Newspaper Page Text
7
Atlanta Life Insurance Co.
Atlanta 3, Georgia
Life Insurance Protection
Surrounded By Every Possible
Safeguard, Covering -
• Whole Life •
• Limited Pay •
• Endowments •
• Educational •
Health and Accident
Hospitalization and
Surgical Expense
Monthly Income
• Mortgage Redemption
★
A. F. HERNDON, Founder
148 Auburn Ave.. N. E. Atlanta 3, Ga.
possessions inventoried were:
“In the closet in the front cham
ber: I pair silver shoe and 1 pair
silver knee buckles;”
“In the cellar, 200 empty bottles,”
valued at 2 lbs.Is. 8d;
“In sundry places, a Dutch ser
vant girl,” valued at 10 lbs.10s.
Actually, the “violin and case”
perhaps excepted, these “items”
were not so extraordinary for the
menage of a wealthy merchant in
mid-18th century Philadelphia.
Silver shoe and knee buckles were
not uncommonly affected by men
of Nathan Levy’s standing. Bottles
were much too scarce to be dis
carded, but were prudently saved
for storing wines in that day of
“Poor Richard’s Almanac.”
Like most upper-class house
holds of the time, the Levy house
hold offered little comfort to tee
totalers, for wines and liquors were
much esteemed at table, and were
consumed in prodigious quantities.
By no means, indeed, were all the
bottles in Levy’s cellar empty.
Many of them brimmed with "ma-
dera” wine, “arrack” and “cyder”
to the tune of some 15 lbs. worth.
As to the institution of inden
tured labor, under which auspices
the “Dutch servant girl” must have
been in Levy’s house, this was an
old and honored one in Colonial
America, whose scarcity of cheap la
bor w-as often relieved in this man
ner. It was not at all unusual for
Europeans, stricken with poverty or
suffering religious or political disa
bilities, to bind or “indenture”
themselves or their children to la
bor for a period of years in order
to secure passage to the colonies.
Bond servitude in those days was
not the scandal it would be today.
Levy was rich in culture as well
as in other worldly goods. His li
brary included some of the best
and most important books of his
age: John Locke’s “On Human Un
derstanding”; “Plutarch’s Lives”;
of Nature Delineated”;—three old
Bibles in English; a “Bible in He
brew, Greek and Latin”; eight
Spanish Hebrew books; 22 Hebrew
books; dictionaries of English,
Spanish “Lingua Franca,” Dutch,
French, Latin and Hebrew; and 25
music books.
Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, Archives
director, comments that few other
private 18th century American li
braries could have boasted collec
tions of this quality in terms of
general interest.
Who was this man of property
and culture? Benjamin Franklin
wrote of him in the “Pennsylvania
Gazette” of Dec. 27, 1753: “the fair
character he maintained in all his
transactions, the cheerful and
friendly disposition that constantly
appeared in him, made his death
much lamented. And the prudent
and affectionate manner in which
he conducted himself in his dome-
stick capacity, renders the loss ir
reparable to his family.” Nathan
Levy was the son of the eminent
New York merchant and Jewish
community leader Moses Levy,
who is thought to have been of
German origin. With his younger
brother, Isaac, Nathan settled in
Philadelphia in 1737. A number of
years later, with a relative, he
started a trading firm which came
to be known as Levy & Franks.
This was one of the most important
Jewish businesses in Philadelphia
in the first part of the eighteenth
century.
Nathan Levy was a man of many
“firsts.” With his brother Isaac
the first Jew to settle permanently
in Philadelphia, and with his nep
hew, David Franks, the first Jew
to take part in the city’s civic af
fairs, he was also the first Phila
delphian Jew to engage in a venture
for the common good of the pro
vince. In 1743, he joined in a pe
tition to the King that a Pennsyl
vania militia be raised largely for
the defense of western roads and
outposts. And it was the “Myrtilla,”
a ship owned by his firm, that was
engaged to transport from London
the bell which, later, became known
as the “Liberty Bell.”
The Southern Israelite
Serving The South Since 1875!
^Rhodes
FURNITURE
Complete Home Stores
In Seven Southeastern States
In Atlanta . . . Peachtree Street at Harris
^Jederal Saving
cl <?jCoan ^sdsAociation
uni
Savings Invited Current Dividend 4%
Bank by Mail or in Person
Jesse B. Blayton, Sr.
Executive Vice President
205 Auburn Avenue, N. E. — Atlanta, Ga.
Telephone JAckson 3-8282—3-8283
The South Is Building—
Structural Steel Is Our Business
We have served Southern builders for many years and
wherever you see new construction of steel . . . it’s
probably by Calvert.
Use Steel by Calvert
OUR METHODS ARE CORRECT —
OUR BIDS ARE IN LINE
Calvert Iron Works, Inc.
ATLANTA, GA