First Mention
One of the original thirteen states of the American Union; named after William Penn, who received a grant of the territory from King Charles II in 1681. When Peter Stuyvesant, in 1655, conquered the Swedish colonies on the Delaware River, three Jews, Abraham de Lucena, Salvator Dandrade, and Jacob Coen, requested permission to trade along the Delaware River (November 29, 1655), claiming that under the act of February 15, 1655, they had received the consent of the directors of the West India Company to travel, reside, trade, and enjoy the same privileges as other inhabitants. This petition was refused "for weighty reasons," but they were permitted to send two persons to the South River (subsequently named the Delaware) in order to terminate a trading expedition already entered upon.
These were the first Jews of whom there is any record in Pennsylvania. On June 14, 1656, the directors of the West India Company wrote to Stuyvesant asking that the Jews be permitted to trade along the South River and "carry on their business as beforesaid." From this time on it is evident that the Jews took advantage of the privilege granted to them and traded with the Indians and Swedes in that territory. In 1657 Isaiah Mesa (spelled also "Masa" and "Mara"), "a Jew," is mentioned in the annals of Jacquet's administration as a participant in several lawsuits. In 1662 a community of Mennonites or Anabaptists proposed to settle at Horekill, in Delaware county, and in their articles of association they determined to exclude all "usurious Jews." When Sir Robert Carr, in 1664, assumed command of the Delaware in the name of the English crown, he received instructions from his government that "all people should enjoy the liberty of their conscience."
Read more about this topic: History Of The Jews In Pennsylvania
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