The Baruch Lousada connection with some Villaflor (16) families

 Abraham Israel Pereira, Fernando Montezinos, George Lopes Telles and David Henriques Faro were all born in Villaflor in the 1588-1610 period. David's uncle Manuel (ref 216) was also from Villaflor as was at least part of the Coutinho family - with whom the Israel Pereiras had later links (see note 11 below). The chart indicates that the New Christian community of Villaflor was in part assembled from surrounding towns and villages - eg Mirandela, Chacim and Pesqueira - in the Duoro Valley. Some details of the Henriques Faro family are unravelled in note 2 below; the (Henriques) Faro name suggests a link with the south, and thus it may be that not all the New Christians of Villaflor originated locally. Indeed, the south may even have been key to the formation of the New Christian society of Villaflor, as suggested by the claimed Cadiz ancestry of Fernando Montezinos (see note 7 below).

After Villaflor, Abraham Israel Pereira (see note 6) and Fernando Montezinos (see note 7 below) lived for decades as wealthy Portuguese New Christians in Madrid before making their respective escapes with fortunes more or less intact; they had a lifelong association (see note 12 below). The Henriques Faros above appeared in Amsterdam, while Moses Henriques Faro appeared in London in 1682 (see note 1 below). Fernando Montezinos after leaving Spain remained careful of his Seville New Christian merchant sons and died a New Christian in Antwerp, thus not joining his close Lopes Telles relatives as openly Jewish in the Protestant world. Lope Rodrigues Pereira of Villaflor (see note 12 below) attempted to recover funds from the Spanish Inquisition in 1637 and this brush may have prompted his probable close relative Tomas to leave Madrid before his funds were imperilled also. In Amsterdam Tomas, or Abraham as he became, funded Jewish philanthropic causes in addition to commercial pursuits, but these causes included - unfortunately - the false Messiah Sabbatai Zevi (see note 15 below). His eldest son Jacob also funded some similar Jewish philanthropic causes (see note 17 below), having become a wealthy army supplier for Prince William of Orange (later William 3 of England), and he lived opulently at Den Haag in a house destined to become the residence of the Queen Mother (see ref 297 p140).

Vinhais remained the home of some of the Baruch Lousadas (see note 10 below) and the chart only shows the ones who left Vinhais and achieved a strong connection with the Villaflor families. Moses Baruch Lousada #46 had 2 Henriques Faro marriages as discussed in note 1 below. More strikingly, the will (ref 141) of Jacob Israel Pereira reveals multiple links with the Baruch Lousadas of Amsterdam, Den Haag and London. Thus his father Abraham Israel Pereira was a full cousin of Abraham Baruch Lousada #45 (see note 3 below). Jacob Israel Pereira was a full cousin of Abraham Henriques Faro (see note 4 below) undoubtedly the uncle who witnessed the marriage of Sarah Baruch Lousada a daughter of Moses #46 (see note 5 below) for Sarah's mother Rachel was a niece of Jacob Israel Pereira (see note 5 below). The will makes bequests to the daughters of Moses #46 and Jacob #1388 (see note 5 below). And remarkably, the last wife of Jacob Israel Pereira was a Den Haag Louzada, a related family branch, and some of the Louzada in-laws invested in Jacob's military financing business. Isaac Baruch Lousada made a marriage link with the Rodrigues (Israel) Pereiras after earlier linkages with the Henriques Faros - probably in Villaflor (as summarised in note 14).

 

Notes:

1. Moses Baruch Lousada had 2 sons - Abraham and Mordecai. Moses Henriques Faro #126 was the uncle who witnessed the 1682 circumcision of Abraham's newborn son. This son was perhaps Moses #67 (not shown in the chart but shown here and here). Moses Henriques Faro was a 'forasteiro' or outsider (no doubt newly-arrived but whether from Portugal, Madrid or France is not known). Moses Baruch Lousada had a second Henriques Faro wife Rachel (see note 5 below) and here we explore the possible Madrid marriages that first united the Henriques Faros with the Baruch Lousadas, whereupon marriages united the Henriques Faros with the Rodrigues Pereiras. The 1st marriage of Moses Baruch Lousada #46 to an Henriques Faro was perhaps around 1650 (in Rouen?), where perhaps some of the Henriques Faro family sojourned there on their way to Amsterdam. The second wife of Moses Baruch Lousada was a daughter of Isaac Henriques Faro #1635 and it is possible that Moses #126 and Isaac #1635 were brothers.

2. Two Isaac Henriques Faros were cousins and had successive positions on Dotar (ref 151). The first Isaac (of course the one d1670 #1386) followed his father Abraham (d1658 #1175) on Dotar in 1660 and the 2nd Isaac (d1686 #1635) followed his cousin in 1671. Then the 2nd Isaac's son Abraham #1385 followed him onto Dotar in 1690. A 3rd Isaac d1719 had a father David (see burial record below) which we will see makes him a nephew of the 1st Dotar Isaac. The relationship between David Henriques Faro (see marriage and death record below) and Abraham Henriques Faro the elder can be gauged with the assistance of the 1659 will of Manuel Faro (ref 216) even though Abraham Henriques Faro who died in 1658 naturally does not appear in it. For Manuel Faro was an uncle of David and Isaac Henriques Faro, and having regard to much Amsterdam data linking the Israel Pereiras and the Henriques Faros (ref 217), he must have been an uncle by marriage and not a blood relative and the chart suggests a sister married Abraham Henriques Faro #1175 the father of David #1624 as well as of the 1st Dotar Isaac #1386. Note 9 shows David as father of Abraham #1632 and Isaac #1625. There must have been another Henriques Faro brother (shown in the chart as Jacob #1634 whose son Isaac became the 2nd Dotar Isaac. However this Isaac #1635 did not receive a bequest presumably because he was less closely related to Manuel Faro than were David and the 1st Isaac. The records do not show the name of the father of Abraham Henriques Faro #1175, but Jacob's father was Isaac (his death record https://www.dutchjewry.org/portuguese_israelite_cemetery/popup.htm?../P.I.G./image/01016201.jpg shows this), and this name reappears with Isaac #1386 and Isaac #1635 both of whom was perhaps an oldest son, thus partially confirming Abraham #1175 and Jacob #1634 were brothers. The Henriques Faros appear to have played a linking role between the Baruch Lousadas and the Israel Pereiras.

3. Ref 141 shows that Abraham Israel Pereira 1606-74 was a 'cousin germain' of Abraham Baruh Lousada meaning that a parent of each was a sibling. Abraham #45 who died in 1714 in London was a probable cousin of Moses Baruch Lousada of London who died 1699 in London, and of Aaron #376 who died 1695 in Barbados; a probable half-brother of Jacob #1388 who died in 1681 in Amsterdam; but probably a full brother of David Baruch Lousada #44 who died 1699 in Amsterdam aged 59 having been born in 1640 in Livorno. Abraham #45 travelled between London and Amsterdam and perhaps was useful to Jacob Israel Pereira's cross-Channel business (in a way that Abraham's brother Moses #1585 of Curacao could not have been; Moses #1585 does not appear in Jacob's will despite also being similarly related to Jacob's father). The birth of Abraham Baruch Lousada appears to have been after 1640 the year his father was first recorded in Livorno - see here note 6). Therefore the 2 Abrahams were effectively born a generation apart. The striking age difference of cousins does not allow a simple deduction (see note 13 below). We nevertheless set out to identify the parents of Abraham Israel Pereira, and this was achieved thanks to Fernando Gonzalez del Campo Roman - see ref 145. The mother was identified as Beatriz Geronima. On general grounds we believe Amador de Lousada was a Baruch Lousada ancestor. Amador was from Vinhais, but his Inquisition record shows he was linked to many people named Rodrigues from nearby Braganza and the more distant Villaflor. The first possibility that occurred to us was that Amador's daughter Briatis was Beatriz Geronima but the origin of the Geronima name is one of several difficulties with that idea. As noted here there is an alternative and somewhat simpler explanation, which we show in the chart above - a young half-sister of Beatriz Geronima married Isaac Baruch Louzada #42 the father of Abraham #45, and this alternative is discussed here.

4. Ref 141 shows that Jacob Israel Pereira (son of Abraham Israel Pereira) was a 'cousin germain' of Abraham Henriques Faro. We know that Isaac Henriques Faro (d1686 Amsterdam) married Rebecca Pereira (d1693 Amsterdam - see their death records below). In note 5 we infer that Rebecca was a sister of Jacob (see note 8 below for her half-sister Rebecca de Pinto). Though Abraham Henriques Faro was a brother of Rachel, being a cousin of Jacob he could not have had the same parents as Rachel the niece of Jacob, though probably they had the same father Isaac. We therefore suggest that the first wife of Isaac was a hitherto unknown aunt of Jacob Israel Pereira. In the chart we show her as a sister of Abraham Israel Pereira but of course she could have been a sister of Beatriz Fernandez Gomes who was the mother of Jacob Israel Pereira (but of course not a sister of the 2nd wife of Abraham Israel Pereira - see note 8 below - who was not Jacob's mother!). In this way Abraham Henriques Faro was a 'cousin germain' of Jacob Israel Pereira whilst still being a brother (actually a half-brother) of Jacob's niece Rachel. We note that there were others of the same name - one older (Abraham Henriques Faro #1175 the first DOTAR representative in note 2 above) and one younger (Abraham Henriques Faro #1632 who note 9 below confirms was not the 'cousin germain' of Jacob Israel Pereira and had the wrong father to be the second DOTAR Abraham).

5. Abraham Henriques Faro is the uncle of Sarah Baruch Lousada and he witnessed her 1709 wedding as shown in Amsterdam marriage data and is thus a brother of Moses' second (Henriques Faro) wife Rachel #1404 (on their possible previous connection see note 1). We suggest that Jacob's 'cousin germain' (see note 4) was this uncle Abraham. Simha #1629, who has a marriage record (shown below) showing a mother Rebecca Pereira and a Toralto (ie Henriques Faro) father and who also appears in her father's death record below, is a surviving niece in ref 141; Rachel predeceased her uncle Jacob (as did another possible niece Sarah #1633). From all this we infer that Rebecca was the mother of both nieces Rachel and Simha Henriques Faro, and therefore that Rebecca was Jacob's sister. The daughters (including Sarah) of Moses #46 were to receive a bequest in Jacob's initial will. We are only aware of one such daughter (ie Sarah so her sister(s) perhaps died young - the London death records do not show this but certainly show a son b1686 died young). In any case this bequest was later revoked on 3 Feb 1704 in favour of Sarah's cousins the children of Jacob Baruch Lousada #1388. Perhaps Jacob Israel Pereira belatedly realised that the unmarried Amsterdam daughters of Jacob Baruch Lousada were of greater help to him in his old age than the much younger Sarah who was then in London. But perhaps he had already contributed to Sarah's dowry, though her marriage would have been long-planned if this was so for it occurred 5 years after the revocation! We also note that the children of David #44 do not appear in the will - it is understandable that Jacob was unaware of David's Curacao daughter and David's Barbados (step-)son, but as David's Amsterdam sons married females favoured by the will it is also understandable that they were also omitted! Isaac #1297 married Rebecca (daughter of Jacob #1388), and Solomon married Sarah (daughter of Moses #46).

6. Madrid data (ref 145) gives us the origin and marriage of Abraham Israel formerly Tomas Rodrigues Pereira. A brief account of the Madrid life of Tomas Rodrigues Pereira aka Abraham Israel Pereira may be found in ref 123 p230 where he is noted as having been an asentista and wool exporter who fled to Amsterdam in 1646 with disputed funds; but note our correction that it was in 1645 that he appeared in Amsterdam as Abraham Rodrigues Pereira then finally in 1647 as Abraham Israel Pereira (see ref 217). His brother Isaac arrived in Amsterdam before him (by 1643 according to ref 26 p89; and see ref 140 for Menasseh ben Israel's 1644 acknowledgement to Isaac alone for the Pereira yeshiva; a dedication to both brothers was made in 1647). See ref 381 for involvement by the Pereira family in the Canaries trade.

7. Note that ref 153 gives the Villaflor background of the ancestors of Fernando Montezinos going back to the expulsion from Spain of 1492. Using this reference we can also see that Manuel Lopes Telles was a brother of Fernando Montezinos; the former, also named Manuel Serra, spent periods in La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Hamburg before he settled in Amsterdam in 1631 (but evidently appeared in Bayonne in 1633). But Pedro (also Jacob according to ref 123 p227) Lopes Telles was an uncle of George Lopes Telles, born in Villaflor in 1607 and hence George was probably the nephew of both Manuel Lopes Telles and Fernando Montezinos. An account of the Madrid life of Fernando Montezinos may be found here. Fernando Montezinos appeared in the Inquisition records of the trial of Juan Nunez Saravia 1585-1639 (ref 142), but he survived in Madrid for almost 2 decades thereafter. For the death in Antwerp and the burial in Amsterdam of Fernando Montezinos see ref 123 p232-3. A chart of the early Montezinos family is shown here.

8. Isaac Faro #1386 who died 20 Kislev 5431 (1670) married a Rebecca Simha; he is probably the 1st DOTAR Isaac. A Rebecca Pereira (with father Abraham) married Jacob de Pinto #2018 - see her 1702 death record https://www.dutchjewry.org/P.I.G./image/02044601.jpg. On 7 Jun 2020 Michael Waas drawing upon ref 323 pointed out that this latter Rebecca could be a 'sister' of Rebecca Pereira the wife of Isaac Henriques Faro and the mother of Simha de Lima. The 2 Rebeccas are shown here. While Rebecca de Pinto died later she probably came from the 1628 Madrid marriage of Abraham Israel Pereira shown in the chart above. Rebecca Henriques Faro #1182 must have come from a later marriage of Abraham Israel Pereira, and judging from the 1681 birthdate of her daughter Sarah Rachel was born around 1660 and hence Rebecca was born around 1640-45 (she was probably a stepdaughter of Abraham #1628).

9. Jacob's cousin 'germain' Abraham could not have been Abraham #1632 neither of whose parents (see marriage record #3840 below) met the requirement of being a sibling of one of Jacob's parents. Abraham #1632 is described as son of David in https://www.dutchjewry.org/P.I.G./image/00992301.jpg, while his brother Isaac #1625 is shown as son of David in https://www.dutchjewry.org/P.I.G./image/01014001.jpg. Both were sons of the 2nd wife Rachel Rodrigues Henriques. On the other hand Abraham #1385 married Esther Velozinos and had a marriage witness Isaac (who we take to be his father - though this witness is erroneously described as 'zuster' in https://www.dutchjewry.org/phpr/amsterdam/tim_sephard_marriages/amsterdam_tim_sephard_marriages_view.php?editid1=2511). The banns for the latter marriage may be found here. It can be seen that while the groom's witness is Isaac presumably the father. The bride's witness Rachel is stated to be a sister (which may explain the error in the dutchjewry record just cited - for as shown in the chart above Abraham also had a sister Rachel!).

10. The Coimbra Inquisition not only processed Amador de Lousada of Vinhais, but 70 years later it processed the family of Fernando de Losada, a shoemaker of Vinhais like his father! It seems some of that line made a hasty retreat to London in 1698 (his grandsons Jacob #740 and Abraham #435).

11. Manuel Faro of Villaflor (ref 216) gave a bequest to a Coutinho. See also http://digitarq.dgarq.gov.pt/details?id=2352194 for the Coimbra Inquisition record of Ana Pereira Coutinho from Villaflor. Jacob Coutinho entered the field of supplying the Dutch army but apparently not as successfully as Jacob Israel Pereira (see ref 297 p140). Michael Waas pointed out on 6 Mar 2017 that Jacob de Pinto and Isaac Henriques Faro appeared as witnesses in the marriage bann for the 1654 marriage of David Pereira (whose parents were dead) and Rachel Coutinho of Villaflor (mother Sarah). On https://www.dutchjewry.org/sephar_tim/pers/3675pers.shtml David was shown as being born in Lisbon in 1614, so he appears to be of an earlier generation than the David #1892 who appears in ref 141 and 217, who lost a wife Leah #1889 in 1697 and who died in 1720; and who may have been a stepson of Abraham Israel Pereira #1628 (son of his 2nd wife Sarah #1886).

12. There was a lifelong association between Abraham Israel Pereira and Fernando Montezinos. Both of them had a Villaflor origin and they were in Madrid during the same period. Bernardo Lopez Belinchon, in work found by Fernando Gonzalez del Campo Roman, suggests that Abraham Israel Pereira was related by marriage to Fernando Montezinos (ref 365). Finally came exit from Madrid, and a vivid account of the assistance Abraham Israel Pereira (by then in Amsterdam) gave to Fernando Montezinos in the latter's departure from Madrid (after his arrest in 1654 by the Cuenca Inquisition) may be found in ref 123 p234-5. However there were many other facets in the relationship, and we note the following:

13. Large differences can arise in the case of children of male siblings. The birth-age range of the children of John Baruh Lousada #25 was 1833-54, while that of his brother Simeon Charles #74 was 1876-88. That is, an age-difference of such cousins of 55 years can be found. In this case John married in 1832 aged 22 and Simeon married in 1875 aged 51. Clearly age at marriage and difference in date of birth can have a big impact on relative age of cousins. In the case of the cousins Abraham Baruch Lousada #45 and Abraham Israel Pereira we now consider that though their mothers were sisters, there was a large age difference between them, perhaps because they were half-sisters.

14. In ref 145 may be found the Madrid will of Antonio de Losada son of Isabel de Losada of Vinhais who appears amongst the children of Amador de Losada. Antonio may have made his way to Madrid independently, and we have discovered no consequences of this. Ultimately however, Isaac #42 around 1638 married a young aunt Luna of Abraham Israel Pereira in Madrid, according to our research, and as shown in the chart above. How this came about is explored here.

15. Perhaps this curious turn of events was linked to the discovery of 'lost tribes of Israel' in the region of present-day Colombia by Antonio de Luis Montezinos of Villaflor; he was also known as Aaron Levi (ref 8 pp195-211). Presumably he and Fernando Montezinos were members of the family who became known in Livorno and Amsterdam as Levi Montezinos (see note 7). Abraham Israel Pereira corresponded with Antonio de Luis Montezinos (see ref 140). The discovery set off Messianic excitement in the mid 1600s which no doubt enhanced Sabbatai Zevi's psychological impact on Amsterdam's Sephardic Jews! For an account of Sabbatai Zevi and his crypto-Jewish followers in the Ottoman Empire see ref 298.

16. Villaflor was not however the only Portuguese town in which the New Christians gathered together and thus reconstituted their community. Through analysis of Amsterdam records - especially marriage records - ref 297 shows there were a number of such towns in Portugal from which New Christians in effect gathered before departure. In its Table 2.3 covering Portuguese Jewish immigration to Amsterdam 1598-1699, Villaflor contributed 4 people which was exceeded by 13 towns, equalled by Faro, Guimares and Viana but was in excess of that provided by 27 towns. On page 99 we find the observation that those New Christians in Portugal not engaged in commerce had less information and fewer options to move away from Inquisitional interest. It seems that the availability of international links was a key factor in determining whether onward movement was to overseas destinations, to Spain, or merely within Portugal, and the Baruch Lousadas seem to have benefited by gaining international links through marriage. They thereby, in the cases relevant to us, made a transition from local tradesmen to international merchants!

17. Jacob Israel Pereira funded yeshivas as described in the following notes from Ton Tielen of 13 Apr 2019: The library Ets Haim, the oldest still functioning Jewish library in the world, holds a little brochure of a few dozen pages concerning the various legacies left by Jacob Israel Pereira. There were some gifts to Ets Haim in Amsterdam and to Aby Yetonim also in Amsterdam. The largest sum of money, however, went to two Yeshivas, Beth Yahacob in Jerusalem and Emet le Yahacob in Hebron. Jacob followed the footsteps of his father Abraham who also established two yeshivas in his name, in both Hebron and Jerusalem. In the brochure, you may find a business plan, a blueprint for the Yeshiva in Jerusalem. It looks like the same plan was intended for the Yeshiva in Hebron - but that one received only half as much money as the one in Jerusalem. The Ros of that Yeshiva was to be David Hisquiau da Silva who had made a great impression on Jacob Pereira when visiting Amsterdam as an emissary in 1691. Ros of the Yeshiva in Hebron would be Abraham Seeby. Both Yeshivas existed until well in the 20th century, yet remain largely unknown to a larger public; their history begs to be written. Ton Tielen noted that the brochure commands prayers to be said for Jacob's 2 wives Rebecca and Sarah. Jacob's first known wife was Rebecca de Paiva who was born in Seville in 1631 (see http://www.dutchjewry.org/phpr/amsterdam/tim_sephard_marriages/amsterdam_tim_sephard_marriages_view.php?editid1=3870), and who died in Amsterdam in 1667 (see http://www.dutchjewry.org/P.I.G./image/01990201.jpg). Jacob's second wife was Sarah Louzada (see note 10), who would not have come of age until the 1680s.

           
                     
                     
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