Born in Portsmouth, England, in 1810, Rebecca Esther Jackson was onlythree or four when she moved with her parents—Daniel and Mary—andtwo brothers, John and Jacob, to New York. One final sibling,Abraham, came after the move. Her father was a merchant and presidentof the Hebrew Benevolent Society in their new home. Rebecca wouldmarry another member of that charitable organization and one of themost colorful characters in early American Jewish life, MordecaiManual Noah. A playwright, journalist, politician, lawyer, andnationally recognized spokesman for American Jews, Mordecai wastwenty-five years Rebecca’s senior: she seventeen, he forty-two.Still, they had seven children whom they raised in New York.