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Rebecca Isaiah Moses (nee
Phillips), Rebecca Phillips was born March 19, 1792, in the West Indies. Both of her parents were Jewish and lived in the world of international trade. Her father, Jacob Phillips, moved from England to St. Eustatius and then to America where he fought in the South Carolina Militia during the Revolution. Her mother, Hannah Isaacks Phillips, was a fourth-generation American who was raised in Newport, Rhode Island. She sometimes accompanied her husband to visit family in the West Indies, New York, or Charleston. In 1798, while visiting Martinique, Hannah died in childbirth. Rebecca was six years old. She moved with her grandmother Rebecca Mears Isaacks from Newport to South Carolina, along with her siblings and cousins. Other family were already living in South Carolina. Thereafter, Rebecca was a woman of the south. Rebecca married Isaiah Moses in 1807,
when
she was 15; he had arrived in Charleston in 1800. Isaiah ran a
successful dry-goods retail business in Charleston. In 1813
Isaiah bought a plantation The Oaks outside of Charleston. Rebecca had 12 children; she cared for her
family, worked in the business and on the plantation. She
was
a
religious Jewish matron, a businesswoman, and an excellent
needleworker. More information on her life is in the
page linked below, Biographical Notes. Biographical Notes about
Rebecca |
