famousportugueseamericanjews

FAMOUS PORTUGUESE
AMERICAN SEPHARDIC JEWS
Compiled by Humberto Carreiro
Historian from Bristol, Rhode
(Done February 1999)

Bernard Mannes Baruch	Benjamin Nathan Cardozo	Emma Lazarus
Uriah Philips Levy	Jefferson Monroe Levy	Aaron Lopez
Moses Lopez	Abraham Pereira Mendes	Annie Nathan Meyer
Dr. Samuel Nunez	Haym Salomon	Moses Seixas
Isaac Touro	Judah & Abraham Touro	Moses Michael Hays
Judah Philip Benjamin	Rebeca Gratz	Salomon Parreira

BERNARD MANNES BARUCH -- born August 19, 1872 (South Caroline). American financier and statesman, financial adviser to eight Presidents of the United States, from Woodraw Wilson to John F. Kennedy, he was direct descendent of Isaac Rodrigues Marques, who came to America in 1695 from Denmark. Mr. Baruch passed away in New York City, June 21, 1965, a the age of 93. Source = The man the myth the Eighty Years by Margaret L. Coit

BENJAMIN NATHAN CARDOZO - First American Sephardic Jew to serve in the United States Supreme Court, replacing Oliver Wendell Holmes, in 1932. The Grandees American Sephardic Elite by - Stenphen Birmingham

EMMA LAZARUS — Poet and writer. She was Judge Benjamin Cardozo's niece. She wrote the poem (a sonnet) that is at the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor. Source: From The Grandees by Stenphen Birmingham

Monticello was property of the
Portuguese Jewish Family Levy for 88 years.

URIAH PHILLIPS LEVY -- direct descendent of Dr. Samuel Nunez. He was Commander in the United States Navy. Bought Monticello from James Barclay in 1836. On his will he left Monticello to the People of the United States of America. From The Grandees and Monticello The Second Mount Vernon By Charles B. Horner, Jr.

JEFFERSON MONROE LEVY - Because the Uriah Philips Levy's family contested the will and the U. S. Government refused to accept Monticello. Monroe Levy Uriah Levy's nephew, a three term Congressman from New York State, acquired Monticello and added 618 acres of more land to the property. He then sold Monticello to the Jefferson Memorial Foundation. This Foundation was created by him for $500 thousand dollars. He had an offer of one million dollars, but he preferred the Foundation to take over, and not be owned by private individuals. Jefferson Monroe Levy died in New York City in 1924. From: The Grandees and Monticello The Second Mount Vernon by Charles B. Horner, Jr.

AARON LOPEZ -- born, raised and married in Portugal. Came to America in 1752, age 21 years old; became the most prominent Jew in Newport. Rhode Island; was the co-founder of Touro Synagogue, became its first President and was a business partner with Nicholas Brown on manufacturing of spermaceti, together with his half brother Moses Lopez a fabled Jewish merchant an empire was launched in Newport, Rhode Island. Aaron Lopez had also a very dark side on his life. He built a significant part of his merchant empire on the slave trade. From: Aaron Lopez of Newport - Colonial American Merchant Prince by Stanley F. Chyet

MOSES LOPEZ — Aaron's half brother, also born in Portugal, came to America in 1739, was scholarly with particular interest in mathematics. He published in Newport, Rhode Island, 1808, "The Lunar Calendar" and also was the first in 1753 to obtained a patent for manufacturing Potash in Rhode Island. From same author of Colonial American Merchant Prince by Stanley F. Chyet

ABRAHAM PEREIRA MENDES - Was the last Sephardic Rabbi of the Touro Synagogue, died April 4, 1893.
From: History of Touro Synagogue by Dr. Theodore Lewis
Note: — Touro Synagogue had only 4 Sephardic Rabbis.

ANNIE NATHAN MEYER - great-granddaughter of Isaac Mendes Seixas . Nathan was the founder of Bernard College, today incorporated with Columbia University. From The Grandees by Stenphen Birmingham

DR. SAMUEL NUNEZ -- PERSONAL PHYSICIAN OF KING JOHN V IN PORTUGAL.—great-great-grandfather of Uriah Philips Levy came to America in 1732 to Savannah, Georgia, was also recognized as one of the founders of that city, founded in 1733.
Source = Navy Maverick Uriah Philip Levy by Saul Shaphire & Donovan Fiztpatric

HAYM SALOMON -- AMERICAN PATRIOT — Born in Lisa Poland, in 1740, descendent from Portuguese Sephardic Jews, came to America in 1772, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was identified with the cause of the American Independence. In 1778 he became an agent of the banker Robert Morris. He loaned Morris about $600 thousand dollars of his own money for the Patriotic Cause. Haym Salomon married Rachel Franks, one of Moses Franks daughters, a prominent Sephardic family in Philadelphia. Haym Salomon passed away in 1785, at 45 years old. Source = Funk & Wagnalls, Standard Reference Encyclopedia, and the Grandees also.

MOSES SEIXAS — Together with other merchants in Newport he founded the Bank of Rhode Island in the XVIII Century, and also wrote the famous phrase in the letter to President Washington, in 1790 : "behold a Government which gives to bigotry no sanction to persecution no assistance". The Grandees by Stenphnen Birmingham

Touro Synagogue, the oldest in U. S. A., was
founded by the Portuguese Sephardic Jews.

ISAAC TOURO -- first Sephardic Rabbi of Touro Synagogue and also co-founder born in Amsterdam, Holland. Aaron Lopez of Newport, Colonial American Prince by Stanley Chyet.

JUDAH AND ABRAHAM - sons of Isaac Touro they were also Rabbis of Touro Synagogue. The Grandees by Stenphen Birmingham and History of Touro Synagogue by Rabbi Dr. Theodore Lewis

JUDAH PHILLIP BENJAMIN -- The Jewish Confederate, United States Senator from Louisiana, Attorney General, Secretary of War, Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America and Queen's Council in London. BENJAMIN was descendent from the Sephardic Spanish and Portuguese, born August 11, 1811, on the Island of Saint Croix, part of British West Indies. He graduated from Yale University as a Lawyer. Judah P. Benjamin married Natalie St. Martin, in 1833, a Catholic daughter of a prominent Catholic family of New Orleans, his wife Natalie left him with their only daughter "Ninette" in 1845, for Paris, France. After living a few years in England Judah P. Benjamin moved to France and died there May 6, 1884. And he is buried in the Pere Lachaise Catholic Cemetery in the plot of the Bursignae Family the-in laws of his daughter. Source from Judah P. Benjamin "The Jewish Confederate" By Eli N. Evans

REBECCA GRATZ -- FOR GRACIA -- was the founder of the Gratz Philanthropic Foundation of Philadelphia. Sources: From the Grandees by Stenphen Birmingham.

SOLOMON PARREIRA -- Native of Holland who emigrated to Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife 1838 a clothing merchant, he was the founder of the First Congregation Sons of Israel of Rhode Island and its first President. Sources Jews in Rhode Island by Geraldine S. Foster.

MOSES MICHAEL HAYS -- Book Reminiscences of Newport by George Chaplain Mason. Hays was born in Lisbon, in 1739, came to America via Jamaica, first settled in Newport R. 1. During the Revolutionary War moved to Boston, Massachusetts. He was the first Jew to achieve the highs position in the Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and he was also the founder of the Bank of Boston.

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