Abraham de Lyon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Portugal |
| Occupation | Vintner (vigneron) |
| Known for | Planting the first vineyard in the colony of Georgia |
| Spouse | Esther Nunez |
| Relatives | Samuel Nunez (father-in-law) |
Abraham de Lyon was a Portuguese-born Jewish vintner who was among the first Jewish settlers of Savannah, Georgia, arriving in 1733. Having been for years a vigneron (winegrower) in Portugal, he planted what is recorded as the first vineyard in the colony of Georgia, and was at the center of the Georgia Trustees' early efforts to establish a colonial wine industry.
De Lyon was one of the 42 Jewish men and women who arrived in Savannah aboard the William and Sarah on July 11, 1733, a few months after James Oglethorpe founded the colony. Most were Sephardic Jews who had fled Portugal for London, and their arrival was unwelcome to the colony's Trustees, who had not authorized Jewish settlement. Oglethorpe nevertheless allowed them to stay; scholars have suggested that De Lyon's experience in viticulture, useful to the colony's plans for wine production, was among the reasons. De Lyon soon became a freeholder in Savannah.
The Trustees hoped to make Georgia a wine-producing colony, and De Lyon's skill as a vinegrower drew the attention of their agents. He cultivated several varieties of grapes, including Porto and Malaga, on his town lot, using vines he had brought with him from Portugal. William Stephens, the Trustees' agent in Georgia, wrote an admiring description of the vineyard, the first recorded in the colony.
De Lyon petitioned the Trustees for a loan of £200, stating that he had already spent £400 improving his lot and cultivating his vines, which he had "brought to great Perfection." He proposed to use the money, with funds of his own, to bring further vines and vignerons from Portugal. On May 17, 1738, the Trustees ordered the money paid to him, to be repaid within six years.
The scheme failed. Some colonists blamed Oglethorpe, saying he had refused to hand over the full sum because he had other uses for the money. Thomas Causton, Savannah's chief magistrate, gave a different account: Oglethorpe had authorized the payment, but his agent deducted a debt De Lyon owed the community store, leaving him unable to carry out his contract.
De Lyon had married into the family of the physician Samuel Nunez, a fellow passenger on the William and Sarah. By September 1740 the Nunez family had left Georgia for Carolina, reportedly for fear of a Spanish attack from Florida, and the Trustees' journal records Mrs. de Lyon's departure that year. De Lyon probably left as well, though according to the Jewish Encyclopedia he likely returned to Savannah later and died there.