STORIES OF OUR FAMILIES
To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.
The merger of
Cohen D'Azevedo and Lobo Families
Through the centuries
Lisbon to the Breestraat, Amsterdam
The air along the Amstel River in the mid-1600s was a thick mixture of Atlantic salt, roasting tobacco, and the rich, sweet scent of raw Brazilian sugar drying in nearby warehouses. For those walking down the Jodenbreestraat - the Broad Street of the Jews - the soundscape was just as varied. Here, the sharp clatter of horse-drawn carts over cobblestones mingled with a distinct blend of languages: Dutch merchants shouting trades, artists arguing over the price of pigments, and a refined, rapid Portuguese spoken by families who had crossed an ocean to rebuild their lives.
Such was the beating heart of Amsterdam’s Golden Age. For our family, this neighbourhood was truly a sanctuary.
Just a few decades earlier, to be openly Jewish in Lisbon was a torture and death sentence. Under the terrifying shadow of the cruel Portuguese Inquisition, our ancestors had been forced to live double lives as Conversos - New Christians - who practiced their ancient faith in absolute secrecy behind shuttered windows. But Amsterdam offered something different: the freedom to step out of the shadows.
It was here, in this vibrant, crowded neighborhood, that the paths of two of our ancestors from different Portuguese families converged.
Down the block on the Jodenbreestraat stood a grand residence called Romijns Keizers Hooft (the Roman Emperors Head), the family home of Baruch (Bento) Osorio (1560-1644). It was situated near the lock-house (now Cafe de Sluyswacht). A titan of international trade who had fled Lisbon, Osorio was one of the wealthiest men on the artificial island of Vlooienburg, his vast fortunes in silver and spices securing him a place as a leading member of the new Jewish community.
Only a short walk away on the very same street stood a house named St. Joris (St. George). This was the home of Isaac Cohen d’Azevedo (c. 1606–1674).
I would say that Osorio’s generation helped lay the financial foundation for this safe haven, Cohen d’Azevedo’s generation built its cultural and spiritual soul, weaving the Sephardic community tightly into the fabric of the Dutch Republic. Their names are etched into the foundation plaque of the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam.
Their immediate neighbour, living just doors away at number 4 Jodenbreestraat, was a young, ambitious painter named Rembrandt van Rijn. As Rembrandt walked the Jodenbreestraat, searching the faces of his neighbours for the biblical expressions he loved to capture on canvas, he was looking directly at the community our forefathers were actively building.
As a merchant living in Amsterdam, Isaac Cohen d’Azevedo traded with the towns of Salé and Tétouan in modern-day Morocco. He and his wife Abigael Curiel Rosado had three sons: David; Daniel (born in Amsterdam, died 1690 in Hamburg), who married his cousin Debora de Moses Cohen d’Azevedo. Their third son Joseph (born in Amsterdam, died 1705 in London), was a director of the Scottish East India Company.
This is my story of how the descendants of Baruch Osorio and Isaac Cohen d’Azevedo from Lisbon converged in Amsterdam, and throughout the generations found their way to the Americas, to my homeland Barbados.
MOSES COHEN D'AZEVEDO
The lineage of Haham Moses Cohen d'Azevedo (c. 1726–1784) is documented on on page 51 of Malcolm H. Stern’s "First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies 1654–1988".
• Role/Title: Haham of London
• Life Details: Son of Daniel Cohen d'Azevedo. Born in Amsterdam (~1720); died in 1784. In 1761, succeeded his father-in-law, Moses Gomez da Mesquitta, as Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in London.
• Publications & Legacy:
◦ Delivered two published sermons in Spanish (later translated to English in 1776 containing prayers for British military success), including "Order de la Oracion, en el Dia de Ayuno, 13 Dec., 1776..." on the accession of George III (delivered Dec. 1760).
◦ Descendants: A descendant passed away in Barrow's Buildings at age 90.
◦ Relics: His portrait remained his only surviving personal item. His son, Daniel, served as hazan of the congregation from 1779 to 1812.