Back in 2000, I was approached by the Jewish Archives in Recife Brazil,
asking for my help in identifying the 23 Jewish refugees who were on
board the ship
St. Charles sailing from Recife to
New Netherland
in 1654. According to the Archives in Recife, the first Jewish
Synagogue in America was built in Recife, this is known from
archeological excavations.
I have a small connection with the Dutch settlement in Recife Brazil through my 8th great grandmother
Maria Post who was born there and baptised on 6 June 1649 in the Dutch church in Recife. See
FN 1:
The
Archives interest was in the names of the refugees, and what their
lives were like in New Netherland. As far as I am aware, there is no
passenger list for the St. Charles. Names of the Jewish refugees may be
able to be pieced together by using other documents. I managed to find
the names of some of the adult passengers from other records -- mainly
court documents of the time. The names I found (using primary records
only) were: Abram Israel, David Israel, Asser Levy, Moses Ambrosius
& Judicq de Mereda
One source I consulted stated that there were 23 Jews "big and little" (meaning adults and children)
On
7 Sept. 1654 Capt. Jacques de la Motthe aka Motte, skipper of the St.
Charles, appeared in court with a petition. He requires payment for
freight and board 'of the Jews whom he brought here from Cape St.
Anthony". de la Motte states that "the Netherlanders who came over with
them" are not included in his suit and that they have paid him. Solomon
Pietersen "a Jew" appears and says that "900 guilders of the 2500 are
paid and that there are 23 souls, big and little [meaning adults and
children] who must pay equally" [Source: The Records of New
Amsterdam from 1653 to 1674 Anno Domini, edited by Berthold Fernow in 7
volumes. reprint Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc. Baltimore. 1976 Vol. I
Minutes of the Court of Burgomasters and Schepens 1653-1655 p 240]
It
is not clear if Solomon Pietersen was on board the ship so I have not
added his name to the list. There are some published materials on the
Jewish refugees who came from Brazil to New Netherland, but I have not
attempted to find them. I have found the names of several other Jewish
settlers to New Netherland who may have been passengers on St. Charles
-- but they may also have arrived before or after the Recife refugees.
From
what can be pieced together about them, it seem probable that the
twenty-three consisted of six family heads---four men (with their wives)
and two other women who in all likelihood were widows, since they were
counted separately---and thirteen young people. The heads of the
families were Asser Levy, Abraham Israel De Piza (or Dias), David Israel
Faro, Mose Lumbosco, and ---the two women---Judith (or Judica) Mercado)
(or De Mercado, or de Mereda) and Ricke (or Rachel) Nunes. [Source: The
Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite by Stephen Birmingham]
The
Jewish Archives representative informed me that they plan on
establishing a Jewish Center Study at the old Synagogue, and they will
place the information and sources I find for others to use. I do not
know if this happened.
Historical Background
On
January 26, 1654, approximately 150 Jewish families of Portuguese
background fled the city of Recife, in Pernambuco, Brazil. By September a
number of these refugees had established the first community of Jews in
the future United States.
Known as Sephardim (Jews of
Spanish-Portuguese extraction), theirs was a complex saga. After 1497,
the kingdom of Portugal outlawed Jewish life, causing many to flee to
Holland where a climate of acceptance prevailed. From there, some
migrated on to Pernambuco, a colony of the Dutch West India Company in
modern day Brazil. Their community flourished there until the Dutch
eventually surrendered Pernambuco to the Portuguese and the Sephardim
were again forced to flee.
After being driven ashore in Jamaica
by Spanish ships, twenty-three members of the community, along with a
group of Dutch Calvinists, made their way to New Netherland (New
York)—another colony run by the Dutch West India Company. Peter
Stuyvesant, Director General of all Dutch possessions in North America,
feared the indigent newcomers would burden the colony but when he
motioned to eject the Jewish newcomers the Company refused his petition
(many of the company's shareholders themselves being Jewish). [Library
of Congress. http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan26.html]
Helpful Sources
A
book cited by Stokes in his Iconography: Samuel Oppenheim, _The Early
History of the Jews in New York, 1654-1664_ (1909) As cited by Russell
Shorto in The Island at the Center of the World: Hershkowitz, Leo, "New
Amsterdam's Twenty-Three Jews -- Myth or Reality?" In Shalom Goldman,
ed., _Hebrew and the Bible in America: The First Two Centuries_;
Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis Unirversity Press, 1993. [Howard Swain]
Harry
Macy has an interesting article in the latest (vol 15, nos 2-3;
Spring/Summer 2004) NYGBS newsletter now titled The New York Researcher.
The article is titled: "1654-2004: The 350th Anniversay of New York's
First Jewish Settlers" and is on pp 35-37. In a footnote he mentions
that Leo Hershkowitz has "compiled a probable list of those coming in
1654 and the next few years." This is in his article, "Original
Inventories of Early New York jews (1682-1763)" in American Jewish
History vol 90 (2002) pp 246-47, note 7. Mr. Macy''s article lists
many other sources of interest to those researching these early Jewish
settlers. [Howard Swain]
(Summer 2004) issue of "de Halve Maen",
the quarterly publication of The Holland Society of New York. It is
Professor Leo Hershkowitz' article, "By chance or by choice: Jews in New
Amsterdam 1654", pages 23-30. Herkowitz says that
de Peereboom (The Peartree) sailed from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam on 8 July 1654. New Amsterdam is now New York City.
Among
those who disembarked were Jacob Barsimon, probably with Asser Levy and
Solomon Pieterson. These were the first known Jews to set foot in the
Dutch settlement...
"The 23 Jews whose voyage had originated in
Brazil arrived shortly after "de Peereboom". On page 29 Herkowitz says,
"Though Jews asked for permission to build a synagogue, it was not
granted by Stuyvesant, and this issue was never pursued..." [courtesy of
Dorothy Koenig]
Visit Ancestry.com's free
JEWISH FAMILY HISTORY COLLECTION for access to their Jewish records
FN 1:
C.J. Wasch, Doopregister der Hollanders in Brazilie 1633-1654,
(1889), Adriaen Crijnen Post, Clara Moockers. Wt Christoffel ---,
Andelijina Caron, Dorothea Montanier.
If you like genealogy and mysteries, you will enjoy Nathan Dylan Goodwin's 
The Hinds families were in Ramsgate Kent England for many generations. This book follows the descendants of Thomas Hinds and his wife Sarah Ammis who married in 1693 in Canterbury.
