Peixotto, Judith Salzedo

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PEIXOTTO, JUDITH SALZEDO

PEIXOTTO, JUDITH SALZEDO (1823–81), U.S. teacher and principal. Granddaughter of Moses Levi Maduro *Peixotto and daughter of Dr. Daniel Levy Maduro Peixotto and Rachel Seixas Peisotto, Judith Peixotto lived all her life in New York City. After their father's death in 1843, she and her younger sisters Zipporah and Sara Naar were among the earliest Jewish women to be hired as teachers in New York City. Judith Peixotto taught at the Ward School No. 10 for Girls on James Street in the Fourth Ward from 1847 to 1850. The first Jewish principal in the New York City public schools, she directed the James Street Female Evening School for learners over 12 from 1849 to 1850 and then served for several years as one of three principals of the elementary school. After her 1852 marriage to David Solis Hays, a well known pharmacist, Judith Peixotto Hays gave up teaching and raised a large family of eight children.

bibliography:

A. Ben-Ur, "Peixotto, Judith," in: Jewish Women in America, 2:1041–42. Elfrida D. Cowen. "Judith Salzedo Peixotto," ajhs 26 (1918), 249–50.

[Harriet Pass Freidenreich (2nd ed.)]