Jacob Deleon

Born in Jamaica, Jacob Deleon (1764-1828) moved to New York and eventually joined the city’s Jewish elite. In 1789, he married Hannah Hendricks (1767-1839), whose family ran Hendricks Brothers—one of the oldest copper trading firms in the United States. According to historian Rabbi Barnett A. Elzas, Jacob served in the Revolutionary War as a captain under Major General Johann de Kalb, who Jacob allegedly helped carry off the field when the general was mortally wounded at the Battle of Camden in 1780. However, no primary sources have been identified to corroborate this story.

By 1796, Jacob and his family moved to Charleston where he was listed as a vendue master or auctioneer—first on Mazyck Street in 1796 and then at 90 Tradd Street in 1801. In 1803, he also opened a store on Exchange Street and by 1806, he moved his auction house to 3 Vendue Row. Through his various businesses, Jacob sold jewelry, textiles, china, meat, tobacco and other imported goods such as Holland gin, Muscovado sugar, and Turkey figs. According to his advertisements in The Charleston Daily Courier, Jacob Deleon also engaged in the sale of enslaved men, women, and children and operated on Mey’s and Lothrop’s wharfs. According to their census records from 1820, Jacob and Hannah also enslaved six people—four of which were under the age of fourteen at the time. By 1828, Jacob and Hannah moved to Richland County where Jacob later left property to his wife in Sandhill.