Mordecai Gomez
| Mordecai Gomez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1688 Jamaica |
| 💀Died | November 1, 1750 New York City, Province of New YorkNovember 1, 1750 |
| 💼 Occupation | Merchant |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Rebecca de Lucena (second wife) |
| 👶 Children | Abraham, Moses, Esther, Rachel |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) | Luis Moses Gomez Esther Marques |
| 👪 Relatives | Daniel Gomez (brother) Abraham Wagg (son-in-law) |
Mordecai Gomez (1688 – November 1, 1750) was a Sephardic Jewish merchant in colonial New York City and a member of the Gomez family, one of the most prominent Jewish mercantile families in North America. A son of Luis Moses Gomez, he traded extensively with the Caribbean, held public office in New York, and served as a Spanish interpreter in the trials following the New York Conspiracy of 1741.[1]
Early life
Gomez was born in the West Indies in 1688, one of four sons born there to Luis Moses Gomez and his wife Esther Marques; the family later settled in New York.[1] He became a freeman of New York in 1715.[2]
Career
Like his father and brothers, Gomez was a merchant whose business linked New York to the Caribbean and the wider Atlantic trading world.[1] His success was unusual in degree, but his career was otherwise typical of the Jewish merchant families who connected New York to the Atlantic economy in the 18th century.[1] In 1723 he served as tax collector for the East Ward of Manhattan.[3]
Fluent in Spanish, Gomez served as a sworn interpreter at the trials that followed the alleged slave conspiracy of 1741, where some of the accused, enslaved men from Spanish America, required translation, as recorded in the published journal of the proceedings by Daniel Horsmanden.[2]
Congregation Shearith Israel
The Gomez family dominated Congregation Shearith Israel for much of the 18th century: Luis Moses Gomez and his sons served repeatedly as parnas (president), and seven members of the family held the office between 1730 and the Revolution.[4]
Family and death
After the death of his first wife, Gomez married Rebecca de Lucena, with whom he had four children: Abraham, Moses, Esther and Rachel.[5] His daughter Rachel married the merchant Abraham Wagg in 1770.[6] Gomez died in New York on November 1, 1750.[1] An inventory of his estate survives among the Gomez family papers at the American Jewish Historical Society.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Gelfand, Noah L. "The Gomez Family and Atlantic Patterns in the Development of New York's Jewish Community". Gotham Center for New York City History.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Mordecai Gomez". The Peopling of New York City. Macaulay Honors College.
- ↑ Strauss, Zelda. "Review: Jonathan Schorsch, Andrée Aelion Brooks, and Ruth K. Abrahams, The Gomez Family". Sephardic Horizons. 11 (4).
- ↑ Levine, Yitzchok (February 28, 2007). "The Gomez Family". The Jewish Press.
- ↑ Gomez, Isaac. "The Gomez Family". Gomez Foundation for Mill House.
- ↑ Hershkowitz, Leo. "Wagg, Abraham". Encyclopaedia Judaica – via Encyclopedia.com.
- ↑ "Gomez family papers, 1688–1905". American Jewish Historical Society.
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