Sephardic Jews of Curaçao
Twelve Jewish families received permission to settle in Curacao (from the Netherlands) in 1650. These are reported to have been the: Aboab, Aboab Cardozo, Chaves, Henriquez Continho, Jesurun, De León, Marchena, De Meza, Oliveria, La Parra, Pereira and Touro. The settled in an area of Willemstad that is still known as the Jodenwyk (“Jewish quarter”). The first Sephardic Jews of Curaçao were joined, four years later, by Jewish refugees from Brazil. Other Jews from Brazil went on to New Amsterdam (later New York) and a trade began between Curaçao and New Amsterdam. From 1656 there was also an illicit trade with Isaac de Fonseca in the English colony of Barbados.
Genetically, their historic isolation means that Curaçao may be the only Western Sephardic community where autosomal DNA research may yield useful data.
It is possible that some people on the Venezuelan coast facing Curacao may have Sephardic Jewish ancestry.
Mikvé Israel-Emanuel synagogue (the “snoa”, short for ‘esnoga’ meaning synagogue in ‘Jewish Portuguese’) was built in 1730. Their website was not functioning when this page was written. Contrary to what you may read elsewhere, the community originally spoke Portuguese not ‘Ladino’. They put sand on the floor as a cheap local alternative to the sawdust used in Europe. It has nothing to do with muffling sounds from the Inquisition!
Sephardic Jewish Genealogy in Curaçao
The Mongui Maduro Foundation maintains the Maduro Library and museum. The Maduro Library is the principle resource for researching the Portuguese-Jewish community of Curaçao. They have a searchable catalogue.
The Center for Jewish History has a Curaçao Jewish Community Collection.
The Dutch National Archives in The Hague contains copies of Portuguese-Jewish birth registers from Curaçao. These cover male births from 1722 to 1830 and female births from 1743 to 1831.
- 1484A Geboorteregister van Portugese Joden (mannen). Met aantekening van hun overlijden. 1722 – 1830
- 1484B Geboorteregister van Portugese Joden (vrouwen). Met aantekening van hun huwelijkse staat. Met bijlagen. 1743 – 1831
The Amsterdam City Archives hold: 1156 Inventory of the Archives of the Portuguese-Israelite Municipality of Curaçao
Other Resources on the Sephardic Jews of Curaçao
- FamilySearch have microfilm of the Birth (1722-1831) and Burial registers (1722-1831).
- The National Archives of Curacao collection includes slave registers.
- The Dutch in the Caribbean World database
- The authoritative study is the community is: Issac S. Emmanuel and Suzanne A. Emmanuel. History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles. 1970.
- Simeon J. Maslin, Guidebook: The Historic Synagogue of the United Netherlands Portuguese Congregation “Mikvé Israel-Emanuel” of Curaçao (1975)
- The American Jewish Archives have some of the archives. These are listed below.
Series A. Curaçao, 1809-1898. Extent 1.1 linear feet (2.75 Hollinger boxes). This series consists of minute books (libro de minutas), correspondence, and other records primarily from Mikve´ Israel Congregation in Willemstad, Curaçao. Arranged alphabetically. Box and Folder Listing
Box 1. Folder 1. Accounts (expenditure and income). Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1839-1840
Box 1. Folder 2. Book of Moses L. H. H. Penha. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, undated
Box 1. Folder 3. Correspondence. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1857 May 11-1860 October
Box 1. Folder 4. Correspondence and financial records. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1809-1874
Box 1. Folder 5. Correspondence and financial records. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1852 August 10-1855 May 10
Box 1. Folder 6. Correspondence and financial records. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1855 May 15-1855 August 4
Box 1. Folder 7. Correspondence and financial records. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1855 August 28 -1856 April 4, 1898 June 8
Box 1. Folder 8. Correspondence and financial records. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1865 October 10 -1868 January 15
Box 1. Folder 9. Documentos archivados [Minutes from meetings of the Council of Elders along with other documents], 1854-1875
Box 1. Folder 10. Juntas de Mahamad [Meetings of the Mahamad]. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1858-1861
Box 1. Folder 11. Letters and records of the “Anuanos.” Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1854, 1856 August-1859 September 22
Box 2. Folder 1. Libro de minutas, Cuerpo de Parnassim [Minutes of the meetings of the Mahamad and Parnassim]. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1862-1863
Box 2. Folder 2. Libro de minutas. Number 1. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1875-1879
Box 2. Folder 3. Libro de minutas [Minutes of the meetings of the Mahamad]. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1856-1858
Box 2. Folder 4. Libro de minutas [Minutes of the meetings of the Mahamad]. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1879-1881
Box 2. Folder 5. Libro de minutas. Number 3. Part 1. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1881-1889
Box 2. Folder 6. Libro de minutas. Number 3. Part 2. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1881-1889
Box 3. Folder 1. Minutes of parnassim. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1864 September 12-1875
Box 3. Folder 2. Records from Mikve´ Israel Congregation [Regulations for sohet], undated
Box 3. Folder 3. Register [Number 2 since the new regulations of 1875]. Mikve´ Israel Congregation, 1863-1864
Box 3. Folder 4. Tratado de dinim de degollar [Treatise on the laws of ritual slaughter]. Mikve´ Israel Congregation. Curaçao, undated
Box 3. Folder 5. Ultimas reuniones del colegio administrativo, 1862 August 11-1864 January 21
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