Phillips Levy, the first Jewish Commodore in the United States Navy. In 1834, he bought Monticello eight years after President Thomas Jefferson's death, and used his own money to preserve the house and estate for the American people. See also Jonas Phillips Levy Footnotes References Jewish Encyclopedia article on the Phillips family Leepson, Marc, Saving Monticello: the Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built, University of Virginia Press, 2003. Stern, Malclm, First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies 1654-1977, American Jewish Archives & American Jewish Historical Society, 1978, External links Letter Of Jonas Phillips, July 28,1776( English and Yiddish ) 1736 births 1803 deaths Jewish-American history American people of German-Jewish descent German emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Colonial American merchants People of colonial Pennsylvania People of the Province of New York Burials in New York (state)