 1740 - 1786 (46 years)
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| Name |
David Pereira Mendes [5, 6] |
| Born |
1740 |
Spain, France or jamaica.  [5, 6, 7] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Reference Number |
2123 |
| Died |
13 Jun 1786 |
Spanishtown, Jamaica, West Indies [5, 6, 7] |
| Person ID |
I2123 |
aojd |
| Last Modified |
14 Nov 2011 |
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| Notes |
- MENDES FAMILY:- One of the oldest Sephardic families. It continued in Spain, Portugal, and in Spanish possessions long after the expulsion of 1492. Many members of the family undoubtedly succeeded in that year in joining the Jews of Aquitaine. Others drifted to Holland, Italy, Turkey, etc. The Holland branch produced notable writers.
The French or Aquitaine branch settled chiefly in Bordeaux and Bayonne. There was a great deal of intermarriage among these old Separdic families, and thus the Mendes and Pereira families became entwined.
Almost three centuries later, David Pereira Mendes moved from Bayonne to Jamaica. His arrival on this Caribbean Island in 1786 is considered to be the beginning of the West Indian or American branch of the Pereira Mendes family. There are recorded burials in Jamaica of Pereira Mendes family members before David's arrival, but it is his descendants who went on to make their mark on the North American continent.
For more on this, see the notes on David Pereira Mendes at the end of this segment.
JEWISH JAMAICA:- .....BEGINNINGS
1494 - May 5..........On his 2nd voyage, Columbus arrived at St. Ann's Bay (Santa Gloria) with the ships "Nina", "San Juan" and "Cardera". Their reception was hostile. So the very next day they sailed westward along the north coast to Dry Harbour, now known as Discovery Bay, but which Columbus called Puerto Bueno. He claimed the land for Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. There is a stong suspicion among some of today's Jamaican Jews that Columbus was Jewish. Maybe . . . but it is probable that there were Jews among the crew.
1655 - May 16..........The British landed at Passage Fort, Kingston Harbour, and marched towards St. Jagode la Vega (Spanish Town). The Spaniards capitulated the next day. With British rule, Jews were now permitted to establish communities.
1655 to 1692..........The 1st synagogue in Jamaica was established at Port Royal in 1655. It was destroyed by earthquake 37 years later.
1672 to 1687..........David Gomez' Will was registered in Jamaica in 1673. Also documents show that Solomon Gomez was naturalised in 1672 and Isaac Pereira in 1687. .....KINGSTON
1692..........After the Port Royal earthquake of 1692, the Jews established a community at Spanish Town and Kingston.
1704 to ??..........The 2nd synagogue in Jamaica was established at Spanish Town in 1704. (??Destroyed/abandoned before Kingston synagogue built.)
1713..........There were Jewish Ministers in Kingston from 1713.
1744 - Apr 3..........Land was bought for a synagogue in Kingston.
1750 to 1882..........The 3rd synagogue in Jamaica was established at Kingston in 1750. It was destroyed by fire in 1882. The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, which was built at the north-east corner of Princess Street and Water Lane in Kingston, was known as the Bevis Marks Synagogue. ??1780's to 1882..........A 4th synagogue (Ashkenazi) was established later. It, too, was destroyed by fire in 1882. 1882 - Dec 11..........The Great Fire of Kingston. Both the Sephardic and Ashkenazi synagogues were destroyed. 1883..........An attempt was made to amalgamate the Sephardic and Ashkenazi congregations. It did not work out, and Kingston ended up with 3 synagogues replacing the pre-fire 2, i.e., an amalgamated Sephardic and Ashkenazi synagogue in addition to the individual Sephardic and Ashkenazi synagogues. 1885 to 1907..........The first Duke Street Synagogue was built for the amalgamated congregation of Israelites, two years after its founding in 1883. It was known as Kehal Kadosh Shangarah Shalom - Holy Congretation Gates of Peace. The liturgy used was Sephardic, but the tonic inflection of English and German Jews was used for the reading of the Torah and Haftarah. 1907 - Jan 14..........The first Gates of Peace Synagogue on Duke Street was destroyed by earthquake. 1912 to date..........The second Duke Street Synagogue was consecrated on March 28, and became known as Kehal Kadosh Shaare Shalom, Gates of Peace. Corner stone had been laid 11 April 1911. 1921 - Apr 21..........Amalgamation with the Ashkenazi congregation was completed, and the grouping became known as The United Congregation of Israelites. Over time, there were changes in Ritual. 1911-1914: Inclusion of vernacular and organ. March 14, 1974: The original constitution of 1883 was updated, and the status of the congregation was described as Progressive. December 14, 1977: Equal rights for women were declared. The prayerbook in use is based on Gaster, with personalized adaptations. The Duke Street Synagogue is now known as Synagogue Shaare Shalom, United Congregation of Israelites, Kingston, Jamaica. .....MONTEGO BAY 1844 to 1912..........The congregation in Montego Bay was founded in 1844 and a synagogue was built the following year. During the latter part of the century, the congregation declined and the synagogue had fallen into disrepair some time before it was destroyed in the hurricane of 1912. Since then, the synagogue in Kingston had been the only one in Jamaica.
DAVID PEREIRA MENDES:- When David reached Jamaica, he was not the first member of the Mendes family, or indeed the Pereira Mendes family, to reach that island. Why did he chose Jamaica? Most likely because of reports from others in the Pereira, Mendes, and Pereira Mendes families who had crossed the Atlantic before him, and with other Sephardim had established a Jewish community there. Jamaica records confirm burials of family members pre-dating David's arrival.
But there is general agreement that David Pereira Mendes is the patriarch of what became the West Indian or American branch of the family.
David Pereira Mendes is believed to have died on June 13, 1786, soon after his arrival in Jamaica. There is no record of his tombstone in Barnett & Wright's book The Jews of Jamaica: Tombstone Inscriptions 1663-1880, but that does not necessarily contradict the death date recorded by The Jewish Encyclopaedia and by Malcolm Stern.
Explanation: The first burial ground of the Kingston Jews occupied about two acres, and was situated between North Street and Charles Street, Love Lane and Mark Lane. The land was acquired in 1714 and closed for burial in 1880. In 1913, the graves were levelled and the tombstones placed in position on the ground and cemented around. Quite a large number however must have been destroyed, and by 1940 only a small portion of the grounds had tombstones. In 1950, further destruction took place when a commercial firm bought the land: over 100 stones, partial or intact, were salvaged and relaid around the periphery of the present burial ground at Orange Street, and another 68 in the Memorial Garden adjoining the synagogue in Duke Street.
David Pereira Mendes left one son, Samuel.
Sources:
deSousa, Ernest Henriques, J.P. Editor and Publisher of "Pictorial" 1986. Published to commemorate 40 years of deSousa'a services as Lay Reader at Shaare Shalom.
Andrade, Jacob "Jews in Jamaica" 1941.
Barnett, R.D. & P. Wright "The Jews of Jamaica". 1997 Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalelm. The Jewish Encyclopaedia.
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