Jonathan Schorsch, Andrée Aelion Brooks, and Ruth K. Abrahams
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF LUIS MOSES GOMEZ
Flint Mine Press, 2021, ISBN: 978-099-825-452-4
Reviewed by Rochelle Strauss1
The interest of a young woman living in an historical home, called Mill House, in upstate New York eventually led her to a discovery. A Sephardic Jew, Luis Moses Gomez, built the first structure in 1717-18, that would become part of the house she admired. Using tax rolls, she was able to document that the Gomez family owned the property.
Mildred Starin grew up near the Mill House in Marlboro and developed a strong attachment to the property. In 1948, she and her husband purchased it and after several decades in the house, she wanted to plan its future as a historic site open to the public. In 1973, she succeeded in placing the house on the National Register of Historic Places. Because of her investigations we now know that Mill House is the oldest extant building built by Jewish settlers in North America. Mrs. Starin connected with a descendant of this family, Harmony Hendricks Goldstone, who helped form the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; that contact initiated the formation of the Gomez Foundation for Mill House in 1979. The property was purchased by the Foundation in 1984, with the intent to operate the site as a museum. Mrs. Starin was its caretaker until 1998. A ninth generation descendant of Gomez is the current chairman of the Foundation.
So who was Luis Moses Gomez? According to Schorsch’s research for The Remarkable Life of Luis Moses Gomez, his story begins with the familiar journey of Iberian Jews, forced to choose between exile, conversion, or death by the Inquisition. Luis Moses Gomez was born in 1660 in Portugal, to a Converso family. Gomez was a common name taken by these New Christians. According to an eighteenth century family history written by his great grandson, Isaac Gomez Jr., Luis was sent to relatives in southwest France as an infant because of the Inquisition’s continuing harassment of Conversos. Since 1550, Henry II of France had given permission to Portuguese merchants to settle and expand commerce in southwest France, free from persecution. These merchants flourished, trading with the Caribbean or North American colonies and throughout Europe. Luis Moses Gomez had a cosmopolitan upbringing; he was fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and French. However in 1685, King Louis XIV ended legal recognition of non-Catholic life in France with the Edict of Fontainebleau. He had already required ninety-three Converso families to leave their homes in 1684. On that 1684 list is a Louis Goumez from the southwest area; Schorsch’s research suggests that this is the adult Luis Moses Gomez, now an experienced merchant. Gomez spent the following few years in England, then travelled to the Caribbean where many Conversos were once again able to practice their religion under the more tolerant Dutch or English rule of the time.
In January 1702, his name appeared on the New York municipal tax assessment as Luis Gomes, a man of means, paying a substantial amount in taxes. Schorsch suggests that once again, his move can be explained by the presence of family or friends in the colony of New York. He was married by then, with four sons. With his cosmopolitan background, he successfully interacted with gentile society. In 1703, the Mayor Philip French acknowledged him as “worthy of good faith and credit” (p.9),
In 1704, Gomez decided to apply for an enhanced status called denization, which cost £57 (about $25,000 in 2014). This would give him and his heirs the rights and privileges of natural born English subjects. He could settle in any English colony, own property, conduct trade, and be protected by English law. Queen Anne granted his petition on April 8, 1705; by February 1706, he became a Freeman of the City of New York, which also granted him the right to vote and hold elected office, a privilege actually denied to Jews.
By 1710, and in the years to follow, Luis set up his sons in business with their own ships. They handled diverse merchandise, from clothing to gun powder to wine. They also processed cacao beans into chocolate, a mostly Sephardic enterprise. Their success in business enabled them to pay for the denization fees in their own right for four of the sons, which they did by December 29, 1714.
The expanding economic interests of the Gomez family were the likely reason for the purchase of property in upstate New York in 1716, about eighty miles from Manhattan. It was rich in natural resources, lumber, limestone, and farm land. When the senior Gomez was listed in 1717-18 as a taxpayer, a stone structure partially built into a hillside existed. The house, as it stands today, was expanded by five subsequent owners. Gomez constructed a sawmill on the land. He also produced lime to provide building materials for the growing city. In 1729, he advertised in the New-York Gazette, “good limestone for sale at a reasonable price” (18). By 1735, twenty-five loads of lime had been ordered by the corporation of the City of New York. Through searches of archival tax and municipal records and even newspaper advertisements the ownership and use of the upstate properties can be tracked. From these records we also learn that by 1731, the family began selling off parcels of their land. Perhaps the property was no longer profitable to them, and after thirty years of ownership the last fifteen hundred acres were sold in 1747, seven years after the death of Luis Moses Gomez on March 31, 1740.
The archives not only document the business dealings of the Gomez family, but also their civic functions at that time. For example, in 1723, son Mordecai served as a tax collector for the East Ward district of Manhattan and in 1734, son Daniel was a Spanish interpreter for the New York Supreme Court. Thus, as early settlers eager and able to take advantage of the opportunities in a growing city, the Gomez family participated in the business and civic life of New York
The Gomez family’s contributions to Jewish life in New York are discussed in Chapter 4, called “Judaism and Jewishness.” The ample records of Congregation Shearith Israel provide most of the information. We should remember that Shearith Israel was formed in 1654 by the earliest Jewish settlers and when the Gomez family arrived in New York they attended services in this synagogue. Documents indicate that numerous ritual objects, such as prayer books, a Bible, and Torah scrolls, were among their possessions. The Gomez name was listed as contributors to the fundraising for a new synagogue building. The title to the land for the first building and expanded cemetery was in their name; as the Jewish congregation was not legally incorporated at the time, land purchases were in the name of private members of the community. His sons were trained in ritual practices, such as a schochet, or ritual slaughter, and as mohels, or ritual circumcisers. Luis Moses Gomez served as “president of the community” in 1730, when the new synagogue building was dedicated. His sons also served in this capacity.
It is notable that son Daniel extended Shearith Israel's support to the Newport Rhode Island congregation, Yeshuat Israel. Funds to the Hebron Jewish community and to Safed, which was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1759, were also supported by the family.
Through the synagogue and the growing outreach to the Jewish community, the Gomez family identified as active, committed Sephardic Jews; it was a complete return to their heritage. The booklet concludes with references to the contributions of the Gomez family in the founding of the United States of America; some members fought in the American Revolution. In 1792, great grandson, Isaac M. Gomez, was a founding member of the New York Stock Exchange.
A grant funded the research into the Gomez family by Jonathan Schorsch, the Chair in Jewish Religious and Intellectual History at Universitat Potsdam. The text of this thirty-nine page booklet is edited from his findings by Andrée Aelion Brooks and Ruth K. Abrahams. Ms. Brooks specializes as a writer and lecturer of Jewish social history. Ms. Abrahams is a retired Executive Director of the Gomez Mill House Foundation and the Gomez Mill House Museum and Historic site. Schorsch's research is evident in the many primary sources reproduced. The booklet contains informative documents and illustrations, including Luis Moses Gomez's denization document, the family Bible, a ledger page, and depictions of dress and buildings of the eighteenth century. The documents in script, however,are difficult to read or illegible. Transcriptions and translations of these documents would have made them more meaningful to the reader. It is not an academic text, it is written for general readers, high school age and up. A general bibliography and the sources of all the illustrations are included. The booklet is a handy take-home reference for museum visitors, as well as a promotion of the unique historic importance of the Luis Moses Gomez Mill house.
So who was Luis Moses Gomez? At his death March 31, 1740, a newspaper notice described him “of a fair Character” (35). He was civic-minded and devoted to the Jewish community. He encouraged the same social commitments by members of the family, to use their wealth to help others. He was a successful merchant, supporting his family in their business endeavors. The Gomez family personifies the strength, persistence, and bravery of these early Jewish settlers. The Remarkable Life of Luis Moses Gomez is an interesting and valuable addition to the knowledge of the Jewish contribution to colonial New York.
1 Rochelle Strauss is a retired librarian, Brooklyn Public Library, New York.