 The Abudientes (including Rowland and his brother) were active as part of the elite Sephardic slave plantation ruling class in the West Indies, active in the production of sugar cane in first Barbados, Antigua and then Nevis (moving each time to avoid taxation).The Abudientes made their extensive fortune from the sugar cane, worked by Black slaves and the unfree labour of European identured servants on their plantations.After moving to London, England, Rowland Gideon was admitted to the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers on 17 February 1698 and was likely the first Jewish Freeman of the City of London.