Found! Aaron Lopez alias

March 1, 2010

In 1740, Aaron Lopez and his family fled Portugal, where they could not practice their Jewish faith. They initially lived in New York. Lopez moved to Newport in 1752 and quickly established himself as a merchant. Almost immediately, he began to trade with his native country, using the Lisbon firm of Mayne, Burn & Mayne as his agents. The Aaron Lopez papers at the Newport Historical Society show that in his correspondence with this firm, which began in 1754, Lopez used an alias. Letters to him from Mayne & Co. were addressed to “Mr. Johannes Rhodrick and sometimes to “Mr. Roderick Johannes” before they settled on “Johannes Roderick.” The firm handled sales for Lopez but also provided information about family and friends still in Portugal.

Lopez apparently apandoned the alias after he was granted citizenship in Massachusetts in October, 1762. The letter reproduced here, written in August, 1764, is the last one that uses the alias — and the only one addressed to “Aaron Lopez alias Johannes Rhoderick.”

LOPEZ 18 AUGUST 1764 page 1 72dpi

LOPEZ 18 AUGUST 1764 page 2 72dpi