Gershom Kursheedt^{[1, 2]}

1817 - 1863  (~ 46 years)

• Name	Gershom Kursheedt  [3]
  Born	Jan 1817	Richmond, Henrico, VA   [3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Reference Number	3963
  Died	7 May 1863	London, Middlesex, England   [3]
  Person ID	I3963	aojd
  Last Modified	11 Nov 2011

  
  

  Mother	Sarah Abigail Seixas,   b. 10 Feb 1778, Stratford, CT ,   d. 4 Aug 1854, New York  (Age 76 years)
  Family ID	F1289	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  (Research):AJLLJ Portrait Database 5 Aug 2011 The son of Israel Baer Kursheedt and Abigail Seixas Kursheedt, Gershom's family instilled in him a profound connection to Judaism. His father was probably the most Talmudically learned person in America at the time, a man widely consulted on questions of Jewish law. His maternal grandfather— Gershom Mednes Seixas— for whom he was named and who died a year before his birth, had served as the first widely recognized public representative of American Judaism.      At twenty-one he moved to New Orleans, and from 1845 to 1849 served as the publisher of the New Orleans Commercial Times. Around this time he became increasingly involved in charitable work in the city, helping to raise funds for those suffering from the yellow fever and cholera epidemics. He also began an involvement with freemasonry, and became a broker.      Dissatisfied with the state of Jewish life in the city— the rabbi, he believed, was a charlatan, and the community lacked such basics as a torah and a shofar— Kursheedt sought to establish a new synagogue. In order to raise funds for this venture, he contacted one of the wealthiest men in New Orleans, Judah Touro, convincing him of the importance of the benefaction of Jewish institutions, and initiating him to the world of philanthropy. It was a field in which Touro would excel. The new congregation was named Nefutzoth Yehudah— "the dispersed of Judah"— an homage to Touro. Kursheedt served as its first parnas. He also organized New Orleans' first Hebrew benevolent society.      In 1861 he married Grace Guyedalla. Two years later Kursheedt died, and his wife remarried his older brother Alexander. [5]

  
  

• Sources

  [S81] . [S285] . [S4] PG. 147 KURSHEEDT (Reliability: 3). [S94] . [S294] KURSHEEDT, GERSHOM (Reliability: 3).