Dear Bill,

Thank you for your message. Your data agree with the information I have. The 1st Baron d'Aguilar moved to England after living in Austria for many years. Here is what I know.

A page on Jewish heraldry states that
"Moses Lopez Pereira (1699-1759) a Marrano from Spain, reverted to Judaism in Vienna, was made baron d'Aguilar in 1726, later moved to London"

"From Spain".Yet, he appears as Portuguese a in an article I read on Portuguese Jews. They call him "Moisés Lopes Pereira" - that is the exact translation to Portuguese - and say he was a tobacco merchant.

There was a 2nd Baron d'Aguilar, Ephraim Lopez Pereira (1739-1802), who was the 1st Baron's son. Some web pages show his name as "Ephraim Lopes Pereira". He lived in England. There is a genealogy website that shows many of his descendants.

It is quite a coincidence that among my ancestors I find a Jewish woman named Beatriz Lopez Pereira, born circa 1665 in Spain, who had at least three children, all born before she crossed the border to Portugal with her husband. One of those was my ancestor Leonor Rodriguez, who was born in 1686 and married a Jewish tobacco merchant. The others were Dr. Miguel Lopez Pereira, born circa 1693, who married the daughter of a Jewish tobacco merchant, and Francisca Lopez Pereira who was still unmarried in 1721. Of course, the children's surname appears in documents as Lopes instead of Lopez since they lived in Portugal.

Moses Lopez Pereira may have changed his name when he reverted to Judaism, since Moses doesn't look like a Christian name at all. I have searched for information on his ancestry, but found nothing up to now. I think there is a good chance Beatriz Lopez Pereira was his aunt or even his mother.

Greetings from Portugal,

Rui Pereira