a subsequent letter of August 25, 1804,61 Badgley advises Sibley that Moses David had informed him of the judgment the lawyer had obtained in Detroit against Joseph Campeau that “serves to request that you will pay the amount of the claim into the hands of my attorney, Mr. Moses David, whose receipt will exonerate you therefrom.”62
On the back of that letter, Moses had inserted the total sum of the judgment, less court costs. The following notation made at the bottom of the letter, appears to refer to the interest charges Moses had added to the original judgment:
Received Sandwich, September 25, 1804 of Solomon Sibley, attorney at Law the above sum of 1380.50, being the amount of the judgment above S. Sibley 3 percent commission for collection per the written order received by me.63
The Detroit Fire of 1805
The Detroit Fire of 1805 was a major disaster and damaged the area’s economy even across the river in Sandwich, so integral were the communities. The following correspondence demonstrates that David did not always succeed in collecting his debts. James May, the first chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1796 and a prominent Detroit merchant, was a personal friend of Moses David. Although he had owned a shop and had kept slaves, by 1806 he appeared to have fallen on hard times. The following excerpts from a letter he wrote to Moses David in August of that year sheds some light on prevailing general economic conditions, but specifically on May’s personal plight:
Dear Sir:
I have this moment received your letter and am very sorry to inform (you) at this present juncture, it is totally out of my power to assist you with cash. My situation is pretty much the same with your own. I have experienced nothing but a series of disappointments from all quarters. I should have answered your letter enclosing my account, but was in every expectation of seeing you over on this side in order to make some remarks on your account current relative to the deficiency which you have charged my account with. Also the vinegar for Badgley’s estate and the astonishing amount of the box of toys, but more of it when we meet. Suffice my good friend that I am to the trouble to apologize for asking for your own is what I have no right to expect. I am in hopes that something will turn up before long that will give a little circulation of cash. If not, the Lord only knows what will become of the country and the people in it. I never saw anything equal to the great scarcity of money as at present. I remain, dear sir, with sentiments of respect.
Yours truly,
[signed] James May64
Moses also was well acquainted with James Henry, another Detroit merchant. Active in politics, he also was the judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions, serving it as commissioner as well. Moses wrote to him on January 30, 1809, requesting help in settling the aforementioned James May’s account, which he agreed to do.65 Again on June 25, 1812, Moses wrote to Henry, this time asking him to remit the payment he had promised to make on an overdue draft issued in Philadelphia. Enclosed with that letter was the ledger page of Henry’s account with Moses, which clearly showed the diversity of his business dealings. Covering the period between November 1809 and June 24, 1812, Moses apparently had supplied Henry with such items as a “tea kettle, maid’s hose, table cloths, book, calfskin, flour, drawing knife, and nails.”66
Even though Moses David continued to engage in business with prominent Americans, businessmen as well as political figures, he remained loyal to Great Britain. Anxious to come to her aid, should he be required to do so, he became a captain in the Northeast Regiment, Essex County Militia on May 22, 1807.67 The company under his command included one lieutenant, an ensign, a sergeant, twenty-two privates, twenty-two arms, and sixty-six rounds of ammunition. On June 4, 1807, his name appeared together with those of other officers, in the papers of his former business associate John Askin, who meanwhile had become a colonel.68
Moses David was influential in breaking down barriers in Upper Canada that threatened to limit Jewish opportunity and equal rights concerning land ownership and military and political participation.
In reversing this practice, Moses David, a natural-born British subject resident in Essex, played an important part. The change, however, was de facto rather than de jure. In 1803 the Executive Council granted his prayer for relief and he received the patent, in his own right, for land in Sandwich on 20 February 1804. He did so without swearing the oath of adjuration in its Christian form. He seems to have avoided this when he was commissioned a militia officer prior to 1803 although the state oaths were a formal requirement. When appointed coroner of the Western District in 1808, he again escaped taking the oaths by posting a performance bond, an innovative practice designed to meet the requirement of the oath of adjuration.69
The Land Speculator
There is no doubt that Moses David was well respected. He was even favoured by the exclusive Family Compact, a group that had emerged when John Graves Simcoe became Upper Canada’s first lieutenant governor and attempted to create a local aristocracy. Not only had he appointed his Loyalist friends to powerful government positions, he had also granted them enormous tracts of Crown reserves. These were usually kept unproductive and dormant, even though the lands were badly needed for new settlements. This system remained intact until popular discontent forced reform. Under these conditions, Moses David was able to acquire a number of prized tracts of Crown land in the Western District.
In John Clark’s magisterial work, Land, Power and Economics on the Frontier of Upper Canada, Moses David is presented as a major player among the land speculators on this western frontier:
An interesting facet of commerce was that over time the nature of the speculators changed with the economy. In the earlier period, many of the land speculators or mortgage investors were directly involved in the fur trade and Indian trade or at least in supplying the fur trade. Askin and McGill are the most obvious examples, but the list also includes . . . others among the 144 speculators who were recognizably merchants but who had less obvious connections to the fur trade. These included . . . Moses David, William McCormick, George Meldrum, William Munger, Charles Askin, and Francis Baby.70
Moses David apparently adopted one of the common strategies of land speculators, that of buying tax delinquent lands much less than he would have paid the Crown or private land companies. Price was one advantage and another was the fact that lands purchased in that fashion could be held for eight years without paying any tax, allowing the speculators to better employ their capital in more profitable ways.71 A sample of Moses David’s land purchases and sales demonstrate his knowledge of local development trends.
Aside from his urban real estate in Sandwich town, Moses had properties in the village of Amherstburg, the site of Fort Malden, the major British stronghold on the frontier. The community grew and became more influential than Sandwich. On September 27, 1805, Moses paid George Ermatinger ten shillings for a property that included a house and auxiliary buildings,72 and on September 11, 1806, at a price of £68 1s 8p, he bought one hundred of the two hundred acres Thomas Smith had received from the Crown free of charge two years earlier. Located in Sandwich East, that parcel of land was no more than a swamp at the time. However, since it bordered on Lake St. Clair, it offered good possibilities for future development as a prime waterfront property.73 This area was a favourite of John Askin, who put together a parcel of lots along Lake St. Clair and the rivers draining into the lake. Accessibility by water remained a crucial component of value in an area still largely devoid of roads. On November 20, 1807, Smith sold the remaining one hundred acres to Moses David,74 who resold them to a Joseph Mayoux on January 16, 1808 — just a few months later.75
Moses also became owner of additional lands; some in the Township of Sandwich,76 as well as 114 acres in the Township of Colchester,77 properties that had cost him ten
