,
just three years after the General Assembly had passed the Statute for Religious
Freedom, and the area’s Jewish community had flourished in the wake of the
statute’s guarantees. Members dedicated a burial ground on Franklin Street in
1791 and a larger cemetery in 1816 north on Fifth Street, close to Isaac Judah’s
properties. The congregation’s first freestanding synagogue opened in 1822 on
Mayo Street, where Judah served as hazan, or reader. By that time, the number of
the city’s Jewish residents had grown to about 200.

Like the other Jewish congregations in America, Beth Shalome followed the
Sephardic liturgy. The congregation sought to maintain Sabbath and kosher
observances apart from the rhythms of the Christian majority; the possibilities
for intermarriage presented another challenge. Among holy days, Rosh Hashanah
was “universally observed by the Jews of Richmond,” according to historian Myron
Berman. Isaac Judah also helped found a “Society of Esrat Orchim” (Ezrat Achim)
within the congregation, “for the Benevolent purposes of contributions to the
relief of distressed & unfortunate Israelites who Profess & observe Judaism,
whether Natives or Strangers.” The benevolent society’s stipulations for
religious observance indicated the seriousness with which the core members
attended to their beliefs.

Deathways offered an especially important means for Jews to reinforce their
religious identity. In his will, Isaac Judah invoked the Hebrew language again
in point 1, in which he directs that the usual “Hashcuba,” or hashkabah, prayer
be said upon his death.

The hashkabah prayer of repose stood for a long-cultivated tradition intended to
achieve peace for the deceased and the survivors. Its practice locally had
become so ingrained, so “usual” in this Sephardic community that such a will
needed only to gesture toward it in shorthand. Accordingly, Judah’s body would
have been washed and shrouded with an eye toward ritual purity, accompanied the
whole time by attendants praising God in prayers and psalms. At the final
committal of his body, when it was returned to the earth, the hopes of the
hashkabah prayer directed mourners upwards:

“May the supreme King of Kings, through His infinite mercy, hide him under the
shadow of His wings, and under the protection of His tent; to behold the fair
beauty of the Lord, and to wait in His temple; may He raise him at the end of
the days, and cause him to drink of the stream of His delights…. May he, and all
the people of Israel, who slumber in the dust, be included in mercy and
forgiveness. May this be His will, and let us say, Amen.”

It is poignant to consider that Judah himself as hazan conducted prayers at the
funerals of many other members of his congregation before the same was done for
him in 1827. Inscriptions on the headstone erected over the grave of “the Rev.
Isaac H. Judah” also paid tribute to Jewish prayers and traditions.

Elsewhere in his will, Judah’s faith is seen more subtly in the naming
traditions reflected throughout his family. Not only are biblical names
frequent, such as his own, but family members were commonly named after
relatives — such as “Abigail” and “Manuel” — a common practice among Jews at the
time.

Judah died just before the arrival of larger numbers of Ashkenazi Jews from
central Europe brought new languages and liturgy to his community, ultimately
splintering his congregation. His generation pioneered the religious diversity
of the city, however, and laid a foundation still celebrated among Richmond’s
congregations today.


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives, Richmond, Virginia

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

Maurice Lamm, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning (New York: Jonathan David
Publishers, 1979)

W. O. E. Oesterley and G. H. Box, A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical
and Mediæval Judaism (New York: Macmillan, 1920)

“Richmond: Historical Overview,” Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities

Erik Seeman, Death in the New World: Cross-Cultural Encounters, 1492-1800
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010)

Ryan K. Smith, Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic
Cemeteries (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020)

Melvin I. Urofsky, Community and Commonwealth: The Jewish Experience in Virginia
(Richmond: Virginia Historical Society and Jewish Community Federation of
Richmond, 1997)


MANUEL JUDAH

Manuel Judah, brother of Isaac, was born in 1769.  He worked in Richmond as an
auctioneer and merchant. His business was located at the corner of Main [E] and
6th Streets. He was also a member of the esteemed local militia company, the
Richmond Light Infantry Blues. Manuel married his cousin Grace Seixas, and the
couple had at least three children, Gershom, Louisa, and Abigail.

Interestingly, in 1827, Judah’s will refers to Manuel as being “of the county of
Franklin.” He was appointed one of the will’s two executors. He did not receive
anything specific in Judah’s will, only one-eighth of a portion of any of the
estate’s remainder after the debts were paid and the other named distributions
were made. Manuel died in 1834 or 1835, seven years after his brother. He was
buried in the Etting Burial Grounds, a Jewish family cemetery in Baltimore.


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

Elizabeth Jo Lampl and Kay Fanning, “Etting Burial Grounds,” National Register
of Historic Places Registration Form

The Richmond Directory, Register and Almanac, for the Year 1819 (Richmond: John
Maddox, 1819)


AGGY

The enslaved female Aggy is mentioned only once in the will, as “a negro girl
Aggy” who was to go to Judah’s niece Abigail Judah upon Judah’s death. She was
likely a domestic worker. Despite Isaac’s reference to her as a “girl,” an
inventory taken at his death names her as a woman. There, she was valued at
$300, on par with two of Isaac’s other three female slaves.

An “Aggy” had appeared earlier in the Virginia Chronicle of January 20, 1790, in
an advertisement for a runaway:

“Four Dollars Reward. RAN-AWAY on Monday the 14th day of December last, a negro
woman, named AGGY, the property of Sampson Mathews, Esq; about 35 years of age,
5 feet 2 or 3 inches high, thick lipped and has several scars about her neck and
face. As she took sundry clothes with her, it is uncertain what she may appear
in. Whoever secures said slave, shall receive the above reward, and reasonable
charges if brought home. HENRY BALL. Richmond – Tanyard January 3, 1790.”

It is unlikely that this was the same woman, as the thirty-five-year-old woman
would have been seventy-two at the time of the writing of the will and, even
allowing for condescension, Judah would not have described her then as a “girl.”

From The Geography of Slavery.

Many slaves of the same name are listed in central Virginia in the Unknown No
Longer database and the Virginia Untold database.


VIEWING THE WILL

This is the will in its original form, from the City of Richmond Hustings wills,
inventories, and accounts book No. 4, pp. 313-17, on microfilm reel 65 at the
Library of Virginia. It is not in Judah’s handwriting; rather, it was entered by
a clerk.














FAMILY TREE


Click here to download a very large version (~5000x1200px).







Click for a large version


GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION FROM:

familysearch.org

ancestry.com

U.S. census, various years

Guide to the Papers of the Seixas Family, American Jewish Historical Society

Joseph L. Blau, and Salo W. Baron, eds., The Jews of the United States,
1790-1840: A Documentary History 3 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press,
1963)

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

David de Sola Pool, Portraits Etched in Stone: Early Jewish Settlers, 1682-1831
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1952)

Ira Rosenwaike, “Eleazer Block — His Family and Career,” American Jewish
Archives 31 (November 1979): 142-49

 


PLACES

Isaac Judah’s will mentions a number of properties, most of which are located on
the north side of town, near the city line in 1827. This area, which was still
under development, was anchored by the poorhouse, a four-story brick building
which opened in 1814. John Goddin operated a tavern (“Baker’s Tavern”) on the
Brook Road running north into Henrico County. Bacon’s Quarter Branch, a
tributary to Shockoe Creek, also marked the neighborhood.

Most of Isaac’s lots were located within a wedge-shaped parcel of land five
acres in size. It was bounded by “L or Leigh Street,” St. Peter’s Street, Brooke
Avenue, and “M or Duval Street.”

It fits the block shown on an 1835 map by Micajah Bates, listed as “J. H.
Judah”:

Micajah Bates, Plan of the City of Richmond, 1835. From Special Collections,
University of Virginia Library.

A survey done in 1846 shows the subdivision of Isaac’s parcel with his
respective devisees:

From Richmond Hustings deed book 49, on microfilm at the Library of Virginia

The lots are easier to see in a simplified map drawn in the twentieth century by
preservationist Mary Wingfield Scott, now held at the Valentine Museum:

Mary Wingfield Scott’s drawing of “Judah’s land,” at the Valentine Museum

The two drawings show the lots owned by (starting in the southeast corner and
going clockwise): Abigail De Pass, E. Block, Abigail De Pass, Gershom Judah,
Abigail Judah, Rachel Judah, Simon Block, and Benjamin Wythe (also Benjamin
Wythe Judah), among other residents not mentioned in the will.

Here is what the section looks like today, showing the addition of “Judah
Street,” which divides the original block of properties. (Brook Alley also
splits it today.) It is in Jackson Ward, a neighborhood that filled with African
American residences, businesses, and churches following the Civil War.



Beyond Richmond, the will’s geography encompasses Rhode Island, New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Jamaica, England, Germany, and the Iberian
peninsula, following the origins or destinations of those named therein.


AFRICAN AMERICANS

Isaac Judah lived in a divided, slaveholding city.

In 1820, slaves made up about 39% of Richmond’s population, while free blacks
made up an additional 10%. Roughly two-thirds of the city’s householders owned
at least one slave. Most of these bondspeople worked as domestics, industrial
laborers, or skilled artisans, unlike the farm-based slaves in the countryside.
Among Jews, “twenty-five of the thirty-two heads of households in Richmond owned
a total of eighty-eight slaves,” according to historian Bertram Wallace Korn.

Judah was among this prosperous group. His will mentions seven slaves and
demonstrates his radically different attitudes toward them. Some he disposed of
with little comment. For example, “a negro girl Aggy” was to go to his niece
Abigail Judah. A man and a woman, Henry and Daphney, were directed to be sold by
his executors to pay his outstanding debts. “My slave Harry” was to be held by
his executors in trust for the “use & benefit” of his niece Abigail De Pass.

For another enslaved man, Judah granted a sort of retirement. Judah directed
that the man he called “my faithful old slave Toby” be maintained and clothed
for the remainder of the man’s life.

For two others, he ultimately offered freedom. Maria and Betsey were each to be
given to David Judah, to be hired out for fifteen years with an eye toward their
“comfort and happiness” and then set free with whatever children each might have
by that time. All of their respective earnings would be given to them at the
time of their freedom, with interest.

Judah’s will also mentions two free people of color. Philip Norborne Wythe
(1803-1827) and Benjamin Wythe (c.1806 – 1864) were “free mulatto boys &
brothers whom I brought up.” These were his own children. Their mother was not
identified. Could Maria or Betsey have been their mother? The boys’ freedom and
Judah’s own matter-of-fact attitude toward the potential for these women to have
other children suggests not. Another will by a local free woman of color, Lydia
Broadnax, written in 1820, names Philip and Benjamin Wythe as “free boys of
colour, grandsons of my sister Letty Robertson deceased.” Broadnax appointed
Isaac Judah to be her executor, “confiding in his kindness & disposition to do
justice.” Since Broadnax long worked in service in the household of jurist
George Wythe, it is possible that the boys took their surname from a connection
on their mother’s side of the family there. In any case, Judah bestowed on them
property and hundreds of dollars.

Philip would die seven months after his father, on December 24, 1827.

Benjamin, who adopted Judah’s surname as “Benjamin Wythe Judah,” lived on.
Sometime before 1831, he married Judith Hope Judah, a woman born into slavery
but emancipated by the time of the union. The 1850 and 1860 censuses both list
Benjamin as a “Shoe Maker.” The 1866 city directory, published after his death,
lists the couple’s residence at the corner of Leigh and Fourth streets.
Benjamin’s obituary in the Richmond Examiner states that he died on August 23,
1864 “after a long and painful illness with a full hope of a blissful
immortality beyond the grave.” He was fifty-eight years old. His funeral took
place at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, suggesting his membership in this
African American congregation. He owned a burial plot in what is now called the
Barton Heights Cemeteries, but no stone survives.

Judah’s will gives testimony to the complicated family relationships – and the
ordinariness of slave sales – in the antebellum capital. It offers one  of the
only historical records for some of those it names.


REFERENCES:

Will of Lydia Broadnax, September 25, 1820, Hustings Court of Richmond, Library
of Virginia

Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston Lichtenstein, The History of the Jews of Richmond
From 1769 to 1917 (Richmond, Va.: Herbert T. Ezekiel, 1917)

June Purcell Guild, Black Laws of Virginia: A Summary of the Legislative Acts of
Virginia Concerning Negroes from Earliest Times to the Present (New York: Negro
Universities Press, 1969)

Bertram Wallace Korn, Jews and Negro Slavery in the Old South, 1789-1865 (Elkins
Park, Penn.: Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, 1961)

Andrew Nunn McKnight, “Lydia Broadnax, Slave, and Free Woman of Color,” Southern
Studies 5 (Spring and Summer 1994): 17-30

Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic
World, c. 1700-1820,” in Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf, Sally Hemings &
Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1999), 52-84

Joshua D. Rothman, Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families Across the
Color Line in Virginia, 1787-1861 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2003)

Marianne Buroff Sheldon, “Black-White Relations in Richmond, Virginia,
1782-1820,” Journal of Southern History 45, no. 1 (February 1979): 27-44

Philip J. Schwarz, Slave Laws in Virginia (Athens: University of Georgia Press,
1996)

Ryan K. Smith, Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic
Cemeteries (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020)


VOYANT ANALYSIS

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JUDAH WILL

In the name of God Creator of Heaven & of Earth Amen. אָמֵן  I, Isaac H. Judah,
of the City of Richmond, and State of Virginia, seriously considering the
uncertainty of human life, and my mind being impressed, as to the great
necessity of making provisions of my worldly matters, in the event of a
termination of my terrestrial existence, do make and ordain my last will &
testament, in manner and form following, which I enjoin and require to be
fulfilled and executed in every respect according to my intentions and wishes in
manner & form following, that is to say –

1st / It is my will and desire to have the usual השכבה (Hashcuba), and also a
suitable tomb stone placed over my body, that I may remain undisturbed.

2nd / I give and bequeath my slave Maria to David Judah, one of my executors,
hereinafter named, to be held by him in trust for the following uses and
purposes, viz. that said David Judah shall hire out the said slave Maria for
fifteen years, ever considering the happiness and comfort of said slave, in
selecting the persons to whom she is to be hired and using his own discretion
and good feelings on the subject. That all sums of money received by him for the
hire of said slave, shall be carefully deposited in Bank, or placed out on
interest from time to time, with indisputable security, and at the expiration of
said fifteen years, or so soon thereafter as the same shall be required by her
the said Maria in writing attested by two or more respectable witnesses, it is
my will and desire, and I do hereby direct my executors hereinafter named, to
manumit & set free the said slave Maria and such children as she may have at the
time by deed or deeds duly executed and recorded according to law and that the
money which may have arisen from the hiring of said slave with whatever interest
may have accumulated thereon shall be paid to the said Maria, if alive, and if
not to her children then living as soon as she or they may be made free as
aforesaid.

3d/ I give and bequeath my slave Betsey to David Judah, one of my executors
hereinafter named, to be held by him in trust for the following uses and
purposes, viz. that the said David Judah shall hire out said slave Betsey for
fifteen years ever considering the comfort and happiness of said slave in
selecting the persons to whom she is to be hired and using his own discretion &
good feeling on the subject. That all sums of money received by him for hire of
said slaves shall be carefully deposited by said David Judah in Bank, or placed
out on interest from time to time, with indisputable security, and at the
expiration of said fifteen years or so soon thereafter as the same shall be
required by her the said Betsey in writing, attested by two or more respectful
witnesses, it is my will and desire, and I do hereby direct my executors
hereinafter named to manumit & set free the said slave Betsey and such children
as she may have at the time by deed or deeds duly executed and recorded
according to law and that the money which may have arisen from the hiring of
said slave with whatever interest may have accumulated thereon shall be paid to
said Betsey, if alive, and if not, to her children then living, as soon as she
or they may be made free as aforesaid.

4th – It is my will and desire that a suitable Tomb stone be placed over the
remains of my honoured mother, the late Mrs. Abigail Judah… at the expense of my
estate.

5th- I give and bequeath to Philip Norborne Wythe & Benjamin Wythe, free mulatto
boys & brothers whom I brought up, in consideration of their attachment &
fidelity, and my natural regard for them, the following property, viz. to Philip
Norborne twenty five feet of ground on the Brook road fronting on that road and
running back one hundred and twenty seven feet to a fifteen foot alley,
adjoining Simon Block’s lot on the south and bound ~ on the north by the lot
hereinafter devised to his brother Benjamin Wythe – and I also bequeath to him
said Philip Norborne the sum of three hundred dollars to be paid to him by my
executors, within five years according to the discretion of my executors, and
the situation of my estate, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. To the said
Benjamin Wythe I give & bequeath twenty five feet of ground at the intersection
of M Street and the Brook road in the city of Richmond, fronting twenty five
feet on the Brook road, running back one hundred & twenty seven feet to a
fifteen foot alley and bounded on the south by the lot herein devised to his
brother Philip Norborne, and on the north by M street, and also the sum of five
hundred dollars, to be paid him by my executors within five years according to
their discretion and the situation of my estate to him said Benjamin, his heirs
and assigns forever.

6th/ I direct that the lot on which I now reside be laid off and divided into
two parts by a line running from L to M Street so as to give a front of an equal
number of feet to each part on said two streets, the eastern half of which, and
on which is the dwelling house now occupied by me. I give and bequeath to my
executors hereinafter named, their heirs and assigns forever, to have and to
hold the same in trust for the use, benefit and occupation of my niece Abigail
De Pass during her natural life, and after her death to some one or more of my
brothers or sisters, or their descendants, as she the said Abigail may designate
by her deed or will in writing, to them, their heirs or assigns forever. I also
give & bequeath to my said executors fifty feet of ground on L street, in the
city of Richmond, being at a corner of a street laid off by me, denoted Judah
Street; being thirty feet wide by the new fence, and running back from L street
one hundred and twenty four feet. Also fifty feet of ground fronting on second
street, the corner above C. Christian’s part of lot number in Williamson’s plan
(not yet recorded, which I require to be done, it being amongst my papers also
the plan a survey of R. Young’s of tenement number four, my residence) which
said two last pieces or lots of ground, I devise to my said executors, their
heirs and assigns, to have and to hold the same for the use and benefit of my
said niece Abigail De Pass, during her natural life, and after her death, to
some one or more of my brothers or sisters, or their descendants as she the said
Abigail may designate by her deed or will in writing to them, their heirs, and
assigns forever and I also give & bequeath to my said executors my slave Harry,
to be held by them in trust for the use & benefit of my said niece Abigail De
Pass, in the same manner and subject to the same limitation as the lots herein
before devised for her use and benefit.

7th / I give & bequeath to my much esteemed friend & neighbour Capt John Goddin,
of the city of Richmond, the lot of ground on the north side of Bacon Branch,
which I purchased from said Goddin and wife, and which is designated by the
number two hundred and eighty eight to him said Goddin his heirs and assigns
forever.

8/ I give and bequeath to my niece Rachel the daughter of my brother Moses H.
Judah, my lot at the corner of L street and the Brook road in the city of
Richmond, containing a front of sixty feet on the Brook road and running back
one hundred and twenty feet, to her and her heirs and assigns forever.

9th/ I give and bequeath to my brother Moses H. Judah, one fourth of the square,
which I purchased of Samuel Coleman, beginning on M street, at Roper’s or
Skipwith’s line, and running on said street one hundred and sixty seven feet, or
one half of the front, and including the Dutched roof – house thereon, to have
and to hold the same to him the said Moses H. Judah, during his life, and after
his death to the said Rachel, daughter of said Moses H. Judah, her heirs &
assigns forever.

10th/I give and bequeath to my nephew Gershom the son of my brother Manuel
Judah, thirty feet of ground fronting on L street on the City of Richmond,
running back one hundred & twenty four feet and adjoining the fifty feet of
ground herein devised in trust for the benefit of Abigail De Pass for life, to
have and to hold the same to him – said Gershom his heirs and assigns forever.

11th/ I give and bequeath to my niece Abigail Judah the daughter of my brother
Manuel Judah thirty feet of ground, fronting on L street in the city of
Richmond, running back one hundred and twenty four feet and adjoining the thirty
feet herein devised to her brother Gershom, to her said Abigail Judah her heirs
and assigns forever. Also a negro girl Aggy I give & bequeath to my said niece
Abigail her heirs & assigns forever.

12th/The half of the Garden lot, or that part of it which is bounded on the east
by the half of the same devised to my executors, in trust to the use & benefit
of Abigail De Pass for life, as herein before mentioned, and which is bounded by
Judah Street on the West. I give & bequeath to all my nephews and nieces, their
heirs & assigns forever, to be laid off in equal lots according to the number of
my nephews and nieces and divided by lot, each of them to have such lot as may
be drawn against their several names on their arriving respectively to the age
of twenty one years old, as some may be inclined to retain them and my nephews
and nieces herein specifically mentioned by name are not to be excluded.

13th/ I give and bequeath to my said niece Abigail De Pass fifty feet of ground
of the same lot adjoining that devised to my executors, in trust for her use and
benefit for life, as herein before mentioned, fronting on second street in the
city of Richmond, to the ten feet alley one hundred & twenty seven feet deep to
her and her heirs and assigns forever.

14th/It is my will & desire that my faithful old slave Toby shall be maintained
& clothed during his life by my executors, at the expense of my estate.

15th/ I give & bequeath to my aunts Mrs. Grace Nathan and Mrs. Zipporah Seixas,
both of the City of New York as having always retained their kindness & care of
me, fifty pounds, New York currency, or one hundred & twenty five dollars each,
to paid out of my estate within five years, according to the situation of my
estate, but if either or both of my said aunts should die before the said money
is paid them then it is my wish that the sum or sums of money intended for them
shall be paid to my heirs.

16th/ It is my will and desire that all my just debts shall be paid as soon as
possible by my executors, and to fulfill that intention I direct that my slaves
Henry and Daphney and so much of my property not specifically bequeathed, be
disposed of and sold by my executors, as shall be sufficient for the purpose.

17th I give and bequeath all the remainder and residue of my estate that has not
already been devised and bequeathed, or that shall not be hereinafter devised
and bequeathed, to the following named persons, their heirs and assigns forever,
viz. to my sister Sarah De Pass one share or portion – to my sister Grace Marks
for her tender regard and love from a child two shares or portions, to my sister
Rebecca Seixas one share or portion – to my brother Manuel Judah one share or
portion – to my brother Baruch H. Judah & Manuel Judah his son, & Ryne Judah his
daughter, one share or portion to be equally divided between them – to my
brother Gershom Judah & to my sister Rachel Rehine, one share or portion to be
equally divided between them – and the eighth and last portion of the same I
give and bequeath to my nephew and namesake Isaac Marks, the son of my sister
Grace Marks for him his heirs and assigns forever.

17th It is my further will & desire that if any of my heirs or legatees shall in
any way whatsoever obstruct my wishes or enter in relation to the said Philip
Norborne Wythe, Benjamin Wythe, and my slaves Maria & Betsey as herein before
expressed, I direct that all and every provision & legacy herein contained shall
be considered as revoked and utterly null and void, as to such person so
obstructing my said wishes & his her or their legacies thus forfeited shall be
equally divided and distributed amongst the rest of my heirs.

18th I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my brother Manuel Judah, of
the county of Franklin, and my nephew David Judah of the city of Richmond,
executors of this my last will & testament, and I do direct that my said
executors shall not be required to give security for the performance of their
duties as my executors. Hereby revoking all former wills heretofore made by me
and declaring this to be my true last will & testament written on two sheets of
paper.

I have hereunto set my hand, and affix my seal, this 16th day of April 1827.

I. H. Judah

Signed Sealed published and

declared as his last will & testament

by Isaac H. Judah, before us

Herbert A Claiborne

Joseph Longest

Samuel Foster


BENJAMIN WYTHE

This is the headstone in the Barton Heights cemeteries erected for Philip N. J.
Wythe by his brother Benjamin in 1827. The two free men of color were recognized
as the illegitimate sons of Isaac Judah, whom he described in his will as “free
mulatto boys & brothers whom I brought up.” He also testifies to “their
attachment & fidelity, and my natural regard for them.”

Benjamin was born sometime around 1806. His mother can not be determined, but
his great-aunt was the free woman of color Lydia Broadnax, who worked in the
household of the jurist George Wythe following her emancipation.

When Isaac Judah died in May 1827, his will bestowed on the two brothers
property and money. Benjamin received twenty-five feet fronting Brook Road at
the intersection of Duval Street plus five hundred dollars.

Benjamin would later adopt Judah’s surname as “Benjamin Wythe Judah.” He married
Judith Hope Judah sometime before 1831. Judith was a woman born into slavery but
emancipated by the time of the union. The 1850 and 1860 censuses both list
Benjamin as a “Shoe Maker.” The 1866 city directory (published after his death)
lists the couple’s residence at the corner of Leigh and Fourth streets. They
owned real estate totaling $2,000 in value and personal effects worth $200.

Benjamin’s obituary in the Richmond Examiner states that he died on August 23,
1864 “after a long and painful illness with a full hope of a blissful
immortality beyond the grave.” He was fifty-eight years old. His funeral took
place at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, suggesting his membership in this
African American congregation. He owned a burial plot in what is now called the
Barton Heights Cemeteries, but no stone survives.


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

Andrew Nunn McKnight, “Lydia Broadnax, Slave, and Free Woman of Color,” Southern
Studies 5 (1994), 17-30


PHILIP NORBORNE WYTHE

This is the headstone in the Barton Heights cemeteries erected for Philip N. J.
Wythe by his brother Benjamin in 1827. The two free men of color were recognized
as the illegitimate sons of Isaac Judah, whom he described in his will as “free
mulatto boys & brothers whom I brought up.” He also testifies to “their
attachment & fidelity, and my natural regard for them.”

According to the stone’s inscription, Philip was born on September 5, 1803.
His mother can not be determined, but his great-aunt was the free woman of color
Lydia Broadnax, who worked in the household of the jurist George Wythe following
her emancipation.

When Isaac Judah died in May 1827, his will bestowed on the two brothers
property and money. Apparently the elder of the two, Philip received twenty-five
feet fronting Brook Road adjoining his brother’s lot plus three hundred dollars,
slightly less than his brother received.

Shortly after coming into his inheritance, Philip died of unknown causes died on
December 24, 1827.


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

Andrew Nunn McKnight, “Lydia Broadnax, Slave, and Free Woman of Color,” Southern
Studies 5 (1994), 17-30


ABIGAIL JUDAH

Abigail Judah was Isaac’s niece. From the will, she received a thirty-foot front
of property on Leigh Street as well as the enslaved “girl” Aggy.

Abigail’s father was Manuel Judah, Isaac’s brother. Like her cousin Abigail De
Pass, she appears to have been named after her grandmother.


BETSEY

Betsey was one of two enslaved women who would receive emancipation via Isaac
Judah’s will (along with Maria). She likely worked as a domestic – laundering,
sewing, cooking, cleaning, or serving. If she lived with Isaac, she would have
been one of the two enslaved women counted in his 1820 household census, as a
young woman around twenty years old or an older woman above 45.

An inventory taken of Isaac’s estate taken at his death valued Betsey at $300,
on par with two of Isaac’s other three female slaves.

Upon Isaac’s death, Betsey was to be hired out by the will’s executor David
Judah for fifteen years, with David “ever considering the comfort and happiness”
of Betsey “in selecting the persons to whom she is to be hired and using his own
discretion & good feeling on the subject.” Hiring out was a common practice for
slaveowners in Virginia and especially in bustling Richmond, where some enslaved
people were able to negotiate their own contracts year to year with little input
from their owners.

All of the money Betsey earned for those fifteen years was to be invested by
David to accumulate interest. After the fifteen-year period expired, Betsey
could inform David of her wish for manumission, and he would be obligated to set
her free with “such children as she may have at the time” while also restoring
all of her earned funds to her possession.

Fifteen years after 1827 would have been 1842. Did Betsey survive to see her
freedom?


DAVID JUDAH

Little is known outside of the will about David Judah, identified therein as
Isaac’s nephew. A brief obituary from 1866 states that David was born in 1789 in
Newport, Rhode Island, where Isaac Judah‘s parents and siblings lived. Historian
Ira Rosenwaike has discovered that David’s will (from Baltimore County,
Maryland) names Abigail De Pass as his sister. This and the timing of his birth
suggest that he was born to Sarah De Pass prior to her marriage.

From Newport, David moved south, landing in Richmond with his uncles. He became
a successful auctioneer and merchant. He served as one of two executors of
Isaac’s will, indicating a high level of trust. David was doubly trusted with
supervising the hiring out and ultimate manumission of Betsey and Maria, which
the concluding passages of the will guard against potential challenges from the
extended family. To serve as executor, David entered a bond of $20,000 to the
court, indicating his wealth. That may explain why David was not named as a
beneficiary to any portion of Isaac’s will.

David Judah moved to Baltimore by 1846. His obituary in the July 1866 issue
of The Occident states that he died on May 28 of that year, still in Baltimore,
“highly respected by a large circle of friends of all persuasions.”


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

Joseph L. Blau, and Salo W. Baron, eds., The Jews of the United States,
1790-1840: A Documentary History 3 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press,
1963)

Ira Rosenwaike, “Eleazer Block — His Family and Career,” American Jewish
Archives 31 (November 1979): 142-49


MARIA

Maria was one of two enslaved women who would receive emancipation via Isaac
Judah’s will (along with Betsey). Maria was named in the second point in Judah’s
will, before even his blood relatives, indicating his esteem for her. She likely
worked as a domestic – laundering, sewing, cooking, cleaning, or serving. If she
lived with Isaac, she would have been one of the two enslaved women counted in
his 1820 household census, as a young woman around twenty years old or an older
woman above 45.

An inventory taken of Isaac’s estate taken at his death valued Maria at $300, on
par with two of Isaac’s other three female slaves.

Upon Isaac’s death, Maria was to be hired out by the will’s executor David Judah
for fifteen years, with David “ever considering the happiness and comfort” of
Maria “in selecting the persons to whom she is to be hired and using his own
discretion and good feelings on the subject.” Hiring out was a common practice
for slaveowners in Virginia and especially in bustling Richmond, where some
enslaved people were able to negotiate their own contracts year to year with
little input from their owners.

All of the money Maria earned for those fifteen years was to be invested by
David to accumulate interest. After the fifteen-year period expired, Maria could
inform David of her wish for manumission, and he would be obligated to set her
free with “such children as she may have at the time” while also restoring all
of her earned funds to her possession.

Fifteen years after 1827 would have been 1842. Did Maria survive to see her
freedom?


ISAAC H. JUDAH


Isaac H. Judah was born on July 10, 1761 in New York City, to Hillel and Abigail
(Seixas) Judah.

He relocated to Richmond by 1789, when he helped establish Beth Shalome, the
sixth earliest synagogue in the United States and the first in Virginia. Judah
served that congregation for many years as its first reader, or hazan.

Outside the congregation, Judah worked as a merchant. He operated the New York
Shoe Store near the Eagle Tavern on Main Street. A 1794 newspaper advertisement
touts his “Ladies seal skin shoes, slippers, and sandals”; ladies “morocco
slippers“; children’s shoes; “mens’ and womens’ course shoes”; “Gentlemens’ fine
shoes”; gentlemens’ “double vamps and quarters” as well as other dry goods.

As can be seen in his will, he accumulated a great deal of property in the
northern part of Richmond. The 1819 Richmond city directory lists his home on
Leigh Street, near Bacon’s Quarter Branch.

Like other men from Congregation Beth Shalome, Judah was an active freemason,
and he served as master of Richmond’s lodge No. 10 in 1789.

When Richmond’s first free school for white children opened in Shockoe Bottom in
1816, Judah encouraged his congregation to support it. “As we are enjoying
through the mercy of Divine Providence in this land of freedom ample citizenship
under a government erected by the Majesty of the people, securing unto us the
full enjoyment of Civil and Religious liberty, considerations dear to our souls,
let us now offer up our gratitude,” he proposed.

Judah never married. However, he recognized two children, Philip Norborne Wythe
and Benjamin Wythe, who were born from his relationship with a woman of color.

In 1810, the U.S. census lists him as single, with nine slaves in his household.
In 1820, the U.S. census lists him still single, with five slaves in his
household, including one boy, one adult man, one adult man older than 45, one
young woman, and one woman older than 45. Those five slaves would rise to seven
by the time of his death.

Entry showing Isaac Judah and his nine slaves in the 1810 U.S. census

From an inventory taken at the time of his death, we know that his home was
furnished elegantly. He had two beds, a settee, and twelve chairs, as well as a
sideboard, a bookcase, numerous tables, and a mahogany bureau. His walls were
decorated with a looking glass and five prints. He had kept himself warm with a
fireplace set. His kitchen implements, including a coffee pot, suggested that he
could enjoy a fine meal, and a backgammon game offered entertainment.

Judah died on May 2, 1827 while visiting Rhode Island. The New York
Spectator printed a notice of his death on May 11. Before leaving, on April 16,
1827, he had made out his will, which was entered in the Hustings Court of
Richmond on May 26, 1827. His estate would be valued at $10,346.50, a sizable
sum, with most of it invested in city lots.

Upon his death, Judah’s brother-in-law and fellow Beth Shalom reader Isaac B.
Seixas delivered his eulogy, for which Seixas took as his scriptural passage
chapter fourteen, verse one from the Book of Job: “Man that is born of a woman
is of few days and full of trouble.” Within it, Seixas testified that “For many
years, he gratuitously performed the duties as reader in the synagogue and he
was the first, so he continued to the end of his days to be the senior reader.
So long as his services were required, he rendered them with undiminished
ardor.”

Following the wishes Judah expressed in his will, his family raised a headstone
marking his burial site in Hebrew Cemetery. It stands alongside that raised for
his mother Abigail. It features a rounded neoclassical shape and a Hebrew
inscription at its top. Below, the following English language inscription
states:

In Memory of the
Rev. Isaac H. Judah
who was born the 5th of Tamuz
5521, corresponding with the
7th of July 1761 and departed this
life on Wednesday the 5th of Ijar
5587 corresponding with the 2nd
of May 1827
May his soul rest in peace.
Amen


REFERENCES:

Myron Berman, Richmond’s Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond,
1979)

“Beth Shalome Congregation of Richmond, Virginia,” Occident and American Jewish
Advocate 9 (November 1851)

Papers of the Seixas Family, American Jewish Historical Society, New York City,
New York

The Richmond Directory, Register and Almanac, for the Year 1819 (Richmond: John
Maddox, 1819)

David K. Walthall, History of Richmond Lodge, No. 10 (1909)

City of Richmond Hustings wills, inventories, and accounts, No. 4, reel 65 at
the Library of Virginia

 


PEOPLE

Click on a person’s name in the will to display additional information about
that individual here. Their name will be highlighted wherever it is mentioned in
the will. All names will be underlined.

 * Hillel (Hilliard) Judah
   1730-1815
   Abigail Seixas
   1742-1819
   
   
   
   * Isaac Judah
     * Phillip Norborne Wythe
     * Benjamin Wythe
   * Sarah (Sally) JudahRaphael DePass

In the name of God Creator of Heaven & of ~ Earth Amen. אָמֵן - I, Isaac H.
Judah, of the City of Richmond, and State of Virginia, seriously considering the
uncertainty of human life, and my mind being impressed, as to the great
necessity of making provisions of my worldly matters, in the event of a
termination of my terrest[r]ial existence, do make and ordain my last will &
testament, in manner and form following, which I enjoin and require to be
fulfilled and executed in every respect according to my intentions and wishes in
manner & form following, that is to say -

1st / It is my will and desire to have the usual השכבה (Hashcuba), and also a
suitable tomb stone placed over my body, that I may remain undisturbed.

2nd / I give and bequeath my slave Maria to David Judah, one of my executors,
hereinafter named, to be held by him in trust for the following uses and
purposes, viz. that said David Judah shall hire out the said slave Maria for
fifteen years, ever considering the happiness and comfort of said slave, in
selecting the persons to whom she is to be hired and using his own discretion
and good feelings on the subject. That all sums of money received by him for the
hire of said slave, shall be carefully deposited in Bank, or placed out on
interest from time to time, with indisputable security, and at the expiration of
said fifteen years, or so soon thereafter as the same shall be required by her
the said Maria in writing attested by two or more respectable witnesses, it is
my will and desire, and I do hereby direct my executors hereinafter named, to
manumit & set free the said ^slave Maria and such children as she may have at
the time by deed or deeds duly executed and recorded according to law and that
the money which may have arisen from the hiring of said slave with whatever
interest may have accumulated thereon shall be paid to the said Maria, if alive,
and if not to her children then living as soon as she or they may be made free
as aforesaid.

3d/ I give and bequeath my slave Betsey to David Judah, one of my executors
hereinafter named, to be held by him in trust for the following uses and
purposes, viz. that the said David Judah shall hire out said slave Betsey for
fifteen years ever considering the comfort and happiness of said slave in
selecting the persons to whom she is to be hired and using his own discretion &
good feeling on the subject. That all sums of money received by him for hire of
said slaves shall be carefully deposited by said David Judah in Bank, or placed
out on interest from time to time, with indisputable security, and at the
expiration of said fifteen years or so soon thereafter as the same shall be
required by her the said Betsey in writing, attested by two or more respectful
witnesses, it is my will and desire, and I do hereby direct my executors
hereinafter named to manumit & set free the said ^slave Betsey and such children
as she may have at the time by deed or deeds duly executed and recorded
according to law and that the money which may have arisen from the hiring of
said slave with whatever interest may have accumulated thereon shall be paid to
said Betsey, if alive, and if not, to her children then living, as soon as she
or they may be made free as aforesaid.

4th - It is my will and desire that a suitable Tomb stone be placed over the
remains of my honoured mother, the late Mrs. Abigail Judah… at the expense of my
estate.

5th- I give and bequeath to Philip Norborne Wythe & Benjamin Wythe, free mulatto
boys & brothers whom I brought up, in consideration of their attachment &
fidelity, and my natural regard for them, the following property, viz. to Philip
Norborne twenty five feet of ground on the Brook road fronting on that road and
running back one hundred and twenty seven feet to a fifteen foot alley,
adjoining Simon Block’s lot on the south and bound ~ on the north by the lot
hereinafter devised to his brother Benjamin Wythe - and I also bequeath to him
said Philip Norborne the sum of three hundred dollars to be paid to him by my
executors, within five years according to the discretion of my executors, and
the situation of my estate, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. To the said
Benjamin Wythe I give & bequeath twenty five feet of ground at the intersection
of M [Duval] Street and the Brook road ^in the city of Richmond, fronting twenty
five feet on the Brook ro[ad], running back one hundred & twenty seven feet to a
fifteen foot alley and bounded on the south by the lot herein devised to his
brother Philip Norborne, and on the north by M street, and also the sum of five
hundred dollars, to be paid him by my executors within five years according to
their discretion and the situation of my estate to him said Benjamin, his heirs
and assigns forever.

6th/ I direct that the lot on which I now reside be laid off and divided into
two parts by a line running from L to M Street so as to give a front of an equal
number of feet to each part on said two streets, the eastern half of which, and
on which is the dwelling house now occupied by me. I give and bequeath to my
executors hereinafter named, their heirs and assigns forever, to have and to
hold the same in trust for the use, benefit and occupation of my niece Abigail
De Pass during her natural life, and after her death to some one or more of my
brothers or sisters, or their descendants, as she the said Abigail may designate
by her deed or will in writing, to them, their heirs or assigns forever. I also
give & bequeath to my said executors fifty feet of ground on L street, in the
city of Richmond, being at a corner of a street laid off ^by me, denoted Judah
Street; being thirty feet wide by the new fence, and running back from L street
one hundred and twenty four feet. Also fifty feet of ground fronting on second
street, the corner above C. Christian's part of lot number in Williamson’s plan
(not yet recorded, which I require to be done, it being amongst my papers also
the plan a survey of R. Young’s of tenement number four, my residence) which
said two last pieces or lots of ground, I devise to my said executors, their
heirs and assigns, to have and to hold the same for the use and benefit of my
said niece Abigail De Pass, during her natural life, and after her death, to
some one or more of my brothers or sisters, or their descendants as she the said
Abigail may designate by her deed or will in writing to them, their heirs, and
assigns forever and I also give & bequeath to my said executors my slave Harry,
to be held by them in trust for the use & benefit of my said niece Abigail De
Pass, in the same manner and subject to the same limitation as the lots herein
before devised for her use and benefit.

7th / I give & bequeath to my much esteemed friend & neighbour Capt John Goddin,
of the city of Richmond, the lot of ground on the north side of Bacon Branch,
which I purchased from said Goddin and wife, and which is designated by the
number two hundred and eighty eight to him said Goddin his heirs and assigns
forever.

8/ [Written sideways in the margin] I give and bequeath ^ to my niece Rachel the
daughter of my brother Moses H. Judah, my lot at the corner of L. street and the
Brook road in the city of Richmond, containing a front of sixty feet on the
Brook road and running back one hundred and twenty feet, to her and her heirs
and assigns forever.

9th/ I give and bequeath to my brother Moses H. Judah, one fourth of the square,
which I purchased of Samuel Coleman, beginning on M street, at Roper’s or
Skipwith’s line, and running on said street one hundred and sixty seven feet, or
one half of the front, and including the Dutched roof - house thereon, to have
and to hold the same to him the said Moses H. Judah, during his life, and after
his death to the said Rachel, daughter of said Moses H. Judah, her heirs &
assigns forever.

10th/I give and bequeath to my nephew Gershom the son of my brother Manuel
Judah, thirty feet of ground fronting on L street on the City of Richmond,
running back one hundred & twenty four feet and adjoining the fifty feet of
ground herein devised in trust for the benefit of Abigail De Pass for life, to
have and to hold the same to him - said Gershom his heirs and assigns forever.

11th/ I give and bequeath to my niece Abigail Judah ^the daughter of my brother
Manuel Judah thirty feet of ground, fronting on L street in the city of
Richmond, running back one hundred and twenty four feet and adjoining the thirty
feet herein devised to her brother Gershom, to her said Abigail Judah her heirs
and assigns forever. Also a negro girl Aggy I give & bequeath to my said niece
Abigail her heirs & assigns forever.

12th/The half of the Garden lot, or that part of it which is bounded on the east
by the half of the same devised to my executors, in trust to the use & benefit
of Abigail De Pass for life, as herein before mentioned, and which is bounded by
Judah Street on the West. I give & bequeath to all my nephews and nieces, their
heirs & assigns forever, to be laid off in equal lots according to the number of
my nephews and nieces and divided by lot, each of them to have such lot as may
be drawn against their several names on their arriving respectively to the age
of twenty one years old, as some may be inclined to retain them and my nephews
and nieces herein specifically mentioned by name are not to be excluded.

13th/ I give and bequeath to my said niece Abigail De Pass fifty feet of ground
of the same lot adjoining that devised to my executors, in trust for her use and
benefit for life, as herein before mentioned, fronting on second street in the
city of Richmond, to the ten feet alley one hundred & twenty seven feet deep to
her and her heirs and assigns forever.

14th/It is my will & desire that my faithful old slave Toby shall be maintained
& clothed during his life by my executors, at the expense of my estate.

15th/ I give & bequeath to my aunts Mrs. Grace Nathan and Mrs. Zipporah Seixas,
both of the City of New York as having always ~~ retained their kindness & care
of me, fifty pounds, New York currency, or one hundred & twenty five dollars
each, to paid out of my estate within five years, according to the situation of
my estate, but if either or both of my said aunts should die before the said
money is paid them then it is my wish that the sum or sums of money intended for
them shall be paid to my heirs.

16th/ It is my will and desire that all my just debts shall be paid as soon as
possible by my executors, and to fulfill that intention I direct that my slaves
Henry and Daphney and so much of my property not specifically bequeathed, be
disposed of and sold by my executors, as shall be sufficient for the purpose.

17th I give and bequeath all the remainder and residue of my estate that has not
already been devised and bequeathed, or that shall not be hereinafter devised
and bequeathed, to the following named persons ̌ ̌, their heirs and assigns
forever, viz. to my sister Sarah De Pass one share or portion - to my sister
Grace Marks for her tender regard and love from a child two shares or portions,
to my sister Rebecca Seixas one share or portion - to my brother Manuel Judah
one share or portion - to my brother Baruch H. Judah & Manuel Judah his son, &
Ryne Judah his daughter, one share or portion to be equally divided between them
- to my broth[er] Gershom Judah & to my sister Rachel Rehine, one share or
portion to be equally divided between them - and the eighth and last portion of
the same I give and bequeath to my nephew and namesake Isaac Marks, the son of
my sister Grace Marks for him his heirs and assigns forever.

17th It is my further will & desire that if any of my heirs or legatees shall in
any way whatsoever obstruct my wishes or enter in relation to the said Philip
Norborne Wythe, Benjamin Wythe, and my slaves Maria & Betsey as herein before
expressed, I direct that all and every provision & legacy herein contained shall
be considered as revoked and utterly null and void, as to such person so
obstructing my said wishes & his her or their legacies thus forfeited shall be
equally divided and distributed amongst the rest of my heirs.

18th I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint by [sic] brother Manuel Judah,
of the county of Franklin, and my nephew David Judah of the city of Richmond,
executors of this my last will & testament, and I do direct that my said
executors shall not be required to give security for the performance of their
duties as my executors. Hereby revoking all former wills heretofore made by me
and declaring this to be my true last will & testament written on two sheets of
paper. I have hereunto set my hand, and affix my seal, this 16th day of April
1827.

I.H.Judah

Signed Sealed published and
declared as his last will & testament
by Isaac H. Judah, before us
Herbert A Claiborne
Joseph Longest
Samuel Foster


At a Court of Hustings held for the city of Richmond, at the City Hall, on the
twenty-sixth day of May 1827.
This last will and testament of Isaac H. Judah deceased, was proved by the oaths
of Herbert A. Clairborne, Joseph Longest & Samuel Foster witnesses thereto and
ordered to be recorded and probate granted David Judah, one of the executors
therein named, who made oath thereto and entered into & acknowledged a bond in
the penalty of twenty thousand dollars conditioned according to the Act of
Assembly passed the 16th day of February 1825 without security (the will
directing that none should be required of them.) liberty being reserved to the
other executor in the said will named to join in the said probate when he shall
think fit.

Teste: Th. C. Howard, Clk.