Manuscript copy of the “Petition of the Traders of 1763 to the King’s Council of Virginia. Fort Pitt, Sept. 1775.”

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

September

Fort Pitt (W. Penn, later the city of Pittsburgh)

1775

Unsigned

See Rosenbloom, A Bibliographical Dictionary of Early American Jews, 93; Stern, Americans of Jewish Descent, 64, 194

In the Indian War of 1763, the Traders incurred financial losses amounting to 85,916 pounds, not to mention the loss of life of many of their members. In the treaty concluded with the Six Indian Nations at Fort Stanwix, the latter agreed to indemnify the traders for their losses by granting them a tract of land between the Ohio River and Mr. Penn’s southern boundary, Pennsylvania. The traders, disturbed to learn that of late squatters have settled there, petition the Governor to protect their right to the land. On the original Petition, signatures of Levy Andrew Levy, et al. Levy, based in Fort Pitt, had formed a partnership with Joseph Simon, and Bernard and Michael Gratz of Philadelphia to trade in furs in the Illinois country. The members of the syndicate were all related. Levy was the brother-in-law of Michael Gratz. Michael Gratz married the daughter of Joseph Simon, Miriam in 1769. Levy married Miriam’s sister, Susannah