Elias Legardo, who is believed to have…
1621 CE
Elias Legardo, who is believed to have been a Sephardic Jew, arrives in 1621 on the Abigail to become, at thirty-eight, the first recorded Jew in America.
Small groups of foreigners have arrived from the beginning of the Virginia Colony, including eight 'Dutchmen' and Poles, sent over in 1608 to make 'soap-ashes' and glass; a few Frenchmen in 1620 to help found a silk industry; and from time to time a sprinkling of Swedish, Polish, German, and other artisans.