MENDES Origin of surname

Diogo Mendes (1492-1542), banker, born in Spain. He established - with his brother - a business in spices and precious stones. A crypto-Jew, he settled in Antwerp, Low Countries, and on his brother's death in 1536 was joined in the business by his sister-in-law, Beatrice da Luna (Gracia Mendes). Their great bank enjoyed a monopoly in pepper. Their vast wealth and culture obtained them admittance to the highest circles. Mendes was a magnate in the spice trade and made large loans to the governments of the Low Countries, Portugal, and England. He organized an escape route for crypto-Jews from the Iberian peninsula to Italy and Turkey. He was arrested in 1532 on charges of Judaizing but the case was allowed to lapse on payment of a heavy fine (partly due to the intervention of England's Henry VIII who used the Mendes bank). After his death in Antwerp a similar charge was the pretext for the confiscation of his property.

Henry Pereira Mendes (1852-1937), rabbi and composer, born in Birmingham, England, into a family of distinguished Sephardi rabbis, including his father, Abraham Pereira Mendes, and his maternal grandfather, David Aaron de Sola. At the age of twelve he began his studies at Northwick College in London, a religious school founded and directed by his father. From 1870 through 1872, while still a student at Northwick, he also attended University College, London.
In 1873 Mendes became the minister of the newly formed Sephardi congregation in Manchester. In 1877 he was called to serve Congregation Shearith Israel in New York, where he remained for the rest of his life. He received a medical degree from New York University in 1884, an honorary degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1902, and another one from the Jewish Institute of Religion in 1937.
Rabbi Mendes was involved in local and national politics, arguing for more liberal immigration laws. He was instrumental in organizing many communal projects in New York, including Montefiore Hospital, the Institute for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, the New York Guild for the Jewish Blind, and the New York Kehillah. He was among the founders of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Board of Delegates of American Israelites. In addition, Mendes worked closely with other Sephardi congregations in the United States, helping bring some into existence and revitalizing others.
One of the first American Zionists, Mendes was among the founders of the Zionist Organization of America and served as vice-president of the Federation of American Zionists. His interest focused on the promotion of the religious ideals of Zionism.
Rabbi Mendes was also a writer, producing religious books for children and adults, prayer books, poetry, and plays. He died in New York City on October 21, 1937.

David Franco-Mendes (1713-1792), poet, born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, into a Portuguese family. He mastered seven languages including Hebrew. In 1769 Franco-Mendes became member of a Jewish literary society and corresponded extensively with Jewish literary personalities. In 1778 his business failed and he was compelled to earn his living copying manuscripts. He was a frequent contributor to Ha-Me’assef publication.
Franco-Mendes was a prolific writer. He wrote dramas, most of them in poetic form (among them Gemul Atalyah, 1770), biographies of noted Sephardi Jews, and poems. Some of the poems were published in Ha-Me’assef but most of them are still in manuscript. He died in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.