Judah Phillip Levy

Married to Hannah by 1820.

1. In 1821, according to Benjamin McMahon, "Doctor Craig, who was the medical man in that part of the country, accused Mr. Levy, the proprietor of a small place, called Phillips Valley, of having buried a negro clandestinely, who met with his death by poison." Apparently the enslaved person "often came to the hospital complaining of sickness. Mr. Levy said it was nothing but skulking, and on this occasion said he would cure him of it, and for this purpose he gave him six grains of tarter emetic which brought on excessive retching for several hours, until he died... Dr. Craig arrived at the place shortly after the man's death, and inserted a note in the hospital book, that the man had died from an over-dose of tartar emetic. Immediately on this being done, Mr. Levy discharged Craig from attendance on Phillip's Valley. Craig then wrote to the authorities in Kingston, stating the particulars of the man's death." McMahon described the resulting inquest as a "sham investigation and the verdict was "Died by the visitation of God." A few weeks later, "Craig was discharged from the practice of every estate in the district ; and, in order to crush him still more, Mr. Levy sued him for defamation of character, and obtained a verdict, from a jury of planters like himself ... Craig was entirely ruined by this matter, and died not long after."

1. Benjamin McMahon, Jamaica Plantership: Eighteen Years Employed in the Planting Line in that Island (1839) pp. 20-25.

We are grateful to Siddharth Singh Ahlawat for his assistance with compiling this entry.