Saving Monticello: The Newsletter
The latest about the book, author
events, and more
Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson
Volume XVII, Number 3
March 1, 2020
March 1, 2020
NEW EDIFICE: Members
of the Levy/Phillips/Nunez family have been associated with New York City’s
Shearith Israel, the nation’s oldest Jewish congregation, since 1734. That’s the
year that David Machado, who married Uriah Levy’s great grandmother, Zipporah
Nunez, moved to New York from Savannah to become the temple’s Hazzan (Prayer Reader).
As I noted in Saving Monticello, as
Hazzan, The Reverend Machado, as he was known, had many duties, including granting licenses to inspect
and kill cattle under Jewish
dietary laws. He also conducted religious services and was responsible for
reciting certain prayers.
Uriah Levy, who—when he wasn’t at sea or spending time at
Monticello—lived in New York City from the 1820s until his death in 1862, was a
member of the congregation. And his nephew, L. Napoleon Levy (Jefferson Levy’s
brother), served as president of the Shearith Israel Congregation in the 1890s
and early 1900s.
L.N. Levy, like his older brother Jefferson, was a New York
City lawyer. In fact, the brothers became law and business partners. The
younger Levy, who died at age 66 in 1921, headed the Congregation when the
decision was made to build its fifth and current building on West 70th
Street and Central Park West on an uptown plot of land that been a duck farm.
The noted New York
City architect and city planner Arnold Brunner (1857-1925) designed the
imposing neo-classical building. Louis Comfort Tiffany did the interior design
work, including—naturally—the stained glass windows.
When it came time to lay the cornerstone for the new
building, on May 20, 1896 (8 Sivan, 5656 on the Hebrew calendar), L. Napoleon
Levy was given the honor. To mark the occasion, the Congregation presented him
with an engraved trowel. A big thank you to Steve Lewis, a great-great grandnephew
of Jefferson Levy, for sending me the terrific image of the trowel below.
The “fine new structure,” as the New York Journal and Advertiser put it, was dedicated, a year
later, on May 19, 1897. Today, an engraved plaque on the ground floor
recognizes L. Napoleon Levy’s leadership of Shearith Israel, and an auditorium
in the synagogue is named in his honor.
A
DANGEROUS SITUATION: Came across an anecdote about Jefferson M. Levy
in a recently digitized article from the Philadelphia
Post from November of 1903. In it, the paper snarkily relates a story
involving Levy and the infamous Richard “Boss” Croker, the Irish-born
(1843-1922) New York City Democratic political strongman who dominated the
city’s politics from the early 1880s until he returned to Ireland in 1905.
It seems that in 1898 when Jefferson Levy first ran for a
seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York (and won) he had
forgotten that, as the paper put it, “shortly after he began to live at
Monticello” [in 1879], he had gone “to London and had cards printed bearing
this legend…”
Jefferson
Monticello
Levy
Virginia
When the wily Crocker got wind of the business cards, he
summoned Levy (below, in an 1890s
newspaper sketch), and the conversation went something like this:
Crocker: “Mr. Levy, I
understand one of the daily newspapers has one of those cards you were using in
London and intends to print a picture of it.”
Levy: “Well?”
Crocker: “Well? Don’t you see the connection? If they print
that card, like as not you will be barred from Congress. You say you are from
Virginia, and you are elected to Congress from New York. You must get that card
at all hazards. You must be cautious about it, too.
“If the newspaper people hear you want the card, they will
doubtless print it. I like you and want to help you, but I warn you that this
is a dangerous situation.”
At which point, the article noted, Levy “rushed away, very
much frightened.”
During the “rest of the campaign, he had daily consultations
with Mr. Croker as to ways and means for getting the card from the newspapers,
and each morning he picked up that journal in fear and trembling and looked for
the reproductions.”
The article reported
that Croker enlisted some members of the NYC Democratic Club to help retrieve
the potentially damning card. “There were hours of consultations over dinner
tables,” the article pointed out, “Levy always picking up the checks.”
Then one day Croker and company
presented Levy with the card—and “demanded” that Levy “provide a banquet for
those who had saved his seat in Congress.” Levy “responded liberally, and to
this day he thinks he was kept in Congress by the efforts of Croker and his
friends.”
 |
Thomas Nast cartoon showing Boss Croker's tentacles ensnaring N.Y. City Hall
If so, that patronage paid off. Jefferson Levy ran for
Congress three times, and won each race: in 1898, 1910, and 1912.
MARCH
EVENTS:
·
On Saturday,
March 21, I’ll be receiving a National Daughters of the American Revolution
History Award at the monthly meeting of the Falls Church DAR chapter in Falls
Church, Virginia.
·
On Thursday, March 26, I’m giving a talk
on my one and only Civil War book, Desperate
Engagement: How a Little-Know Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and
Changed American History, as part of the Civil War Lecture Series at the
GAR Hall in Peninsula, Ohio. More info at peninsulahistory.org/cwls
There’s
always a chance I may add a last-minute talk or signing. For the latest on
that, or to check out my other scheduled 2020 events, go to the Events page on
my website at http://bit.ly/Eventsandtalks
If
you’d like to arrange an event for Saving
Monticello, or for any of my other books, please send an email to marcleepson@gmail.com
For info on my latest book, Ballad of the
Green Beret, go to http://bit.ly/GreenBeretBook
GIFT IDEAS: Want a
personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello? Please e-mail me. I also have a few as-new, unopened hardcover copies, along with a
good selection of brand-new copies of my other books.
