Document dated November 17, 1756, used for shipping of merchandise and signed by Aaron Lopez (1731-1782).

Aaron Lopez

Aaron Lopez (1731-1782) of Newport was was a classic merchant-shipper. This New Christian -- and secret Jew -- fled from Portugal and settled in Newport where he reasserted his Jewishness. He began as a modest shopkeeper and coaster and, after a decade, emerged as a large-scale merchant who at one time owned or chartered about thirty vessels. His ships sailed to Europe and the Caribbean. The Newport men and women he subsidized under the put-out system manufactured shoes, garments, prefabricated houses, cheese, rum potash, and soap. He was a whaler, a slave importer, and a member of the United Company of Spermaceti Candlers, a candle-manufacturing cartel.