De Lucena

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DE LUCENA

DE LUCENA , family of freemen in colonial America. abraham haim de lucena (d. 1725), New York merchant and cleric, was made a freeman of New York in 1708 and carried on a substantial business in general merchandise. In 1710 he unsuccessfully petitioned for the right to export wheat. De Lucena succeeded Saul *Brown as rabbi of the New York Jewish community, requesting Governor Robert Hunter in 1710 to exempt him from civic duties because he was a minister. The following year he donated money for the building of the Trinity Church steeple. His son samuel (1711–?) was made freeman of New York in 1759. By 1782 he had a brokerage business in Philadelphia and was a contributor to the building of Congregation Mikveh Israel.

bibliography:

J.R. Rosenbloom, A Biographical Dictionary of Early American Jews (1960), 101.

[Leo Hershkowitz]

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