Some Portuguese refugees of 1728 and 1730

<plain_text><page sequence="1">Jewish Historical Studies, volume 45, 2013 Some Portuguese refugees of 1728 and 1730 MIRIAM RODRIGUES-PEREIRA A number of Portuguese New Christian couples who escaped from the Inquisition in the eighteenth century and came to London from Lisbon were re-married by Jewish law at the synagogue in Bevis Marks after undergoing the necessary religious rites.' (They also took biblical first names). The words "Vindos de Portugal" (arrivals from Portugal) were written into their Ketubot (marriage contracts).2 Recent research by Edgar Samuel has established that several of these people had been brought from Brazil to Lisbon by the Inquisition.3 Two sheets of notes which have survived by chance in the Bevis Marks archives shed light on a few more of the refugees, including one family brought from Brazil. The notes, written in Portuguese, very likely by the Treasurer (Gab ay)? contain the names of families arriving by ship from Lisbon in 1728 and 1730. Comparing this information with the Ketubot produces the result shown on the following page. The account of the Felix Nunes Miranda case in the Lisbon Inquisition Lists5 shows that he came from Almeida near Lamego in Portugal and was living in Bahia in Brazil. He was a merchant dealing in olive oil and clearly a man of substance. He was arrested on 7 January 1729, faced an auto-da-fé on 17 June 1631 at the age of 62 and was sentenced to be burnt at the stake. His unmarried son, Miguel Nunes de Almeyda, born in Bahia and living there, was also arrested and, at an auto-da-fé in Lisbon on 6 July 1732 when aged 27, was sentenced to prison and to wear the sanbenito (penitential garment) perpetually.6 L. D. Barnett, ed., Bevis Marks Records Part II, "Abstracts of the Ketubot or Marriage Contracts of the Congregation from the Earliest Times Until 1837" (London 1949). R. D. Barnett, ed., Bevis Marks Records Part IV, "The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba 1715-1775" (London 1991), 4. Edgar Samuel, "Some Eighteenth-Century Refugees from Brazil", Jewish Historical Studies 43 (2011): 89-96. Responsible for paying ships' captains who received £3 per head for bringing the refugees from Lisbon to London; see R. D. Barnett, Bevis Marks Records Part IV, 7. A. W. Novinsky, Inquisiçâo Inventario de bens confiscados a Christàos Novos fontes para a his toria de Portugal e do Brasil (Sao Paulo, 1976), 103. Ibid. 173</page><page sequence="2">Research Notes Note listing arrivals by ship Bevis Marks Records Part II, Ketubot Ref. no. and names 5488/1728 Diego de Anaxar, Biolante de Castro his wife, with Leonarda de Castro, widow, Maria de Castro, Mariana de Castro, Gracia Alvares, Leanarda Faustina de Castro, 3 years old 437: Jacob Najara, Rachel Najara 27 Elul 5488/21 Aug. 1728 Manuel Rodrigues, Angela de Leon his wife, with Luisa Rodrigues, his daugh ter, 11 months old, Raphael de Leon 420: Yacob Rodrigues, Rahel Rodrigues i Adar 5488/31 Jan. 1728 Diego de Leon, Ines Faviano his wife with 3 small daughters aged 12,7 and 2V2 years, Clara de Leon, Ana de Chaves, widow, Ursula de Torres 436: Daniel de Leon, Sara de Leon 6 Elul 5488/31 July 1728 5490/1730 Simon de Crasto [sic] and his wife on ship Principe de Brazil with Ines Orobio Furtado, Ana and Izabel, her sisters, Diogo her brother 470: Eliau de Castro, Ester de Castro 6Tammuz 5490/9 June 1730 Gracia Nunes Miranda, wife of Felix Nunes Miranda who was arrested, Leonor daughter of the above, married with Manuel Furtado Orobio her husband, Francesca, Theodora, Gracia, all unmar ried, Felipe, Raphael, Manuel, sons 462: David Orobio Furtado, Rahel Orobio Furtado 12 Shebat 5450/19 Jan.1730 Manuel Nunes Flores, wife and 2 sons 468: Abraham Nunes Flores, Sarah Nunes Flores 22lyar 5450/28 April 1730 The Rodrigues couple and the de Castros evidently remained in London where they died. They were buried in the Novo cemetery in Mile End, Stepney,7 Rahel Rodrigues in 1745 and Jacob in 1763, Ester de Castro in 1735 and Eliau in 1740. There are no further genealogical records of the other refugees in the Bevis Marks archives. M. Rodrigues-Pereira and C. Loewe, eds., Bevis Marks Records Part VI, "The Burial Register (1733-1918) of the Novo (New) Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London" (London 1997), nos. 969,1975, 77, 605. 174</page></plain_text>