Samuel Nunez - Dr. Nunez's Descendants of Distinction

Dr. Nunez's Descendants of Distinction

His son Moses became a man of wealth and distinction and a member of Oglethorpe’s Masonic Lodge. Moses served as an Indian interpreter and an agent for the Georgia Revolutionary forces. In his will of October 14, 1785, Moses divided his property equally among his children born to his first wife Rebecca Abraham (a son Samuel) and to his second wife Mulatto Rose (sons James, Robert and Alexander and daughter Frances Galphin).

Through Zipra, Dr. Nunez's second great-grandson, Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy, was one of the highest ranking naval officers of the Civil War. He is credited with abolishing the practice of flogging in the U.S. Navy. Commodore Levy purchased Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello when it was a disgraceful eyesore, restored it and, through his heirs, transferred it to the U.S. Government. He is known to be the first private citizen to restore an historic American residence. The Jewish chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis is named in Commodore Levy's honor.

Other distinguished descendants of Dr. Nunez include two more great-grandsons through his daughter Zipra. Considered the best known Jewish man in America during the first half of the nineteenth century, Mordecai Manuel Noah was a jurist, journalist, public servant, playwright and one of the founders of New York University. Major Raphael Jacob Moses, a highly regarded Confederate officer, later became chairman of the Georgia House Judiciary Committee. An attorney from Columbus, Georgia, he is credited with establishing Georgia’s world-renown peach industry.