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Legal Document - regarding the Will of Samuel Jacobs the first Jew to settle in Canada. 1792. Samuel Jacobs, Jewish merchant; 1710- died 3 Aug. 1786 at Quebec. According to American historian Jacob Rader Marcus, Samuel Jacobs was probably of Alsatian origin. He arrived in Canada with the British army during the Seven Years' War and did business as a purveyor to the troops, especially the officers. Some promissory notes and receipts confirm his presence in January 1758 at Fort Cumberland (near Sackville, N.B.), where he apparently engaged mainly in the liquor trade. From 1759 to 1761 he was in partnership on equal terms with William Buttar and Alexander Mackenzie in a brewery at Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island. Jacobs evidently was at home among both old and new subjects of His Britannic Majesty; he did business with the Canadians as easily as with the British or his fellow Jews. Around 1760 he was trading with Aaron Hart, who later set up business in Trois-Rivières, and with Eleazar Levy, who after settling for a time in Quebec finally moved to New York about 1771. Through his Jewish connections Jacobs established firm commercial relations with New York, where Hyam Myers was his principal agent. Myers also travelled frequently to Quebec and in 1772 lived in Levy's house before returning to New York, after which there is no trace of him.

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