Jews of South America and the Caribbean database updated

The database of The Jews of South America and the Caribbean continues to grow. With the new addition today of the records of births and burials of the Portuguese Jews, this collection now has the records of almost 19,000 people. This collection of records covers the years 1722-1831.
This database will continue to grow as many records are being indexed now including the Jewish families listed in the various censuses of the island of St. Thomas.

Camille Pissarro of St. Thomas and Paris

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) annual conference held in Paris, France. It was a great way chance to renew friendships and learn from the experts of Jewish genealogy. 
I was able to present a lecture on The Jews of The Caribbean, a topic that has been discussed here on this blog many times. A major part of the presentation was discussing the records of St. Thomas, which for many Caribbean Jews was a very stable home. I discussed the influence that these great families had upon the rest of the world, not only in America but the entire world. There was no better example of this influence than my visit to Père Lachaise Cemetery before the conference.

Père Lachaise Cemetery is one of the world's most famous cemeteries, the final resting spot of so many influential people. Knowing that I wanted to visit this beautiful place I took an evening and ventured into the subway for my trip. It wasn't very long after arriving that I came upon a Jewish section of the cemetery. There, I found the headstone (at right) of Camille Pissarro and many of his family members.

 Camille Pissarro, was born on 10 July 1830 on the island of St. Thomas, he being the son of Fredrick Abraham Gabriel Pissarro, a merchant in Charlotte Amalie. His father was a Sephardic Jew.
At the age of 12, his parents sent him to a boarding school in Paris, where is interest and talent for drawing was noticed. Upon returning to St. Thomas, however, he found that his parents did not share in the idea of him become a painter. Finally, with a desire to have the freedom to paint to ran off to Venezuela with a painter he had met by the docks. He now had the freedom to pursue his dream.
Pissarro, did return to Paris and painted. His influence, like the Jews of St. Thomas is incredible. While his early paintings fit into the styles of the time, it was not the kind of paintings he loved. He soon began to venture into the French countryside to paint the scenes he saw there. He truly was documenting the life of  the everyday villager. His worked was not well received, in fact most of his work was rejected by the art world.
In 1859, he was attending school, when he became friends with some fellow painters who shared his love of painting in a realistic fashion. Those painters were Claude Monet, Armand Guillaumin and Paul Cézanne. With these men he became one of the greatest Impressionist painters ever, in fact many have called him the father of that style. His works have shown all over the world, and the influence of him was felt in every type of painting. His life is one very much worth studying.

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.

Jewish families of Costa Rica

This past week the Knowles Collection - Jews of the Caribbean was updated. While it is still the smallest of the databases which comprise the collection, it more than any other shows the influence families can have around the world. A good example of this is the country of Costa Rica.

The first Jews to settle in Costa Rica did so in the early 1800's. These early Sephardic Jews came from other Caribbean locations, such as, Curacao, Jamaica and Panama. Later in the 1930's Jews from Turkey and Germany made the move to their new homeland.At the end of the 1800's two families immigrated into Costa Rica. The records left behind by these two families, the Sasso's and the Athias Robles, illustrates how families can have a great influence.

Mordecay Athias Robles, is descended from a family from Curacao. He himself was born in St. Thomas, where he married his wife Esther. Shortly after that marriage, Mordecay, a merchant, took his new wife and settled in Alajuela where their children were born between 1873 and 1889.

At about the same time another merchant from St. Thomas, Mordecai Moritz Sasso and his wife Hannah Joselin Mendez moved to Port Limon, where their 2 children were born. These two families thus became part of the Jewish community of Costa Rica. That community, which numbers three to four thousand today, were well established as merchants throughout the Caribbean. Families like the Sasso's and the Athias Robles' families used their influence throughout the region to make a better life for their families. However, even though they both left St. Thomas for Costa Rica, they never forgot their first home, as all of the children of both families had their births recorded in the Synagogue records of St. Thomas.

These records are amongst those that were just added to the Knowles Collection - Jews of the Caribbean.

The Levy Maduro Families of Nicaragua

In the history of Jewish families throughout the world, Nicaragua is not often mentioned. In fact the Jewish population in that country has probably never been more than a couple of hundred people. The majority of modern day Jews began arriving in Nicaragua from Eastern Europe in the later part of the 1920's. The majority of them settled in Managua, the capital city. The Jewish population before this time is rarely if ever mentioned.

The fact they Jews are not mentioned before this time does not mean they didn't exist. In the records of the Jew's of St. Thomas, we find records of some residents of Nicaragua. Amazingly the three main families that recorded births from Nicaragua are all from the same family. In Leon, Abraham Haim Levy Maduro and his wife Anne have daughters Judith (1866) and Hilda (1874). Also in Leon, Elias Levy Maduro and his wife Anna, have sons Samuel (1869) and Jacob (1870). A third member of the family, Solomon Levy Maduro, a merchant and his wife Esther Lindo, record the birth of a son, Edward (1901) in the city of Grenada.

Amazingly, this family appears to be in Nicaragua 60 years before the first mention of Jews in Managua. Were they the only Jewish families at that time, or were their others that helped build a foundation for later families. This search should be interesting.

The records of the Jews of St. Thomas have now been added to the Jews of the Caribbean database and will be available after the next update.

The Jews of St. Thomas part 3

In going through the birth records from the Jewish Congregation of St. Thomas, an entry caught my eye. It shows the hazards of living on a Caribbean Island, something most of us will never understand. It states;

In the year 1867, on October 9, Tishri 5628. Isaac Levy Toledano was born to Levy Toledano a merchant, and Branca Toledano in St. Thomas.

Remarks: Born in this Island, and omitted to be registered on account of hurricane, earthquake and subsequently his mother's death.

Lets be grateful for all those who strive so hard to document the records of our ancestors, even through perilous times.

The Jews of St. Thomas part 2

As mentioned before, the Family History Library has in its collection the Synagogue birth records from the Jewish Congregation of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. These records (FHL intl. film #882930) cover the years from 1786-1954.
As one goes through these records some very interesting details of the Jews of St. Thomas emerge. While the majority of the records are from St. Thomas, other places such as St. Croix, the Dominican Republic, Barcelona and Venezuela are often mentioned. The records show just how close the communities were. As part of that closeness, it appears that no matter how far they were from home, their hearts had never left.
In the birth records we find that Seligman and Zipporah Rothschild had at least 10 children born to them. The first six were born in St. Thomas, while child #7, a son, Herman and child #8, another son, named Charles Ancel were born in Germany, Herman in Hamburg and Charles Ancel in Munich. In both cases the entree states that the birth was communicated back to St. Thomas.
This same communicating of the birth record exists for many families. Hannah, the daughter of Abraham and Sarah M. Baiz was recorded as having been born on the 26th of June in 1844, in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Again, their bodies may not have been in St. Thomas, but their hearts were.

These records have now been added to the Knowles Collection -Jews of the Caribbean database and will be availble after the next update.

Naar Family of St. Thomas and New Jersey.

In the last few blog entries much as been written of the influence of the Dutch Jews in the Caribbean. These Jews were some of the earliest settlers in places such as Suriname, Curacao, Barbados and St. Thomas. The question has been asked, why is this so important if you are researching your early American families? The answer is very simple, because so many of our early American Jewish communities were started by or influenced by people who had ties to these Caribbean nations.
A great example of one of these early influential Jews with Caribbean ties is David Naar. David Naar was very established in Elizabeth, New Jersey.In New Jersey he was active in politics and the publishing business. In 1843, he was appointed Mayor of Elizabeth an well as a judge in Essex County. He was very much a partisan democrat.
Ten years later, in 1853, he purchased the Trenton True American newspaper and became the editor. He was never afraid to voice his opinion, and during the civil war he spoke out against Abraham Lincoln. This led to threats of mob violence. Because of this he was forced to shut down his publication for 3 months, during the height of the war, in 1861.
A search of the 1870 United States census shows his family. David, his wife Sarah ( D'Azevedo) and some of their children. Four years after this census was taken, David retired from his position of editor. During his career, he was also the State Treasurer as well as a member of the Common Council for Trenton.

From the 1870 census, we find that David his wife Sarah and some of the children were born in St. Thomas. As we know from the earlier post about the history of St. Thomas, there were only about 9 Jewish families in St. Thomas at the turn of the 19th century. In the collection of the Family History Library,are the birth records of the Jewish Congregation from 1786 - 1954 (FHL Film # 882, 930). From these records we can piece together some of the family, including 2 brothers for David and four siblings for Sarah.

While there may be more possibly siblings for David and Sarah, these were the only ones found in the records in St. Thomas. As with many of the families who made homes through the Caribbean, the Naar family appears to be an old established Sephardic family. In the collections that were left by Malcolm Stern, is found a beautiful hand drawn pedigree of the Naar family. Although time has not been kind to it, the tree is still a wonderful resource for anyone researching the Naar family. David, son of Joshua is located at the top center of this tree, with his children going upwards to the right from him. That part of the tree has been blown up below (click on either for a larger view)

As with many of these early families it will now become very important to try and take the records back Into the Dutch records and then further on to the records of Spain and Portugal.

Some of the records of the Naar family are already in the Knowles Collection -Jews of The Americas database and others are now being added to the Knowles Collection - Jews of the Caribbean database.

The Jews of St. Thomas

Like so many of it's Caribbean neighbors, the history of the Jews of St. Thomas dates back to the 1600's. The first Jews to arrive were traders who came when the island was under the control of Denmark. These people, whom started arriving in 1655 were involved in the trade of items such as rum, molasses and sugarcane. The Jews began to settle on the Island after 1685, the year they were given religious freedom.

In 1796 the first synagogue was established on St. Thomas. As of 1801 there were only 9 Jewish families who belonged to the congregation, but as new arrivals came from France and England and also the Caribbean islands of Curacao and St. Eustatius, the population had grown to 22 families in just a few years. In 1804 that first synagogue was destroyed by fire and replaced in 1812. The Congregation grew so large that in 1823 it was dismantled and a third, larger building erected in the same location. It was named the Congregation of "Blessing and Peace and Loving Deeds."

By the year 1831, the congregation had grown to over 60 families, when a fire destroyed the building. It was rebuilt 2 years later. Today it is the second oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere and the longest in continuous service under the American flag.

Many of the congregations that were established in the United States before 1850, have representatives from the various Caribbean islands and St. Thomas was no exception. One of the most famous Jews to leave for the United States from the US Virgin Islands was Judah Philip Benjamin.

More will be written about Judah Philip Benjamin in an upcoming article, however he was one of the most distinguished men of the south during the United States Civil War. Not only was he a U.S. Senator and lawyer, but also served as attorney general, secretary of war and secretary of state under Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.

The Family History Library has in its collection some of the records of the Jewish congregation of St. Thomas. Those records, which date back to 1786 are now being added to the Knowles Collection- Jews of the Caribbean database and will be available after the next update.