Henry Michael Hyams (March 4, 1806 – June 25, 1875) was an American lawyer, planter and Democratic politician. He served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1860 to 1864 under Governor Thomas Overton Moore during the American Civil War, when Louisiana joined the Confederate States of America. He was an advocate of slavery in the United States.
Early life Henry M. Hyams was born on March 4, 1806, in Charleston, South Carolina.Louisiana State University Libraries: Hyams (Henry M. and Family) Papers His cousin was Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884).Robert N. Rosen, The Jewish Confederates, Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2000, p. xiEli N. Evans, Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate, New York City: Simon and Schuster, 1988, p. 29 Marcie Cohen Ferris, Mark I. Greenberg, Jewish Roots in Southern Soil: A New History, Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2006, p. 109 Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Alexandria, Louisiana, Institute of Southern Jewish Life
Career Hyams worked for the Canal Bank in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. He was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1830, and he joined the law firm Dunbar and Elgee in Alexandria, Louisiana, becoming one of the first Jews living in Alexandria. He also operated a plantation.
Hyams moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1853, where he practised the law. He then served as a clerk of the District Court of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. He was elected to the Louisiana State Senate as a Democrat in 1855. He then served as the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 1862 to 1864.Robert N. Rosen, The Jewish Confederates, Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2000, p. 143Jonathan D. Sarna, Adam Mendelsohn, Jews and the Civil War: A Reader, New York City: NYU Press, 2010, p. 37 Samuel S. Hill, Religion in the Southern States: A Historical Study, Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1983, p. 143
Hyams supported slavery. Indeed, as early as the 1830s, he joined a vigilante group to defend the institution of slavery.
Personal life and death Hyams was an observant Jew. He married Laurel Matilda Smith and had thirteen children. His son, Henry M. Hyams Jr. (1846–1887), became a lawyer and practiced law in New Orleans.Hyams (Henry M. and Family) Papers, LSU Libraries Special Collections
Hyams died on June 25, 1875, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His funeral was held by Rabbi James Koppel Gutheim, and he was buried in Lafayette Cemetery in New Orleans. His obituary in The Times-Picayune described him as "a standard-bearer of the ancient regime."
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