Moses C. Mordecai was born on February 19, 1804, in Charleston, South Carolina, the son of David Cohen Mordecai and Reinah Abrahams. This grandfather, Moses Cohen, was a member of the Grenadier Company of Charleston during the Revolution and fought at Fort Moultrie and Yorktown.
Mordecai received but little formal education, leaving school when quite young.
Mordecai became the founder of the firm of Mordecai & Company, large ship-owners and extensive importers of Mediterranean fruits, Cuban sugar and tobacco, and Rio coffee. He established a line of steamers between Charleston and Havana and by making Charleston his port of entry, brought a vast amount of business to the city. He was interested in all public enterprises and movements for the improvement of Charleston, and the list of offices of trust he held between 1830 and 1861 is long. He was president of the ancient Synagogue Beth Elohim, then one of the most aristocratic synagogues in America, from 1857 to 1861.
In the turbulent politics of his day he played a prominent part. He was a delegate to the Augusta convention in 1838, a representative in the legislature, 1845 - 1846; and state senator, 1855 - 1858.
In July 1851, in conjunction with B. C. Pressley and Ker Boyce, he founded the Southern Standard (after 1853 the Charleston Standard) and in 1852 was joined in this enterprise by five other prominent citizens. The combined wealth of these eight stockholders was estimated at six million dollars, an indication of the wealth of ante-bellum Charleston. Pressley, the editor, was a Union man, and the Standard advocated an unpopular cause. It soon emphasized the policy of "no secession without cooperation, " and in the fall of 1851, succeeded in bringing about a test vote of the people, the result of which was against separate secession. The paper continued to be published till 1858. In 1860 Mordecai's steamer Isabel was carrying the United States mail between Charleston and Key West. The rescinding of this contract on January 2, 1861, led later to a lawsuit against the United States in the Court of Claims, which was decided against the plaintiff on December 17, 1883. The Isabel transferred Anderson and his men to the Federal fleet after the surrender of Fort Sumter and became a famous blockade runner during the Civil War. Mordecai was a heavy loser by the war.
In 1865, he removed to Baltimore, carrying a goodly competence with him. With his son, he again established the firm of Mordecai & Company and undertook the agency for a line of steamers between Charleston and Baltimore. He never forgot his old home and continued to be a generous contributor to its charities. When the bodies of eighty-four South Carolina soldiers who had fallen at Gettysburg were removed to Charleston in 1870, Mòrdecai & Company furnished free transportation.
For the last eighteen years of his life he was completely blind, but continued to carry on his various activities. Moses Cohen Mordecai died on December 30, 1888, in Baltimore, Maryland.
On February 20, 1828, Moses C. Mordecai married Isabel Rebecca Lyons of Columbia, South Carolina. They had eight children.
