Faces of Florida's Cultural Heritage

David Levy Yulee

1810-1886

Florida State Archives

The first Jewish member of the United States Senate, David Levy Yulee was a major political and economic figure in mid-nineteenth century Florida. Born David Levy in the Virgin Islands in 1810, his family eventually settled in Florida. He served in the Florida Territorial Legislative Council, was a delegate to the 1838 Constitutional Convention and served as territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress. In 1845, he became one of the new state’s first senators. His marriage in 1846 probably contributed to his conversion to Christianity and surname change to Yulee. In addition to politics, Yulee operated a sugar plantation, and became active in railroad development, particularly the building of the Florida Railroad. Yulee resigned from the Senate following Florida’s secession in 1861. His sugar mill at Homosassa supplied sugar, syrup and molasses to the Confederacy until May 1864, when Union forces burned his Margarita Plantation home and the mill ceased production. He held no political office in the Confederacy, and spent much time and effort fighting the state and Confederate governments over the impressment of his agricultural products and the seizure of iron from his rail line. Imprisoned by Union authorities at Fort Pulaski, Georgia for a time after the war, he returned to Florida and attempted to rebuild his economic interests. He died in 1886. To learn more, see: "David L. Yulee, Florida’s First Senator" by Leon Huhner, in Jews In the South, edited by Leonard Dinnerstein and Mary Dale Palsson, Louisiana State University Press, 1973.