Chapman Abraham
During the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763), the British took Canada from France and with it possession of the French forts in the western Great Lakes region, including Detroit. The post remained an important center of the trade between the British and Native Americans. British trader Chapman Abraham (c. 1723 - 1783) arrived in Detroit around 1762. Abraham helped to supply British soldiers during the war as a partner of Fort Michilimackinac commissaries Levi Solomons, Ezekiel Solomon, Gershon Levi, and Benjamin Lyon. In 1763, he was captured and then released by the Indians at Detroit. By 1767 Abraham was a merchant engaged in the fur trade who owned property within the fortified town of Detroit. He is considered Detroit's first Jewish resident.