The history of the Jews in Pennsylvania (although not counting Crypto Jews or their descendants whom are also excluded from being counted as Jews) dates back to Colonial America. First mention Pennsylvania, one of the original thirteen states of the American Union was named after William Penn's father, whose son received a grant of the territory from King Charles II in 1681. When Peter Stuyvesant, in 1655, conquered the Swedish colonies on the Delaware River, three Jews, Abraham de Lucena, Salvator Dandrade, and Jacob Coen, requested permission to trade along the Delaware River (November 29, 1655), claiming that under the act of February 15, 1655, they had received the consent of the directors of the West India Company to travel, reside, trade and enjoy the same privileges as other inhabitants. This petition was refused "for weighty reasons", but they were permitted to send two persons to the South River (subsequently named the Delaware) in order to terminate a trading expedition already entered upon. These were the first Jews of whom there is any record in Pennsylvania. On June 14, 1656, the directors of the West India Company wrote to Stuyvesant asking that the Jews be permitted to trade along the South River and "carry on their business as beforesaid". From this time on it is evident that the Jews traded with the Indians and Swedes in that territory. In 1657, Isaiah Mesa (also spelled "Masa" and "Mara"), "a Jew", is mentioned in the annals of Jacquet's administration as a participant in several lawsuits. In 1662, a community of Mennonites or Anabaptists proposed to settle at Horekill, in Delaware County, and in their articles of association they determined to exclude all "usurious Jews". When Sir Robert Carr, in 1664, assumed command of the Delaware in the name of the English crown, he received instructions from his government that "all people should enjoy the liberty of their conscience". Philadelphia In 1681, when William Penn gained possession of the land that bears his name, there must have been several Jewish settlers in the southeastern portion. The earliest Jewish resident of Philadelphia of whom there is any record was Jonas Aaron, who was living there in 1703. The most prominent member of the Jewish community in the early history of the colony was Isaac Miranda. The date of his birth is not known; he died in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1733. He arrived in the