The Anti-Semitic Politics of Medieval Trade Guilds

The barring of Jews from guilds (established by shopkeepers to protect against competition) made it impossible for Jews to have storefronts. This exclusion prolonged the history of the traveling Jewish trader who peddled goods door to door from a knapsack or wagon. “Protected” Jews though, made enough of an income to set up homes and continue their livelihoods as clerks for the municipalities. You will see the same pattern when Jews came to America. If the stories of your ancestor are that he sold goods out of a wagon, it could be that the family had survived through the decades and perhaps centuries, dependent upon that livelihood.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing Ancient Jewish Ancestry, Secret Genealogy II – Uncovering the Jewish Roots of Our Christian Ancestors and Secret Genealogy III – From Jewish Anglo-Saxon Tribes to New France Acadians. Available here:

Secret Genealogy: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-Volume-Suellen-Ocean/dp/0965114082

Secret Genealogy II: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-II-Christian-Ancestors/dp/1484053222

Secret Genealogy III: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-III-Jewish-Anglo-Saxon-Acadians/dp/148407579X

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

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eBooks at Barnes & Noble:

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Genealogy: Descendant of a Servant or Slave? Many of Us Are

Because Spanish and Portuguese “New Christians” or “Conversos” became involved in slave trading and massive agricultural businesses that found their way onto American shores, someone with Southern ancestry might follow history back far enough to find Jewish ancestry. Remember, not all but many of these “Conversos” or “New Christians” were still proud and fond of their Judaism and when caught were executed for practicing it. They built big empires and amassed great wealth with their plantations along Africa’s coastline and into the interior. They colonized the coast of Brazil and the West Indies and the Caribbean Sea. Barbados and Jamaica were used as stopover ports where cargos of humans were revitalized before going to the early colonies along the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Again, some of these “New Christians” and/or “Conversos” of Jewish ancestry intermarried with Native American captives, African American captives and Scottish, Irish, Italian, German Indentured Servants. Before the middle 1700s there were well over thirty-thousand African Americans in South Carolina. South Carolina began cultivating rice and the planters needed experienced agriculturalists and the enslaved Africans provided that. In the north, Rhode Island depended on Jamaica and Barbados for molasses to make rum. There was an amazing growth of agricultural endeavors closer to the equator that eventually spread to the warmer southern areas that we now know of as Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, etc., which brought the practice of multi-ethnic sexual relations, both consensual and non-consensual.

 

Suellen Ocean is the author of the historical series, The Lion’s Trace Available here:

The Lies of the Lion (Book 1)

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lion-Lions-Trace/dp/0965114074

The Guild (Book 2)

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Hesters-Goodwill-Lions-Trace/dp/1484916697

The Last Quadroon (Book 3)

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Quadroon-Lions-Trace-Volume/dp/149283999X

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Genealogy: Before the Son There Was the Father

As genealogists our task is to reach into the past. We find the father then we want the father’s father but eventually we reach silence. Who were these people? One way to decipher who your ancestors were is by analyzing their names. The surnames (and first names) of ancestors will not unequivocally tell us what religion they were but those who have ancestors with names resembling “Jacob” or “Lion” might want to change their line of thinking. Don’t assume your ancestors have always been Christian. Try looking at it from a different standpoint. Maybe they were Jewish and they abandoned an odd name along the way but kept resemblances of it. In the Torah (Bible), “Jacob” is referred to as “Israel.” One of his sons was Judah from whence came the name “Jew.” Judah is synonymous with “lion.” In the ancient past, a Jewish man could sign documents as either “Judah” or “Lion.” Eventually Lion became a surname.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing Ancient Jewish Ancestry, Secret Genealogy II – Uncovering the Jewish Roots of Our Christian Ancestors and Secret Genealogy III – From Jewish Anglo-Saxon Tribes to New France Acadians. Available here:

Secret Genealogy: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-Volume-Suellen-Ocean/dp/0965114082

Secret Genealogy II: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-II-Christian-Ancestors/dp/1484053222

Secret Genealogy III: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-III-Jewish-Anglo-Saxon-Acadians/dp/148407579X

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

eBooks at Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Secret-Genealogy-by-Suellen-Ocean

   

 

Genealogy: Sorting Through Biblical Names, Were They Christians or Jews?

Historians and genealogists will tell you that parents gave their children Biblical names because that was the fashion during the 1700 and 1800s. I always accepted that but today I am not so sure. I think we should reopen our family albums and look deeper into the meanings in our family trees and coats of arms. Names like Rachael, Levi, Sarah, Jacob, Benjamin, Hester and Ezekiah may have been the last opportunity American Hebrew parents had to lay claim to a heritage that stems back thousands of years and has the bedtime stories to accompany it. Yes, my family is Christian as yours may be. But before that, they may have been Jewish.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing
Ancient Jewish Ancestry, Secret Genealogy II – Uncovering the Jewish Roots
of Our Christian Ancestors and Secret Genealogy III - From Jewish
Anglo-Saxon Tribes to New France Acadians. Available here:

Paperback:

Secret Genealogy:  https://www.createspace.com/4234160

Secret Genealogy II:  https://www.createspace.com/4235650

Secret Genealogy III:  https://www.createspace.com/4239009

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

eBooks at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Suellen+Ocean&x=3&y=12

eBooks at Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Secret-Genealogy-by-Suellen-Ocean?store=ebook&keyword=Secret+Genealogy+by+Suellen+Ocean

 

Unraveling African-American Genealogy

“Bantu” means “the people” and is used to define numerous African tribes with a variety of dialects. My old encyclopedia states that most of the black people “living in equatorial and southern Africa (except the Pigmies) belong to the great Bantu family. It is believed that originally the Bantus lived in Eastern Africa and at some later period pushed their way south and west.” Taking a look at my globe I see that the Bantu people could have come from the Holy Land thus making them Bani-Israel, Children of Israel. And if there is a connection that could mean that the thousands of people who have similar names (Beni, Bantu, Bantam, Banten, Banta, Bonte, Bani, Bandi, Bonde…) might be part of this huge group. According to the same Grolier Encyclopedia, the languages of black Africans fall into five major groups: Bushman, Bantu, Sudanic, Hamitic and Semitic. The Bantu group has 400 languages.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy – A How-to for Tracing Ancient Jewish Ancestry. Available here:

Paperback: Secret Genealogy: https://www.createspace.com/4234160

Secret Genealogy II: https://www.createspace.com/4235650

Secret Genealogy III: https://www.createspace.com/4239009 eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

eBooks at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Suellen+Ocean&x=3&y=12

eBooks at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Secret-Genealogy-by-Suellen-Ocean?store=ebook&keyword=Secret+Genealogy+by+Suellen+Ocean

Do Your Dead Ancestors Beckon You? Take the Leap…

If you can’t take a few leaps, you are not ready to begin the quest. At first your clues seem outrageous. “No, it can’t be. No, no, no,” you say to yourself while shaking your head. You confide in friends and family and they think you’re a little out there. The lure to find out who your ancestors were is magnetic. It is as if the ancestors beckon you from the “other world”.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy a how-to for tracing ancient Jewish ancestry and Secret Genealogy II, Uncovering the Jewish Roots of Our Christian Ancestors, both available at Amazon, B&N and Ocean-Hose.

http://www.oceanhose.com

Ancient Indonesian Islamic Ancestors

If your Dutch, Portuguese or English ancestor took a native of Banten (today’s Indonesia) as a spouse and that native was of the former Islamic Banten Kingdom, it means you have an ancient Indonesian Islamic ancestor. What genealogist wouldn’t love that information? We can spend years uncovering ancient “bloodlines” but if it becomes a source of seeking for superiority, I believe one is on the wrong track. This author does not see any ethnic group or groups as superior of others. The history of the Christians, Egyptians, Jews, Muslims, Phoenicians, Hittites and others belong to us all. It makes one less xenophobic to know other cultures and to have a direct link to them through our own ancient ancestry.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy a how-to for tracing ancient Jewish ancestry and Secret Genealogy II, Uncovering the Jewish Roots of Our Christian Ancestors, both available at Amazon, B&N and Ocean-Hose.

http://www.oceanhose.com