Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/672

 Though woman's activity in communal affairs has been great and potent, its record is one of work so modestly performed that while fully appreciated, there are but few records to be procured on so important a topic. While men have sacrificed property and even life itself for the faith of their fathers, yet some of the most dramatic cases of self sacrifice and devotion on American soil were cases of Jewish women during the colonization of South America, Mexico and this country and during the wars for our independence and the abolition of slavery. To this day the Spanish and Portuguese congregation of New York shows its gratitude to the women who gave substantial aid in effecting the building of the first synagogue erected in that city in 1730. In this manner their names have been preserved and all honor is due to Abigail Franks, Simha de Torres, Rachel Louiza, Judith Pacheco, Hannah Michaels and Miriam Lopez de Fonseca. Jewish immigrants continued to come from Spain and Portugal as late as 1767 and in Georgia they were among the earliest settlers of that colony in 1733. Another distinct group were the early German Jews in America, and to this group belongs the Shetfall family. In 1740 the British government passed an act for the naturalization of foreigners in the American colony and it is remarkable that a large number of Jewish women availed themselves of this act. In Jamaica no less than forty names appear, several of them doubtless related to many of our old American families. Among these Esther Pereira Mendes, Leah Cardoza, Esther Pinto Brandon and similar names. In colonial society prior to the Revolution, several Jewish women