Jacques Judah Lyons papers
Scope and Content Note
The Jacques Judah Lyons Collection is a valuable source for researchers interested in Jewish History in early America, and in the West Indies. The collection primarily consists of material concerning the Shearith Israel Congregation, New York Jewish community, Touro Synagogue, Newport Jewish community, Philadelphia Jewish community, and West Indies Jewish communities. The collection also includes material relating to Jews who served in wars or military missions for the United States, correspondence of the Jewish leaders with George Washington, information concerning Haym Salomon, and a detailed log book of the Ship "Sansom."
The Jacques Judah Lyons Collection is composed of manuscripts, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, notebooks, log book and photographs. Materials are in fragile condition and must be handled very carefully. Certain items may be restricted from use due to fragility.
The collection is stored in a total of 14 manuscript boxes and three oversize boxes. Manuscripts are organized numerically:
Notebook Extracts Relating To:
- Congregation Shearith Israel, New York
- Gomez Family, New York
- Hays Family, New York
- Moses and Levy Families, New York
- Seixas Family, New York
- Simson Family, New York
- Solomons Family, New York
- Jews in New York
- Newport Synagogue
- Newport Cemetery
- Masonry in Newport
- Touro Family, Newport
- Gould Family
- Jews of Newport
- Jews in Philadelphia
- Haym Salomon
- Jews in South America and the West Indies
- Jews in North America
- Jews in Wars of the United States and Correspondence with Washington
- Scrapbooks of Rev. J.J. Lyons
- Pamphlets in the Collection (Note: These pamphlets are located in the Rosenbach Rare Book Collection, and have not been microfilmed as part of the J.J. Lyons Collection)
Dates
- undated, 1705-1885, 1908, 1911-1914, 1917-1919, 1933, 1950
Creator
Language of Materials
The collection is in English, Dutch, Hebrew, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Researchers Please Note: The Jacques Judah Lyons Collection is available on microfilm only.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Biographical Note
Jacques Judah Lyons (1813-1877)
Jacques Judah Lyons, hazan, rabbi, and community leader, was born in Surinam, Dutch Guiana on Menahem 25, 5573 (August 25, 1813). His parents, Judah Eleazar and Mary Asser Lyons, emigrated to Surinam from Philadelphia in the early 1800s. Jacques' education was limited to the institutions the Dutch colony could afford; however, he spoke several languages in addition to Dutch, including Hebrew, English, German, and French and possessed a strong understanding of Spanish.
Jacques began his career as a hazan in Surinam in Congregation Nevie Shalom, a synagogue founded by Spanish-Portuguese Jews. In 1836 he left for Philadelphia, his parents' home state, and was hired within a few months by Congregation Beth Shalome of Richmond, Virginia. He served Beth Shalome for two years, winning the high esteem of the congregation. In 1839, following the death of Rev. Isaac B. Mendez Seixas, he was elected Seixas' successor as minister of Congregation Shearith Israel of New York City. He married Grace Nathan, daughter of Seixas Nathan and Sarah Mendes Seixas in 1842. Jacques and Grace had three children: Julius J., Sarah, and Alfred.
During his thirty-eight years of ministry, he became highly active in Jewish welfare and advocacy for Orthodox Judaism. He served as superintendent of the Shearith Israel's school, Polonies Talmud Torah; president of its benevolent society, Hebra Hased va-Emet; director of the Sampson Simson Jewish Seminary and Scientific Institute; and one of the founders of Jews Hospital, later renamed The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Jacques possessed a deep interest in Jewish history. In 1854, Jacques and Rabbi Abraham de Sola of Montreal collaborated in writing A Jewish Calendar for Fifty Years, a book that contained a comprehensive Jewish calendar, an essay on the Jewish calendar system, as well as historical information concerning Jewish communities in the United States, Canada, and the West Indies. Prior to 1861, and continuing to the end of his life, Jacques painstakingly gathered sources and information on United States Jewish history in the hopes of publishing his findings. He made copies of some of the documents he found, and also obtained papers from old families, such as Naphtali Phillips, Isaac Phillips, Joshua Phillips, Horatio Gomez, Joseph Nones, the Pesoa, and Judah Families. His family later destroyed a portion of his papers.
Jacques died at the age of 63 on August 15, 1877, shortly before Rosh Hashanah. His funeral services were held on August 15, 1877 in Shearith Israel, and were conducted by his successor, Rev. Dr. Henry Pereira Mendes, Rev. Dr. Abraham De Sola of Montreal, Rev. Samuel M. Isaacs of Congregations Shaarai Tefilla of New York, and Rev. Sabato Morais of Congregation Mikve Israel of Philadelphia. His niece through marriage, Emma Lazarus, wrote the poem "Rosh Hashanah, 5638" in his memory. He is buried in the congregation's cemetery in Long Island.
References:
De Sola Pool, David and Tamar. An Old Faith in the New World: Portrait of Shearith Israel 1654-1954. New York: Columbia University Press, 1955, 178-182.
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society (PAJHS), vol. 21 (1913), xxiii-xxviii; and vol. 27 (1920), 144-9.
Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972. vol. 11, 626.
Extent
12.05 Linear Feet (14 manuscript boxes; 3 oversize boxes (11.5 x 18 x 3.25), (16.5 x 20.5 x 3), (23 x 31.5 x 3)
Abstract
Jacques Judah Lyons, hazzan, rabbi and community leader, was born in Surinam and emigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1800s. Minister of the New York Congregation Shearith Israel for 38 years, he gathered extensive materials on early Jewish history in the United States, Canada and the West Indies. His papers include manuscripts, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, notebooks, photographs, and a Sansom ship's log book. Contains material relating to Jews in North and South America generally and more specifically to Congregation Shearith Israel and the Jews in New York, the Touro Synagogue and cemetery and the Jews in Newport, Rhode Island, Philadelphia and the West Indies. Also contains material relating to Jews in the wars of the United States, correspondence of the Jews with George Washington and items relating to Haym Salomon. Collection consists of manuscript material and five notebooks and three scrapbooks of Lyons. Contains material not listed in calendar consisting of sermons by Lyons, a manuscript prayer book used in Surinam and a guide for religious ceremonies at Congregation Shearith Israel, as well as letters written during the Civil War period and correspondence relating to the personal life and career of Lyons.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into six series as follows:
- Series I: Manuscripts, undated, 1705, 1709-1880, 1933, 1950
- Series II: Notebooks, undated, 1863, 1872
- Series III: Scrapbooks, 1760-1786, 1812-1885
- Series IV: Minute Book, undated, 1760-1786
- Series V: Correspondence, undated, 1908, 1911-1914, 1917-1919
- Series VI: Books, 1783-1804
- Oversized Separated Material, 1730, 1738-1745, 1760, 1785, 1787, 1796-1797, 1803, 1817, 1819, 1826, 1829, 1839, 1843, 1846, 1871
Acquisition Information
The Lyons collection was donated to the American Jewish Historical Society in 1908 by Jacques Judah Lyons' children: Julius J. Lyons, Sarah Lyons, and Alfred Lyons.
- Admission tickets
- Articles
- Bills of sale
- Certificates
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Congregation Shearith Israel (New York, N.Y.)
- Contracts
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Drafts (documents)
- Eulogies (documents)
- Hymns
- Jewish soldiers
- Ketubahs
- Legal notices
- Lists (document genres)
- Liturgy and ritual
- Logs (records)
- Manuscripts (documents)
- Maps (documents)
- Memorandums
- Minutes (administrative records)
- New York (N.Y.)
- New York. Congress.
- Newport (R.I.)
- Notebooks
- Notes (documents)
- Passports
- Petitions
- Philadelphia (Pa.)
- Photographs
- Promissory notes
- Publications (documents)
- Receipts (financial records)
- Reports
- Resolutions (administrative records)
- Rites and ceremonies
- Salomon, Haym, 1740-1785
- Scrapbooks
- Sermons
- Speeches (documents)
- Suriname
- Touro Synagogue (Newport, R.I.)
- United States -- History
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- Washington, George, 1732-1799
- West Indies
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of Jacques Judah Lyons (1813-1877), undated, 1705-1885, 1908, 1911-1914, 1917-1919, 1933, 1950 P-15
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by AJHS Staff
- Date
- © 2009
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Conservation and Microfilming for this collection has been made possible through a generous grant from the New York State Library, Division of Library Development. Digitization of the manuscripts within the collection has been made possible through a generous grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council.
Revision Statements
- March, June 2020: EHyman-post-ASpace migration cleanup
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository