Month: January 2019

Jews in the New World

Jews in the New World

by Justin Durand

An article in The Atlantic caught my attention. We’re going ’round again with conversos and crypto-Jews, and once again the fantasy is just as stronger or stronger than the proved reality.

In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella ordered all Jews in Spain to convert to Catholicism or leave the kingdom. Those who converted became known as conversos. Some of them continued to practice Judaism in secret, and even if they didn’t, they were often suspected of it. The functional result of this suspicion was that many conversos took pains to hide their Jewish ancestry.

Ferdinand and Isabella commissioned the first voyage of Christopher Columbus the same year they expelled the Jews. Two grand narratives in the same year. The temptation to link them is almost irresistible.

The popular story is that Columbus himself was a Jew looking for new homeland, and the American Southwest is full of crypto-Jews who are descendants of conversos driven further and further north as the territorial government solidified its hold.

Here in Colorado we have a native Hispano population that goes back to the early days, before the Anglo-American conquest. One of my step-mothers belonged to such a family. It’s not uncommon.

What we’ve seen just in the course of my lifetime is that Hispanos throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas increasingly claim Jewish ancestry. In some circles the stories have reached a saturation point where no one doubts them anymore. They are taken at face value. In fact, there’s now a special term for them — the anusim, the one who were forced.

The modern fashion for finding crypto-Jews in the American Southwest seems to have started with Stanley Hordes in the mid-1980s. As New Mexico State Historian he heard stories that could be broadly interpreted as pointing to Jewish customs. He became convinced there was a bigger story there. After he left his job he began promoting the idea that conversos made their way to the New World, where they were able to practice Judaism in secret for 400 years. (Barbara Ferry and Debbie Nathan, “Mistaken Identity? The Case of New Mexico’s “Hidden Jews” in The Atlantic (Dec. 2000)).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the story exploded in popularity. Now there’s even a Society for Crypto-Jewish Studies. But were they really crypto-Jews? There’s a great deal of doubt. Certainly, the Inquisition was looking for crypto-Jews. About 100 were executed in Mexico, and many more were investigated, including a governor of New Mexico.

Many experts now believe Hordes misinterpreted the stories he was hearing. What he thought were survivals of Judaism might have come instead from Catholic converts to Protestant churches that emphasize Jewish practices. The most popular of these seems to have been the Seventh-Day Adventists, who observe the Sabbath on Saturday, practice Jewish dietary restrictions, celebrate certain Jewish holy days.

To be continued…

Gollop, of Strode

Gollop, of Strode

by Justin Durand

I was pleased and surprised tonight to check Feedly and discover an article by Stephen Plowman. Now there’s a familiar name.

The article is Armorial Bearings of Gollop of Strode. Another familiar name.

Like many Americans with ancestry in Colonial New England, I’m descended from Capt. John Gallop (c1593-1650), an early settler at Boston.

His ancestry is not certain but he is widely believed to been been the son of John and Mary (Crabbe) Gallop, and probably a grandson of Thomas Gollop, of Strode and North Bowood.

One thing is certain — his Internet genealogies are nearly always mangled beyond recognition, and Geni seems to be no exception, although there was a joke among Geni’s curators in the early days that the fastest way to become a curator was to be be a Gallop descendant.

John Gallop is a favorite of researchers because we have a touching glimpse into his personal life. Gallop’s wife did not come with him to America, and that was a problem. Gov. John Winthrop in Massachusetts wrote to Rev. John White in England:

I have much difficultye to keep John Gallop here by reason of his wife will not come. I marvayle at the woman’s weaknesse. I pray pursuade her and further her coming by all means. If she will come, let her have the remainder of his wages; if not, let it be bestowed to bring over his children, if so he desires. It would be about £40 losse to him to come for her. Your assured in the Lord’s worke, J. Winthrop, Massachusetts, Jul 4 1632’”

(Winthrop Papers)

Rev. White seems to have succeeded. Christobel Gallop and her children came over the following year. Capt. John piloted the ship into Boston Harbor through a new channel he had discovered, the channel running by Lovell’s Island, a quarter of a mile east of Gallop‘s Island.

I’ll be very pleased if someday we get a documented genealogy for these Gallops. There is a review of sources in The Great Migration Begins, 725-28, and a good research summary at Wikitree.

More Information

Learning

Learning

by Justin Durand

“In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.”

― Eric Hoffer
A Phantom Margaret Luce

A Phantom Margaret Luce

by Justin Durand

I don’t know how to understand how these fables have developed.

The introductory problem is that some researchers attribute Abraham Luce and Cycely (Darke) Luce with a daughter Margaret.

Parish records for Horton, the home of this family, show Abraham and Cycely were married in 1604 and had children Abraham (1605), Israel (1605), and John (1608).

Many Luce researchers will recognize this Israel instantly. He’s often claimed as the father of Henry Luce, immigrant to colonial Massachusetts. There’s no direct evidence but some researchers believe the circumstantial evidence makes the relationship probable.

Anyway, no Margaret.

Yet a Margaret, supposed daughter of this couple, is claimed as an ancestor by two different families in conflicting scenarios. That in itself seems quite a feat for someone for whom there is no evidence anyway.

Margaret is claimed as:

  • Wife of Isaac Wells, the immigrant to Barnstable, Massachusetts
  • Wife of John Harris, of Sandon, Essex

She can’t be both. There’s no evidence she was either. But here she is spread across our Internet world:

Margaret and John Harris were (supposedly) married 15 February 1620 in Sandon, Essex. That’s 160 miles from Horton. If John Harris’ wife was really a Luce it is far more likely she belonged to a Luce family in or near Sandon.

Margaret and Isaac Wells were married, say about 1620, probably near his home at Welches Dam, Cambridgeshire. That’s 170 miles from Horton. Here again, if Isaac’s wife was really a Luce it is far more likely she belonged to a Luce family in or near Welches Dam.

And this doesn’t begin to deal the problems of estimated ages in these different versions.

Someone will have to get serious about this problem and do some comprehensive clean up across the Internet. In the meantime, these lines should be treated with extraordinary caution.

Human Terrain

Human Terrain

by Justin Durand

I’m fascinated by this graphic way of viewing the size and spatial relationship of the world’s cities.

I live right there in Denver but I was born in Laramie, which is that little spike up there to the left of Cheyenne.

Try it yourself: Human Terrain: Visualizing the World’s Population, in 3D. You should see your own area and be able to fly around the world looking at others

It seems like there should be some way of adapting this type of presentation to genealogy, but I’m not seeing it right off.

Revised to update link.