These newspaper clippings are from the 19th and 20th century and for the most part cover the Samuel and Reis families. They are ordered chronologically and include Birth, Marriage, and Death Notices.
1812
Globe – Wednesday 08 January 1812
BANKRUPTS
Nathan Samuel, Liverpool, silversmith, to surrender January 17, 18, and February 18, at eleven, at The Globe Tavern, Liverpool. Attorneys, Mr. Meadowcroft, Gray’s Inn, London and Mr. John Davies, Fenwick-street, Liverpool.
Hampshire Chronicle – Monday 13 January 1812
BANKRUPTS
Nathan Samuel, Liverpool, Silversmith
British Luminary – Saturday 21 March 1818
LANCASHIRE. Saturday night, a daring and extensive robbery was committed in the shop of Mr. Louis Samuel, silversmith, in Castle-street. The villains obtained a booty of 300l. in guineas and doubloons, 150l. in bank notes, with a great number of gold watches, seals, keys, brooches, and other articles of jewellery. We are sorry to say that the exertions of the police for their discovery have been, as yet, unsuccessful.
Lancaster Gazette – Saturday 06 March 1819
MARRIAGES
Liverpool Mercury – Friday 14 September 1821
MARRIAGES
Same day, Mr. Moses Samuel, of this town, to Miss Harriet, third daughter of the late Mr. I. Israel, of London.
[Same day = 12th September. Harriet was the sister of Henrietta who married Louis Samuel. Not only did two brothers (Louis and Moses Samuel) marry two sisters but the Israel sisters and the Samuel brothers were first cousins. This makes the amount of shared DNA among the Moses and Louis descendants much higher than would normally be the case.]
1823
London Packet and New Lloyd’s Evening Post – Friday 19 September 1823
THE JEW AND THE BARRISTER.
At the late Lancaster Assizes, a cause was tried before Mr. Justice Bayley, between two Jews. In the course of the evidence, it appeared that the defendant had offered a quantity of bacon to the plaintiff to silence him and prevent the trial. To this the plaintiff refused to accede. A third Jew (Mr. Moses Samuel) was called, as a witness respecting the bacon transaction, and Mr. Serjeant Cross, tickled with the drollery of the circumstance of seeing three Jews by the ears about a flitch of bacon, amused the Court with some sarcastic remarks, at the expense of the witness, and the tribe of Israel in general. After the trial was over, the offended witness [Moses Samuel] wrote to Mr. Serjeant Cross the following manly and indignant letter:
TO MR SERJEANT CROSS.
” Sir — l was surprised at the manner in which you defended the cause wherein I was subpoenaed as witness. From the want of proof and honesty on the part of your client, you had recourse to ridicule the name of Jew ; and because the ease was accidentally connected with Bacon, so much despised by Jews, and so much admired by the children of the Cross, you thought it a fit opportunity of exposing this ludicrous medley, by verifying the Scriptures concerning our people “Thou shalt be a proverb and a bye-word amongst all the nations whither the Lord thy God shall lead thee.” Deut.
You endeavoured to do away with my testimony on grounds – -which were sufficiently refuted by Mr. Williams, as there was not a contradictory word in my evidence. “
Permit me now, Mr. Cross, to give you some advice (without fee). For the future, do not play with the feelings of individuals disinterested in a cause, and reluctantly attending your Courts of Justice; and above all, do not let difference of opinion at religious topics serve you a triumphant pretext for displaying your sarcastic powers, but rather imitate the manner of your more generous brethren of the Cross, piously employed in disseminating Christian knowledge among us; and in other Jewish trials; instead of dwelling repeatedly on the name of Moses, and such like Scriptural names, merely to cause ridiculous bursts of laughter in Court, and thereby attempting to defeat the cause of truth and justice, be rather liberally inclined, consider us as the children of one God, the offspring of one beneficent Father, supported and protected by one Almighty Providence—as men gifted with the same intellectual powers as others, and morally entitled to the same rights—as men seeking justice by those laws to which they are amenable, and entitled to some respect from those expounders of the law whom they contribute to support.
“When a few centuries back our forefathers, exiled by barbarian fury, were led to seek a precarious abode in England; When the sword unsheathed and still reeking with blood, was suspended over our captive tribes, in the midst of those unmerited persecutions, to have been assailed with a torrent of mere ridicule would have elicited no complaint or murmur ; but now that we live in a more refined age, and thanks to Heaven! enjoy the blessing of toleration, in a free country, where the virtuous and enlightened Jew begins to be considered as a man and a fellow-citizen, the conduct of a Barrister in unnecessarily interweaving in his case ludicrous remarks upon those of a different denomination of religion, and treating with derision the name of a mighty though now scattered people, must be highly reprehensible.
Neither the Bar, nor the Gown, nor the Wig, nay, not even the mighty powers of eloquence which you presume to possess, can for a moment shield you, Mr. Cross, in the eyes of an enlightened world, from the censure which you deserve.
“Is it to be believed, that in these enlightened days, in an enlightened Court, where the enlightened Bayley presided, a Barrister, from the want of a better defence, should be suffered to pour forth such obloquy, and wound the feelings of a respectable witness, why, forsooth – because — he was a Jew! “Yours, “MOSES SAMUEL
Bristol Mercury Monday, Sept. 22, 1823
THE JEW AND THE BARRISTER.
At the late Lancaster Assizes, a cause was tried before Mr. Justice Bayley, between two Jews. In the course of the evidence, it appeared that the defendant had offered a quantity of bacon to the plaintiff to silence him and prevent the trial. To this the plaintiff refused to accede. A third Jew (Mr. Moses Samuel) was called as a witness respecting the bacon transaction, and Mr. Serjeant Cross, tickled with the drollery of the circumstance of seeing three Jews by the ears about a flitch of bacon, amused the Court with some sarcastic remarks, at the expense of the witness, and the tribe of Israel in general. After the trial was over, the offended witness wrote to Mr. Serjeant Cross the following manly and indignant letter [See above]
1828
[In this year, according to a note on Ancestry.com, Nathan Meyer Samuel was appointed President of the Liverpool Synagogue.]
Edinburgh Evening Courant – Monday 24 November 1828
THE BOOK OF JASHER. THE EDITOR THE COURIER.
Sir,—Having seen in your paper of the 8th instant a paragraph extracted from the Bristol Gazette, announcing that an important and interesting discovery in biblical literature has been recently obtained, which will excite the attention of the Christian and man of letters, viz. the Book of Jasher, mentioned in Joshua, chap. 10, and 2 Samuel, chap. 1., and that it was procured at immense expense by Alcuin, the most eminent man of his time, from the city of Gazan, in Persia, I beg leave to inform you, for the satisfaction of those biblical students who may read your paper, whether Jews or Christians, that I am in possession of the Book of Jasher in the Hebrew language, which I did not procure at any immense expense, but accident threw it my way in meeting with an Israelite from Barbary, who presented me with it, without knowing its value, and I am now translating it into English, and it will be published shortly, with the Hebrew on one side and the English on the other, with notes critical and historical—and what is rather extraordinary, I was this day busily engaged in the translation, when a glance at your paper rivetted my attention to this singular and unexpected paragraph, as I had made many previous inquiries concerning it to my literary friends, and they had never heard of its existence. The book, it seems, has been preserved the Jews in the East, and some few copies were printed in Poland years ago. It is written in that plain and beautiful style that will sufficiently testify its great antiquity, and which the chief cause of my publishing it, with the Hebrew text attached to it; and however much I venerate the sacred Scriptures, and however infinite I consider the distance between this book and the inspired Volume which we possess, I am still bold to declare that its language is equally beautiful, and throughout one hundred and sixty pages it keeps up the same chaste elegant, and historical style that much admired part of Scripture— the history of Joseph. commences with the creation of man, containing very copious accounts of Jewish records, not at all mentioned in Scripture, and reaches as far as Joshua. The two places in Scripture wherein the Book Jasher is mentioned, are beautifully cleared up through this Book, particularly that in 2d Samuel, ch. i. v. 18. “Also, he bade them teach the children of Judah, the use of the bow; behold it is written in the Book of Jasher.”—It also elucidates many other parts of Scripture, and will set right some of the most perplexing parts of chronology.
But do not suppose that it has come down to us as pure as the sacred volume—and I have not the least doubt that some few parts of it are of later date than the body of the book; but even those comparatively modern parts bespeak antiquity of upwards two thousand years. I have already translated one half of the book, having been encouraged to the task by some Christian friends, who possess a fervent zeal for the House of Israel, and an attachment to Hebrew literature. When I return to Liverpool, which will be shortly, I shall issue forth the prospectus of the work, as it will be published by subscription. I should therefore be glad to hear something more about the copy that Alcuin obtained, and whether it be in the Persian or Hebrew language. Respectfully yours, M. SAMUEL of 104, St. James’s Street, Liverpool
Kelso, Nov, 1828.