Duarte Heitor Antonio Senior Sarayva

One prominent name in the Jewish history of Brazil is Senior Coronel. David Senior Coronel emigrated from Amsterdam to "New Holland" in 1636 during the rule of the Dutch. He was one of

those emigrants looking for economic advancement, and he did succeed in becoming one of the wealthiest men in Recife. He is descended from a well known Marrano family from Spain, whose most famous member, Abraham Senior, was an advisor to royalty.

Don Abraham Senior -- "Don" is a title similar to "Sir" given to Spanish noblemen -- was born around 1410 in Castile, Spain. He was the financial advisor to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, and in fact proposed the match of the two which united Castile and Aragon into one country, Spain. Legend has it that Queen Isabella offered to sell her jewels to finance Columbus's journey; in fact, it was Don Senior who actually provided the money to outfit the ships which carried Columbus to the New World. Along with his trusted position as friend and advisor to the monarchs, Don Senior also served as Rabbi for the Jews of Castile. Because of that position, he was exempted from manyr estrictions that had been placed on "ordinary" Jews, and he, infact, used his position to shield the Jews of Castile from muchof the Inquisition. When Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand weremaking their decision about the expulsion order, it was DonSenior who oé!

him were he to leave Spain but he was, after all, in his eighties which is considered an old man even by modern- day standards. He chose not to leave Spain. Instead, he was baptized a Catholic, with the Queen and King serving as his godparents, and he changed his name to Fernando Nunez Coronel. His descendants used the name "Senior Coronel", probably both to claim their heritage as a

"Senior" and to keep the protection as a Christian family the "Coronel" provided.

It seems obvious that Don Abraham Senior's conversion was only on the surface, as the Senior Coronels were later to become a prominent Jewish family in Brazil. Don Abraham's descendent,

David Senior Coronel, was actually born in 1575 in Spain as Duarte Saraiva, his "Catholic" name. He moved to Amsterdam in 1598 at age 23, and was married there. Many young Jews were attracted to Amsterdam because the government was tolerant of Jews and they could openly practice their religion, but also because of Amsterdam's reputation as a financial center of Europe. By 1601, the future "David" was in the shipping business, sometimes using the name Duarte Saraiva Coronel. There is documentation of his case against the British for reimbursement for their seizure of a ship loaded with sugar; records of the details of trade in salt and other commodities with Portugal have also been found. He began trading with Brazil in the early 1600's. When the Dutch conquered northeastern Brazil in 1630, the government actively promoted emigration to Brazil and, in 1636, David and his family moved to Recife. It was while he lived in Brazil that he became known as David Senior Coronel. He owned real estate and sugar mills, and became the wealthiest man of the community. He died in Brazil in 1650 at the age of 75.

David's son Ishac had the misfortune to inherit his father's estate while Recife was suffering through the war with Portugal.

The businesses had been heavily mortgaged, and the family still owed a great debt to the Dutch West India Company. The Senior Coronel family returned to Amsterdam in 1654 after the Dutch

surrendered. In the courts, Ishac attempted to regain control of the Senior-Coronel property that had been confiscated by the Portuguese, but was unsuccessful. Ishac's son, also named David, had been 11 at the time of the family's move to Brazil. He may have been Treasurer for the Jewish community of Recife in 1652, but returned with the rest of his family to Amsterdam in 1654. He died there in 1676 at the age of 51. His descendants eventually emigrated to Surinam (Dutch Guiana), on the northern coast of South America, where they also went into the sugar business.

De Portugal foi para Amsterdã, na Holanda, onde casou-se com sua esposa, e vieram ao Recife, onde faleceram.

Em um terreno comprado aos holandeses foi aberta uma rua para os judeus, chamados de gente da nação. Essa rua passou a ser conhecida com a “Rua dos Judeus” (Rua da Cruz e hoje do Bom Jesus, preservada no centro do agora restaurado Recife antigo). Em 1636, nessa rua, na casa de David Sênior funcionava a sinagoga Kahal Kadosh Zur Israel, Comunidade Santa do Rochedo de Israel, a primeira de toda a América. Formalizada no primeiro semestre de 1636, a sinagoga instalou-se, em seguida, em um prédio próprio comprado pelo próprio David, de pedra e cal (possivelmente entre 1640 e 1641), cujo Rabino e Aboab da Fonseca, foi trazido da Holanda para ser o primeiro rabino do continente.

Senior Coronel / DAVID OLD alias DUARTE / SARAIVA Named in,, Dutch in Brazil 1624-1654,, JAGonsalves de Mello Born: 1575 in Spain / died: 1650 in Recife He married in 1598 in Amsterdam In Amsterdam, he was active in shipping and trade in salt and sugar In 1632 he moved to Pernambuco and he buys for f 10,000, - the sugar plantation Antonio de Sa In 1635 he bought the sugar mills, Furtado, and,, Magdalene, Joao de Mendoza In 1635 he sugar broker in Recife In 1635 he gets free merchant permission to leave the port of Recife in the Bock Market / Jodenstraat to buy a yard of 80 feet long and 60 feet wide to build a house In 1636 he was a merchant house in the street of the Jews in Recife In 1636, his dwelling house used as a synagogue for the Jewish community in Recife In 1640 he sugar producer and has a sugar mill in Olinda On 06.08.1642, he guarantees the debts of the Jewish merchant Moises Abendana On 02/20/1654 he is on the list of Jewish owners of a house/shop in Recife and Olinda in sugar plantations" from file:///C:/Users/ASUS/Downloads/BRAZIL%20(1).pdf

David Senior Coronel (1575 - 1650) Een naam die vaker terug te vinden is in de geschiedenis van deze Nederlandse kolonie is die van David Senior Coronel. Over hem is het een en ander bekend. David was de afstammeling van een bekende Maranen-familie in Spanje. De beroemdste van hen, Abraham Senior, was een adviseur aan het Spaanse hof. Zijn zoon werd in 1575 geboren onder de katholieke naam Duarte Saraiva. Hij vertrok naar Amsterdam in 1598, aangelokt door de godsdienstvrijheid in Amsterdam én doordat Amsterdam toen het financiële centrum van Europa was. In Amsterdam trouwde David op 15 aug 1598 met Maria Nunes (niet de Maria Nunez elders op de website). In 1601 zat hij in de scheepvaart en hij gebruikte in die tijd zowel zijn Joodse als zijn katholieke naam. Ook voerde hij handel met Portugal, en hij raakte in het begin van de 17e eeuw betrokken bij de handel met Brazilië. In 1604 werd hij poorter van de stad Amsterdam. Na de verovering van Brazilië in 1630 promootte de regering de emigratie naar de nieuwe kolonie en David en zijn gezin gingen in 1636 naar Recife. Gedurende de jaren dat hij in Recife woonde raakte hij steeds meer bekend onder zijn Joodse naam. Hij bezat onroerend goed, suikermolens, en werd de rijkste man van de gemeenschap. Hij overleed in Brazilië in 1650, 75 jaar oud. Zijn zoon Isaac had minder geluk. Hij erfde de bezittingen van zijn vader (begroot op 351.502 florijnen), maar deze werden vanwege de ongeregeldheden met de Portugezen snel minder waard. Er zaten grote hypotheken op de bezittingen én de familie was geld schuldig aan de WIC (West Indische Compagnie). Nadat de Hollanders zich in 1654 overgeven ging de familie Coronel terug naar Amsterdam. Isaac probeerde de bezittingen door rechtzaken terug te krijgen, maar dit lukte niet. Isaac ging studeren voor rabbijn en kreeg de titel chacham (wijze). Zijn afstammelingen emigreerden uiteindelijk naar Suriname waar ze eveneens in de suikerindustrie gingen werken.

bron: http://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/gesbrazilie.htm