Nunes Vaz: A Sephardic Jewish Family in Amsterdam, Livorno, Jamaica, and Suriname (VLOG #39)

In this video I discuss the Nunes Vaz family, a Sephardic Jewish family which is found all around the World. There are 4 main sections of the family; the Dutch branch, the Italian branches, the Jamaican branches, and the Suriname branch. The Dutch family descends from Jacob Nunes Vaz who is the son of Abraham Nunes Vaz and was born in Livorno. The Italian branches are split into two main branches; the David Nunes Vais branch and the Dr. Abram Nunes Vais branch. The Jamaican branch is also split into two main branches; the Jacob Nunes Vaz branch and the Phineas Nunes Vaz branch. The Suriname family descends from an Ishak Nunes Vaz. While we don't know how these families are connected, if it all, it is hypothesized that they all share the same patrilineal ancestry so would we also expect them to share the same Y-DNA signatures.

In my own Dutch Nunes Vaz family I have confirmed the majority of the family tree with over 50 cousins who are autosomal DNA matches across all the DNA databases. Unfortunately, the distance between living members of the Dutch branch with the other branches are likely too far of a relation for autosomal DNA test results to show up at any significant amounts. Luckily for me I had spent years seeking out family members from not only my branch but all the other branches as well, so I had already found eligible candidates to do a Y-DNA test which would tell us with high certainty if there was a patrilineal connection between the families. So far we have tested two branches of the Jamaican family as well as two members of the Dutch family with all having the same Y-DNA signature, confirming our hypothesis for these 3 separate branches of the family tree.

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Nunes Vaz - A Sephardic Jewish Family in Amsterdam, Livorno, Jamaica, and Suriname (VLOG #39)

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[auracelestetoro]

Very interesting video. I’m descendant from Phineas Nunes Vaz, being my second grand father . My family and I just got the Spanish nationality thanks to our Jewish ancestors.
We have a WA group of the whole family in Venezuela and found there are many of us. Great job👍, thanks you very much for this testimony

[shoshanakent]

Thank you, cousin Jarrett, for a wonderful video! I hope one day the connection is made between the Nunes Vaz families.

[naturallyflower.s]

Hey cuz, it appears that we are distantly related... my Grandma on my dad's side is daughter of , Abner Mendez Vaz and my Gr Gr Grandfather is Abraham Nunes Vaz!

[takentoinfinity]

My mother and her 4 siblings are Nunes (though not Vaz), we are Jamaican but my great grandfather is Portuguese. He was born in Jamaica as well.

I would love to find out more about their ancestry, and if that shows up in mine as I have physically inherited mostly African genetics from my father 😌

[YRSLM]

omg I am from Suriname and I know Nunes Vaz here in Suriname and in the Netherlands (Rotterdam)

[LiveforGodalways]

I am on the Jamaica 🇯🇲 Henriques Rodriques side the Nunes are my cousins and I think the Vaz as well. Thanks for sharing this is beautiful l.

[maegardnermills]

Man, you are special! I am into genealogy and recently found Portuguese Jews connected to Amsterdam Netherlands.
I know my partenal great-great grandpa came from Portugal. No Jews are far as I know but in his mother's maternal line there is DAVID family . It is from Normandy France to England to Virgina and others states. Jewish Genealogists have written that that the DAVID Family is a direct line to King David.
My DNA hasn't picked up Jew. I don't think there is a Jew gene, actually. Jew Geneology said it can be very old and not found on my DNA.
Man this is amazing.
Nothing happens by accident. I will keep searching. I do remember seeing the Nunes surname. Te names loook familiar. I got to figure it out more. Thank you so very much.

[BernardoMariano-zt]

Hi, Jarrett, congrats on your video! Mind only that, if the Nunes Vaz family is indeed of Portuguese origin (and they most likely are), the correct pronunciation of 'Nunes' is not the one you're using (which sounds like the Spanish 'Nuñez'), but really 'Nunes', with the second 'n' sounding exactly like the first. The 'e' is almost mute and the final 's' sounds like a short 'sh'.

[thebrocialist]

Given the spelling for Nunes, I would look in the direction of Portugal (perhaps even Galicia) for a possible link for these various family trees.
My name is a Castilianization of name originating in Portugal — though forebears are believed to be of foreign ( Astur-Leonese, Galician, or Gasconic) origin. Despite the fact that the name is lesser common and tied in to several prominent houses of nobility, it’s connection to the Reconquista period and the feudal peculiarities of Portugal and Spain has seriously impaired my ability to establish deep historical familial connections.

[cuidatrava]

Very interesting. Have you come across admixture results for individuals with significant Western Sephardic ancestry? I'm always curious about those. I match a number of people on MH with Nunes Vaz in their trees (my maternal ancestry is Ashkenazi and Eastern Sephardic). One of them (who unfortunately passed away last year) had an entire family tree from Suriname, full of Portuguese Jewish names, which is not easy to find. Her children are still on MH though.

[felypeforte]

One thing you didn’t realize about all this is that Nunes Vaz is a Portuguese surname, Nunes in Spanish would be Nuñez and I don’t even believe that there is a Vaz surname in Spanish. The document you displayed (despacho) was written in Portuguese, another proof they were sephardic jews writing documents in their native tongue (Portuguese) while in Amsterdam. It also make sense that they can be found now in the Carribean since Portuguese sailed all those waters prior to the Dutch, British, and French.

[betofrotag]

I'm Vaz, Carrasco Vaz from Brazil/ Portuguese which are known and already. Certified by CIL, Portugal as Sephardic Jews well active in Recife, Brazil

[TheRanaro]

Great work!! Just curious -- do you know if your Nunes Vaz family comes from Spain or Portugal? Do you know which city on the Iberian peninsula they come from?

[danielcastillo]

Hi.
Are you in 23andMe?
I’m and I may have some links to your family. The Vaz Martins from Amsterdam moved to Jamaica, where the family of my mother comes from.

[HeyMJ.]

Thank you for sharing your story; especially intriguing is the spelling of surnames. Vaz > Vais 🤔 If a surname ended in ‘vais’; could it possibly map to Vais > VAZ??? For example, mon-si-VAIS. (Believed to be from the Basque region in Spain..)

[DJArmando]

My very great grandmother was Maria Nunez Ha Levi from Spain 1388
- 1423. I seen some sites say she left for Amsterdam and others say she died in Spain.

[archie]

I’ve seen two matcheson MyHeritage with some Nunez-Vaz family in their trees, I have no known Sephardi ancestry but don’t know how else I could be related to them

[audreycitron]

Vas and Quero Vas is in the ItLian Alps by the Swiss border

[aoliveira_]

Both Nunes and Vaz are typical Portuguese surnames. Maybe, ultimately they came from Spain, but they passed for Portugal for sure. There they got those surnames.

[PaulKasler]

My mother’s side is Nunes-Vaz. How can we get in contact. I have family tree produced by a relative.