Part of Kieran's family

The Jews and the Portuguese queen

Persecution of the Portuguese Jews People of secret Jewish descent (known as New Christians) were persecuted in Portugal from 1496 onwards. This led to the founding of a small secret Portuguese Jewish community in London. The unsettled religious status of England during the 16th century meant that the community was very secretive. Many of these Jews had served as mercantile agents for the Portuguese crown in Bristol and London. These men were the basis of the community. Early Portuguese Jewish By 1550 there were around a hundred members of the Portuguese Jewish community in London. This centred on the Anes family who provided a physician to Queen Elizabeth. The Portuguese Jewish community of London suffered a setback in 1609 when they were officially expelled. However, there is evidence that at least some of them continued to live in London. During the 17th century, under the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, many more Portuguese Jews fled to England, especially from the Canary Islands. This community had a large number of trading contacts extending from Jamaica and Brazil, through the Middle East to Cochin in India. By 1656 the London Jewish community was openly allowed to practise its beliefs on where they could live or what work they could do. In the following year a small synagogue was established in Creechurch Lane in the City of London with a cemetery in the Mile End Road. http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Synagogue/Tomar.asp Comments by Ric: Three great religions came from Abraham, and three peoples spread out. Jewish, Muslim and Christians have so much in common in their beliefs. It is a shame that there has been so much antagonism betweeen them over time. It is not surprising that there are Jewish connections in many Australian families just as there are Aboriginal and even Chinese connections. Diverse genes create stronger groups and there is no "pure" race in the world. Our Williams/Nash (etc) family is no exception. I had heard family stories that my mother's grandmother (known as Grannie Nash) was of Jewish descent, yet when I was emailed my family tree by an O'Keefe cousin, there was no Jewish name that I could see. I am going to look further into this. Kieran Williams who made such an excellent job of a Williams/Nash website should be justly proud of the heritage of his great grandfather, who as a young impoverished man took some shaving gear and for this dreadful crime was sentenced to 14 year in Australia. What is important is that this man, Israel Shannon became a respected member of his community and raised his family well and tried (unsuccessfully) to bring his wife and children into a religious faith that Jesus of Nazareth had belonged to. A government jail gang, Sydney, N.S. Wales by Augustus Earle, 1793-1838 From the IMAGES1 collection of the National Library of Australia. Hospital of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Stepney Green, London. © NM

My interest is mostly in the Shannons one of whom (Mary Ann 1843-1887)

married a John Williams. Her brother John Jacob Shannon, married Esther

Hines (1852-1919). Two of Esther's great granddaughters are my Aunties Pam

and Marsha Horton (actually my third cousins). Kieran is also Marsha's

third cousin, but no relation of mine.

I am helping Marsha with our shared Hines family tree, but I also became

very interested in the Shannons because of their stories. I thought they

would be another family of Irish immigrants, but they turned out to be a

pair of Jewish convict brothers who were sent out to Australia for petty

theft. They were of Portugese origin and the family left there for England

during the Inquisition. Their descendants were great contributors to the

commercial life of Cooma and Monaro.

Family history can be pretty sensitive. I had a great great grandfather who

was the "greatest horse breaker in Australia" and joined the mounted police

to track down the Clark gang of bushrangers, but later deserted his wife and

four children to run off to Tasmania with a 15 year old pregnant girl and

ended up in prison for running a brothel "frequented by chinamen",

specialising in underage girls. Nobody in the family ever mentioned the

second part of his life ( he was supposed to be a remittance man related to

the Duke of Norfolk- a claim never substantiated). When I write that part of

the story I'll put in the dates and leave the reader to figure out the rest

and put it down to a "mid-life crisis". I have been reading the guest book

on Kierans website. I do think your view on the Williams Nash family is

important, and needs to be recorded in a way which does not distort the

facts, but allows the reader to make their own moral judgements.

I just used Spyhunter to identify the registry entries for "Adrotator",

which has been driving me nuts for a couple of days. I didn't want to pay

for the software, so I just manualy deleted the entries, and it seems to

have improved things no end. Getting rid of Backweb seems to have improved

by response times and reliability a lot. I wonder how long it will be before

the spammers catch up with my new email address.

Nice to hear from you again

see Proceedings of the Old Bailey: John.

1. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 to 1834

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3. Search the Proceedings of the Old Bailey

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Sarah Moses

Will 2737 Series 4 P 7/11/1892

NSW Death Certificate 508/1892 Date & Place of death: 7 April 1892 Name & occupation: Sarah Joseph Sex & Age: Female 71 years Cause of death: Morbus Cordis ang Gastric Cata???? Medical attendant: B Mackeller Last saw deceased: 6 April 1892 Name & Occupation of father: Abraham Moses (deceased) Name & maiden name of mother: Leah Shannon Informant: Moses joseph, Eldest son, 38 Campbell St Paddington When & where buried: 8 April 1892 Jewish Cemetery Rookwood Name of undertaker: Lewis Samuel Name & religion of minister: Alexander Samuel, Hebrew Witnesses: James James and John Hinds Where Born & how long in London, England the Australasian Colonies: About 68 years in NSW Place of marriage & age: Sydney age 17 to Nathan Joseph Children: Moses joseph 55 Joseph 49 Jacob S 33 Israel 36 Hyam 42 Caroline (Mandelson) 41 Rosetta (Joseph) 46 Rachel (Phillips) 39 living 1 male a female deceased

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