Gratz, Rebecca

Gratz, Rebecca grăts [key], 1781–1869, American philanthropist, b. Philadelphia; daughter of Michael Gratz. Well known for her philanthropies in Philadelphia, she is remembered chiefly as the probable prototype of Rebecca in Scott's Ivanhoe, her charm and beauty having been described to Scott by Washington Irving. Her letters were edited by David Philipson (1929).

See biography by R. G. Osterweis (1935).

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