Osenkot & CastelloI wrote here before about the panels with the names of the members of Ets Haim, the charity that supported the students at the school with the same name, These panels are lining the walls of the Wintersnoge in Amsterdam. Browsing them I stumbled upon a strange sounding name: Jos.h de M.r Osenkot. He joined the chairy in 1746. I thought it wa strange name in this context, but it turns out that it is a very strange name overall. I looked up the membershipslist in the archives of Ets Haim, and found that it concerns Josseph de Mehir Osenkot - at the bottom of the second image. Where did he come from and what did he do in Amsterdam?One year later, in November 1737 Joseph de Mayer Osenkot appeared before notary Benjamin Phaff and signed a proxy to Jacob Castello in Rotterdam giving him the power to represent him to csettle all his business affairs in Rotterdam. Nice signature, but not a whole lot of info here. But we now know he was a merchant, lived in Amsterdam and had some Commerce going on in Rotterdam.A few years on, 23 June 1751, same notery, Jacob Castello in Amsterdam has power of attrney from Joseph Mayr Osencot, merchant in St.a Crus in Barbaria to sign a contract for him for one year with Manuel Nunes Castello in Amsterdam. The two set up a business venture with the name "Osenkot & Castello" with the aim of buying merchandise in Amsterdam, transporting it to Santa Cruz, otherwise named Agadir, in Morocco. Of course, Osencot would handle affairs in Santa Cruz. And that is the last I could find about Joseph.But a few years lare, in 1753, a Manuel Osencot appears in Amsterdam, he says he is going abroad and signs a power of attorney to Jacob Castello in Amsterdam to handle his business. Could Manuel be an alias for Mehir or Mayer? Was he the father of Joseph, or maybe his son?In 1757 Aron Cohen de Lara and Jacob Mendes da Silva sign a power of attorney to Manuel Osencot, about to leave for St Croix in Barbarijen, to collect money from Calipha hijos and Cohen.Last thing we hear about Manuel Osencot is that he lives in Mogador, 1777. Moses Sedero Corcos gives power of attorney to Salomon Sebag to collect the debts that Moses Israel in Gibraltar and Manuel Osencot in Mogador owe to Sedero Corcos.Given that the name is so rare, I think that Joseph de Mehir Osencot and Manuel Osencot are relatives, quite possibly father and son, and travelled up and down from Morocco to Amsterdam, and vice versa. Their business parthers in Holland were the Castello's and Sedero Corcos. Moses Sedero Corcos will have had his origins in Morocco too. On one of his business tris to Amsterdam Joseph became a member of Ets Haim and thus his name is now on one of the panels in Ets Haim in Amsterdam. Is there anyone who knows a bit more about this family Osencot?