Did any Jewish people arrive in America with the Pilgrims?

Question

Did any Jewish people arrive in America with the Pilgrims?

Answer 1

No.  The Pilgrims were dissenters within the Church of England (the Episcopal Church).  They were more conservative than the mainstream church in England, and wanted to get to someplace where they could live free of "corrupting influences".  There were about 114 people on the Mayflower, and about 67 of these were members, and the balance were people they hired to come along, but all were Church of England.

The first Jews in what's the US today were in New Amsterdam (New York) arriving in 1654.  Ten years later this colony passed into English hands.  There were enclaves of Jews in surprising places - Savannah Georgia had a sizable early Jewish community.

http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Jewi...

http://www.nychumanities.com/JewishImmig...

Answer 2

Mark S. has given you some good information on the first English settlement, now called the Lost Colony of North Carolina.

The first permanent English settlement(before the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower) was at Jamestown Virginia in 1607.  Those early English were Church of England and usually came from titled English families.  I do not know if there were any Hebrews among them.

Answer 3

I checked the list of family names of the Mayflower pilgrims-they were all WASP family names, so it's unlikely.

Answer 4

idk......

Answer 5

yes they came over on the October Flower

Answer 6

The first Jews arrived in America with

Columbus in 1492.  Among the rare and

revealing items on view (at the New York

Public Library) are the only existing copy

of the first printed version of Columbus's

1493 letter reporting on his epoch-making

voyage; minutes of the New Amsterdam City

Council from 1654, which record the arrival of

the ship bearing the first Jews to reach the future

United States; and the first Jewish prayer book

printed in English. Also included is the extremely

rare Whole Book of Psalmes (the Bay Psalm

Book of 1640), which is not only the first book

printed in the future United States, but also the

first book in the New World to include printing in

Hebrew.

Jews were instrumental to the planning and execution

of Columbus's first voyage and even traveled with him

on his journey. Columbus's letter reporting on his

exploration was written to Luis de Santangel, grandson

of forced Jewish converts in Spain, who was a primary

financier of Columbus's exploration.

In September, 1654,  twenty-three Jews

of Dutch ancestry from Recife, Brazil, arrived in

New York, which at the time was under Dutch

rule and known as New Amsterdam.

http://www.nypl.org/press/2004/jewes.cfm

Answer 7

I believe all the pilgrims were part of the Anglican church

Answer 8

Actually the first Jew was in America long before the Mayflower.

Joachim Gaunse, a Jewish metallurgist and mining engineer from Prague, was invited to England by the Royal Mining Company in 1581. Britain, preparing for war with Spain, was desperately in need of copper. Copper was a critical element in the production of bronze, from which the English manufactured the accurate cannons that gave their warships an advantage over the cast iron cannons of the Spaniards.

The Edict of Expulsion (1290) was still enforced during the 16th century, meaning that Jews were technically prohibited from immigrating to England at the time Gaunse was invited. The fact that mining magnates were able to bring Gaunse into England despite this restriction speaks volumes about his reputation in the industry.

Gaunse revoluntionized English bronze manufacture. He succeeded to reduce the time it took to purify a batch of copper ore from 16 weeks to 4 days. Furthermore, Gaunse found a way to use the impurities removed from the ore in textile dyes.

In 1584, in the hope of finding copper, silver and gold, Queen Elizabeth gave Sir Walter Raleigh a royal patent to explore the Virginia territory. Raleigh, then, asked Gaunse to serve as metallurgist and mining supervisor to the Roanoke expedition. Thus, in 1585, Gaunse became the first recorded Jew to set foot on English soil in North America. Centuries later, archaeologists attributed the lumps of smelted copper and goldsmith’s crucible they found in the Roanoke site ruins to Gaunse.

The Roanoke colony succeeded to discover copper, but failed to endure in the harsh new environment. The colonists were homesick, physically challenged, fearful of the Indians, and angry at the Royal Mining Company's failure to send additional supplies. The Roanoke colonists, including Gaunse, accepted an offer from Sir Francis Drake, whose fleet was passing nearby, to carry them back to England.