As yet it is not known who Semaria´s father was, except that one can surmise that he was called Moses. It seems that Semaria came from Venice. Interestingly, Moses Hayyim / Vita Shabtai Rafael Nissim Morpurgo (1717-1751), who, like his father Shimshon or Samson, was rabbi of Ancona, visited Amsterdam, because in Asher Salah's "La république des lettres: rabbins, écrivains et médecins juifs en Italie au XVIIe siècle" it says: "En 1750, il partit pour une mission à Rome. Il se rendit aussi à Amsterdam <....>Poème pour la naissance de jumeaux à Barukh Lopez de Leon, avec une note autobiographe sur les malheurs qui lui arrivèrent à Amsterdam."

Semaria's first-born son was also called Moses Haim. However, Moses Vita Shabtai died in 1751 and Semaria supposedly was born in 1756....

In that same year, 1756, Mario Semaria Morpurgo (1730 Gradisca-1760 Venice) moved to Venice. This branch of the family is known for its banking activities in Venice.

Names of the archive registers PA334-978/979 in Gemeentearchief van Amsterdam. The lists cover the period 1757-1813 with all the names of the poor Sephardic Jews who were granted an amount in Dutch guilders against the promise to leave Amsterdam and not to return within the next 20 years.

Family name - Given names - Destination - amount in Hfl - Date - Page - Relatives

Morpurgo Samarjia Italia 50 12/8/1795 195 m4 Morpurgo Semaria Venetia 30 4/18/1796 196 m3 Morpurgo Semarjia Paris Anvers 20 4/3/1804 B004 3

Morpurgo is afgeleid van de stadsnaam Marburg, nu Maribor genaamd, gelegen ten NW van Zagreb in Slovenie. De Morpurgos die in de 17e eeuw in verschillende Italiaanse steden woonden, waren van oorsprong asjkenazische joden, maar zij werden opgenomen in de Italiaanse sefardische gemeenten en sindsdien geacht sefaradiem te zijn. (zie boek: Besneden en begraven ... vijf eeuwen joden in Tiel en het Gelders Rivierengebied van Jakob Becker pag. 121)

In Split, Croatia, hebben we vernomen, dat de familie Morpurgo al zeer lange tijd vooraanstaande leden van de asjkenazische gemeente aldaar waren. Ook daar werd aangegeven, dat de familie uit Marburg afkomstig was