| Notas |
- THE BUILDING BEGINS
During this same time, the colonial government was also studying the possibility of extending Willemstad?s city boundaries as it, too, had become too small for the population living there. This would require demolishing the already existing city wall (which was very much in disrepair), filling-in the sea and marsh land behind it, and then constructing new defense walls further to the east.
The PARNASSIM approached Governor Juan Noah DuFay and requested that he sell them a strip of land measuring 20 feet by 20 feet in the corner between the city wall (to the east) and the Kuiperstraat (to the north). Governor DuFay inspected the site with Fortress and Buildings Inspector Jan Kock, and agreed to sell them the 400 sq. feet of ground for 800 Pesos, a considerable amount of money at that time! This amount, remitted to Governor DuFay per his signed receipt of June 30, 1730, was supposed to include the demolition of the wall at that point and its rebuilding later on after the Company had drained and filled in the water behind it.
Ten of the twenty feet along the eastern part (probably near the HEYCHAL today), were transferred to the congregation; the remaining ten feet of frontage and twenty feet along the Kuiperstraat were to follow as soon as the congregation needed them to enlarge the community?s school located near the city wall. The additional footage was apparently never transferred to the congregation, nor did it ever receive the refund which was ordered by the Company directors to its new Governor, Juan Pedro van Collen, in reply to a letter from the PARNASSIM to the Company in November, 1732. Not only was Governor van Collen not a friend of the ?Jewish Nation on Curaçao?, but it seems that Governor DuFay had forgotten to register the 800 Pesos in the Company?s ledgers. Requiring a ?master builder? to take on the responsibility for an edifice of the magnitude they envisioned, the PARNASSIM charged Elias and Manuel Namias de Crasto Jr. of Amsterdam, with the task of finding a ?master carpenter? for them. To ensure that he perform according to contract, the PARNASSIM also required that someone stand guarantor for him. The Namiases succeeded in finding Henderik Schielach and contracted him on July 26, 1730.
- The Fernandez/Namias de Castro Family, from Lisbon, Portugal, c.1520
Records showing the surname de Castro often has the letters transposed to spell de CRASTO.
The full surname has been recorded as NEHAMIAS de CASTRO.
Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal.
On August 6, 711 Lisbon was taken by the Moors (it was called al-?I?b?nah in Arabic), under whose rule the city flourished. The Moors, who were Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East, built many mosques and houses as well as a new city wall, currently named the Cerca Moura. The city kept a diverse population including Christians, Berbers, Arabs, Jews and Saqalibas.
In 1506, thousands of "New Christians" (converted Jews) were massacred in Lisbon. After their expulsion from Spain many Jews made their way to Portugal until they were expelled from that country as well.
TheJewish Virtual Library
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1629 - 1692 (63 años)
Sarah de David Brandon y Oeb, n. 1634 f. 19 Dic 1693, Curacao, Antillas Holandesas 
