I would like to know what is the basis for identifying sephardic Jews?
I have been told that we are jewish descendants, possibly Sephardite.
My greatgreatgrandmother was named Margarita Abraham Amon.
Thanks
Lic.Gregory Kearney Lawson
Tel/Fax: (506)221-9462

Hi!

I'm not sure if I can directly answer your question about what names are or are not Sephardic, but I can probably mix you up quite a bit (big smile). While it's true one has to do the genealogical work (whew!), certain names may or may not tell us of possible Sephardic roots and yours are included. My Barneiro name seems to reflect this controversy. For instance, Bar- is a typical Sephardic (Aramaic) prefix meaning son of. Abraham and Amon are said to be directly Semitic.

I saw your posting history and also found your Lawson and Stone names quite interesting. There is much information coming out now about lowland Scotland and northern England in what is called the "Borderland." DNA tests being conducted are beginning to show some Spanish/French ancestry there too. The Stuart Royal Family, as you may know, has now indicated they were once in fact Jewish and there are Stuarts in the Spanish and Portuguese dominated Americas. Lawson and *maybe* Stone surnames are also found in those with Melungeon ancestry in the SE USA. Your families of the same names in Panama, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, maybe Cuba and the U.S. may surprise some, but it doesn't surprise me. Have you heard of the Melungeons?

Cheers,
Donalyn

Donalyn, regarding your statement: "The Stuart Royal Family, as you may know, has now indicated they were once in fact Jewish . . .."

I know from reading your posts here and at Genforum that you are a thorough and careful researcher. I am not questioning you accuracy. But could you provide either a website or some quotes clarifying and expanding your statement?

I'm researching my McGhee/MacGregor connection, and this has led me into the complex world of Scots history. I'd be interested to kow if the Stuarts trace their Jewish roots through their French or their Scots stock. And, if it's through their Scots stock, I'd like to see the lineage.

Why do I ask? The early Scots/Pictish royal line had a cultural pattern of matrilineal cousin-intermarriage for inheriting the royal/priestly lines. One of the religious practices of the early Scots/Pictish Christians (for whom the MacGregors were hereditary abbots) was observing a Satruday Sabbath, not Sunday. Also, Scotland (like Wales) was engaged in trade with the Mediterranean area as early as 3000 BCE (Phoenicians and Minoans), and with the Arab world very early (through Viking trade routes). So, for my curiosity, if the Stuarts trace their Jewish heritage through their Scots line, their information could support my idea of very early Israelite/Canaanite contact.

Also, in regard to your Nov 22 postings, the FAQ at Dr Panther-Yates connected website contains the possible Jewish/Melungeon names Grierson and McKee (alisaes for MacGregors during the nearly 200 years when the name was proscribed on pain of death) and Galphin. Galphin one of the variants for MacAlpin, the Scots/Pictish kingly/priestly line.

Like I said, complex! I hope this isn't too confusing. But all I'm really asking for is further information on the Stuart/Jewish connection. Thanks!

Donalyn:
I would like to know more, I saw a page a while back about the milungeons but don't know very much about them.
On my maternal side, I met my Great Grandfather Aubrey Alexander Lawson, he died in 1974 in Costa Rica at 93 years old, I also have pictures of him when he was younger, his parents were Alexander Lawson and Margaret Stone, who had moved to Savanah La Mar, Jamaica.
Where do you live? I would like to talk more about this subject maybe through fax or phone or direct email.
Sincerely,
Lic.Gregory Kearney Lawson.
Tel/Fax: (506)221-9462
gkearney_lawson@hotmail.com

Hi!

I'm pretty interested in all of this too but I must warn you that I am merely a messenger of reseach in progress here. Although I can't answer your questions directly, what I can do is gather up some information that may help guide you in your own research.

Don Panther-Yates and Elizabeth Hirschman have been great about providing some details about their research in progress and I know that they are writing a book together. Below is a letter directed by Don to Sephardim.Com and me that he's given permission to me to post. It may help you understand a bit more about how they are approaching their research. I'll get back to you in a couple of days with more info on the Panther-Yates/Hirschman theories of *some* clans and DNA testing that's been performed.

For immediate purposes, it is the French Jewish Stuart line dating to 1100 AD that is being referenced here *but* also definitely check the Sephardim.Com archives where others were also posting about the Stuarts and the Dalriadic connection. Just go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SephardicForum/Forum and then use the keyword "Stuart" to read the discussions in archives. Make sure to check out message #5116 for more discussion about the French roots, as well as the matriarchal history of the Stewart/Stuart women and Dalriadic Royalty into the BC years.

I'm guessing you've already been following the MacGregor DNA testing. I'm fascinated by the possible Pict connection and their "Saturday" religious services and would think you have good reason to continue research of your theories. It sounds like it might be much tougher to prove this by YDNA testing but I'm wondering if mtDNA testing might show some clues. Interesting, though perhaps off the subject, I read that the dark Irish were DNA tested and genetically matched the area of northern Spain but early on, not just at Spanish Armada time. I wish I could find that article online again.

Anyway, it's interesting to hear your theories and I look forward to more sharing.

Cheers,
Donalyn



From: Donald Panther-Yates <dpanther@gasou.edu>
To: Sephardic Forum <sephardicforum@yahoogroups.com>, Donalyn Snelling <barnirosnelling@hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: Stuart

Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 14:56:06 -0400

Hi, Your message about the Stuarts raises many interesting questions. This is Don Panther-Yates, Beth Hirschman's research partner. It was I who established that the Stuart haplotype was "Mediterranean," with about a third of
its bearers found in "Iberian" places. Matches were even found in Egypt, Turkey and the Phillipines, all places Sephardic Jews settled. The database used was the International Forensic Y-STR User Group in Berlin. Stuart/Stewart also matched my own DNA (Yates) as well as Houston and Boone, two famous American
pioneers, and about a dozen "Melungeon" surnames tested by Beth Hirschman.

In some populations, for instance Northern Portugal and Barcelona, the Stuart/Yates/Caldwell haplotype was reported by as much as a fifth of the entire sample. This means that a fifth of the people in those areas have a common male ancestor who lived about fourteen to twenty generations ago,i.e. about the
time of the Expulsion, 1492, an important genetic bottleneck.
Obviously, the ones who stayed in the Iberian peninsula converted; a few kept the faith as crypto-Jews (although not accepted as brothers by most Jews today). But even in such populations as London, Paris and Baltimore, the Stuart/Stewart/Yates/Caldwell gene forms a significant part of the
population. The conclusion is inescapable that the founder figure, whoever he was (some say it was Soloman ha-Levi) had a disproportionate number of descendants throughout
history. The one-step mutations were similarly "blessed" with
prolific offspring. At least this one outside male line seems to have had enough riches through many generations to support numerous children and grandchildren. Rather than "survival of the fittest" I would like to regard this as an example of the fulfillment of God's promise to those who kept his mitzvot (or at least the belief in such).

The Stuarts, Coopers and others had a conscious Levite tradition that many of them lived up to, apparently maintaining Jewish beliefs and practices in secret or else "sublimating" their heritage into something like "nobless oblige." Because they were Levim the became active in the Templars and Freemason movements centered around the Third Temple, a temple of the Diaspora. I do know that the founders of Bevis Marks in London returned to Judaism some of them after a lapse of ten generations (1701 minus 250 years equals 1451). Some of the Melungeons returned to normative Judaism after an even longer lapse.

The Normans brought favorite Jewish princes with them into England, expelled the Jews in 1290 and officially did not allow Jews back until Cromwell about 1650. Many of the Norman barons who were Jewish just moved across the borders into Scotland, Wales or Ireland. a whole history of an underground survival of Judaism remains to be told, one that will rival the numerous volumes on the Jews of Spain and Portugal. It was strongest in the ruling families.

Donald Panther-Yates

Hello
I'm borrowing a friends e mail for today , I was checking some old postings and would like to continue to keep in contact.
I am still researching about my ancestors.
My contact information is
http://attorneykearney.com
costarica@attorneykearney.com
attorneykearney@yahoo.com
cell (506)841-0007
ph/fax(506)221-9462

Hello
Thanks for posting a reply.
I had not checked this site in a long time.
I am still reearching my relatives and ancestors, I am quite sure that we have a jewish line but have not proven the lines of Abraham and the Amon surname.
I have heard of the Mylungeons in the south of USA.
My main contact info :
attorneykearney@yahoo.com
costarica@attorneyekarney.com
http://attorneykearney.com
http://genealogycr.blogspot.com

Lic.Gregory Kearney Lawson

Dear Mr Lawson:

Certainly Abraham in the context of Spanish and Ladino languages was used by old Sephardim. Indeed meant "Señor de" or "Master Of" to indicate the quality of prince in Hebrew when was used as first name. Then, some Sephardic people took it as a surname when they came to America in the first Jewish wave by 1500 after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492. Then it turns to Abrahams in the Ashkenazim two centuries ago.

There's still controversy about this issue because not enough evidence has been presented to support that Jewish Sephardic settlements where here on the SE of USA and NE of Mexico.

By 1920 I have the record of a family Abraham, settled in Torreon Coahuila Mexico, they came from Palestine. In that time the state of Israel was officially inexistent, thus Jews were registered as Syrian, Palestinian or Lebanese, sometimes simple as Arabs. The head of this family was Salvador (perhaps a translation from Hebrew to Spanish). There's no register of his second surname. There's also registered a lady named Lyle W. Amon by the same time, but hers nationality is American. Thus perhaps a man Abraham married a lady Amon in the beginning of the 18th century in some place between USA and Mexico and these families are the origin from your gggrandmother Margarita Abraham Amon.

Finally, with the information given by yourself it's very difficult to assure if they where Sephardic Jews or well assimilated Christians, Catholics or Conversos.

In brief to establish a Sephardic ancestry you must:
1. Have Jewish traditions, being religious Jew or not.
2. Trial papers indicating your family came from a Sephardic defined line.
3. DNA tests help, but the are not definitive to indicate an ethnic ancestry.

Hope this letter will help you clarify your questions,

Yours truly

Jesse