Ibrahim Ben Ali

Advertisement by Ibrahim Adam Ben Ali, Federal Gazette and Daily Advertiser, Baltimore, Sep. 18, 1800 Ibraham Adam Ben Ali (né Ibrahim ben Ali; c. 1756 – c. 1800) was an Ottoman-born soldier and physician who is regarded as one of the earliest documented Turkish settlers in the United States. A convert to Christianity and associate of the Dublin Methodist theologian Adam Clarke, he spent several years in Ireland and England before emigrating to the United States, where he practiced medicine in several cities.

Although raised as a Muslim, Ben Ali received some early exposure to Christianity through his mother, as well as from several Spanish Christian slaves who were owned by the household. In the fourth battle he fought against the Russians during the Russo-Turkish War, he was captured in Wallachia and imprisoned at Arzenicour in Russia. while others attribute his release to the intervention of a British general. before eventually emigrating to the United States.

Life in the United States In America, styling himself Dr. Ibraham Adam Ben Ali, he established a medical practice in Boston. There he advertised various patent medicines in late 1794. Philadelphia in 1799, and Baltimore in 1800.

During his time in America he married an Englishwoman who was a Baptist.

Death In 1800 Ben Ali died at or near Baltimore during the yellow fever epidemic that struck both that city and Philadelphia. According to later accounts, he contracted the disease while treating those who had been infected.

The Grade III Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, is named in commemoration of the family name.