I recently purchased an Ancestry.com subscription and it came with an additional perk, a simultaneous subscription to Newspapers.com. Since I wanted to know more about the de la Penha claim to Labrador, which I’ve written about here before, I started searching for Joseph de la Penha and the following are some of the clips that came up, in order of discovery. My notes will be below each one. (Spoiler alert: Guess what document is in the USA?)
1935
Um… Sorry. Did someone say $10,000,000? Wow. Although, I am fairly certain Joseph de la Penha was not a rabbi, so some of these Central Press facts are suspect.
1926
Yep. This excerpt is pretty clear about to whom the land is being deeded. And that, folks, is why you shouldn’t lend people money. But if the story of how Joseph de la Penha loaned William of Orange the money to claim the throne in the first place is true, could you image how world history might have played out if de la Penha hadn’t done so?
1972
You guys. You guys! The document still exists (in Photostat form). It’s in the American Jewish Archives in Cininnati, Ohio. Here’s the listing: William III grant, 1697.
Does anyone have any contacts in Ohio?
1950
No real notes on this clip, but I will say the facts in it jive with most accounts.
1978
Money isn’t everything, but that last sentence does make you a little sad for Isaac de la Penha. I’ll quote the bit I mean here: “…otherwise he would be one of the most wealthy men in the world today.” The world.
Just let that sink in a moment.
1929
With the acknowledgement that this article was published two months before the Great Depression started, Labrador was at the time valued at $80 million. Later, it was considered to priceless. That richest man in the world comment in the 70s is making more sense now.
1926
OK, OK, this is the earlier report I’ve found. It’s interesting to learn Isaac de la Penha had three sisters living in New York. So while some later new coverage did mention the many descendants who died in the Holocaust, they wouldn’t have been among them.
Also, the mention of Quebec and Newfoundland fighting over Labrador at the same time is interesting.