Zipporah Levy was the daughter of Sloe Meyers and Hayman Levy. Hayman, an immigrant from Hanover who would serve as parnas of Congregation Shearith Israel, was in New York by 1746, and, like many, fled the city for Philadelphia at the start of the Revolution. Another Jewish merchant who had done the same was Benjamin Mendes Seixas, son of Isaac Mendes and Rachel Levy Seixas, and brother of Gershom Mendes Seixas. Benjamin and Hayman went into business together, and in 1779 Benjamin married Hayman’s daughter Zipporah. By 1783, they had all returned to New York where Benjamin and Zipporah would raise their thirteen children, including son Hayman, named, of course, for his grandfather.