The Lewis Family Tree Project

NOTES

  • I began recording marriages of our Dutch ancestors using "Trouwem in Mokum - Jewish Marriage in Amsterdam 1598-1811" by Verdooner & Snel. The authors have standardised spellings of both given and family names and I have tried to followed this pattern in the case of old records.
    Ysak, Itzik, Yitzhac are recorded as Isaac.
    Shlomo, Salom, Salomon are recorded as Solomon.
    ALVAREZ, HENRIQUEZ or RODRIGUEZ are recorded as ALVARES, HENRIQUES or RODRIGUES.
    In the case of more recent records where specific spellings are used these have been recorded as such.
    Sara in the old Dutch records has been recorded as Sarah (pron. Serah) but the record of a Sara in a modern record has been recorded as Sara (pron. Saara).
    Lea in the old Dutch records has been recorded as Leah (pron Leyah or Leeah) but the record of a Lea in a modern record has been recorded as Lea (pron. Lee) .

  • Given names using transliteration from Hebrew, such as Ribca or Rivkah have been recorded as Rebecca.

  • Patronymics (fathers' given names) are shown in single quotation marks and have been added even when not officially recorded as such. This allows us to distinguish between indiviuals with the same name in the same generation as well as for ease of tracing parentage. It also makes it clear when a man has a middle name which may or may not be the same as his father's first name.
    e.g. Moses 'Solomon' HARING is the son of Solomon HARING.

  • Due to the numbers of similar names in large families I have started using "grand patronymics". e.g. Mozes 'Solomon - Abraham' HARING is the son of Solomon 'Abraham - Isaac' HARING and the grandson of Abraham 'Isaac - Jacob' HARING.

  • In some cases, where a wife's maiden name is unknown, the surname of her husband follows her given name in lower case:
    e.g. _, Ada Lopez-Salzedo is the wife of LOPES SALZEDO, Leslie.

  • The surname prefixes de, der, van, van der, etc. are added after the given name as opposed to before the surname thus avoiding too many names beginning with V or D:
    Esther van der BOKKE is shown as BOKKE, Esther van der.

  • I intended showing the parents of brides or grooms of a marriage, even though they are not blood relatives, to identify multiple marriages between families. There are several cases of two or more siblings from one family marrying two or more siblings from another. This would add another 15,000 names to the records. However there are difficulties in extracting those names from the data base. Anyone wanting further details is welcome to contact me and I'll try to provide any information that I can.

  • Alternative given names are shown in parentheses:-
    Sarah (Sally).

  • Nicknames or names used by individuals other than their registered names, have been shown in double quotes: "Tiny" POLAK.

  • I have not generally included obvious diminutives as nicknames nor "also known as" (A.K.A.):-
    Ben = Benjamin
    Sam = Samuel
    Bob = Robert.

  • I'm not sure which "double-barrelled" surnames are hyphenated. I've tried to avoid the hyphen where not specifically mentioned in the source.


    FAMILY NAME ADOPTIONS

    Before the Napoleonic era may Ashkenazi Jewish families did not have an official surname. Sometimes they would use a patronymic (their fathers' given name) such as Abraham or Abrahams, a name relating to their trade or profession; Sandler or Schneider (Tailor) or a name indicating their place of origin; Regensburg or van Praag. In 1812 the Napoleonic authorities decreed that a given name and a surname was mandatory. Some registered the names that they had been using while others adopted a new name very often based on the the examples shown above
    A full explanation can be found on the "Akevoth" web site.


    SPANISH/PORTUGUESE SURNAMES

    These may appear to be confusing if Spanish convention, as I understand it, is maintained. A child will bear his father's surname followed by his mother's surname.
  • Mozes son of Joseph PEREIRA and Abigail MENDOZA will appear as Mozes PEREIRA MENDOZA.
  • Mozes PEREIRA MENDOZA, should he marry, for example, Sarah LOPES SALZEDO, would record his son's name as Gabriel PEREIRA LOPES or possibly Gabriel PEREIRA SALZEDO .
  • Effectively the surname can change with every generation.
  • In some cases a child would be given the full name of a grandparent. This makes tracing his parents' surnames difficult, even impossible. There are instances where an individual decided to use the name of the more prestigious family.
  • Further to this, it has been pointed out to me that in the Palache Family, there are instances of a husband taking the name of his wife's family, either because it was a more prestigious name or possibly because he did not have a recognised surname. (see family name adoptions).
  • It would appear that when families left Spain and Portugal, in accordance with local laws and conventions in the the rest of Europe. they kept a single continuing surname giving rise to the vast number of LOPES SALZEDO and NUNES NABARRO records.


    ALIASES

    The intoduction to Jewish Marriages in Amsterdam 1598-1811 by Verdooner & Snel gives details of how different names for the same individual were used in their private lives, in business and in the synagogue.

    DATES

    It is sometimes useful to try to estimate some of the unknown dates in order to keep generations in perspective. Ground rules are that you have at least one factual date from which to work:
  • 1) A man marries at age 25.
  • 2) A woman marries at age 21.
  • 3) Marriage takes place 1 year before the birth of the oldest child.
  • 4) Further children are born every two years thereafter.

    At least two more dates can be therefore be calculated from one of the above.

  • I include the prefix "Est" (estimated) before those dates that I calculate on this basis as opposed to "c" (circa) or "Abt" (about). Continentals use "ca" for "circa" but my programme replaces "c" and "ca" with "cal" (calculated) which is the same as estimated so I avoid using "c".

    "Bef" (before) and "Aft" (after) are also generally acceptable.

  • If on a marriage record one of the parents is recorded as deceased, death can be recorded as "Bef" the marriage date.
  • A child can be assumed to have been born "Aft" the marriage date. Full stops (periods) are not used after these abbreviations.

Page design by Lynn Lewis © - 1999 All Rites, Writes, Wrights, Rights & Wrongs Reserved