Jacob Rodriguez Rivera, a member of a converso family from Seville, Spain arrived in Newport in 1748, after some time spent in Curacao where he had married Hannah Pimental Sasportas. Naturalized, like his father, Abraham, in New York, Rivera was able to participate in the Atlantic shipping and bustling trade coming through Newport, unfettered by Rhode Island’s restrictions on Jews.

Rivera was to become the second wealthiest and most powerful man in Newport’s Jewish community, surpassed only by his cousin Aaron Lopez, who became his son-in-law as well after marrying Rivera’s daughter Sarah.

Rivera was responsible for the introduction of spermaceti candle making in the area and founded the United Company of Spermaceti Candlers, created to control cost and distribution.

A leader of Newport’s Jewish community, Rivera, acting in trust for Congregation Jeshuat Israel, acquired the land for the synagogue. He would also donate, in conjunction with Lopez, ten thousand feet of lumber for construction at Rhode Island College, now Brown University.