CaribSeek Books | Jacob Abraham Jesurun | Roots of our Future by Linda M. Rupert

Jacob Abraham Jesurun[31]

Abraham Jesurun DZ (CCCI)

The first Jesurun arrived on the island in 1659, making the family one of oldest on Curaçao. By the second half of the nineteenth century, they were well established as plantation owners and merchants; "with a fleet of more than a hundred vessels, they were probably the richest family of Curaçao."33 The family's nineteenth century patriarch, Jacob Abraham (known as Shon Cochi), was considered to be the wealthiest man on Curaçao in the 1860s. Shon Cochi founded J.A. Jesurun & Sons, which became a major agent for international steamship lines in the late 1800s and owned a coal bunkering station. To back up his impressive fleet, he bought up all the wharves of Scharloo, and also

several in Otrobanda, to repair and build ships. Like many local merchants of the times, Jesurun did not hesitate to step in to provide whatever services the government was unable to furnish that were necessary for the smooth running of local business. In 1874 Jesurun and Sons printed their own stamps for mail they transported to Europe and also a five guilder cents coin, bearing the initials of the firm, to solve a cash liquidity problem.

So great was their wealth that the Jesuruns became known in the region as the Rotchilds of the Caribbean. Several times beginning in 1848 the family bailed out the Venezuelan government, advancing major sums in exchange for the guarantee of customs receipts from several Venezuelan ports and government bonds. In 1862 the Jesuruns lent the government of General Juan Falcón 5,000 pesos a day for eight months, receiving in exchange a high percentage of all customs duties at several key Venezuelan ports (52% at La Guaira, and a full 100% at Maracaibo and Ciudad Bolívar).

The Venezuelan authorities hoped this economic stake in tariffs would set the Curaçaoan merchants firmly against the contraband trade. Unfortunately, the Venezuelan government did not always honor the terms of its loans; when the government ended up several million pesos in arrears to the Jesuruns this created diplomatic tensions, requiring the tactful intervention of the Dutch government. One more than one occasion the Governor of Curaçao had to send warships to Venezuela to free one of Jesurun's many schooners; at least one was detained because it carried correspondence from Venezuelan anti-government sympathizers temporarily living on Curaçao, and Shon Cochi's son, Abraham, was arrested in Caracas. The swift arrival of a Dutch warship secured the immediate release of the ship, and, presumably, also the owner.

Like other powerful local merchants of the times, Jesurun did not hesitate to step in to provide whatever services the government was unable to furnish that were necessary for the smooth running of local business. In 1874 Jesurun and Sons printed their own stamps for mail they transported to Europe and also a five guilder cents coin, bearing the inicials of the firm, to solve a cash liquidity problem.

As a member of the established Jewish merchant elite, Shon Cochi vigorously opposed the destruction of the old town walls of Willemstad, which protected his family's shipping and trade monopoly. When the conflict with the emerging new merchants spilled over into the synagogue, Shon Cochi was one of the defectors, laying the cornerstone of the new Temple Emanu-el in 1865.

At abolition the Jesurun family owned a total of 366 slaves, more than anyone else on the island. Jacob himself owned a large contingency which he reputedly treated quite badly, giving origin to a popular local maxim, "God is greater than Shon Cochi," said to have been coined by Catholic priests who comforted the mistreated captives. After his death, his ghost was rumored to be damned to drag heavy chains along a dark country road in eternal payment for his brutality, a vivid legend that is still told today with relish by the oldest Afro-Curaçaoans.

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Curaçao Chamber of Commerce & Industry