My first visit to the famous house called Monticello in the State of Virginia, by Thomas Jefferson, the Third President of the United States of America and the writer of the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4th, 1776, happened,  when,  with my wife, Lillian, and I  went to visit our daughter Susan and her husband Gary, in 1993, because they had  moved in the previous year  to Palmyra, Lake Monticello.  In Photo   On Columbus weekend, 1994,  on the west front of Monticello - Humberto Carreiro, Susan  Hannifan,  Lillian Carreiro, and Mrs. Silvia da Silva  (Photo by Dr. Luciano da Silva)

Monticello is only 20 miles from Palmyra, and our daughter, knowing that I like American   History very much,  took us to visit this famous building and its surrounding grounds. I was very attentive to the various details of the famous house, but also to its gardens. I was specially   struck by the information contained on  a grave plaque  that exists on the same level as the Monticello, on the south side,  at the beginning of the so called Mulberry Row. This is the only burial outside the Monticello cemetery. The plaque informs the visitors that the name of the person  buried there is that of  a lady named  Rachel  Phillips Levy, daughter of Rebecca Machado Phillips.   The name of Machado, immediately  rung a bell in my head as a Portuguese name!  As soon as I came home to Bristol, Rhode Island,  I started to research why such a  name Machado existed on  the grounds of the Monticello? 

Commodore in the  U. S. Navy Uriah Phillips Levy (1792-1862)
He bought Monticello in 1834, for $2,700

The Levy Family

Monticello’s survival is the result of a pioneering preservation effort by Uriah Phillips Levy (1792-1862) and his nephew, Jefferson Monroe Levy (1852-1924). Born in Philadelphia, Uriah was the third of fourteen children of Rachel and Michael Levy, Jews of Portuguese descent. At the age of ten, Uriah ran away to sea, later enlisting in the United States Navy where he fought against flogging and defended religious freedom. Levy an ardent admirer of Thomas Jefferson, commissioned  a copy of his statue in Paris, which he gave to the Congress of the United States. Today this statue is still in the Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol. 

Levy purchased Monticello for $2,700 in 1834. He dedicated himself to the protection of Monticello, writing that the houses of great men should be preserved as “monuments to their glory”. His mother, Rachel Phillips Levy (1769-1839), was buried along Mulberry Row.

Levy died in 1862, bequeathing Monticello to the federal government, which relinquished its claim. Levy’s heirs contested his will and lengthy litigation ensued. Uriah’s nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy, later a congressman from New York, purchased Monticello in 1879. Monticello’s condition had badly deteriorated, and Jefferson Monroe Levy committed himself to its restoration. He owned  Monticello until it was acquired in 1923 by the newly formed Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Click on photo for a larger view
This is the burial plaque for Rachel Phillips Levy. She was the daughter of Jonas and Rebecca Machado Phillips.  Please notice the name Machado just below the word FAMILY.

To my amazement I came to discovered that  indeed the name Machado was Portuguese. This lady was  a Portuguese Sephardic Jew and she was the  grand  mother of Uriah Phillips Levy, Commander of the United States Navy, who  bought Monticello in 1834  for $2,700 with 218 acres of land.  This Uriah Phillips was the great-great grandson of Dr. Samuel Nunez. This  medical doctor  came to America in 1732. He was the personal  physician of King John V of Portugal. Because of the Inquisition and the expelling of the Jews at that time in Portugal he felt that he was not safe there anymore so he took refuge with his family and forty other Sephardic Jews and settled in Savannah, Georgia. 

When Uriah Phillips Levy  passed way in New York City in1862, he bequeathed  Monticello in his will to the Federal Government an a sanctuary in the name of President Thomas Jefferson. The Federal Government relinquished its claim and Levy’s heirs contested his will. A lengthily litigation ensued. 

This litigation ended  only when Jefferson Monroe Levy, nephew of Uriah Phillips Levy, three term Congressman from New York, purchased Monticello’s from Uriah’s heirs in 1879. At this time  the Monticello was in a terrible deteriorated condition and Jefferson Monroe Levy committed himself to its full restoration by spending many thousands of dollars and adding more than 600 acres of land to Monticello’s tract.  

Therefore Monticello, one of the most famous houses in America, was in the hands of a Portuguese Sephardic  Jewish Family for eighty nine years – a period  much longer than Thomas Jefferson owned it himself!… 

Congressman from New York, Jefferson Monroe Levy, was  the last  private individual owner of Monticello ( 1879 –1923)

In 1923, Jefferson Monroe Levy, because he was getting sick and old he decided himself to create the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, which he wrote in New York City. He sold Monticello  to this Foundation for $500,000 even though  he had offers for more than one million dollars. He preferred that Monticello be under a Foundation, than under private hands again! Jefferson Monroe Levy died a few months later, 1924.

During my research I also verified that both Levys bought Monticello because of their great admiration for the political, social  and governmental qualities of Thomas Jefferson, and not because they were interested  in making a profit from its purchase. 

Both Levys dedicated  lots of their enthusiasm and money to salvage, and restore Monticello. They owned Monticello longer than Thomas Jefferson, yet there is not a  single photo of  both Levys anywhere in Monticello, and the guides do not give to the visitors  any information about this very important chapter of the history  of Monticello. Too bad! 

My Second Visit 

During my research of Monticello, I also found an interesting history of relationship between Thomas Jefferson and  another famous Portuguese citizen, named Abbe’s Correia da Serra. This gentleman, Abade  Correia da Serra had been the first Plenipotentiary  Minister or Portuguese Ambassador to the young  United States of America.  He was a very learned man, was a polyglot, and an international known biologist and agriculturist. Because of his unique knowledge in botany he became a close friend of Thomas Jefferson, to the point that even a special room  was reserved for Correia da Serra  to stay at Monticello for extended periods of time. This room became to be known as Abbe’s Correia da Serra room.  He was also the  founder of the  Portuguese Academy of Science, in Lisbon, Portugal. 

Knowing the story of Abbe’s Correia da Serra room,  on my second visit to Monticello,  I want to see  this room, but I was told that it was under renovation. I was sadden by this information.  

When I had completed all this research, on the ownership of the Levy family  of Monticello, I sent a copy of my papers to the International Center for Jefferson Studies Research Department, and at the same time expressed  my desire to visit  the Abbe’s  Correia da Serra room when the renovations  were complete, possibly on my third visit to the Monticello. 

So I received  a letter acknowledging the receipt of my research papers from Gaye Wilson, International Center for Jefferson Studies Research Department, and  also informing me how to make a  request of them for me to visit the Abbe’s Correia da Serra room at Monticello on my next visit to the famous house.  Here is a copy of the letter I received.  

MONTICELLO

January 18, 2001
Mr. Humberto D. Carreiro
8 St. Theresa Avenue
Bristol, RI 02809-4624

Dear Mr. Carreiro:

Thank you for sharing with us your research on the Levy family at Monticello. It will make a good addition to our files, and I will make sure it reaches our Research Librarian.

As I am sure you found, there was very little that had been published on the Levys and Monticello, however, ironically enough two books have come out this past year: The Levy Family and Monticello, 1834-1923 by Melvin I. Urofsky and Saving Monticello by Marc Leepson. However, I don’t believe they give the genealogy on Uriah Levy’s parents in as much detail as you do.

I notice that you have included information on the Abbé Correa as well. When you toured Monticello, did you see the Abbé Correa room? This is the room that was always assigned to Correa when he visited Jefferson at Monticello. It is not usually on the regular tour, though I believe it is being featured this winter, if this were of interest, it would be best to contact the Public Affairs Office at 434-984-9822 prior to coming.

Thank you again for your interest in Monticello and for sharing your research. I hope you will plan to visit us again in the near future.

Sincerely,
Gaye Wilson
International Center for Jefferson Studies
Research Department
THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL FOUNDATION, INC.
POST OFFICE BOX 316
Charlottesville, VIRGINIA 22902
PHONE 804 984.9808 FAX 804 977-7757
http://www.monticello.org

Our third visit to Monticello

On January 18, 2001, I received a letter (shown above) of thanks from Gaye Wilson of the International Center for Jefferson Studies Research Department for my research of Monticello, the Levy family and the Abbé Jose Francisco Correia de Serra, inviting my family to visit Monticello again and the Abbe's Correia's room.

On December 1st, 2002, my wife, our daughter Susan and I went to Monticello with the invitation letter. We were well received by the staff at Monticello. They showed us the Abbé Correia's room and the rest of Monticello, including the quarters on the third floor which was used by President Thomas Jefferson's family and the dome, which are not part of the regular tour given at Monticello. We were very impressed by this gesture.

From the Booklet Guidebook to Monticello –Page 41.

Abbé Correia’s Room :  The Abbé José Correia da Serra  (1750-1823), a Portuguese botanist, man of letters, and co-founder of the Academy of Science in Lisbon, visited Monticello seven times between 1812 and 1820, while he was Portugal’s Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. Jefferson called him “the best digest of science in books, men , and things that I have ever met with” and invited him to live at Monticello. He was a popular visitor that the North Square Room, which serve as a guest bed chamber, was named for him. A life portrait of the Abbé by Rembrandt Peale hangs above  the mantel (1812). 

Click on photos for a larger view

Thomas Jefferson Tomb Stone

The plaque Reads:
Here was buried Thomas  Jefferson,  Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia For Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia 
                 Born April 2, 1743
              Died July 4^th, 1826

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