Elias Legarde

Elias Legarde (a/k/a Legardo) b. abt 1593 in Languedoc, France, d. abt 1670 in Elizabeth City, Virginia, was a Sephardic Jew who arrived at James City, Virginia, on HMS Abigail in 1621.[1] Legarde arrived in the muster, the equivalent of an indentured servant, of Anthonie Bonall.

According to Leon Huhner, Elias was from Languedoc, France, and was hired to go to the colony to teach people how to grow grapes for wine.[2]

Elias Legarde was living in Buckroe in Elizabeth City, Virginia, in February 1624. Elias was employed by Anthonie Bonall, age 46, who arrived on the same ship as Elias. Anthonie Bonall was a French silk maker and vigneron (someone who cultivates vineyards for winemaking), one of the men from Languedoc sent to the colony by John Bonall, keeper of the silkworms of King James I.[3]

In 1628 Elias leased 100 acres on the west side of Harris Creek in Elizabeth City.[4]

See also

• Colonial history of the United States
• History of the Jews in the United States
• History of the Jews in Colonial America

Notes and references

1. "The Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and Others who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700: With Their Ages, the Localities where They Lived", by John Camden Hotten, Great Britain Public Record Office, Publisher Chatto and Windus, 1874, page 261
2. "The Jews of Virginia from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Eighteenth Century", by Leon Huhner, Publisher: American Jewish Historical Society (1911), ASIN: B000JKAT2A.
3. "Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary", by Martha W. McCartney, Genealogical Publishing Com, 2007, page 144, ISBN 0806317744, 9780806317748
4. "Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary", by Martha W. McCartney, Genealogical Publishing Com, 2007, page 460-461, ISBN 0806317744, 9780806317748