Abraham Mordecai: Alabama’s Earliest Jewish Resident

May 6, 2024 | SupaduDev | Alabama Heritage Blog

When exploring the diverse tapestry of Alabama’s origins, one extraordinary figure stands out — Abraham Mordecai, widely believed to be the state’s earliest known Jewish resident. His incredible life united Native American and European cultures during a pivotal era of turbulence and conflict.

Mordecai was born in 1755 in Philadelphia to a Jewish family with roots across Lithuania, Portugal, Holland, and England. After serving in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, the adventurous Mordecai set his sights on exploring the unknown and Native lands of the South in 1783. He established himself as a trader among the Creek (Muscogee) Nation in Georgia before relocating just two years later to the Creek town of Econochaca, near what is now known as Montgomery, Alabama.

This marked the start of Mordecai’s total immersion into Native life. He married a Creek woman named White Cloud and earned the respect of her people, who presented him the honored name “Muccose” or “Little Chief.” Speaking Native languages fluently, Mordecai worked to share his Jewish faith and traditions; he believed the Native languages he encountered were derived from the Lost Tribes of Israel and attempted to communicate with the Natives in Hebrew. 

Mordecai’s surprising ability to transcend cultures made him a vital mediator and liaison for the US  government. He helped negotiate peace agreements with tribes like the Chickasaws and Creeks during an era of frequent conflict between American settlers and Native populations. Mordecai’s services as a guide also proved crucial, and he led US troops into pivotal battle sites during the War of 1812 and Creek War of 1813–1814.

The quick-witted Mordecai left another incredible mark, playing a pioneering role in establishing Alabama’s cotton industry, long before statehood in 1819. In 1802, he started the territory’s first cotton gin operation near the merging of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, though this gin was later destroyed in 1804 amid violence and conflict with hostile Creeks.

However, Mordecai’s life was filled with as much hardship as accomplishment. In that same 1804 attack, a furious Creek chief ordered his warriors to beat Mordecai, nearly tearing-off his ear. More tragically, under Pres. Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of the 1830s, Mordecai’s wife White Cloud and their children were among the thousands of Native Americans forcibly expelled from their ancestral homeland to Oklahoma on the horrific Trail of Tears. 

The aging Mordecai could only watch helplessly as his family was torn away. Completely alone in his final years in the small town of Dudleyville, Mordecai carved out a simple existence yet still enchanted visitors with his stories and tales. When he passed away around 1849–1850 at approximately ninety-five years old, Mordecai left a unique legacy as Alabama’s earliest known Jewish settler—someone who witnessed the state’s transformation from an undeveloped territory to a booming cotton empire, even as he personally endured and dealt with the traumatic consequences.

On July 4, 1933, over eighty years after his death, the Tohopeka Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution set up a gravemarker for Mordecai. It acknowledged the “First permanent settler in Montgomery County” as both a “Soldier in Revolutionary and Creek Indian Wars” and a “Trader and authority on pioneer history.” This tribute suggests the vital role this Jewish adventurer played in weaving together Alabama’s rich, multi-cultural origin story.

Photo caption: Abraham Mordecai is known as the first Jewish resident of Alabama. [Photo courtesy of Ginger Ann Brook]

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About the Author


Ohad Haviv-Buck is an undergraduate student-athlete at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, double-majoring in Psychology and History.
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Originally from Israel, Ohad is a keen and passionate student of Jewish history. 

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