Background
Jacob Lumbrozo was born about 1636 in Lisbon, Portugal, of Portuguese-Jewish ancestry. His family removed from Portugal to Holland during his lifetime and he had a sister in the latter country with whom he corresponded.
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Jacob Lumbrozo
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Lumbrozo emigrated from Holland to Maryland in 1656 and at once began the practice of medicine. The court records for 1657 and 1658 show that he obtained judgments for the payment of debts owed to him. In 1658 he had trouble with his fellow colonists on account of his religious views. Charged with blasphemy, he declared that he had only answered from the point of view of a Jew the questions put to him, and had said nothing scoffingly. He was ordered held for the next court. The penalty if he were convicted was death and the confiscation of goods; but he was released under a general amnesty, proclaimed by Lieutenant-Governor Josias Fendall in honor of the proclamation of Richard Cromwell as Protector. He was not subjected to any further annoyance, because he was recognized as an asset to the colony and probably because the fanatical element among the colonists lost the ascendancy.
For the next five years little is known of him. During 1663 he served as a juror and on September 10 of that year letters of denization were issued to him along with certain privileges which allowed him to take up land and become a planter. He had for some time been engaged in commerce as well as agriculture, is known to have traded extensively with London merchants, and in 1665 was commissioned to trade with the Indians. After 1663 he signed his name John. He was living as late as September 24, 1665, but died before May 31, 1666.
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About 1663 Lumbrozo married a woman, Elizabeth by name, who had come to the colony in 1662, and who is believed to have been a Christian. A son, John Lumbrozo, was born after Jacob's death. The widow soon remarried and the son may have taken the name of his step-father, for the name Lumbrozo disappears abruptly and permanently from the records of the colony.
