La Bensaudiere

Voici les deux ouvrages de référence cités partout et qui contiennent des informations sur la généalogie Bensaude :

• Jose Maria Abecassis – “Genealogia Hebraica. Portugal e Gibraltar” (ISBN 9729542902). Lisboa 1990. Arbres généalogiques du XVII au XX siècle. Quatre des cinq volumes sont disponibles à la bibliothèque du Congrès à Washington. La famille Bensaude est présentée dans le volume II aux alentours de la page 248.
• Abraham Laredo – “Les Noms des Juifs du Maroc: Essai d’onomastique judéo-marocaine” (ISBN 8400043170). Institut B. Arias Montano, Madrid, 1978. 1161 pages. Epuisé.

Je serais vraiment curieux de mettre la main dessus, ou à défaut sur une copie des pages concernant les Bensaude. Pour commencer, il me faut identifier des bibliothèques qui les possèdent et m’éviteront le déplacement à Washington…

A part ça, au sujet de la généalogie sépharade il semble que Sephardic Genealogy par Jeff Malka est un ouvrage de référence apprécié.

The Bensaude Millenum meet-up was the chance to listen to a nice university lecture about Bensaude history in the Azores. For those who missed it, here is a small summary found in an interview of Jorge Delmar by Myrna and Harvey Frommer featuring Fatima Sequeira Dias who if I remember well is the speaker we had the pleasure of listening to :

[..] in 1818 [..] the Bensaude family of Morocco came to this volcanic archipelago [..] seeing opportunity in its developing orange-growing industry. They made their fortune trading agricultural products for manufactured goods with England and trading bills of exchange while transporting emigrants to Brazil. In the process, according to Fatima Sequeira Dias, Professor of Economic History at the University of the Azores, they changed the nature of the Azorean economy.

“The Bensaudes had the trade connections that enabled them to link England, Brazil, and Newfoundland with the Azores,” she says. “When they got into the bill of exchange business, that was the beginning of banking in the Azores.” This single Jewish family, she maintains, succeeded in integrating the islands’ economy, establishing a chain of retailers throughout the archipelago who offered imported goods on easy terms, and developing its maritime transport industry. Today a financial empire with international interests, the Bensaudes continue to be the Azores’ chief economic entity. But they are no longer Jewish. Fearful of a Nazis occupation of Portugal, most converted during the Second World War. Vasco Bensaude, the last Jew of the dynasty, died some twenty years ago.

That reminds me that the two following papers by Fatima Sequeira Dias contain rich insights into Bensaude history in the Azores :

• Uma estratégia de sucesso numa economia periférica: a casa Bensaúde e os Açores, 1800-1873, Ponta Delgada, 1993;
• A Fábrica de Tabaco Micaelense: 1866-1995, Ponta Delgada, Fábrica de Tabaco Micaelense, 1995;

Searching the Essaouira (formerly Mogador) cemetery records for ‘Bensaude’ yielded the following matches :

Family name  Name           Gender  Birth  Death date
Bensaude     Jais           M       1871   11/09/1929
Bensaude     Rebbeca Ohana  W       1873   16/07/1946

I have no idea who they are nor any knowledge of their contemporary Moroccan Bensaudes. Neither are the people bearing the name of Hassiboni mentioned in these cemetary records. It seems that there is still in Morocco some of genealogical information that we have not yet found…

Jeff Malka from Sephardic Genealogy Resources has put together a short startup guide to Jewish Genealogy in Morocco. Lack of records makes it a tricky field of investigation, but I am sure there are plenty of discoveries to be made. Have fun, and don’t forget to keep us informed about what you find !

Searching the Ellis Island records for ‘Bensaude’ yielded the following matches :

Name of Passenger	Residence  	Arrival Birth
Jacob Bensaude  	 	  	1894  	1834
Jose Bensaude  	  	Lisboa, Port. 	1916  	1893
Jose Bensaude  	  	Lisbon, Port. 	1920  	1893
M. Bensaude  	  	  	  	1894  	1865
Maria Bensaude	  	Lisbon, Port.  	1920  	1899
Mathilde Bensaude  	Lisboa, Port.  	1920  	1890
Mrs. M. Bensaude  	  		1894  	1872

Among them, Mathilde Bensaude matches very well the data I already have. The “M. Bensaude” born in 1865 may be the unknown Hiam Bensaude that I found in the 1881 British census. The others look like no-one already identified… Your help is welcome.

I found Isaac Bensaude in the 1881 British census. Mimon Bensaude (whose name is also spelled Maïmon or Mimao in Portuguese) is mentioned both in the life of Jose Bensaude by Alfredo Bensaude and in the Genealogia Hebraica by Jose Maria Abecassis. How are they related to Juda Hassiboni, the father of the Bensaudes ? Where is the missing link ? For now, the mystery remains…