Aaron Lopez papers

File — Box: Multi-Collection Box

Identifier: 003-02-24

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains correspondence, bills and notes, and shipping receipts including for various provisions such as dry goods, preserved beef, women’s shoes, spermaceti candles and oil, rum and pitch.

Of particular interest is a letter of apology to Lopez from his son-in-law, Abraham Pereira Mendes, that notes, “I have so inhumanly assaulted and cruely treated [Lopez}…past follies…being so numerous and heinous…” which followed a family disagreement between Mendes and Lopez. For several years, Mendes was Lopez’s business representative in Jamaica but made such a mess of his business and marital affairs that Lopez ultimately replaced him in 1769 and sent him back to Newport.

Dates

1756 - 1775

Creator

Nicholson, Paul C. (Paul Coe), 1888-1956 (Collector, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

PPL believes this collection is in the public domain. Users of this item are responsible for determining copyright restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

Aaron Lopez (1731-1782), born Duarte Lopez in Lisbon, Portugal, was a prominent and wealthy merchant and philanthropist in Newport, Rhode Island. Lopez’s parents were ethnically Jewish, and although his family had converted to Catholicism, they continued to practice Judaism in secret. In 1750, Lopez married a woman named Anna, and they had a daughter in Portugal before moving to Newport, Rhode Island, where they reclaimed their Jewish identities and changed their names.

A skilled businessman, Lopez quickly opened a shop, established a candle-making business, formed a trust to control the price and distribution of whale oil (used to make the candles), and became involved in maritime trade in North America and the West Indies, eventually owning or controlling 30 ships. Lopez’s shipping interests were involved in the African slave trade between 1761 and 1774, underwriting 21 slave shipping voyages.

In 1761, Lopez applied to become a naturalized citizen under the British Naturalization Act of 1740. He and another Jewish man, Isaac Elizer, were denied, despite meeting the requirements. They appealed to the Rhode Island General Assembly and the Superior Court and were denied a second time; Lopez eventually moved to Swansea, Massachusetts in 1762, where he became a citizen of Massachusetts before returning to Newport.

By the early 1770s, Lopez was the wealthiest person in Newport, Rhode Island. His philanthropic giving included purchasing books for the Redwood Athenaeum, and contributing land, money, and building materials for the construction of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island (later Brown University), the Touro Synagogue, and Leicester Academy in Leicester, Massachusetts. Lopez’s fortunes declined dramatically during the American Revolution amidst trade boycotts and a massive population shift away from Newport. He and his family relocated several times before settling in Leicester; during the American Revolution, he harbored Jewish refugees in his Leicester home.

Lopez died in 1782 en route from Leicester to Newport when his horse and carriage fell into a pond. He is buried in Newport’s Jewish cemetery.

Extent

.1 Linear Feet (2 folders)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Correspondence is arranged by author and by date; shipping receipts are arranged chronologically.

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection in 1956.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Paul C. Nicholson, 1956.

Separated Materials

Instructions from Aaron Lopez to Thomas Lothrop, master of the Brig Leviathan, were separated and moved to the Ship’s Papers of the Leviathan (Brig).

Processing Information

Previously part of general Nicholson Whaling Manuscript Collection, Subgroup 22. Processing by Judith Lund in 2008 with additions made to the finding aid by Janaya Kizzie in 2014. The decision to reprocess the subgroups as individual collections was made by Jordan Goffin in 2018. The collection was reprocessed by Kate Wells in 2024.