Dr. John de Sequeyra (b. 1712 London, d. 1795

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula ...

) was born into a Spanish-Portuguese Jewish family whose ancestors were once court physicians to the Kings and Queens of Spain and Portugal. He was the middle son of Dr. Abraham de Sequeira (1665-1747) who was a member of

Bevis Marks Synagogue Bevis Marks Synagogue, officially Qahal Kadosh Sha'ar ha-Shamayim ( he, קָהָל קָדוֹשׁ שַׁעַר הַשָׁמַיִם, "Holy Congregation Gate of Heaven"), is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continuous use. It is loc ...

in London.Notes on an Early Virginia Physician, ROBERT SHOSTECK, 1970

Medical career

He studied medicine in Holland beginning in 1736 and received his degree in 1739 from the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. In Holland he was known as "Johannes de Sigueyra" and "Iohannes Disiqueyra" . In 1745, he moved to Williamsburg, Virginia where he practiced medicine. Between 1745 and 1781 he compiled a manuscript entitled "Diseases in Virginia." He was a physician who attended about 85 households during a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic of 1747/8. In 1769, Colonel

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, as he was known then, frequently called in Dr. Sequeyra to treat his stepdaughter "Patsy," daughter of Martha Park Custis. Patsy suffered from increasingly debilitating

epileptic seizures An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

which eventually led to her death. In 1773, the first insane asylum in the 13 colonies, Eastern State Hospital was built in Williamsburg, Virginia, and it remains in operation to this day. Dr. John de Sequeyra was one of the first physicians attached to the facility. So accomplished in caring for the residents, was Dr. Sequeyra, that when he retired in 1795 it took two doctors to back-fill his position.

Tomatoes

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once wrote – "''Those who are us'd to eat with the Portuguese Jews know the value of it''"; he was speaking of the tomato. John Custis IV, a Williamsburg resident, sent a letter to Peter Collinson, in 1741, inquiring about this thing called a "tomato".

Tomatoes The tomato is the edible Berry (botany), berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to th ...

made their way to

Colonial America The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...

by way of the West Indies Slave Trade – it was a staple food of the slaves who learned to discern the poisonous varieties from the edible varieties.

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

himself informs us that introduction of the tomato as an edible fruit is due to the work of Dr. John de Sequeyra.Lucia Stanton, Monticello Research Report, 1992

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sequeyra, John de Jewish-American history American Sephardic Jews 1710s births Medical doctors from London English emigrants 1719 deaths English expatriates in the Netherlands Spanish and Portuguese Jews People from Williamsburg, Virginia 18th-century American physicians