 1824 - 1894 (69 years)
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| Name |
Sarah Miriam Solis [2, 3] |
| Born |
15 Oct 1824 |
Mt. Pleasant, Westchester, NY  [3] |
| Gender |
Female |
| Reference Number |
4012 |
| Died |
2 May 1894 |
New York [3] |
| Person ID |
I4012 |
aojd |
| Last Modified |
11 Nov 2011 |
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| Notes |
- (Research):AJLLJ Portrait Database 5 Aug 2011
Born in Mount Pleasant, New York, Sarah Solis was the daughter of Jacob Da Silva Solis and Charity Hays. Her father was a London-born Sephardi who had arrived in America in 1803. The story is told that Jacob was descended from Solomon da Silva Solis and Donna Isabel da Fonseca, the daughter of the Marquis of Turin and Count of Villa Real and Monterey, both refuges from the Inquisition, married in Amsterdam around 1640. In the mid-eighteenth century, the story continues, the Catholic branch of the House of Turin and Villa Real had died out, and so the succession was offered to Sarah Solis' great grandfather. He rejected the offer, as one of the conditions was a Catholic conversion.
Charity Hays, from Bedford New York, was a member of Westchester County's most distinguished Jewish family. Her grandfather Jacob Hays had settled in the town of Rye in 1721, upon arrival from Amsterdam. The couple was married in 1811, and made their home in Mount Pleasant, New York. However, they spent some time in Wilmington, Delaware, where Jacob had established an auction house. Jacob also purchased land and maintained strong economic ties to New Orleans. The family's strongest connection, however, was to Shearith Israel and its community in New York City. By the time Sarah and her brother David were born, her parents had settled back in Mount Pleasant, where they would remain the rest of their lives.
In 1845 the beautiful Sarah caught the eye of a young man. And it was not just any eye; it was that of Solomon Nunes Carvalho, who as a portraitist would become known for that discerning eye. Carvalho addressed a letter to her brother Solomon, since her father had passed away when she was fourteen, and asked for her hand:
For your esteemed sister, Sarah, I have conceived other than mere commonplace feelings. Her amiability, sweetness of temper, together with a congeniality of disposition and I dare hope a reciprocity of sentiment, have awakened in my bosom feelings of a deep and ardent affection and as her guardian and Elder Brother, I deem it a duty I owe you, to acquaint you with my pretensions, and to obtain your sanction, that I may make her Honorable proposals of Marriage, the consummation of which would render me most happy.
To my family connections, you can make no reasonable objections. My personal character, altho not entirely free from all the little piccadeleos of youth still I hope displays some remains of those honorable feelings which have won for myself an honorable standing in Society… Should I be so fortunate as to receive your sanction to my suit, I need hardly say I will cherish for your Sister those feelings which I should wish a Husband to have for my own sisters.
The couple was married in October of that year in Philadelphia. Isaac Leeser performed the ceremony. They took a honeymoon to the Caribbean and upon their return made Philadelphia their home. Sarah studied the pedagogy and methodology of Rebecca Gratz, and became involved in Jewish education. Over the next several years they would live in Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York.
In 1853 Solomon was approached to serve as an expedition photographer for John Charles Fremont, as he embarked on his final transcontinental journey. On September 5, Sarah was left with the three children, as Solomon departed for what would become more than a year's absence. Upon his return they had one more child. [4]
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| Sources |
- [S285] .
- [S4] PG. 30 CARVALHO (Reliability: 3).
- [S4] PG. 274 SOLIS (2) (Reliability: 3).
- [S294] CARVALHO, SARAH SOLIS (Reliability: 3).
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