Abraham Furtado

Abraham Furtado (1756-1817) was born to a French Jewish family of Portuguese Marrano descent. He was born in London after his family emigrated there after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Soon after, they moved to a small town in southwestern France, Saint-Esprit. After a short time, the family moved to Bordeaux, where Furtado was raised and educated. Throughout school he studied history, philosophy, and politics which spearheaded his involvement with politics as a young adult. Furtado was an active Jewish Girondist, a member of the Bordeaux Jewish Delegation, and a member of the Bordeaux Popular Commission. He was elected president of the Assembly of Notables and later served as secretary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Sanhedrin; a Jewish high court convened in Paris.