ANOTHER JEWISH HOMELAND: I found I couldn’t read any more about the events in Israel. It was just too gut wrenching. I therefore started thinking about a different (though related) topic:
Before there was a modern Israel (and before modern Zionism), there was … South Carolina. Two wealthy Sephardic families living in London—the DaCostas and the Salvadors—purchased 200,000 acres in what was then South Carolina’s frontier sometime in the 1730s or so. Their intent was for the land to become a refuge for poor Sephardic families then living in England. (The land was located in what is now the town of Ninety Six in Greenwood County.)
It wasn’t a crazy an idea—not too crazy anyway. Evidently, a small group of Sephardic Jews had settled in Savannah, Georgia in 1733, but had fled to Charleston when it looked like the Spaniards in Florida had designs on Georgia. The Spanish Inquisition was still in business then, so this was a prudent move. For most of the 18th as well as the early 19th century, South Carolina was the destination of choice for Jewish immigrants to America.
I haven’t been able to find much more on the homeland idea. It looks some Jewish settlers may have come to the area that was known for a time as “Jews’ Land.” But I don’t think anyone would have classified Jews’ Land as a raging success. The Lisbon earthquake in 1755 dealt a serious blow to the finances of the Salvadors and the DaCostas. The failure of the East India Company also figured in their reversal of fortune. These previously wealthy families found themselves no longer so wealthy, so at some point the grand plans for Jews’ Land had to be put aside.
But if you’re looking for an interesting counterfactual history, this could be a good one. How would history have changed if Jews’ Land had prospered and become a significant homeland for Jews?
This connects up to a figure in history that I had heard a little about—Francis Salvador, nephew of one of the Salvadors involved in the original plan. Francis had been born in London into great wealth, but as an adult was of somewhat more modest circumstances. He arranged to purchase a small portion of the South Carolina land his family still owned and moved there in 1773, intending to bring wife and children along as soon as possible.
Once in South Carolina, Salvador became an enthusiastic supporter of independence with friends like Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Henry Laurens, and John Rutledge.
Salvador has the distinction of being the first Jew elected to public office in American history, first being elected to South Carolina’s Provincial Congress and then to its second Provincial Congress. In theory this was illegal, since Jews could not vote or hold office. But no one objected. They evidently liked the guy.
On July 1, 1776, the South Carolina frontier where Salvador resided was attacked by Cherokees allied with the British. He rode 28 miles to raise the alarm, earning the title “the Southern Paul Revere.” Alas, he didn’t live long enough the savor the respect this earned him from his fellow South Carolinians. Later that month, he and his militia were ambushed by a group of Tories and Cherokees. Salvador was shot and scalped. His last distinction was to be the first Jew killed in action in the Revolution. He was 29 years old.