c1793 Jewish Letter Sent From Petersburg

"All the people who hear that we are leaving give us their blessing. They say that it is sinful that such blessed children should be brought up here in Petersburg. My children cannot learn anything here, nothing Jewish, nothing of general culture. My Schoene (my daughter), God bless her, is already three years old; I think it is time that she should leansomething, and she has a good head to lean. I taught her the bedtime prayers and grace after meals in just two lessons. I believe that no one among the Jews here can do as well as she. And my Sammy (born in 1790), God bless him, is already beginnig to talk." Rebecca Samuel
See http://www.jwa.org/teach/golearn/nov05/RebeccaSamuelLetter.pdf

Her husband was Hyman Samuel, a Silversmith, from London, who was operating in Petersburg from 1791 thru 1795. He advertised, April 27, 1791, that he made and repaired watches in Petersburg, and also "all kinds of silver and goldsmith's work, jewellery, engraving on silver, gold, and other metals." See VA Gazette and Agricultural Repository, June 16, 1791.

Dinwiddie County & Petersburg's Silversmiths

James Geddy & Sons (Abt.1780-1810)
James Geddy, Jr., m. Eupha Armistead, April 30, 1789 in Dinwiddie/Petersbrug, they had Elizabeth on Feb. 14th and had her baptized July 7, 1773. He also is listed on Dinwiddie County Rent Role of 1779.
In December 1790 an advertisement mentioned the firm as goldsmiths and jewelers of Petersburg, continuing to carry on its business in all its branches. Six shillings per once cash and six shillings and eight pence in exchange for work were offered for old silver.
William Waddill GeddyWas born about 1768, in Williamsburg, Virginia, to James Geddy, Sr., born 1731, Scotland, d. 1807 Dinwiddie County, Virginia and in 1755 married Elizabeth _______, born January 22, 1773; d. 1779, Dinwiddie County, Virginia.
On August 16, 1793, he was one of sixty men of Bollingbrook Street, Petersburg who signed a petition to the governor asking that if a certain negro were liberated from jail he be required to leave the State.
On November 17, 1796, Rev. Andrew Syme married him and Elizabeth Prentice.
On May 22, 1799, he wrote the governor requesting the remission of a fine for not attending the muster of the 39th Regt., which he considered unlawfully assessed on him.
On the 1810 Petersbrug/Dinwiddie Census, with five children and his wife.
On September 20, 1811 he was unable to attend to his business, he would rent for a term of years the tenement he then occupied on Old Street, Petesburg. He added, “If a person of my profession should apply, he can have at his discretion my silversmith and watchmaker’s tools.”

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