Mordecai, George W. (George Washington), 1801-1871

George W. Mordecai was a lawyer, bank president, railroad president, businessman, and Episcopal layman, of Raleigh, N.C. He was the son of Jacob Mordecai (1762-1838), a leader of the Jewish communities of Warrenton, N.C., and Richmond, Va. Some family members remained Jewish, while other, either through marriage or choice, became Christians.

From the description of George W. Mordecai papers, 1767-1916 (bulk 1840-1870). WorldCat record id: 22754288

George W. Mordecai (1801-1871) was born in Warrenton, N.C., the fourth son and eighth child of Jacob Mordecai (1762 1838), by Jacob's second wife, Rebecca Myers Mordecai (d. 1863). The Mordecai family was very prominent and had connections with other, primarily mercantile, families in Raleigh and Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Jacob was a leader in the Jewish communities in Warrenton and, later, in Richmond, Va. He started out as a merchant in Philadelphia, moved his family to Warrenton in 1794, and operated with his family an extremely successful female academy from 1809 to 1818. George was educated at his family's school and, circa 1817, joined his brother Samuel as a commission merchant in Petersburg, Va. He quickly returned to Warrenton to teach at the school, replacing his brother Solomon during the latter's illness, 1817-1818. The school was sold in 1818 and the family moved to Richmond. George then tried his hand as a tobacco merchant in Kentucky, and eventually studied law under his brother, Moses, in Raleigh. After Moses's death in 1824, George took over his law practice.

George became involved with the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad in 1824 as the company's legal counsel. In 1836, he was elected president of the company, a position he held until 1852; he remained on the board of directors until his death in 1871. He owned extensive stock in the company and in other railroads in North Carolina and the North.

George was appointed president of the Bank of the State of North Carolina in 1849, replacing Duncan Cameron. In 1859, he was appointed president of the State Bank of North Carolina and held the two positions simultaneously. Probably because of these positions he was actively involved in financial aspects of the Civil War. The Bank of the State of North Carolina served as the official depository of state funds. George, either in his official capacity as bank president, or on the side, handled the buying and selling of Confederate bonds.

In 1860, George was president of the Forest Manufacturing Company, a paper mill on the Neuse River. His association with the company and with both banks caused some discontent, so he apparently disassociated himself with the company shortly after the beginning of the Civil War.

Other wartime activities included George's service as treasurer of the Wayside Hospital in Raleigh and a contribution of $500 of his own money toward the construction of an ironclad vessel. He also speculated heavily in the cotton and bond markets.

After the war, George requested and received a presidential pardon, a move which came under a great deal of scrutiny in North Carolina political circles. In 1866, he was appointed by the governor as a superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum in Raleigh, having served in 1849 as one of the commissioners to establish the hospital.

In the late 1860s, George invested in land in California and flirted with the idea of relocating there. Instead he staked his nephew and namesake, George W., son of his brother Augustus, on a sheep ranch there. In 1869 he was appointed president of the North Carolina branch of the De Soto Insurance Company, a position he resigned in 1870 due to deteriorating health. By late 1870 all of his business affairs were being handled by others and he died in February, 1871, after a debilitating illness.

George was an active member of Christ Church (Episcopal) in Raleigh, serving as senior warden. He was involved in the diocesan controversy of 1851 and the abortive movement to impeach Bishop Levi Silliman Ives, who later resigned. In 1853, he was in charge of collecting funds toward the construction of a new residence for the bishop in Raleigh. He also served on the Education Committee, and was involved in the construction of a new church building.

George's relationship with his family was very close. He lived with his brother Moses's family after Moses's death and served as guardian of his children and agent for his widow, Ann Lane Mordecai. George was also guardian of the children of his sister, Rachel Mordecai Lazarus, and of the children of his nephew, Samuel Fox Mordecai. After the death of his father Jacob Mordecai in 1838, George became more and more involved with the family's financial arrangements, gradually replacing his brother Samuel, who had served in this capacity with little success. George began making investments for various members of the family and even bought a house for his mother and sisters in Richmond.

In his early fifties, George married Margaret Baines Cameron (1811-1886), daughter of Duncan Cameron (1777-1853) and sister of Paul C. Cameron. The wedding took place exactly six month's after Duncan's death. George and his brother in law, Paul, corresponded extensively from this time until George's death in 1871. Margaret had a stillborn child in 1854 and never recovered her strength. She was as attached to her family as George was to his, and the two families, who probably knew each other at least marginally prior to the marriage, quickly became close. Margaret's invalid sister, Mildred Coles ( Millie ) Cameron (1820-1881), lived with the Mordecais for most of their married life, and George and Margaret took her on yearly trips to the North to visit medical specialists in search of a cure for her mysterious illness.

His marriage to Margaret Cameron brought George plantation lands, including Peeksville, Fishdam, and Jones plantations in what was then Orange County. He never acted the part of planter, preferring to hire an overseer to run both places. His brother in law, Paul, who had an active interest in the success of all of the Cameron plantations, also kept an eye on things. The end of the war and the emancipation of the slaves was a great financial blow to both families.

Margaret Bennehan Mordecai outlived her husband by fifteen years. She remained close to both her own and the Mordecai family and was well known and well respected in Raleigh and elsewhere in North Carolina for her many kind and charitable actions. After George's death she continued to live in Raleigh and take care of her invalid sister who died in 1881. Margaret had been in ill health for some time before her death in 1886.

Also important in the collection are the following family members:

Jacob Mordecai (1762-1838) married first Judith Myers (1762-1796) and then her half sister, Rebecca (d. 1863). With Judith, he had six children: Moses, Rachel, Samuel, Ellen, Solomon, and Caroline. With Rebecca he had seven more: Julia Judith, George W., Alfred, Augustus, Eliza Kennon, Emma, and Laura. After Jacob's death, the family formed two distinct groups. One, headed by Samuel, was based in Richmond and included at various times Ellen, Emma, Julia, Laura, Eliza (after her husband's death), and Rosina (Young) Mordecai and her children. The children of Aaron and Rachel Mordecai Lazarus apparently lived in Richmond after their father's death in 1841. The second family group was in Raleigh and consisted of George W. Mordecai and his sister-in-law Nancy Lane Mordecai, his sisters Harriet and Temperance Lane, the children of Moses and Margaret Lane Mordecai, and Nancy's daughter Margaret. Mary Lazarus joined the group sometime in the mid-1840s. After George's marriage in 1853, the family also included Margaret Cameron Mordecai and her invalid sister, Millie Cameron. Satellite groups in Mobile, Ala., included Caroline Mordecai Plunkett and the family of Solomon Mordecai.

Moses (1785-1824) was a lawyer and judge of Raleigh, N.C. He married twice into the prominent (Gentile) Lane family. His first wife was Margaret (1786-1821), with whom he had Henry (1819-1875), Judith Ellen (1820-1916), and Jacob (1821-1867). His second wife was Margaret's sister, Anne Willis, called Nancy (d. 1854), with whom he had Margaret (1824-1910). Henry became a prominent planter and politician. Ellen married her cousin, Samuel Fox Mordecai, and had two children. Jacob never married; he and his aunt, Temperance Lane, ran one of the former Lane plantations. Margaret married planter John Devereux and had eight children.

Rachel (1788-1838) married late in life to Aaron Lazarus (1777-1841) of Wilmington, a widower with seven children. Rachel had four more children: Marx Edgeworth (1822-1895), Ellen (b. 1825), Mary Catherine (1828-1850), and Julia Judith (1830-1873). Rachel's conversion to Christianity infuriated both her father and her husband, who threatened to take her children away from her. None of Rachel's children came to a good end. Marx was an acknowledged genius who studied medicine but was unable to settle down long enough to practice it. His instability caused his family great concern. Ellen married twice, first to John Allen (d. 1858) with whom she had four children, and then to Walter Shutt, with whom she had three more. Neither marriage was financially stable, and Ellen was barely able to support her family. Mary Catherine, or Min, married Drury Thompson of Mobile. The marriage was apparently an unhappy one. Mary died in childbirth in 1850. Julia shared some of her brother's instability. She was constantly in search of a cure for a nervous disorder and spent a great deal of time in New York undergoing various questionable courses of treatment. She broke with her Mordecai relatives in 1856 and died in poverty.

Solomon (1792-1869) studied medicine in Philadelphia before moving to Mobile, Ala., in 1823. In 1824, he married a Gentile, Caroline Waller, and had many children, including Edward Randolph, William, Samuel Fox (1828 1852), Ellen, Thomas, Laura, Susan, Jacob, and Caroline.

Caroline (1794?-1862) also married a a Christian, Achilles Plunkett (d. 1824), who had been a teacher at her family's school and who continued the academy at Warrenton after the Mordecais moved to Richmond. Caroline had three children, all of whom died in infancy. After the death of her husband, she tried unsuccessfully to run the school. After that, she moved to Raleigh to teach her brother Moses's children, but was unhappy there. She finally settled in Mobile, Ala., where she ran a small school, returning to Richmond just prior to the Civil War. She died at the insane asylum in Raleigh, N.C., in 1862.

Samuel (1786-1865) was a merchant at Petersburg and Richmond, Va., and author of Richmond in By Gone Days . He was charged with handling the family's investments. Apparently few of his schemes every proved successful. After his father's death in 1838, he became head of the Richmond branch of the family. Samuel never married but may have had a daughter, whom he named in his will.

Ellen (1790-1884) also never married. She worked as a teacher in the family school and later as a private governess. She also wrote several books, including The History of a Heart, which described her conversion to Christianity.

Alfred (1804-1887) attended West Point and became a career army officer. He married Sara Ann Hays of Philadelphia and raised a large family, including Laura, Rosa, Alfred, Miriam, Augustus, and Gratz. At least two others died in infancy. Alfred resigned his commission at the outbreak of the Civil War and refused to fight for either side, although there is evidence that his sympathies lay with the South. His family stayed in Philadelphia during the war while he worked for the Mexican government constructing a railroad.

Augustus (1806-1847) married Rosina Ursula Young and lived at Rosewood, a farm near Richmond. He and his wife had seven children, four of whom reached adulthood. These children were: William Young (1836-1873), John Brook (b. 1839), George Washington (b. 1844), and Augusta (1847-1939). After Augustus's death, Rosina continued to run the farm, despite chronic poor health. During the Civil War, the farm was often occupied by soldiers of both sides. William, John, and George all served in the Confederate army. George was employed by his uncle, George, as an overseer and later established a sheep ranch in California for him.

Eliza Kennon (1809-1861) married Samuel Hays Myers (1799-1849) of Richmond, Va., and settled with him in Petersburg. They had two children, Edmund Trowbridge Dana (1830-1905) and Caroline (b. 1844). Edmund married Frances Trigg and had at least four children. Caroline married Edward Cohen, a Richmond banker and stock broker. After her husband's death, Eliza apparently lived with or near her mother, sisters, and brother Samuel, in Richmond.

Julia (1799-1852) and Emma (1812-1906) never married. Julia lapsed into insanity for the last several years of her life and died in Richmond. Emma remained with her mother until Rebecca's death in 1863. After the war, she pursued a teaching career. The last Mordecai child was Laura (1818-1839). At the time of her sudden and unexplained death, she was engaged to John Young, her brother Augustus's brother in law.

From the guide to the George W. Mordecai Papers, 1767-1916, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)