Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Folder
Title
Conveyance Samuel Harris to John Ward, Nevis
Date(s)
- February 1, 1761 (Creation)
Extent
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
"Containing a rare mid-eighteenth century reference to a synagogue on the Caribbean island of Nevis, this document of 1 February 1761 records the leasing by Samuel Harris Esq. (d.1773?) to John Ward Esq., both 'of the island of Saint Christopher,' of a piece of land, 'by estimation fifteen acres...bounded to the East with lands belonging to Ralph Willett Esquire...To the West with the Common Path...To the North with lands belonging to the said John Ward...To the South with...the common path leading from the Jew's Synagogue...” A Sephardic Jewish community on the island of Nevis is recorded from at least the 1670s to the close of the 1760s. The reference in this document must be to the synagogue at Charlestown (parish of Saint Paul), the capital of the island of Nevis, which is thought to have been built in the 1680s. Born on Nevis, Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) attended the Jewish school attached to this synagogue in the 1760s." --Description from Samuel Gedge, bookseller