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Mathias Bush | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupations | Merchant, shipowner, army purveyor |
| Known for | Signer of the 1765 non-importation agreement; grant of Philadelphia's Jewish burial ground |
| Children | Solomon Bush, Lewis Bush, Jonas Bush |
| Relatives | Henry M. Phillips (great-grandson) |
Mathias Bush (also spelled Matthias; fl. 1740s–1780s) was a Prague-born Jewish merchant in colonial Philadelphia. A shipowner and army purveyor during the French and Indian War, he was a leader of the city's Jewish community, signed the Philadelphia merchants' non-importation agreement of 1765, and in the same year obtained an addition to the city's Jewish burial ground, now the Mikveh Israel Cemetery. Three of his sons served in the American Revolutionary War: Solomon Bush became the highest-ranking Jewish officer of the war; Lewis Bush, a major in the Continental Army, was killed at the Battle of Brandywine; and Jonas Bush appears on the roll of Revolutionary soldiers.
Bush was a native of Prague. He arrived in New York City in the 1740s and later moved to Philadelphia or Germantown. In 1749 he was naturalized, one of the first to benefit from the Act of Parliament of 1740 that allowed foreigners, Jews included, to be naturalized after seven years' residence in the colonies.
Bush was a merchant and shipowner, and during the French and Indian War he served as an army purveyor. He owned property in Philadelphia and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania and in Frederick and Hampshire counties in Virginia.
On October 25, 1765, Bush was among the Philadelphia merchants who signed a non-importation agreement, pledging not to import British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed. Other Jewish signers included Moses Mordecai and Barnard Gratz.
Bush was a prominent member and leader of Philadelphia's Jewish community. In 1765 John Penn granted him a piece of ground adjoining the burial ground that Nathan Levy had obtained in 1740. Like Levy, Bush intended the ground to serve as a burial place not only for his own family but for the Jews of Philadelphia generally, and it became part of the cemetery of Congregation Mikveh Israel.
During the Revolution Bush lived at Chestnut Hill, near Philadelphia; his son Solomon, badly wounded in 1777, recovered at his father's home. In 1782 and 1783 Mathias Bush served as collector of taxes for Germantown.
Bush had many children. His son Solomon Bush (1753–1795) was an officer in the Pennsylvania militia who rose to lieutenant colonel, the highest rank held by any Jew during the Revolution. His son Lewis Bush rose from first lieutenant to major in the Continental Army and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777. Another son, Jonas Bush, was on the roll of Revolutionary soldiers, though his rank and date of enlistment are not recorded.
His grandson Jonas Altamont Phillips (1806–1862) was a Philadelphia lawyer, and his great-grandsons included the congressman Henry M. Phillips (1811–1884) and the numismatist Henry Phillips (1838–1895).