Phoebe Levy

Phoebe Levy Levy

(additional images below)

Birth: February 6, 1854 in San Francisco, California

Death: August 26, 1926 in Vancouver, B.C.

Plot: Row F – Plot 1

Inscription:
Phoebe Levy
Daughter of Esther Levy
1850 – 1916

Biography:

Phoebe Levy was the youngest of the children born to Benjamin Levy and Esther Solomon Levy.  In 1853 the family was crossing the Isthmus of Panama on their way to San Francisco when Benjamin contracted typhoid. Esther was pregnant with Phoebe and gave birth to her in San Francisco 6 months later.

Esther arrived in San Francisco, pregnant, and with children in tow. The Jewish agencies did their best to take care of her and the children, but ultimately collected the funds to send the remaining members of the family back to London.

Her brother H.E. established a very popular restaurant later known as Levy’s . H.E. used the profits to bring his mother and siblings to Victoria in 1868. 

In 1879, Phoebe married Joseph Lewis Levy.  The family suffered a number of tragedies including her husband’s long illness and ultimate death which required Phoebe to run a boarding house in order to make ends meet. Her daughter Annie died at age 29.

Phoebe struggled with mental illness for the last 15 years of her life, and was hospitalized in New Westminster.  Under the auspices of the Jewish community of Vancouver a number of Jewish families took turns having Phoebe living with them.  She died in Marpole, (Vancouver), BC on August 26, 1926. Her body was brought to Victoria and was buried in her family plot in the Jewish Cemetery

Notes:
According to Phoebe’s great great granddaughter Carolyn Hahn, Phoebe was born in 1854 (6 months after her father Benjamin’s death following the family’s crossing the Isthmus of Panama in late 1853) on the way to the Gold Rush. This information is confirmed by her BC Death Registration which gives her age at death in 1926 as 72. Both the birth and death date recorded on the marker is incorrect. Phoebe’s brother H.E.’s son, Arthur Levy was contacted in the mid Twentieth century when the cemetery was being restored. It was he who paid for both his parent’s family plot and his cousin’s.

Parents:
Esther Solomon Levy (1824–1911)
Benjamin Levy (1819–1853)

Siblings:
Joseph “Joe” Levy (1841-1935)
H.E. (Henry Emanuel) Levy (1843–1929)
Samuel L. Levy (1845-1921)
Jacob “Jack” Levy (1848-1913)
Abraham Levy (died 1874)

Spouse:
Joseph Lewis Levy (1852–1912)

Children:
Annie Levy Levy (1884–1914)
Benjamin Levy (1886-
Lewis Joseph (1892-

Additional Images:

Interview with ex-daughter-in-law Louisa Nathan Levy (Lewis’ exwife):
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ohc/id/36/rec/1