This Ambrotype of a long-lost miniature, portrays David Lopez. Born in Newport in 1750, he was the eldest of seven children born to Rebecca Rodriguez Rivera and Moses Lopez. His father, a Portuguese-born converso, was convicted of Judaizing and fled Portugal around 1725, arriving in Newport by way of London. His mother’s family, likewise, had fled the Inquisition.

Lopez married twice, the first tome to his cousin Rachel Lopez, daughter of Abigail and Aaron Lopez. It’s not known exactly when they were married or if they had any children, but Rachel died at age thirty-one, in 1789, and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Newport. Following the death of his wife, and amid the collapse of the economy of Newport, Lopez move to Charleston, where in 1793 he married his second wife, Priscilla Moses, daughter of Rachel Andrews and Myer Moses. They had at least twelve children, including David Lopez, Jr., an architect who build the Greek revival style synagogue for congregation Beth Elohim, and Sally Lopez, founder of the second Jewish Sunday school in the United States.