Background and Family
He was the son of Jacob (Alvarez or Álvaro) da Costa, who is probably the da Costa referred to in the Thurlow Papers. Jacob da Costa arrived in England with his family in 1655. He married Leonora (Rachel) Mendes, sister of Fernandez (Fernando) Mendes, the Marrano physician of King John IV of Portugal.
Moses married his cousin Catherine Mendes in 1698. Catherine had been born in Somerset House, and was named after Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, who graciously consented to stand sponsor to her. This Catherine da Costa is supposed to have made, in 1721, the water-colour portrait of her father which now hangs in the vestry of the Bevis Marks Synagogue. Their children included Sarah (Simha) Mendes da Costa who married Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar, 2nd Baron d'Aguilar.
Read more about this topic: Moses Da Costa
Famous quotes containing the words background and, background and/or family:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession. It comes only by the grace of God. It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. You must be born into the family of the Walkers. Ambulator nascitur, non fit.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)