Matagorda County History Website
usgenwebsites.org/TXMatagorda/
Handbook of Texas Online
Dr. Albert Moses Levy was born in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1800, the son of Abraham Levy and Cornelia Bernard.
The family came to the United States from England in 1818 and settled near Richmond, Virginia. His brothers and sisters were: Isaac, Jacob, Lewis, Esther, Mary, Julia and Rebecca.
Dr. Levy, was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832, and first practiced medicine at Richmond, Virginia, where he met and married Maria Bishop Pine.
They had a child, Rachel Cornelia, and when Rachel was six months old in 1835, his wife died.
His brother, Jacob A. Levy, and wife, Martha Ezekiel, took Rachel to raise along with their own five children.
When Rachel was grown, she married Abraham Levy, her first cousin, the son of Jacob A. Levy, with whom she was raised. She and Abraham had six children, three of which died in infancy.
The surviving children were Ada, Martha and Ernest.
Brokenhearted from the loss of his beloved wife, Albert Moses Levy went to New Orleans to visit relatives; there he heard about Texas and its struggle for independence.
In New Orleans Albert Levy joined the New Orleans Greys and left for Texas. Within two months he was appointed surgeon in chief of the volunteer army of Texas.
His army career lasted from October 22, 1835, to February 10, 1836, and included service in the siege of Bexar, where he was wounded.
After leaving the army he joined the Texas Navy and served briefly on the Brutus.
David G. Burnet, president of the Republic of Texas, signed Levy’s papers appointing him a surgeon in the navy in March 1836.
Levy was aboard the Independence on April 17, 1837, when it was captured by two Mexican brigs-of-war and the crew was thrown into a Mexican prison.
Levy escaped, after three months of imprisonment, and walked back to Texas, where he set up medical practice in Matagorda.
The next year he received an appointment to a medical board established by both houses of the Congress of the republic.
He was given several grants of land for his services.
In Llano County he received warrant #664 for 1,280 acres of land for his services, when he and his other men fought with Fannin.
Certificates #151 for 640 acres of land for his participation in the Siege of Bexar, and #44 for one league and one labor of land in Matagorda County on which he decided to make his home and practice medicine.
Dr. Levy married Claudinia Olivia Gervais, April 4, 1838, the daughter of Judge Sinclair David Gervais.
She was born in Yazoo, Mississippi.
They had five children: Katherine Levy, born in 1839; Albert Gervais, born November 2, 1840; Laura Virginia, born April 4, 1843; Charles Gillette, born May 29, 1845; and Lewis Fisher, born December 29, 1847.
On October 17, 1830, Albert Moses Levy deeded 428 acres of land situated on Jones Creek in Brazoria County to his daughter, Rachel Cornelia Levy, who was living in Richmond, Henrico County, Virginia, but she never acknowledged the gift.
Dr. Levy was Jewish and when he married a Gentile, his people disowned him.
He and his wife, Claudinia joined the Episcopal Church.
Dr. Levy committed suicide on May 22, 1848 and was buried in Matagorda Cemetery, where the state of Texas honored him with a historical marker.
Dr. Levy had a good practice and was well-loved in Matagorda.
After his death, Claudinia sold her home to Dr. Edward A. Peareson and returned to Mississippi to live near her brother, sisters and other relatives.