Suasso

Spanish family, with branches in Holland and England. The following are the more important members (in chronological order):

Antonio (Isaac) Lopez Suasso:

Resident of The Hague. For services rendered to King Charles II. of Spain, that monarch in 1676 created Suasso a baron, his estate of Avernas de Gras in Brabant, now called "Cras Avernas," being made a barony. He was one of the most ardent supporters of the house of Orange; and when William III. undertook his expedition to England in 1688, Suasso advanced him 2,000,000 gulden without interest and did not even ask for a receipt, merely saying: "If you are successful you may repay me; if you are not successful, I will be the loser." Frederick II. of Prussia commemorates this instance of self-sacrifice as the act "of a Jew named Schwartzau" ("Œuvres Historiques," i. 152).

Bibliography:

  * Koenen, Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland, pp. 208 et seq.



Abraham Lopez Suasso:

Son of Antonio (Isaac) Lopez Suasso; married a daughter of Manuel de Teixeira, chargé d'affaires at Hamburg for Queen Christina of Sweden (1632-54).

Antonio (Isaac) Lopez Suasso:

Son of Abraham Lopez Suasso; married in 1714 a daughter of Moses Mendes da Costa, governor of the Bank of England.

Francisco Lopez Suasso:

Dedicatee of an epithalamium entitled "Certamen de las Musas" by the poet Immanuel de Leon of The Hague.

Bibliography:

  * Gaster. Hist. of Bevis Marks, p. 98;
  * Kayserling. Sephardim, p. 316.



Alvarez Lopez Suasso:

Resident of London; one of the wealthiest men of his time. In 1725 he was a member of the board of directors of the Spanish-Portuguese community of London; and seven years later he received permission from the English government to send settlers to the colony of Georgia.

Bibliography:

  * Gaster, Hist. of Bevis Marks, p. 128;
  * Publ. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. ix. 109; x. 67, 69.



Antonio Lopez Suasso:

Great-grandson of the baron De Avernas; born in Amsterdam April 1, 1776; died at Mechlin Oct. 12, 1857. In conformity with the will of his maternal grandmother, he assumed his mother's name, Diaz de Fonseca, and renounced Judaism. He entered the English army as an officer, and resigned with the rank of captain in 1829. After residing for two years at Brussels, he settled at The Hague, where he devoted himself to literature, studying mainly political and military subjects. His chief work was "La Politique Dégagée des Illusions Libérales" (2 vols., 1838), in recognition of which the King of Hanover sent him a diamond ring. His last work was "La Haye par un Habitant" (2 vols., 1853).

Bibliography:

  * Unsere Zeit, Jahrbuch, iv. 77, Leipsic, 1860.



J. M. K.