Robert E. Lee Signed CDV, Presented by Him to Rebecca Gratz Minis, Scioness of One of the First Prominent American Jewish Families, Particularly in the South

We obtained this photograph from Rebecca’s great-great granddaughter, and it has never before been offered for sale

Abraham Minis was one of the earliest settlers in the colony of Georgia, arriving at Savannah with the first group of Jewish colonists which came from England on July 11, 1733, just months after Georgia founder James Oglethorpe. He seems to have been a man of means. Some of the family silver he brought with him is still in possession of his descendants; and several pieces bear his crest. Abraham’s name appears among those of the grantees mentioned in the general conveyance of town lots and farms executed in December 1733, and which is virtually the earliest deed in the colony. He soon became a merchant, and is mentioned as such in Savannah as early as 1737. When many of the colonists, both Jew and Gentile, left Georgia about 1740, owing to the illiberal policy of the trustees, Minis was one of the few Jews who remained; he is mentioned in the trustees’ minutes of that period.

His son was Philip Minis. Born at Savannah on July 11, 1734, he was the first white male child born in the colony of Georgia. Philip was a successful merchant at the outbreak of the American Revolution. An ardent patriot, he advanced considerable sums to the Revolutionary cause, mainly in connection with the payment of the troops. His name appears in the “Journal of the Continental Congress.” In 1778 Congress directed the payment to him of several thousands of dollars, advanced to the “acting paymaster and commissary to the Virginia and North Carolina troops in the State of Georgia.” When, in September 1779, the French auxiliaries besieged Savannah, Minis acted as guide through the woods, and was consulted as to the best place for landing. He also volunteered to act as a patriot guide thereafter. In 1780 the British passed their famous “Disqualifying Act,” whereby certain persons were disqualified from holding office, because of their prominence in the “rebel cause.” The name of Philip Minis is one of the 150 names appearing in this list.

Philip’s granddaughter was Rebecca Gratz Minis and daughter of Isaac Minis, a soldier in the War of 1812. She was named after Rebecca Gratz, a Philadelphia philanthropist, who founded the first Hebrew Sunday School in America and participated as a founding member in several other nonsectarian and Jewish charitable organizations which were among the first to be organized and run by women. She is remembered today for her beauty, and the persistent story that she was the inspiration for the character of Rebecca in Walter Scott’s novel, Ivanhoe. The Minis family was married into the Polock family of Newport, Rhode Island, which had extensive ties to the Gratz family. This likely explains Rebecca Gratz Minis having been named after Rebecca Gratz.

The Minis family was personally known to Robert E. Lee since his service as a U.S. Army engineer in the 1830s, when he was building Fort Pulaski, which was designed to protect the city of Savannah from naval attack. Lee gave drawings in his hand to the Minis family. The family continued its association with Lee, and entertained him at the start of the Civil War.

D.H. Anderson began his career as a photographer during the Daguerrean era, exposing his first plates in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1855. A restless spirit, he moved from city to city in the South and Midwest before fixing upon Richmond, Virginia, as a base in 1865. For the next 14 years he operated the most lucrative portrait business in that city, and one of the finest in the region. He took a portrait photograph of Robert E. Lee in August 1869, a year before Lee’s death. Lee signed one of the copies and presented it to Rebecca Gratz Minis. On the verso appears the Anderson studio’s stamp, and Rebecca has written “From Gen. R.E. Lee to Rebecca Gratz Minis.”

We obtained this photograph from Rebecca’s great-great granddaughter. It has never before been offered for sale.