Sam Levy

Samuel L. Levy

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Birth: 1845 in New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Death: January 1, 1923 in Victoria, B.C.

Plot: Row E – Plot 24

Biography:
Samuel “Sam” L Levy was the third born child of Esther Solomon and Benjamin Levy. Sam’s mother, Esther Solomon, came from an impoverished but “respectable” Jewish family in London. The charities in London hoped that assisting penniless but devout young Jewish people to move would help establish Jewish communities in the growing British territories. Esther was sent to New Zealand for a pre-arranged marriage to Benjamin. Their time in New Zealand was duly reported back to the Jewish authorities as “the first”—first Jewish wedding on Wellington, first bris (ritual circumcision), first corpse (their second child), etc. The family moved to Australia, then to the California Gold Rush, back to England, and back again to California. Benjamin had died a few days from Panama of typhoid. Esther, heavily pregnant, continued with her by now numerous children under the age of 11. They were assisted through charity appeals in the Jewish Chronicle in London as well as the British Government, to return to England.

Esther struggled to raise her children as a single mother in London. To support families charities apprenticed young children to work at low paying occupations. Sam was trained as a bookbinder. The eldest son Henry Emanuel, “H.E.” is quoted as saying; “it took us two weeks to earn what we earned in a day in San Francisco.” Unhappy with the conditions in London, at the age of 14, H.E. left London on his own and arrived in Victoria in 1859 from San Francisco. He supported his mother as best he could. With some of the money he earned as a police officer, he established Levy’s Arcade Oyster Saloon in 1865 at the age of 22. With those proceeds, H.E. began bringing his mother and five remaining siblings to Victoria or Seattle.

In 1871, brothers H.E. opened the first soda water manufacturer in the Washington territory. Known as the Levy Brothers’ Seattle Soda Works they manufactured soda water, syrups, cider, ginger beer, sarsaparilla and other beverages. When Sam left London in 1877, he came to Seattle and worked at the Seattle Soda Works with his brothers H.E. and Jacob “Jack”. H.E. sold the business in 1879 which put Sam out of a job. He opened a hardware and crockery business in Cheney, Washington Territory near Spokane. He returned to Seattle a short time later and worked for H.E. again.

Sam’s name first appears in the 1884-1885 edition of the British Columbia City Directories. He’s listed as a commercial traveller living on View Street.
On May 17, 1886, The Victoria Daily Times reported: “Mr. S. Levy was charged with keeping a house on Government street as a “resort” for prostitutes.” His lawyer, Mr Walls, called several witnesses, including the head waiter and the nightwatchman to prove that the house was an “orderly one”, and that no disturbances had taken place. The article stated that the Magistrate “took time to consider his judgment.”

The Victoria Daily Standard on May 18, 1886, covered the courtroom more extensively. The paper reported that Sam’s lawyer, Mr. Walls pleaded not guilty on behalf of his client. And that two police officers gave testimony that they had regularly seen women of “loose character” “stopped” in the rooms or eating there. The officers also said that Mr. Levy assured them that he would never allow the house to be kept as before and many “respectable people” now boarded at the restaurant. The nightwatchman testified that the house was a “respectably conducted one.”

On June 12, 1886 the The Victoria Daily Times reported that the case against Sam Levy was dismissed. The Magistrate said that “although in his opinion it had been proved that prostitutes resorted to the house, still there was no evidence that the house was kept for that purpose and on the contrary that respectable lodgers and boarders resorted there.”

Sam’s employment at the Arcade Oyster Saloon on Government Street was confirmed by the 1887 edition of the British Columbia City Directories. Between 1890 and 1898, Sam is recorded as having been employed as a clerk (1890-1891), a pawnbroker (1892), and a salesman/employee of the pawnbroker A.A. Aaronson (1894-1897).

According to the August 25, 1897 edition of The Victoria Daily Times, Sam was charged in police court with “supplying a bottle of gin to a Saanich Indian. The Indian was arrested on the Saanich road yesterday afternoon, and in the provincial court was fined $25 for having liquor in his possession. He told the police that Levy had supplied it. Levy, however pleaded not guilty and other witnesses will be called tomorrow.” There was no follow up article found that concluded the trial.

The 1891 Canada Census revealed that Sam was 46 years old, literate, working as a bond clerk and living with this brother, H.E. and his family and their ‘domestic’ servant.

According to the British Columbia City Directories, between 1898 and 1900 Sam was still living in Victoria and working as a second hand dealer. Sam disappears from that Directory until 1913, but, according to the 1910 US census, Sam was living in Howkan, Alaska in 1900. Despite the British Columbia City Directories listing him as living in Victoria until 1900, the 1910 US census indicated that Sam arrived in Alaska in 1898.

The headline of the June 6, 1903 Victoria Daily Times read “The Dawson Rush Has Commenced.” The paper reported that at least 2,000 people were expected in Dawson within the following two or three weeks. The article also recorded that Sam Levy and Max Steinfelt were arrested and charged with wholesale robbery. “The police believe that they can account for where $10,000 worth of clothing as disappeared during the winter.” A trial was held in July at which time Max confessed to the crime and gave evidence as to the actions that were taken by himself and Sam. Both men were charged with the crime, but Max got a lighter sentence owing to his cooperation. The Victoria Daily Times reported on July 27, 1903 that Sam received a three year jail sentence while Max given a two years.

On November 3, 1903, both The Victoria Daily Times and the Vancouver Daily World reported that Sam was being transferred to New Westminster because is was “less costly to the government to keep long-term prisoners on the outside than at Dawson, where supplies are so costly.”

The British Columbia City Directories for 1913 and 1914 listed Sam as a clerk in Victoria for Jacob Aaronson (son of A.A.’s brother the junk dealer Barney Aaronson). The 1915, 1920, 1922 editions of the City Directories lists Sam as being in business with his cousin E.P. Nathan. Their shop at 1422 Government Street was called Nathan & Levy and sold new and second hand clothing, tools, musical instruments, books, watches jewellery and eyeglasses.

The Victoria Daily Times reported onSeptember 9, 1915; “….Mr. J.W. Gosling accused Robert Irvine (a half breed) of stealing his watch….Samuel Levy, a Government street pawnbroker said that Irvine called on him last Thursday and disposed of the watch. He gave him $2 for it. Levy admitted in court that the watch was worth about $20 when new. He said that the accused signed the name of R.W. Ross on the stub of the receipt which is always given to a person who pawns goods….” No resolution was reported.

No records have been found which indicated that Sam married or had children.

Sam died on January 1, 1923 at St. Joseph’s Hospital at the age of 78. A funeral took place on January 3 at the Sands Funeral Chapel. The paper reported that Sam’s remains were sent to Seattle for cremation.

*****Special thanks to Carolyn Hahn for her suggested edits and for her tireless willingness to help get her family’s story straight.

Inscription:
In Loving Memory of
JACK LEVY
SAM LEVY
sons of ESTHER LEVY
1848-1913
1845-1921

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

Siblings:
Joseph “Joe” Levy (1841-1935)
H.E. (Henry Emanuel) Levy (1843–1929)
Jacob “Jack” Levy (1848-1913)
Phoebe Levy Levy (1854-1916)
Abraham Levy (died in 1874)

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