 1774 - 1857 (83 years)
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| Name |
Solomon Moses [3, 4] |
| Prefix |
Dr. |
| Born |
7 Sep 1774 |
New York  [5, 6] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Reference Number |
1841 |
| Died |
22 Sep 1857 |
New York [5, 6] |
| Person ID |
I1841 |
aojd |
| Last Modified |
11 Nov 2011 |
| Children |
| | 1. Isaac Moses, b. 14 Apr 1807, d. 3 Apr 1847, Mobile, Mobile, AL (Age 39 years) |
| | 2. Miriam Gratz Moses, b. 21 Oct 1808, d. Yes, date unknown |
| | 3. Rebecca Gratz Moses, b. 26 Aug 1810, Pennsylvania , d. 28 Jan 1891, New York (Age 80 years) |
| | 4. Harriet Moses, b. 29 Oct 1812, d. Infancy |
| | 5. Dr. Simon Gratz Moses, b. 6 Oct 1813, Pennsylvania , d. 21 Feb 1897, St. Louis, St. Louis, MO (Age 83 years) |
| | 6. Edmund Moses, b. 29 Oct 1815, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , d. Yes, date unknown |
| | 7. Sarah Gratz Moses, b. 20 Dec 1817, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , d. 26 Feb 1904, Montréal, Québec, Canada (Age 86 years) |
| | 8. Horace Moses, b. 10 Aug 1820, d. 15 Oct 1893 (Age 73 years) |
| | 9. Gertrude Moses, b. 2 Aug 1822, d. 30 Sep 1823 (Age 1 years) |
|
| Family ID |
F672 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- PORTRAIT IN SCRAPBOOK ------------------------ The Gilbert Stuart portrait of Solomon Moses is reported upon by Hannah London in her 1926 book Portrait of Jews. At that time it was owned by Henry Joseph of Montreal. ------------------------ In July 1805, Solomon and Hyman Moses visited Saratoga Springs, New York, at the same time as the sisters, Rebecca and Rachel Gratz, were there. In her biography of Rebecca Gratz, Dianne Aston describes Solomon on this occasion as Rachel's beau.
But it seems that Rachel's sister, Sarah, did not like Solomon. Rebecca wrote to Sarah urging her to accept Rachel's choice for the sake of peace in the family. Rachel was afraid to confront Sarah, and asked Rebecca to intervene, which she did with these words in a letter "the whole of (Solomon Moses's) life will be to promote her happiness ... cheer her heart and be ... a comfort. I hope our parents won't be unhappy ... they shouldn't ... Sol is universally esteemed her ... and he really appears ... affectionate, kind, attentive and watchful."
The 31-year old Solomon Moses married 23-year old Rachel Gratz in New York on 24 June 1806, and Rebecca stayed in New York throughout the summer to help Rachel get settled in her new home. Rebecca and Rachel remained close, and when Rachel died in 1823 at the age of 40, when their eldest child was only 16, it was the unmarried Rebecca who stepped into the mothering role for Solomon and Rachel's children. Solomon outlived his wife by 34 years, and so lived to see their children's many successes.
In their wedding year, 1806, Edward Greene Malbone painted a miniature of Solomon Moses, having done one of the bride in 1804. In the painting, Solomon is wearing a black coat, white waistcoat, stock and tie. He is shown to have black hair and pale blue eyes. The background is white, with gray at the top and touches of blue, green and purple at the lower left and right.
In 1953, when Hannah London wrote her illustrated book Miniatures of Early American Jews, the one of Solomon Moses was owned by Kathleen Moore. She had inherited it from her cousin (actually 1st cousin, once removed), the late Rachel Gratz Nathan of New York, whose mother, Rebecca Moses, was a daughter of Solomon and Rachel (Gratz) Moses. The miniature was lent by Miss Nathan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibition in the spring of 1927. It was also in an exhibition of Malbone's work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1929.
Kathlen Moore died in 1976, and the miniature was inherited by Nancy Erdrich. Nancy died in November 2003, but a few years earlier had donated the miniature to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Solomon MOSES m.Rachel GRATZ
|
|--------------------------------------------|
| | Rebecca MOSES....................Sarah MOSES m.Jonathan NATHAN m.Jacob Henry JOSEPH
| |-----------------------------------------| | |
| Rachel Gratz NATHAN Matilda JOSEPH.................Horace JOSEPH
m.Henry MOORE m. Celine JOSEPH | |
Kathleen MOORE Sybil JOSEPH
m.Wm. SEBAG-MONTEFFIORE
|
Nancy (Sebag-Montefiore) ERDRICH
Interestingly, there was a drawing made of Solomon Moses dated 1798, when he would have been 23 or 24. There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of this drawing, but Solomon looks much older in the earlier image. The drawing, sent to Hannah London by a great granddaughter of Solomon Moses named Mary Porter Scott of Saint Louis, was signed by the artist "Volney 1798". Hannay London did some research, and stated "Doubtless this 'Volney' is Valdenuit who often assisted (Fevret de) Saint-Mémin, and the answer to Miss Scott's inquiry is found on the engraved portrait of Solomon Moses, reduced from the original drawing, in the Saint-Mémion Collection, Morgan Library, which reads 'St. Memin and Valdenuit No. 27 Pine St. N. York'."
Perhaps the reason Solomon looks older in the earlier portrait is because his hair is long, light in colour and quite shaggy. Six years later he is spruced up with neat, shorter, dark hair. Maybe the bride did not like shaggy??
Gilbert Stuart painted Solomon Moses in 1796, on a canvas measuring 28 x 24 inches. In 1926 the portrait was owned by Henry Joseph of Montreal. Hannah London notes in Portraits of Jews that Solomon Moses was no less handsome than his beautiful wife, Rachel Gratz; indeed there are few Stuart portraits with which this one does not favourably compare. In the refined oval of the face, the glowing eyes, chiselled nose, mouth, and chin, the absolute freedom and life quality of the pose, is the quintessence of Stuart's art. Solomon was a merchant of no small importance in New York by 1796, and he and his wife had reared a large family. Their daughter Sarah married Jacob Henry Joseph and it is their son, Henry, who owned the painting in 1926. Henry died on 31 January 1951.
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| Sources |
- [S81] .
- [S285] .
- [S4] PG. 87 GRATZ (1) (Reliability: 3).
- [S395] (Reliability: 3).
- [S4] PG. 209 MOSES II (NEW YORK) (Reliability: 3).
- [S38] .
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