----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Allicock To: Joan Marie Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 10:14 PM Subject: Harbin Jew or Quaker From: "Richard Allicock" <richwyn@idirect.com> To: "Joan Marie" <meyering@open.org> Subject: Re: Joseph Harbin Jew or Quaker Date: May 3, 2003 10:00 PM Hi Joan Marie, I do not think at the time that Joseph died that the reference to Jew in the records would have been derogatory. Since the same appellation is not written against the names of Sarah, and Alexander, this might mean that Joseph was a practising Jew and the others were not. Jews at this time had benefited from the Civil War in England which brought Oliver Cromwell to power in the 1600's. It was under Cromwell that the ban against Jews entering, the UK was repealed and Jews returned to England after almost 400 years, being banished in 1290. Cromwell's army was a bible thumping one, and their bible was the old testament, which most Christians seem to forget is the Jewish Bible. Much of the colonisation of North America by the Puritans was seen as a project of building the New Jerusalem. Being persecuted themselves they preached religious toleration and set an exmple to others back in England. Jews were also important as settlers of the early English colonies for trade and military purposes. Trade because of their international ties in the Dutch empire, and militarily, because having been expelled from Spain and Portugal, they were also expelled from those colonies that were under the Portuguese and Spanish control in the West Indies. As such they had information that was critical in the English and Dutch fight with the Spanish and Portuguese for control of the New World. The expelled Jews had knowledge also of things military to the Portuguese and Spanish in Europe and even Asia and Africa, and the West Indies. For exmaple, in the taking of Jamica from the Spanish, there were Jews on the British naval ships who had lived in Jamaica and knew the Spanish strength and weaknesses. Jews who had repressed any evidence that they were Jews came out openly as Jews once the British took over. Also, in the early years of settling their colonies like B'dos, the British colonists depended on the Dutch for their supplies, and also to buy their products. In this trade the Jews wuld have been able to play a vital role in the success of the British colonies because of their connections back to Holland, where they had taken refuge after being expelled by the Spanish and Portuguese. Because they also took refuge in England, they were also in position to aid the success of the colonies after the British tried to ban the Dutch and other nations from supplying the English colonies, and wanted supplies to be only in English boats. What this meant is that the needed products had to be shipped to England from Holland and elsewhere, and then to the British West Indies. Again Jews were vital in keepig the trade and supplies and the success of the colonies going. So the attribution of Jew against Joseph's record was not derogatory, it was religious. People in those colonies at the time that Joseph died would still have had good regards for the Jews, given the critical part the Jews had played in the survival and eventually prosperity of the colonies. If Joseph was a quaker when he died, he would not have had the word Jew against his name in the record. So I think that you may have to do some more research on that angle. At best there would have been Dissenter as a note. So you may be looking for another Joseph Harbin, and I see he had a son called Joseph. The latter might have become a Quaker, or not. It might have been too early for Joseph Sr. to have become a Quaker before 1691, as Quakerism begun in the mid-1600's and struggled the rest of the century to survive. I said "or not" because Jews in South Carolina were not persecuted at this time, they were openly Jews, benefitting from the religious toleration established by the Puritans, many of them going on to become Patriots of the American revolution as Jews, in the revolutionary forces between 1776-1784, and even as high-ranking officers. So both Joseph and his son probably were not Quakers in South Carolina. The conversion to Quakerism may have happened to a subsequent Joseph. This is important if you are trying to find a grave. You will be looking in a Jewish Cemetary or a Dissenter/Quaker Cemetary. However, since the Will was proved in Barbados, you will have to see if a copy of it was also deposited in South Carolina, as Joseph said he had a plantation there. Whoever inherited the plantation or property (assuming the Will was up to date when he died) in South Carolina would have had to show that Joseph was dead and that person was his heir before the property could legally change hands. I hope the fore-going helps. Let me know if you tried to get a South Carolina Will. That will certainly give you a clue as to where he died and where he was buried. If he still remained a Jew as I suspect he did, you might more easily find where in South Carolina or Barbados he is buried, than if he had become a Quaker. Best regards, Richard