Lousadas and their marriages

Though much of the detail of Lousada marriages is taken up in the various aspects of the story elsewhere it is perhaps useful to reflect on how important these marriages were especially when translocations were involved. Very often our Jewish ancestors moved where there was a prior linkage of kin or associates, and marriages then followed to cement the new linkage. But sometimes it seems that marriages catalyzed a move - as we are inclined to think occurred in the case of Gracia Baruch Lousada who was the wife of David Raphael Mercado in Barbados (see Mercado section below). A later example was the move of Eliezer Montefiore to Barbados followed his father's distant cousin Bailah who had married the first Simon Barrow and they came to Barbados before 1759. Eliezer Montefiore married Bailah's granddaughter Judith Joseph Levi in Barbados in 1797.

The marriage in Spain between the families that later became known as Baruch Lousada and Israel Pereira was perhaps influential in the move to London of Moses Baruh Lousada - for Abraham Israel Pereira financed the activities of Menasseh ben Israel - who spearheaded the push from Amsterdam for the English Resettlement - and thus when Pereira's cousin Moses Baruh Lousada arrived in 1660 it was not surprising that he soon became a senior member of the community with David Abravanel the probable brother-in-law of Menasseh ben Israel. Marriage between cousins was also important in binding families together - we can see 2 such marriages between the London and Amsterdam branches in 1696 and 1709. There are many cases where a sibling replaced a spouse who died - Eve Barrow in Barbados in the 1770s had Jacob Levi as a husband then Joseph Levi; Daniel Baruh Lousada of Jamaica first married his London cousin Rachel in 1765, then when she died he married her sister Rebecca in 1769, but he soon died whereupon she married David d'Aguilar on 21 Jun 1771 (see Lopes Pereira marriages below; after Rachel Baruh Lousada of Barbados lost her husband and cousin Daniel in 1779, she married his brother Emanuel in 1783 as he had been widowed. Daniel's brother Emanuel (father of Isaac who became the first reinstated Duke) married a cousin (Esther #88) and Isaac married his cousin Lydia (Leah before conversion to Christianity).

The Baruch Lousada move from Barbados to Jamaica may have been catalyzed by the marriage of Esther Baruh Lousada to the Touro family, for it seems that Esther left Barbados well before her 3 siblings Jacob, Emanuel and Hannah followed her to Jamaica. However the Lamego marriages in Jamaica were fundamental in creating the surviving English and Jamaican Baruch Lousadas.

Marriages were a source of strength for the Baruch Lousadas in later times, and perhaps earlier as well. When Jacob #36 died young in 1752, he left a young wife and family and it may have been his Ximenes business partners who helped care for his family - and for this we point to the 1770 marriage of Emanuel #87 with Rebecca Ximenes. And when Moses Baruch Lousada took his own life in 1826, his Barrow and de Symons in-laws assisted maintain the family and we point to his widow marrying Samuel Lyon de Symons (brother of her brother's wife) and to John Baruh Lousada #25 marrying Tryphena Jael Louisa Barrow in 1832.

Lamego

The city of Lamego in the region of Oporto (see map) gave its name to a prominent New Christian family which was strongly linked to the Lousadas. Perhaps the Lamego presence in Rouen was a key element in the travel of the Baruch Lousadas to London and Amsterdam, for they had an indirect link with the Rouen Lamegos who used the Montezinos family in Madrid as agents - and this latter family was linked to the Baruch Lousadas via the Israel Pereira family. Moses Baruh Lousada went to London from France, and perhaps Rouen. We have not proven that Rachel Gomes Henriques the mother of Esther, Jacob, Emanuel and Hannah of Barbados was a Lamego but the surname appears to have a Rouen connection - see ref 348. Similarly the names of the 2 wives David Baruch Lousada #44 married in Amsterdam suggest Lamego linkage, but a more vivid clue is that his 1st wife was Hannah Montezinos.

The 2 Lamego marriages in Jamaica suggest the Lamego presence there was influential in the Baruch Lousada move there around 1705; certainly 5 of the next generation of Baruh Lousadas followed Aaron Lamego and his son Isaac to London. The closeness of the Lamego and Lousada families is shown by the 1743 marriage of Jacob Lousada #36 and Abigail Lamego #37; this pair were cousins. Such marriages were not prohibited under Jewish law and indeed were not uncommon as they served to consolidate family wealth. Later Rebecca Lamego married the wealthy but eccentric Ephraim d'Aguilar, and the wealthy Esther Lamego married Abraham Lumbroso de Matos Mocatta - who formed Mocatta & Goldsmid and who adopted his mother's Mocatta surname.

Lopes Pereira/d'Aguilar

When Diego Lopes Pereira (Baron d'Aguilar) came to London from Vienna in 1756, his family became united by marriage with the Lousadas, Lamegos and the Mendes da Costas of London. Both original branches of the English Lousadas were involved, that descending from Jacob Lousada #380 by way of the Francos of Livorno and London. What this tells us about the Lousadas is not clear - on one reading it confirms a lofty status of the Lousadas amongst the London Sephardim, for it was not wealth alone that would have attracted the Baron - he had plenty himself. Perhaps it also tells that the Lousadas, Lamegos and Mendes da Costas being well established in London provided a basis for the establishment of newcomers. Perhaps it also reflects mutual high social status in Madrid in the d'Olivares period - for the Lamegos were at the peak of financial importance to the Crown at that time and the Lousadas had a connection with the wealthy Rodrigues Pereria (later Israel Pereira) family.

Mercado and Montezinos

The Mercados were very experienced Portuguese crypto-Jews in the Atlantic trade. In ref 37 may be found Fernando de Mercado in London in 1610-11 and his brother Simon in Amsterdam, and in ref 351 is given a mini-genealogy containing these 2 plus father and 2 brothers deriving from their presence in Jacobean London. We have enhanced this mini-genealogy as shown here. Wilfred Samuel (ref 5) records that the Mercados arrived in Barbados in 1655. The father Abraham - a physician and hence a welcome addition to the community – and a son David came from Hamburg but another son Isaac seems to have come from Amsterdam. They had been in Recife in Brazil but had left after Portugal reclaimed their former colonies from the Dutch; this reconquest was finally achieved in 1654 after 9 years of war. Those colonies had become desirable locations for the Sephardic Jews after the temporary retreat of Catholic Portuguese rule, where newer Jewish arrivals encountered New Christians and crypto-Jews who had arrived under Portuguese rule. The return of the Portuguese in 1654 was a disaster for many but the resulting subsidiary diaspora had its benefits eg in dispersing sugar technology. Apart from having general knowledge of this field, David had invented a new type of sugar mill. With Lord Willoughby and Lord Rochester he petitioned the king for a patent of monopoly. A warrant of 22 Jun 1663 grants these parties the sole right to employ the invention not only in Barbados but in all the Caribbean Islands. The making and erecting of this sugar plant was also to be monopolized by Lords Willoughby and Rochester, and on 2 Jan 1664 they secured a patent for “the sole making and framing of sugar mills after a new manner invented by David de Mercado who is desirous for the said grant to be made to them they giving him all due encouragement".

We observe that David #44 was the 1st Barbados Baruch Lousada to be endenized - and his 1664 endenization followed that of his brother-in-law David Raphael de Mercado who was endenized in 1661 (ref 42). Abraham #45 who replaced David #44 in Barbados was endenized in 1672 and presumably learned from his brother. Aaron #376, the mainstay of the family in Barbados, was endenized in 1675, presumably anticipating Abraham's departure for London when he was replaced by David's stepson Jacob #711 who was endenized in 1687. Endenization was needed to enter English colonial trade, the necessity for which was probably gathered by David Raphael de Mercado in London, where he visited in mid-1655 - after he left Dutch Brazil - and obtained his pass (ref 5 and 21) to go to Barbados. This pass covered just David and his father but (as ref 182 shows) usually all members of a party were listed. So how did Gracia Baruch Lousada #43 came to meet and marry David Raphael de Mercado (and trigger the Baruch Lousadas presence in Barbados)? Starting with a key Pereira marriage in 1638, we can start to see what must have happened in the 3 years or so between late 1655 when David Raphael de Mercado first reached Barbados, and 1659 when Aaron #376 commenced his 36 years of servitude in Barbados for the family. David #44 reached the age of 18 in 1658, so the critical period seems to be 1658-9.

From Barbados the Mercados presumably needed to remain in touch with the Amsterdam Portuguese Jewish trading and financing network - perhaps they needed people in Barbados as well as finance and sales outlets, for David Raphael de Mercado was an inventor and would have needed reliable help. Perhaps in the 1658-9 period, he spoke with Abraham Israel Pereira in Amsterdam who had just invested in a sugar refinery (see next paragraph). Pereira, we imagine, took the opportunity to suggest to Mercado his young Baruch Lousada cousins, one of whom Moses #46 regularly appeared in Amsterdam. Perhaps they met - and in any case on his way back to Barbados David Raphael de Mercado must have visited the French port the other Baruch Lousada cousins were visiting. David must have travelled from Livorno with his unmarried sister Gracia (and probably Rebecca as a travelling companion for Gracia) to a destination probably in France and perhaps Aaron #376 and Jacob #1388 had came from Madrid. Moses #46 may have made the initial suggestion directly to Mercado in Amsterdam; perhaps he accompanied Mercado to meet the others. In any case, all 6 cousins co-operated to achieve the Mercado marriage arrangement. In the probable absence of a monetary dowry, this arrangement involved 2 Baruch Lousadas working in the Mercado business in Barbados, with London representation by 2 more Baruch Lousadas. Moses #46 and Jacob #1388 were selected for London, while David #44 was to join the oldest cousin Aaron #376 in Barbados. Aaron #376 in addition to Gracia (and Rebecca) may have joined the Mercado party going back to Barbados. By 1672 David was replaced in Barbados first by his younger brother Abraham #45, and then by David's stepson Jacob #711 after Abraham went to London (he was there from about 1692). Abraham #1352, the son of Moses #46 of London, migrated to Barbados in the 1690s. Amsterdam representation was achieved in 1662 - Jacob #1388 moved from London, and Isaac #42 (presumably with 2 sons Abraham #45 and Moses #1585) from Livorno, though Moses #46 continued to visit making 2 more visits in the years after 1662. 

David's marriage to Hannah Montezinos took longer to negotiate for he seems to have arrived in Barbados some years after Aaron #376. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that during his 1658-64 migration from Livorno to Barbados, David #44 experienced a number of coincidences. Thus apart from the rather fortunate Mercado meetings suggested above, he met his future 1st wife the widowed Hannah Montezinos, probably in a location with a Montezinos family presence (Hamburg, Bayonne, Bordeaux and La Rochelle saw Manuel Lopes Telles #3098 as did Amsterdam late in his life - but of course the Lamego contacts of Fernando Montezinos - ref 123 p256 - were still in Rouen, while Pedro and Diogo Lopes Telles also ended up in Amsterdam - ref 153). From Amsterdam Abraham Israel Pereira in 1655 assisted (see ref 123 p235) Fernando Montezinos escape Madrid (to Antwerp in 1657), from which we can see that they knew of each other. Further, while Abraham Israel Pereira in Madrid was primarily a wool exporter and an asentista (ref 123 p230), in 1655 or 1656 he invested in the first Jewish-owned sugar refinery in Amsterdam. Perhaps it was David Raphael de Mercado who was one of the catalysts for the Pereira refinery investment, but this would have been on the earlier Mercado visit to Amsterdam, probably the initial part of the 1655 trip during which in London he secured his pass to travel to Barbados. Raphael Montezinos (of Venice - noting there was a similarly named Montezinos who left an orphaned daughter Rebecca in Livorno) was present as the only Jewish worker in the Pereira sugar refinery in 1657 (ref 297 p153). The widowed Hannah could have been a Montezinos in her own right and Raphael's sister (he and a probable brother David were frequent fathers in the 1680s - Gabriel and Abraham were less prolific - and it seem unlikely one them was her father). Thus after meeting his young cousin David #44 for the first time, Abraham Israel Pereira in the 1659-63 period possibly put forward David #44 as a suitable husband for the widowed Hannah. Her father seems to have been Jacob Montezinos #3097 who would have negotiated the dowry. Later in 1673, Jacob witnessed David's 2nd Amsterdam marriage no doubt paying careful attention to provisions in Hannah's dowry unachieved due to her early death. Jacob was distinct from Hannah's father-in-law Jacob Montezinos #3126 who had died by 1629. A chart of the Montezinos family is given here.

Mocatta

The Mocattas moved to London and Amsterdam at about the same time as the Baruh Lousadas; however we have found their name in Dutch Brazil but not in Barbados, Surinam or Jamaica, whereas we could not find the Baruh Lousada name in Dutch Brazil but of course we find them in Barbados, Surinam and Jamaica. Both names appear in Curacao and Livorno. In the mid 17th century, Antonio de Marchena, a Marrano from a branch of the Mocatta family that had stayed in Spain, went to Amsterdam under the name Moses Mocatta. By 1670 he had taken his family to London and in 1671 he appears in a Bevis Marks synagogue list. He was a diamond broker and merchant. His great grandson Abraham Lumbroso de Matos Mocatta founded a bullion brokerage firm in Camomile Street in the City of London, which became known as Mocatta & Goldsmid after Asher Goldsmid joined in about 1789 after the death in that year of the original Ashkenazi partner Alexander Isaac Keyser (ref  50). This represented an early Sephardic/Ashkenazi connection in England. The firm became a bullion broker for the Bank of England, and still exists under different ownership. 

The 1730 short-lived marriage between Moses Lumbroso de Matos #194 and Rebecca Mocatta #155 led to further linkages in this story of the Barrow Lousadas. Children of this marriage included Abraham Lumbroso de Matos Mocatta (the Mocatta and Goldsmid founder discussed above). Abraham Lumbroso de Mattos Mocatta was the father of Rachel Mocatta #183 who in marrying Joseph Elias Montefiore in 1783, united the Lumbroso de Matos line with the Montefiores. He was also the grandfather of Rebecca Mocatta who married the Australian Joseph Barrow Montefiore.  

The Mocatta-Goldsmid link is echoed in many later Goldsmid links with the Barrow Lousadas. George Baruh Lousada #72 in 1844 married Juliana Goldsmid, and one of the children of this marriage was Herbert George Lousada. By chance in March 2011 the original marriage contract of Marion Helen Mocatta #207 and Herbert George Lousada came into our hands (thanks to Caroline Langton). This marriage serves to highlight what a close connection there was between the families and we drew up a chart to show this. Marion Helen Mocatta and Herbert George Lousada were 3rd cousins once removed (common ancestor Jacob #36).

Montefiore

Simon Barrow of Barbados was born in 1709, and he married Bailah Montefore. Barbados records show their probable son Haim was born in 1744, so the oldest son Baruch (who also lived in Barbados) must have been born before then, say in 1742. As this was before the English Montefiore presence was established in 1752 (see next paragraph), their parents' marriage must have been in Livorno though we do not yet have direct record of this. The early Montefiores of Livorno are shown here. The Barrow Lousadas had many further marriage connections with this family as can be viewed in the charts dealing with Australia and the Lousada/Mocatta marriage. The Claude Lousada/Maude Spielmann marriage also reveals some connections.

The Montefiores possibly result from the arrival of Joseph Leon (who escaped Mexico for Italy just before 1600 and whose amazing Sephardic ancestry can be seen here). Joseph grew up in the village called Montefiore Conca and we note that Edgar Samuel knew the late John Montefiore-Vita who was an Italian Jewish descendant of the Livorno Montefiore family and who had settled in London before WW2. He had tracked the family to Urbino, and said that they came from a hill village near Urbino called Montefiore Conca. However Edgar Samuel considers that the Montefiores did not reach Livorno until after 1700 being in Urbino for a period before then. Moses Vita Montefiore of Livorno arrived in England in the 1740s and having married Esther Hannah Racah, daughter of a Livorno Moorish merchant, settled in England in 1752. They had seventeen children in total. The third, Samuel, married Grace, a niece of Abigail Lamego - the one who married her cousin Jacob Baruh Lousada #36; as mentioned, Joseph Elias Montefiore married Rachel Mocatta #183 who was another niece of this Abigail Lamego, and was the father of the eminent Sir Moses Montefiore. But possibly the most swashbuckling was the sixth son, Joshua, who attempted to set up a new state in Africa and was a lawyer, soldier and journalist.

The seventh son, Eliezer, married Judith a granddaughter of Simon Barrow #64. He was the father of Joseph Barrow Montefiore (1803-93) who emigrated to Australia (but had a period back in England) and his older brother Jacob Barrow Montefiore (1801-95 - born in Bridgetown, Barbados), both of whom were early financiers in Australia, founding with others what became the ANZ Bank. Their two nephews Jacob and Eliezer Levi Montefiore also emigrated to Australia. Joseph Barrow Montefiore married Rebecca Mocatta, whose parents were Daniel Mocatta and Nancy Goldsmid #576 who was a cousin of Tryphena Barrow! Rebecca's brother George came to Australia with Joseph and Rebecca.  

Barrow

Simon Barrow, who had an Ashkenasi father and possibly a Baruch Lousada mother, married Bailah Montefiore and gave rise to a long line of illustrious progeny, not the least of which was his grandson Simon Barrow #59, a Mayor of Bath, and whose offspring included a dynasty of English generals and other soldiers. The Barrows and the Baruh Lousadas were linked in England via business and via the marriages between Bella Barrow #33 and Moses Baruh Lousada #32, and between cousins Tryphena Barrow #26, her niece, and John Baruh Lousada #25, her son. Then Bella, after Moses' early death, married Samuel Lyon de Symons, echoing her brother Simon Barrow's marriage to Tryphena Lyon de Symons, Samuel's sister. The family of Bella and Moses was young, and it is self-evident that to a large degree the ancestors of the majority of the English Lousadas were brought up in the (second) Barrow/de Symons household after the untimely death of Moses Baruh Lousada. Perhaps Bella and Samuel also had a role in the raising of the younger children of Simon Barrow as well. In any event the Barrows were left with a large number of children who had lost a parent - Moses Baruh Lousada in 1826 and Tryphena Lyon de Symons in 1828.

The 1807 Lousada/Goldsmid marriage, and the 1808 Barrow/de Symons marriage, provide a further Barrow/Lousada link because a Goldsmid was the mother of Tryphena Lyon de Symons. These were some of the early Sephardic/Ashkenazi marriages. Such marriages became much more common as the Ashkenazi component of Anglo-Jewry came to rival and then overshadow its Sephardic counterpart. Another distant link is provided in the case of Sir Joseph Sebag-Montefiore.

Senior/Henriques

In Curacao marriage of Moses Baruch Lousada #1585 aka Juan Hernadez Lousada was married to Sarah Lopez Henriquez (the latter surname was used by the Senior family) parallels the contemporaneous Amsterdam marriage of Michael Duarte Senior to Rebecca Louzada #621. This connection may be seen here where we observe that the eminent Jacob Israel Pereira #1765 tapped many Jewish investors including Isaac's sons-in-law Jacob de Mercado and Michael Senior and a third investor Judah Senior Henriques (see ref 297 p139 which refers to a 1698 notarial deed by them).

Israel Pereira

Our account starts with a key Madrid marriage in 1638. See here for an account of the complex Amsterdam connection which includes Jacob Israel Pereira #1765 whose 2nd wife was Sara Louzada - a Den Haag Louzada - around 1680.

Levi

This name makes a strong appearance in the Barrow ancestry - first with the marriage of Simon Barrow's sister to Isaac Levi, and in many other cases especially of Judith Joseph Levi. Our current thinking is shown here but we have yet to show how the Barrows and the Portsmouth Levis were first connected. The multiple Barrows & Levi marriages gave rise to the eminent (from the Australian perspective) Barrow Montefiores and Levi Montefiores.

Other

Additional connections can be found as follows:

Villaflor - Rodrigues Pereira

Livorno - Levi Lousada

Barbados - Gomez Henriques, Massiah, Franco Nunes, Gabay Letob, Navarro or Valverde

Amsterdam - Levi Gomes, Rodrigues da Costa, Franco Nunes, Aboab da Fonseca, Israel Pereira

Jamaica - Alvin, Touro (for origin see ref 317), Rodrigues Lopes, Abenatar, Almeida, Lopes Torres, Pereira, Aguilar

Curacao - Aboab, Henriques Moron, de Caceres, Israel, Nunes da Costa, da Motta, Sasso y Campanel

England - Henriques Faro, Franco, Ximenes Cardozo, Gutteres

Surinam - Robles de Medina, Vaz Faro, Cohen, Jessurun, Lopes Mirandella