The Early Jews of Rhode Island

The Jewish history of Rhode Island is perhaps the earliest in all of North America. In Newport, the first members of the Jewish community started to arrive in the mid 1650's, over 100 years before the American Revolution. The first synagogue, known as Touro Synagogue was completed in 1763, and is still in use today, making it the oldest existing synagogue in North America.   The Hebrew Cemetery was open about a dozen years later in the mid 1670's. That makes it the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in America.

These early Jews were Sephardic, whose journey to Newport started in places such as Spain and Portugal, and like many of the early Jews in America, included stops in the Islands of the Caribbean. These earliest families in Newport, who had names such as Lopez, Rivera, Levy, Seixas and Touro, would one day be known as people who were very influential in the forming of early colonial history.
A few of these early leaders, included:

• Rev. Isaac Touro, was the spiritual leader of the community. His family, originally from Spain, came to Newport after stops in Amsterdam and the West Indies, The synagogue was called the Touro synagogue in honor of all he contributed to the community.

• Rev. Touro's brother in law, Moses Michael Hays, was a very successful  merchant. He introduced the order of the Scottish Rite Masonic Order to America. He was the first Grand Master of the Lodge in Massachusetts with Paul Revere and a good friend of Thomas Paine. He is also credited with being a founder of the Bank of Boston.

• In 1763, Jacob Rodriquez Rivera, met with a group of locals and made the first plans to establish a college in Rhode Island. The school would eventually become known as Brown University.

Today, the community has over 350 years of history behind it and continues to be a strong Jewish community. The Jewish population of Rhode Island today is almost 20,000 people. FamilySearch has quite a few databases that include the records of the Jews of Rhode Island.

As with all FamilySearch databases, these records can be viewed free of charge at anytime.

The Jews of Bermuda

Much has been written in this blog about the Jewish communities of the Caribbean. The islands have a great history for the Jewish people. One location, however that does not share in that same history is the Island of Bermuda. We do believe that Jews were there as early as the early 1600's, because of Jews Bay. Tradition has it that the bay was named after a group of Jews who had their business's on the island.
The main reason for a lack of Jewish history on the Island of Bermuda is the attitude of the British toward Jews in the 1700's. The British ruled the island at that time and their attitude led to laws and policies which made life hard for the Jewish community. The most severe law was passed in 1694 and was called "An Act Laying an
Imposition on all Jews, and reputed

Jews, Trading or merchandising on These Islands". This law levied a five pound tax on any Jew attempting to do business on the Island of Bermuda. The reason for this law was an opinion that the Jews were doing business and making money yet sending that money out of Bermuda to foreign lands. That law was not revoked until 1760, when it was finally realized that Jews were taking their trade elsewhere and it was hurting Bermuda.
It wasn't until after the World War II that Jews started coming to Bermuda. However these Jews found that the island was not friendly toward them and were still putting restrictions upon them. This led to most Jews avoiding Bermuda completely. In fact the majority of the Jewish community of the second half of the 20th century was made up mostly of military personnel serving on the United States Naval Base. That base closed in 1994, which caused most to leave the island. The community is now almost completely residents of Bermuda. Today the Jewish population is only about 100 people.

Happy 350th Birthday Touro Synagogue

Much has been written on this blog about the important Jewish history of the Caribbean, both in it's influence throughout the world and in the incredible people who called it home. Another great example of this can be found in Newport, Rhode Island at the Touro Synagogue.
In the 1650's, fifteen families from Barbados became the first Jewish families in Newport. Like so many other Caribbean families they were descended from families who came from Amsterdam and London and had found new homes in places such as Suriname, Jamaica, Barbados and Curacao. They quickly formed  "Yeshuat Israel" the second oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. The congregation prospered and grew, until such time that they built what is today "America's Oldest Synagogue", the Touro Synagogue which was dedicated in 1763. On December 1st of this year, the synagogue will be re-dedicated as part of its 350th birthday celebration.

The incredible history of this treasure can be found at tourosynagogue.org. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOURO SYNAGOGUE

U.S. Virgin Islands census records

Much has been made on this blog of the influence the Caribbean Islands have had on early American Jewish communities. With so many people using the Caribbean as their destination after leaving Amsterdam and London, it is an important place to research in building those early families.
A very valuable source in locating these families are the census records from the U.S. Virgin Islands. These records, which are on microfilm in the collection of the Family History Library, date from 1841 to 1911. Unlike the census records from the British Isles, which were taken every 10 years, this collection is taken more often, usually about every five years. There are some censuses taken more often such as 1855 and 1857 followed by 1860.
The records are very nice and identify the families by religion. The record below is of the De Leon family living in Christiansted on the Island of St. Croix, this is taken from the 1841 census (FHL Film #39201)

This record shows how this family is very much like many of the families. The father was born in Amsterdam, the first child in St. Thomas and the rest in St. Croix. All 10 members of the family are listed as being part of the Israelite religion.
The record below, also from Christiansted is from the 1846 Census (FHL Film #39305). The head of the family is Sarah Amalia Coopmann who like all the family was born in St. Croix.

An interesting point from this is under the heading of religion it states; Jewish Church. Not exactly a way I have ever seen the Jewish religion referred to.
These census records, which in whole covers 71 rolls of microfilm, are a valuable source for anyone researching ancestors who either lived in the Caribbean or found themselves in early U.S. communities. and may have passed through.

Jews of Martinique

Martinique is a small island located just north of the country of Trinidad and Tobaggo on the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea. The history of the Jewish community there can be traced back to the early 1600's. Like many countries of the Caribbean, Martinique was first settled by Jews from Amsterdam who had arrived in that country as settlers fleeing the Inquisition of Spain and Portugal.
Most of these settlers who arrived in Martinique were merchants and traders, working for and protecting the interests of the Dutch. Most of the early Jews lived in the larger cities, the business centers. This allowed many of them to become very prosperous and successful.
In 1635, Martinique was conquered by France. For many years this was not a problem for the Jews, they continued to prosper and the community grew. In 1667 the first synagogue was founded in Martinique. Over time however, the French began to grow jealous of the success of the Jews and discrimination against them grew.
Finally, in 1683, bowing to pressure from the French merchants and the Jesuits, King Louis XIV expelled the Jews from Martinique. This led to a group of Jews leaving for Curacao. However a good number of the Jews in Martinique simply ignored the law and stayed. This group of Jews continued to flourish and the community actually grew. The laws against the Jews were finally withdrawn after the French Revolution.
Today, the majority of the Jewish population in Martinique resides in the community of Schoelcher where they have built a synagogue. There is also a smaller group located in Fort-de-France comprised mostly of the Jews who arrived from France and North Africa in the latter part of the 1900's.

Dutch influence within the Jewish communities of the Caribbean

The history of the Dutch influence in the Caribbean begins far before the largest groups of settlers arrived. Because of the strength of their naval fleet in the late 1500's, the Netherlands became a major force in global commerce throughout South America and the Caribbean as early as middle of the 1600's. Through the Dutch East and West India Companies, the Dutch extended their territories wherever they could.

Another reason for their ability to become a strong player in extending their markets was the fact that because of the war with Spain, many money people, such as bankers and traders, had moved their businesses from Antwerp to Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam and Leiden. Having such great access to capital markets enabled the Dutch to move ahead with expansion.


In the 1590's the first two ships sailed out of Amsterdam headed for the spice markets of Maluku. Both ships returned having made large profits for their owners. The success of these voyage led to the establishing of businesses to further trade through Africa, South America and the Caribbean. All of this expansion put the Dutch in direct competition with other countries, which led to all countries invading possessions of each other, trying to keep control of their interests. Many of the Caribbean locations changed hands numerous times because of this.


Generally, the Dutch were very good to the Jews who settled throughout the Caribbean, they gave them freedoms and because of this the Jews were successful.
In Suriname, where the first Jews arrived in the late 1530's, they were allowed to own their own plantations, in fact by the mid 1700's they owned one fourth of the plantations. Where once it flourished, today the population of Suriname is small, perhaps only a few hundred.


Another Dutch controlled island, Curacao, was totally accepting of the Jews as well. The Jews began arriving in the 1650's, many coming from Brazil. The Jews were so well accepted that they were the only foreigners who didn't have to leave the city at night. By the 1800's, the island was home to the largest Jewish community in all the Americas. In Curacao, the Jews became successful businessmen and because of their language skills they were in demand as interpreters, which made Curacao a major port of commerce for both Europe and the Americas. Not all communities became established as Suriname or Curacao. Places such as Aruba or St. Maarten never became as big a player in the commerce. They however did have their own communities.

The influence the Dutch had did not stop with the Caribbean, it reached far greater than that. The Jews of Curacao and the other Caribbean Islands, were amongst the first Jews into North America. A search of the early records of places such as Newport, Charleston, New Orleans and almost all pre-1850's communities, will show how these Jews helped settle the early North American communities.
In earlier posts on this blog, I have discussed 2 resources available to researchers that would be most helpful in researching Dutch Jews in the Caribbean. On 20 Oct 2010, I wrote about AKEVOTH- The Dutch Jewish Genealogical Data Base (http://www.dutchjewry.org/), which is home to the records of the Jews of Holland. Many of the early Caribbean families will be listed there. Also, on that same date I wrote of the website www.jewishphotolibrary.com which house the photos of Jono David. He is "documenting the Jewish world, one photo at a time". In his collection, he has indeed preserved much of the visual history of these communities. Both of these sites would be very helpful for those searching for Dutch Jews in the Caribbean.