WILL (ORIGINAL IN PORTUGUESE)

OF RACHEL GOMEZ HENRIQUES #377 WIFE OF AARON BARUH LOUZADA #376

(was she part of the Henriques Gomez family of Rouen discussed in ref 348?)


I desire to be buried among my Jewish Brethren, & I request my
sons Solomon & Jacob Baruh Louzada to give me a decent funeral, as a son
should do to his mother: & I ask them to get from London a good stone
for my grave.

My sons Solomon & Jacob to sell everything in the house, goods, jewels
silver, gold & copper, also slaves, & to pay all my debts, funeral expenses
& doctors bills.

To sell also the houses and pay off immediately the mortgage applying
the balance of the money towards the dowry of my daughter Hannah Baruh Lousada.

My sons Solomon & Jacob Baruh Louzada to remit the aforesaid balance
of the houses to London immediately, to my brother Izaque Gomez, to be
invested, as he thinks best with regard to the security & interest, on behalf
of my aforesaid daughter Hannah.

To my son Jacob Baruh Louzada £25 current money, & £25 current money
to my son Ymanoel Baruh Louzada

To grand-daughter Ribca daughter of son David Baruch Louzada & to grandson
Araõ, son of son Solomon Baruh Louzada £20 current money.

To my daughter Hannah Baruh Louzada a negress named Esperansa, &
a diamond ring, also £25. current money with which to commence seeking
a livelihood, & that she may live in sisterly harmony with her brothers Jacob
(&) Ymanoel Baruh Louzada, as God commands.

I trust that my aforesaid brother Isaque Gomez, of London, will take
charge of her money as specified above; but in the event of my brother having
died, which God forbid, or should he not be there, I request Isaque Dias,
nephew, of London, to take charge of the money for the dowry as directed
above, & God rest my soul & grant you all long life to serve & praise Him.

Witnesses:—Benj. Mota, Jacob Frances, & a non-Jew. Proved by
two former 22 November 1703.

We, the below-mentioned signatories, do declare that everything
specified in the above testament of our Mother Rachell Baruh Louzada was
done with our full consent & desire to which we truly affirm in Barbados,
this 29th October 1703.

David Baruh Louzada
Solomon Baruh Louzada
Jacob Baruh Louzada

(Recorded in Barbados 16/24.)

Extracted from the full version of ref 5 - follow link to obtain uploaded copy; full version published in JHSE Historical Studies Vol 13. This paper contains details of all children of which 6 survived infancy. The will refers to only 5, omitting Esther presumably married by this time and dowry paid. The naming of the first grand-daughter is anomalous and ref 224 confirms (from the will of David #612) that she was Rachel (ie Ribca above is a mistranslation of Rahel) who after marriage became Rachel Aboab of Curacao whom we mention in the discussion here (see note 14). Of course the first daughter of Emanuel #41 and Jacob #380 was each named Rachel, and a daughter of Hannah Alvin of Jamaica was also named Rachel - presumably the second daughter; while we deduce the existence of a 5th granddaughter Rachel from our discussion here (see note 12) of the children of Solomon #712. Esther Touro appears to have had no children.

A abbreviated translation from the Portuguese of the will of her husband may be found at http://search.ancestry.com.au/iexec?htx=View&r=5544&dbid=1123&iid=wills_ii-0228&fn=Moses&ln=Loyzada&st=d&ssrc=&pid=205825 and is shown below. This will is dated 9 May 1693 and proved 3 Oct 1695. This suggests that he died between those two dates - so the Bridgetown gravestone data from ref 61 #17 of his death on 10 October 1695 cannot be correct. Indeed the date 17 Tisri 5456 has been incorrectly calculated as 10 Oct 1695 - without the 10-day Gregorian correction the date converts to 26 Sep 1695, and applying the correction makes the date 16 Sep 1695. A date in late 1695 fits the date of the 17 Apr 1696 pass issued to his brother David (ref 182) who came after Aaron's death (ref 5). A further transcription error seems to appear with the number of his 6 children - given as 4 under 21 but they all were (see below).

This extract appears to be from a recopied will record book (see ref 192), and the extract below (with our highlights) of the same will is probably from an original record book and is given in ref 5 which goes on to recite the births of the 6 surviving children David, Solomon, Jacob, Emanuel, Esther and Hannah born between 1677-88. Isaac the third-born died in infancy and was circumcised after death. That is, the first-born son was named David so Isaac #42 was not Aaron's natural father - David was! This extract also tells us that Aaron arrived in Barbados in 1659, that his ''brothers'' Moses Abraham and David were alive in 1693 or thereabouts, and that his eldest son David went to London. His nephew Jacob was David's son. His ''brother'' Jacob died in Amsterdam in 1681 so is not referred to. 'Comos' is a possible mistranscription of Gomez and 'Hessian' could refer to the Massiah family whose name was often written in London as Messiah and similar variations. We were made aware of connections with the Massiah family through Claire Myers who inter alia provided a AJHS publication on Barbados Massiah wills (uploaded as ref 205), her own collection of Massiah wills (ref 204), and a summary of the will of Daniel Massiah whose transcribed will is also included in ref 204.