USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > The story of the Jews of Newport; two and a half centuries of Judaism, 1658-1908 > Part 2
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
ful of Jews: "We request your Reverences to obtain from Messers Directors, that those godless rascals, who are of no benefit to the country but look at everything from their own profit, may be sent away from here".8 Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor, wrote at the same time to the Dutch West India Company: "The Jews who arrived, would nearly all like to remain here, but learning that they were very repugnant to the inferior magistrates .. . the deaconry also fearing that owing to their present indigence they might become a charge in the coming winter, for the benefit of this weak and newly developing place and the land in general, deemed it useful to require them in a friendly way to depart; praying also most seriously in this connection, for ourselves as also for the general community of your worships, that the deceitful race, be not allowed further to infect and trouble this new colony": 9 And so these few Jewish families were in constant anxiety awaiting the verdict of the Dutch West India Company. The verdict came in favor of the defendants. 10
In the meantime, until the answer from Holland, granting the Jews the right to inhabit the New Nether- lands with the same liberty as their religious brethren were enjoying in Holland, arrived the local government issued a decree ordering: "that the Jews who came last year from the West Indies and now from the Fatherland must prepare to depart forthwith". 11 This was not indeed a decree of expulsion which required their leaving instantly; yet it was sufficient to give impetus to some to seek a haven where they would be received in more
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Old Houses in Newport.
THE DIM BEGINNINGS
friendly fashion. This they found in Newport, Rhode Island.
Thus the coming of the Jews to Newport dates back to the time when the city was still in its infancy. Barely a decade after its settlement, Newport received in its harbor a few Jewish families, who, fleeing from Portuguese Inquisition in Brazil, were not altogether welcomed by the stern Calvinists of the New Netherlands and Governor Stuyvesant, in what is now New York. 12
After a woeful history of a century and a half, a happy chapter of the Jew in the New World began. The first page of this chapter was destined to be written in Newport.
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CHAPTER II
DAWN
The dim beginnings were not brightened at once with rays of sunshine. Many times the world was to swing through its orbit before the glory of success in economic and other endeavors made Newport a rival of New York. More than a century was needed for that. During this time Newport grew slowly and steadily. With it , but in a smaller proportion, grew the Jewish community.
In the spring of the year 1658, nineteen years after the settlement of the city, fifteen Jewish families of Spanish-Portuguese stock are said to have arrived here to make this their home. 1 Newport was but a small village at the time. The two hundred families that lived here two years after the city was first settled had in- creased only to about four thousand white people in the first hundred years. 2 Throughout the seventeenth cen- tury the town thus remained unimportant and small, one end within a stone-throw of the other.
The city was most easily accessible by water. Narra- gansett Bay with it's commodious harbor became the main highway leading to the settlement. This was the reason the few houses that constituted the town were centered around Thames Street section, nearest the river.
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The houses were crude little dwelling places standing on allotments of four acres of land, the share of each family.3 The wooden house of Governor William Cod- dington on Marlborough Street, had a few attic rooms in addition to the ground floor, and was the Mansion in town. The cattle that pastured in the present Mall of the town had to be protected from the wolves, for whose capture a reward was offered.4
The settlement was formally laid out by the Town Assembly, "by the seaside southward", and "on both sides of the Spring", whose strong currents propelled a Water Mill on the Street not far from the Governor's Mansion.5 The town streets were few and narrow.
In accord with the spirit of the century, the pillory was erected within view from every point in the city. The size of the town, or perhaps the good behavior of it's inhabitants, did not make it necessary to have the General Assembly order the construction of the "House for a Prison" to be larger than twelve feet long and ten feet wide. It was located near the Water Mill and the Governor's mansion.6
Life was hard for both young and old. The monotony of the routine work was occasionally interrupted by fishing and hunting,for which no long distances had to be traveled. Home evenings and brief neighborly visits were not a virtue but a necessity in those sturdy pioneer days. Time was passed not with cards, but by reading the Bible, and chatting about happenings in the colonies, and about politics abroad.
In those days people took their religion seriously and
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEW PORT
they were much happier. The meetings of the Baptists and the Quakers were well attended. No special attrac- tion in preaching or preacher was required to have young and old devote a large part of one day a week for public worship and prayer. The services were not short, neither was the preaching. The theme of the preaching was regularly theological and doctrinal, never sensational. Freedom and liberty existed for all to do as they pleased in matters of religion. Yet, going to the meeting place for worship, whether it was in a private home as in the very early days, or, later, in the church-building, was a holiday.
Among these peaceful and religious inhabitants of Newport, with their prevailing spirit of liberty and tolerance, augmented by legislation which assured to all the right to "walk as their consciences persuade them", these fifteen Jewish families that arrived in 1658, must have found a hospitable and comfortable abode. Meeting no opposition, it is said they immediately set out to organize their public worship.7 Accordingly, having a sufficient number for the required religious quo- rum, possessing a Scroll of the Law which they had brought with them,8 and imbued with the spirit of Reli- gion, they organized a Kahal Kadosh-Holy Congreation, to worship God according to the faith of their fathers.ยบ Mordecai Campanal was the leader of this congregation.
Probably it was through his influence, that about this time several families from Speightstown, Barbados, came to live in Newport, amongst them Moses Israel Pachecho, Simon Mendez, Abraham Burgos, Jacob
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The Old Scroll of the Old Synagogue in Newport said to have been brought here by the first 15 Jewish families, who according to tradition came here in 1658.
DAWN
'Tinoco, and David Nassy, all of whom formed the nucleus of the Jewish Community.10
Mordecai Campanal together with Moses Pacheco occupied the principal positions in this infant Jewish community. As with the other settlers, the services of the Jewish congregation took place in private dwelling houses. By virtue of his position in the community, on most occasions Mordecai Companal offered his own home for this purpose.
The social and cultural life of these early Jewish founders was in one phase richer than that of the others. Upon arrival these early Jewish settlers are supposed to have introduced the craft of Masonry on this continent.11 They are reported to have worked the degrees of Masonry in the home of Mordecai Campanal, where they gathered for social intercourse as well as for spiritual inspiration and cultural improvement.
These events are recorded in a unique contemporary document in the following words: "Ths ye (day and month obliterated) 165 (6 or 8, not certain which, as the place was stained and broken; the first three were plain) Wee mett att y House off Mordecai Campunall and affter Synagog Wee gave Abm Moses the degrees of Maconrie".12
Social recognition and religious freedom are but two of the factors which enable a people to live together harmoniously in a commonwealth. That "man does not live by bread alone", indeed implies that he needs bread; but with bread he also needs rights to acquire it, protection to keep it, and guidance how to use it. The
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
last is taken care of in every ethical code of each religious system. For the first two, some economic arrangement and definite political government is required.
The early Jewish pioneers of Newport had no difficult- ies in the first factors necessary for group living; religious freedom and social recognition. Religious freedom was theirs by virtue of the basic principles of this colony. Social recognition these early Jewish pioneers obtained because of their character, manners and actions. These early Jews in Newport came from Sephardic stock with its rich background of cultural, political, scientific and economic achievements, and strong religious fervor, which gave them prestige and recognition amongst all groups.
The problem, therefore, at this date was "bread", how to acquire it and how to protect it.
It is not historically correct that the colony of Rhode Island in the seventeenth century was without any com- mercial enterprises. Neither may we rightly assume that intercolonial trade as well as foreign trade "scarcely existed in those days".13 Indeed, to a great extend the colony was self-sustaining. The country was very salubrious, fertile and fruitful. Farming, sheep and cattle-raising were the chief occupations of the day. These afford ample sustenance if natural events are not interrupted by drought or other acts of God. Yet people learn to need other things besides those they can obtain by their own toil. If they can not obtain them where they live, they seek them elsewhere.
As early as 1642, Newport made arrangements with
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the Dutch of Manhattan to establish regular trade.14 Soon horses were carried in sloops to Barbados to be exchanged for molasses, sugar and indigo.15 The sloops as well as other craft were built right in town or in the neighboring town of Portsmouth. This became a thriv- ing industry as early as 1646.16
The boats were not for exhibition. They were in constant use to send wheat, oats, rye, barley, flax, apples, honey, butter, cheese, cod, haddock, mackerel and other local products to the East Indies, and West Indies, and to other English colonies. East India, on the other hand, supplied this colony with cotton for weaving, England with hoes and guns, West India with sugar and indigo, and France with linen. Dutch Manhattan needed English hoes and guns from Newport, and they paid "for them with rum and wine.17 It was not without reason that the same year that the fifteen Jewish families came here, the General Assembly voted "That noe such person", be he inhabitant or stranger, "shall presume to deliver or bringe any such liquors or wine out of that vessell in which they bringe any liquors or wine into this colony until they have payed after the rate of five shillings for every anker of liquor, and after the rate of five shillings for every quarter casks of wine unto the towne treasury".18
To protect the growing trade, Newport was ordered to keep in its Magazine "three barrels of good powder, one thousand weight of leade, twelve pikes, and twentie foure muskets, all in good case, and fit for use".19
The Jewish pioneers thus found Newport fertile soil
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
for commercial activities. Uninterrupted, there can be no doubt that with their natural adaptibility for com- merce these early Jewish settlers would have developed enterprises similar to those of a century later, which made both the Jews as well as Newport outstanding at the time. Unfortunately, however, this seems not to have been the case.
By an old principle of English law, the land that the American continent added to the English domain be- longed to the crown. Being the King's land, it was subject to his disposal.20 Accordingly, it was the Crown and not Parliament which created colonies in America, granted them charters, and gave them their forms of government. Through the Privy Council the King provided rules and regulations by which the various colonies governed themselves in a way compatible with their different charters.
However, in matters of trade, Parliament was sup- reme. And this supremacy was jealously guarded for the benefit of the British merchants.
Accordingly the colonies were able to establish a form of self-government, and maintain religious liberty and tolerance according to their individual desire and tem- perament. They were not given such a free hand in the control of commerce, especially if the commerce were intercolonial or extended to foreign ports. Under this restriction the Jews suffered as did all the colonists.
At this time the Newport settlers were classified in seven categories : 1) Proprietors - who were the original land-lords with full right. 2) Freemen - who had all
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low Land shake Return again to thu 10 nathanuly Dichins his ham Rountor @ minis trator or afsigns for him or them to Polsets and Enjoy again as freely as i Sich Sale had been made an In With of the Saw herof the Joh Nathanco Diltia Low hurento Get his hand youal this - 25th day of February 1677. we thof las con of nathanielichins)
george Harrand his ao mashing? Ogaches Malings
Thomas Was Town glad
Recoports /s: The above and foregoing is a Frow Copy &s appears on heard in thewind
raport October 19th ad. os 6%.
Witry Wi Good ingtonsof
Facsimile of the last part of the Deed of Purchase of the Old Jewish Cemetery in 1677.
DAWN 1424701
political rights; 3) Inhabitants - who were guaranteed protection but had no vote or office; 4) Resident Aliens - who were simply given permission to live in the settle- ment; 5) Bondservants - who were there for debts; 6) Slaves; 7) Indians."1 According to this distinction made in the population of Newport the Jews were aliens or strangers.
The British Parliament began to restrict and control the commerce of the colonies at a very early date. They passed one Navigation Act after another. The original act of 1651 was followed by another in 1660, which prohibited foreigners or aliens "not made denizens" from trading in the colonies.22
The Navigation Act of 1660 was supplemented by another one in 1663 of similar nature, adding that importations into the colony must come from England. And when this act did not prove effective, a more stringent one was passed that required all colonial products should either be shipped first to England and from there to their respective destinations, or pay certain stipulated duties instead.
These acts inflicted hardships on all the colonists who engaged in any kind of foreign trade, export or import. But the greatest weight fell on the "alien" Jew. It may be for this reason that the first Jewish settlers left the town not a long time after their first arrival.23
When we hear of them again, it is in the year 1677.
In the meanwhile, discriminations of this sort did not pass unchallenged. To assure equality for all, irrespective of creed, John Clarke succeeded in obtaining a Charter
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
from King Charles II of England making freedom of worship and of conscience the basis of individual rights. This took place in 1663. There can hardly be a more liberal expression than the one that emanated from the English throne at that time. In simple words the monarch wrote: "That our royall will and pleasure is that noe person within the sayd colonye at any tyme hereafter shall bee in any way molested, punished or called in question for any differences in opinione in matters of religion, and doe not actually disturb the civill peace of our sayd collony; but that all and everye person or persons may from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter freelye and fullye have and enjoye his and theire owne judgements and consciences in matters of religious concernment".24
Whether it was this or a more liberal interpretation of the Navigation Acts that induced the Jews to return is hard to say. In 1677, we find a definitely organized Jewish community in Newport.
The increased numbers of the Jewish community, or perhaps some single fatality, occasioned the purchase of a plot of land for a Beth Chayim - Abode of Life, the traditional name of a Jewish cemetery. Where the famous Bellevue Avenue now begins, in the very center of the present town, there was barren land on the outskirts of Newport in those days. There was no objection on the part of any one - as there would most assuredly be today - to having a cemetery in this part of the island, where the Jewish community acquired a small piece of land about thirty feet long for the expressed purpose of a
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"burial place".
The land for the Beth Chayim was purchased formally for the use of the "Jews and their Nation Society or Friends" by Mordecai Campanal and Moses Pacheco. The deed is a most interesting specimen of seventeenth century calligraphy worth quoting in full. The following is its content :
"This Witnesseth that I Nathaniel Dickens of Newport in Rhode Island Cooper have sold for a Valu- able Consideration in hand Received unto Mordicay Campanall & Moses Pacheickoe Jews and to their Nation Society or Friends a Peice of Land for a burial Place being in D (e) mentions followeth, that is to Say Peise of Land thirty foot long, Butting South West upon the Highway that Leads Down from ye Stone Mill towards Benja: Griffins Land and thirty foot upon John Eastons Land and thirty foot upon the Line North west butting upon a Slip of Land Which ye Said Nathaniel Dickens hath yet Remaining betwixt this Peise of Land now Sold and ye Land Now belonging unto Benjamin Griffin and ye Line Northeast Butting also upon ye Said Nathaniel Dickens his Land to be in Length fourty foot, which Said Passell of Land in Dimansions as aforesaid with the Fences thereto Per- taining. I have for my Self my heirs and Assigns or Successors for them to Possess, and Enjoy for the Use as abovesaid forever they from henceforth Making and Maintaining Substantialy Fences Round ye Said Land but if it Should So fall out that ye Jews Should all Depart the Island Again25 So as that these shall be none
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
left to keep up & Maintain this Fences as aforesaid then the Said Land shall Return Again to the said Nathaniel Dickins his heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns for him or them to Possess and Enjoy Again as freely As if no such Sale had been Made and in Witness of this Sale hereof the Said Nathaniel Dickins hath hereunto set his hand and seal this 28th day of February 1677."
There can be no mistake as to the boundaries of the original Beth Chayim, which later on was enlarged, adding probably the piece of land which, "Said Nathaniel Dickins hath yet Remaining betwixt this Peise of Land now Sold and ye Land now belonging to Benjamin Giffin".26 John Easton's land is identfied today by a house southeast of the Jewish cemetery called the Easton House. John Easton was the Governor of Rhode Island.
Because of the Jewish cemetery, the "Highway that Leads Down from ye Stone Mill toward Benjamin Griffins Land" came to be known as "Jew's Street". The street is so marked on all early maps.27 If "ye Stone Mill" is identical with "my stone built Wind Mill" mentioned by Governor Benedict Arnold in his will,28 it may well refer to the Old Stone Mill in Touro Park. "Griffin's land" was also honored with a street in his name which was the street northwest of Jew's Street destined, practically a century later, to be the site of the synagogue. It's name was changed ultimately to Touro Street.
Having obtained a burial ground, the Jewish people
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DAWN
had identified themselves with Newport forever. In compliance with the terms of the deed, as well as from their own desire to have the Beth Chayim enclosed, the Congregation erected around the lot a wooden fence which lasted over a century and a half.29 Adjacent to the grounds, a small wooden house was erected which was used for the performance of the ritual in connection with the burying of the dead in accordance with Jewish tradition, as well as for occasional prayers.30 All this having been completed, the proper religious ceremonies of consecration took place. The Jews of Newport thus planted the first non-eradicable testimony of their presence in that city.
At that time there lived in Newport, the families of Mordecai Campanal, Moses Pacheco, Moses Levi, Abraham Moses,31 David Campanal, Daniel Campanal, Abraham . Campanal, Saul Brown, David Brown, Abraham Burgos. Symon Mendez, Aron Verss.32 Isaac Naphtaly,33 Gutierezes,34 Isaac Cohen de Laria35 and others.
Isaac Naphtaly was the Schochet of this Jewish community.36
The problem how to acquire their bread was vital with the Jews even at this time. The charter of 1663 did not solve it, and neither did the resolution of the General Assembly, sanctioning the charter.37
Seven years passed. The Jewish community in Newport was gradually strengthened. As much as possible, the Jewish people engaged in trade, local as well as intercolonial and foreign.38 Unmolested in their
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
daily morning and evening prayers they sang praises unto God for safeguarding them, giving them their daily bread and enabling them to live in peace and harmony with their fellow man and to serve God and man with uprightness.
But it seems that the Jew can never enjoy a full measure of undisturbed happiness. The peace of the Jewish community of Newport was interrupted by two events that turned out to be decisive and beneficial factors for their future.
This happened in 1684 and in 1685. The British Navigation Acts were in full swing. Evasion of their laws stimulated the British to adopt more stringent ways and means to enforce them. Goods were confiscated, duties levied, and numerous other hardships imposed by British agents on traders in the colonies. The Jew, having the additional disadvantage of being classified as an 'alien' or 'stranger', felt the blow first. Thus, whatever efforts the Jew had made to develop the commerce of the colony were checked, temporarily at least, in the eighties of the seventeenth century when Major William Dyre, Surveyor General of the Colony, seized the estates of certain Jews living in Newport, and brought their owners to trial. He did so by warrant from the Governor, and in the name of his Majesty the King of England, apparently for the violation of some clause of the Navigation Acts. Dyre's proceeding was probably the result of an act of the Assembly in 1682. This act promised England "to stand by you and assist you in the performance of the act of trade and naviga-
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tion according to the oath imposed by his Majesty in said act".39
The case attracted the attention of the outstanding members of the colony residing in Newport. Certainly Gevernor William Coddington did not think of missing the opportunity to hear the case tried. Neither would Deputy Governor Walter Clarke think of missing the interesting scene. Other important persons present were John Easton, Caleb Carr, Major John Coggeshall and a host of other public officials, some of whom either before or after occupied the position of Governor.
On March 31st, 1685, the session "At the Generll Court of Tryalls Held in his Majesties Name at Newport" was in full operation. A number of cases had been called, settled and dismissed. The next litigation announced: "On an Action or Complaint of Major William Dyre as Surveyor Gen1 against Mordecai Campanal, Saul Brown, Abraham Burgis, Rachel the Widow and Relict of Symon Mendez decd and other Jews fforeigne borne-".40
Mordecai Campanal heads the list. Moses Pacheco is not mentioned at all. Saul Brown is second on the list. All this is not without significance as we shall see in the succeeding pages.
The people present must have indeed been anxiously awaiting the end of this trial for to all it was really a test case. All listened for the verdict, remembering what had happened nine months ago.
Some nine months before the trial, another very important incident in the history of religious freedom
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
and liberty had occured. After the Jews were molested and some of their goods actually seized by warrant of the Governor, they courageously presented to the General Assembly a petition for protection under the law. Simon Mendez and David Brown were the spokesmen. This was on June 24, 1684. The General Assembly acted on the petition the very same day. Without much hesitation and debate, for there was much important business to transact, the General Assembly: "Voted in answer to the petition of Simon Mendez, David Brown, associates being Jews, presenting to this Assembly bearing date June 24, 1684, we declare, they may expect as good protection here as any strangers being not of our nation residing amongst us, in his Majesty's colony, ought to have, being obedient to his Majesty's laws".41
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