Research suggesting Isaac #42 married Luna in Madrid around 1638

Summary:

Amsterdam data in the form of the will of Jacob Israel Pereira (ref 141) pointed us to the close connection between the Baruch Lousadas and the Israel Pereiras. This led us to an awkward decision - did Abraham Israel Pereira have a Baruch Lousada mother? Or did Isaac #42 have a wife who was a young aunt of Abraham Israel Pereira? The 2nd alternative is the most natural, but it is only after a close examination of the family history of Isaac #42 that we can now see its explanatory power. For from it we show below that Isaac #42 had his 2nd marriage, in Madrid, around 1638. Further, we are able to consider, in more detail, how it was that the Baruch Lousadas manoeuvred their way in the crucial period 1655-9 from Madrid and Livorno to Barbados and London.

Isaac's 1st marriage:

The 2020 French publication on Jewish Livorno marriages (ref 319), gives enough data to analyze the family history of Isaac #42. The 1643 marriage of his daughter Rachel #2143 (to Isaac son of a still-alive Abraham Baruch Lousada) means she was born in 1630 or before, making it unlikely that she was a child of Isaac's wife Luna #43 who was bearing children beyond 1650. That is, Luna was Isaac's 2nd wife (see marriage C below). The fact that Jacob #1388 appeared to be a much older brother of David #44 (ref 99) pointed in the same direction - that he came from an earlier marriage of Isaac and was a half-brother of David #44.

From the literature it would have been easy to conclude that Aaron #376, David #44 and Abraham #45 (all three were in Barbados) and Moses #46 (their London trading contact) were brothers. But we know (from ref 5 p52 in an annotated birth records transcript showing Aaron's 1st son was David, followed by Solomon then Isaac who died young and was circumcised after death!) that Aaron #376 was the son of David #1584. The existence of Moses #1585 certainly means that Moses #46 was not a son of Isaac #42 either. Thus neither Aaron #376 nor Moses #46 were brothers of David #44 and Abraham #45. The 1699 family settlement makes all this clear. Accordingly the 3 brothers are shown in marriage C below, while Aaron is shown in marriage A, but Moses #46 belongs to neither of these marriages (his place is explained in the footnote to the diagram below). The case of Abraham #1875 the 1st Den Haag Louzada appears to force our hand. For on the one hand he behaves as if he was the son of Isaac #42 - his 1st known son born in 1645 was named Isaac. On the other hand, the existence of Abraham #45 means that Abraham #1875 cannot have been Isaac's son.

Our solution of this dilemma is that Abraham #1875 was not the biological son of Isaac #42 - who thus married Abraham's widowed mother when she was pregnant with Abraham. Abraham #1875 thus became Isaac's legitimate son born in wedlock. It is perhaps understandable that as Abraham's mother died perhaps around 1637 when he was 15 or so, and that Isaac #42 did not get to Amsterdam until 1662, no-one with him (in Amsterdam?) at the birth of his son could tell him Isaac was not his biological father! This suggests that Abraham #45 was not born in Madrid, for the confusion would have been dispelled if he had been. A brother might marry a widowed sister-in-law if he could, and in this case we suggest that Isaac married his brother's widow. This was Isaac's prior marriage which we predicted above. It remains to determine which brother. Amador de Lousada had 5 sons, 4 of whom left Portugal. Abraham #2149 of Livorno was alive in 1643 (see 2nd paragraph above). Moses #1419 of London also survived (and similarly cannot have left a widow). Therefore only David #1584 could have been the biological father of Abraham #1875, and was the father of Aaron #376 as previously observed. (The existence of Aaron #376 may have meant that the conditions for a ''levirate'' marriage may strictly not have existed, but for these long-term New Christians Judaic customs may have become somewhat uncertain). We provisionally give the widow the name Esther (after Aaron's oldest daughter) and show her in marriage B below. Daniel #1420 of Boston was a son of Abraham #2149 as we suggest here but Daniel #1583 died prematurely and we show him here as a son of Isaac #42. Thus just Aaron #376 is left in marriage A below.

Our solution is not free of complications - for as we contemplate here Abraham's father-in-law was named Isaac, the same name as Abraham's step-father. If Abraham knew more than we credit him with above ie if he somehow knew the name of his biological father and thus named his 1st son David, then David must have died young (as we have no knowledge of him) with Isaac #50 being 2nd born but oldest surviving son. This does not prove that Abraham #1875 in fact knew who his biological father was, not does it prove that Abraham #1875 was not a stepson of Isaac #42!

Isaac's 2nd marriage:

Marriage B rather quickly produced Abraham #1875 for the obvious reason, and then Jacob, Daniel and Rachel appeared. Also, Gracia and Rebecca have a natural place in this marriage (for the reason explained below). They ended up in Barbados with Gracia becoming the wife of David Raphael de Mercado who arrived in late 1655. The schematic below shows them as half-sisters (with the same father) of David #44 and Abraham #45 on the one hand, but also of Aaron #376 (with the same mother) on the other hand. Esther must have died prematurely, for at some point in the 1630s Isaac married Luna. In accordance with the 2nd alternative, she was a much younger half-sister of Beatriz Geronima, the mother of Abraham Israel Pereira. As Luna's in-laws were in Madrid - and had been there since about 1610, it is safe to conclude that Isaac married Luna in Madrid. The marriage must have been no earlier that 1635 as Luna appears to have been childrearing 20 years later, and before 1640 when Isaac and Luna were in Livorno. That is, the marriage was around 1638.

Isaac and Luna presumably took the stepchildren Rachel, and presumably Gracia and Rebecca, with them to Livorno in 1640 together with whichever young children of the marriage they had at the time. Of course, as discussed above, this category did not include Abraham #45 who was probably not born in Madrid; he does seem to have been somewhat younger than a Madrid birth before 1640 would suggest - he had a very young family in London in the 1690s, and he died in 1714 making his age at death around 69 compared with 59 for David #44 and around 74 for Moses #1585. It is unclear that Aaron, Moses #46, Abraham #1875, Jacob #1399 and Daniel #1420 went to Livorno with Isaac and Luna; they may have stayed on in Madrid, and picked up business skills. Ultimately arriving in Amsterdam in 1662 Jacob #1388 became the leading imposta payer in the family until David #44, who reached Amsterdam from Barbados in 1673, surpassed him. Daniel #1420 appears to have become a competent merchant in Boston in 1674. Of course, it is probable that those staying on in Madrid did not stay for long since after 1643 it became increasingly urgent to leave because the Spanish Inquisition was soon to reactivate itself. Some of them eg Abraham #1875 probably achieved this in the entourage of Abraham Israel Pereira and went fairly quickly to Amsterdam. The departure of Aaron, Moses, Daniel and Jacob we would like to know more about - the earliest data we have puts Moses #46 regularly in Amsterdam from 1649 (ref 105 and 322) though ultimately he arrived in London from France (ref 121).

By a marvellous coincidence, Isaac and Luna had a daughter Luna who married in Amsterdam in 1675 and moved to Barbados as Luna Franco Nunes. To be a good age for marriage she must have been born well after 1650 ie after Moses #1585. Also, her name means that the maternal grandmother was Luna, while Isaac's mother was Ana - and a child with the name Hannah is missing, presumably having died young. Gracia must have been of a marriageable age to be considered a bride of David Raphael de Mercado during the 1655-9 period the marriage was negotiated in (see Mercado marriage notes) and not being the 1st or 2nd daughter of marriage C must have been from marriage B. The fact that the maternal grandmother was Luna also may help us identify the father of Beatriz Geronima and Luna (that is, we are of course looking for a Geronimo with a 2nd or later wife Luna).

Summary:

Following is a schematic of the 13 documented 'children' of Isaac #42 - showing the 4 cohorts into which they fell, and showing the 3 marriages discussed above together with approximate durations of each.