Aaron Lopez, Colonial Newport’s Preeminent Merchant

Aaron Lopez (1731-1782), a Sephardic Jew, became the wealthiest merchant in colonial Newport, R.I. Unfortunately, the American Revolution devastated his domestic and foreign business. While returning to Newport in the hope of restoring his financial affairs, he suffered a fatal accident.

After a small number of Jewish settlers arrived as early as 1658 in Newport – known for its religious tolerance – Jewish families began arriving in larger numbers after 1750 from Spain, Portugal and other countries. Many of them became well-known merchants in this prominent seaport, including Aaron Lopez.

Lopez arrived in Newport on Oct. 13, 1752 with his wife, Anna, daughter Catherine, and his brother David. He became a merchant through the guidance of his half-brother Moses, who had arrived in Newport about 10 years earlier. He began his

career as a local shopkeeper and then became a wholesaler through agents in Providence, Boston, New York City and other ports.

In 1756 he opened a candle factory in Newport that relied on spermaceti — a waxy substance extracted from whale oil. As the price of whale oil skyrocketed, Lopez joined a trust — the United Company of Spermaceti Chandlers — in 1761 in an attempt to control its price and distribution among its members.

The British Naturalization Act of 1740 declared that aliens could not legally trade in the colonies. When Lopez applied to become a naturalized citizen in March 1762, his application was denied, supposedly because the colonies had enough residents. However, the real reason appeared to be antisemitism.

On Oct. 15, 1762 he became a naturalized citizen in Swansea, Mass. He was the first Jew granted this certificate in that colony.

By 1765 Lopez had expanded his trading activity by sending five ships to Bristol, England, his first international venture. He hoped to export mainly lumber and whale oil in exchange for dry goods and hardware. The effort, however, financially failed in a depressed market. Further voyages to Bristol, Africa, and the Caribbean between 1766 and 1768 also proved unsuccessful.

Around 1769, with improving trading conditions, Lopez expanded trade with Europe, the West Indies and South America. For example, fish, rum, wheat and other goods were exchanged for wines, salt and other items in European markets. Factors (middlemen who connected buyers and sellers of cargo and provided other services) greatly facilitated these trading

arrangements.

Trade especially improved with the West Indies, where Lopez obtained molasses and then made it into rum in Newport. Most of the rum was bought by Americans, with the rest sent to Africa in exchange for slaves. Although only a small part of his mercantile business, Lopez engaged in the slave trade between 1761 and 1774.

As his trading activity thrived up to the American Revolution, he had full or part ownership of more than 30 sailing vessels of varying kinds. Thus, Lopez became the wealthiest merchant in Newport, as evidenced by his tax assessments. Meanwhile, the success of Lopez and other merchants had made Newport — along with Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Charles Town (Charleston in1783) — one of the leading colonial ports on the eve of the American Revolution.

Using his considerable wealth, the “Merchant Prince of New England” bought books for the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, opened in March 1750; became a notable founder of Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, also in Newport; contributed 5,000 feet of lumber for constructing the College of Rhode Island in Warren in 1764, which moved to Providence in 1770 and later became Brown University; and donated land for Leicester Academy in Leicester, Mass.

By 1775 at the onset of the Revolutionary War, both the British navy and American privateers had begun seizing his ships. The resulting British occupation of Newport in 1776 forced Lopez and his family to relocate to Leicester. Needing to earn a living, he opened a retail and wholesale venture that he used to help finance the American cause. Despite legal victories that awarded him some of his vessels seized by American privateers, he never succeeded in restoring his financial affairs.

After several years of living in Leicester, Lopez and his family began a journey back to Newport. Unfortunately, on May 28, 1782 Lopez drowned when his horse and carriage swerved into Scott’s Pond in Smithfield, R.I. He was subsequently buried in the Jewish cemetery in Newport.