Levi Judah Abraham

Levi Abraham or, as he was originally called, Judah Löwy, was born in 1752. he was a son of Abraham Loew of Thalmessingen, Frankfurt-on-Main, and came to England at the age of 20. Until 1777 he lived with his uncle, Isaac Alexander, a merchant and ship-owner of Portsmouth. In 1787 he married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Henry and Zipporah moses of dover. The young couple took up their residence in Ramsgate. Levi Abraham is first mentioned in the rate books of 1788 as Levi Abrahams and as living in the West End (of Ramsgate).

he had a tailors shop in the West End, afterwards called High Street (in Ramsgate), first at No. 63, later No. 70. In 1835 the local commissioners gave him permission 'to dif a cellar to his house in Gilling Place, not to extend beyond the foot pavement'. He attained the great age of 95. Lady Montefiore visited him and made sympathetic reference to him in her 'Notes from a Journal'. She appreciated it highly that he obliged them by turning out on a cold November morning in 1838, when Sir Moses, previous to his departure for Palestine, was anxious to say his prayers with Minyan.

Levi Abraham was a member of the Canterbury congregation and was buried in that city in 1847, his wife having predeceased him in 1811.

His house in Ramsgate was the intellectual and social centre of ramsgate Jewry before the arrival of Sir Moses. He had eight children. His six sons all changed their surname to Henry, except one, Israel Abraham, his successor in business. (information from Think and Thank by the Rev. D. A. Jessurun Cardozo, published in Oxford in 1933.) (Copy in Jeffrey Maynard collection)

"The Ramsgate Jews originally arrived after 1749 when the port was constructed for the Channel Squadron and with the growth of the town as a holiday resort. The first local Jew is thought to have been Isaac Lyon, a silversmith, who was in residence from about 1786 onwards and he remained there until his death in 1837. He lived in what is now the High Street of Ramsgate. Noah Levi, a watch maker arrived in 1789 and lived in Queen Street. Levi Abraham of Portsmouth, arrived in 1788 after marrying a Zipporah Moses of Dover. Levi Abraham (b. 1752 at Frankfort-am-Mainz) kept a tailor's shop in town and lived on the present High Street. In the early days Abraham was the de facto leader of the community. His children and descendants were to make good marriages or become notables. His grandson, Michael Henry (1830-75) was to be the Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, a member of Council for Jew's College, as well as the Honorary Secretary for Stepney Jewish schools. Henry J. Levy, a watch maker, arrived in 1794 and lived at Albion Hill and then later 68 High Street. It is notable that there was inter-connection between the Portsmouth Jewish community at Portsea and the early Ramsgate community through marriage. One of Levi Abraham's sons, Israel Abraham (1796-1858) stayed in Ramsgate and prospered as a hatter and tailor, at 11 and 12 Queen Street, and was also an agent for the Alliance Assurance Company, which Sir Moses helped set up. Israel Abraham was elected to civic government in 1841, when he was a commissioner for Ramsgate improvements. However in the early days, before Sir Moses came on the scene, there were too few Jews to build a formal community and residents depended on Canterbury for the synagogue and burial ground. The schochet came from Dover."https://www.british-genealogy.com/threads/75015-HENRY-LEVY-LEWIS-SO...