The Roselofsky/Lewis/Joseph(s) Family
from Lomza, Poland
(formerly part of the Russian Empire)
c.1838

Spelling variations include Resholofsky, Rosolofsky, Roggelofsky and possibly Rogalsky.

Flag of Imperial Russia
Flag of Imperial Russia
Coats of Arms of Lomza Gubernia & the City of Lomza
    NOTES:

    1. The "gg" in the surname Roggelofsky would be pronounced "zh"; hence in western Europe it may have been recorded as "s", "sh", "g" or "gg", giving rise to the variants in our family surname: Resholofsky, Rosolofsky, Roselofsky and Roggelofsky.
    2. The "of", "off" or "ov" with or without "ski" or "sky" in Slavic surnames is a possesive suffix and can mean "of" (a habitat) or even "son of".
    3. Polish surnames ending in -owski usually derive from place names ending in -y, -ow, -owo, -owa, and so on. (Cyrek Gryzbowski - Cyrek from the town of Gryzbow).
    4. The surname Rogal is of Jewish (eastern Ashkenazi) origin: a habitational name from the village Rogal(e), in Poland.
    5. The root of the name could also be "Rose" ... the flower.
    6. References to Russia may refer not only to pre Soviet Russia but also any one of the countries under Russian jurisdiction at this time including Poland, Ukraine, Baltic States, etc.

 
  • Łomża was founded around the 10th century, on the site of the present day village called Stara Łomża (Old Łomża). It was first mentioned in official records in the 14th century. Łomża received its municipal rights in 1416, and became an important political and economic center in the mid-16th century.
  • Polish prince Bolesław IV the Curly (Polish: Bolesław Kędzierzawy) built a palace there in the 12th century. In 1444 the town was granted an exemption from the transit tax on Narew river contributing to its further development. In the 16th century Zygmunt II August gave Łomża the right to hold great fairs three times a year, similar to Warsaw and Płock. In 1618 a great fire destroyed most of the city, and six years later, an epidemic killed 5,021 persons decimating its population. A series of disasters (including the Swedish invasion and the Cossack raids) resulted in its rapid decline.
  • References to Jewish residents in Łomża date to 1494. The population numbers date back only to 1808, when 157 Jews were officially counted. A magnificent stone synagogue was built there in 1881 on the initiative of Rabbi Eliezer-Simcha Rabinowicz. The Great Synagogue designed by Enrico Marconi became a centre of the Zionist movement. In 1931, there were 8,912 Jews who lived in the city.
  • During the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921 Łomża was directly in the path of the Russian army's catastrophic retreat following its defeat at the Battle of Warsaw. On August 15, 1920, the Soviet General August Kork of the 15th Army mounted an unsuccessful defence of the town against the Polish Fourth Army of General Leonard Skierski, before continuing its retreat eastward under pressure from the Polish forces.
  • In September 1939, during the joint Soviet and German invasion of Poland, Łomża was largely destroyed by the Nazis, then held and turned over to the Red Army. It remained in the Soviet hands until Operation Barbarossa. In June 1941, at the onset of the Russian campaign it was taken over by the German forces. On 12 August 1941 a Łomża Ghetto was created in the vicinity of the Old Market Square (Stary Rynek). The Nazi Einsatzkommando under SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper committed mass killings of alleged Soviet collaborators a few days later. The number of Jews compressed into the Ghetto from surrounding villages and towns such as Jedwabne, Stawiski, Piątnica, Rotki, Wizna, Łomża and others, ranged from 10,000 to 18,000. Over two thousand people were murdered in the Giełczyn forest outside of town. Many Jews perished from malnutrition and diseases such as dysentery and typhus. The rest were shipped to Auschwitz. The ghetto was liquidated on 1 November 1942. Only a small number of the Jews of Łomża survived the Holocaust; some found refuge with Catholic Polish families.
    Wikipedia

The Great Synagogue. Lomza, Poland,
destroyed by the German Nazis in 1941

Sreet in Łomża

Łomża Talmud Torah

6th. Generation

 
Abraham ROSELOFSKY
Great Grandfather
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		c. 1838
Poland/Russia
 
Poland/Russia
 
 
 
 
unknown
unknown
 
 
Married:
Date of marriage:
Place of marriage:		 est. 1860
Poland/Russia
    
 
  1. first wife
Great Grandmother
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		c. 1842
Poland/Russia
c. 1874 [age 32]
Poland/Russia
 
 
 
 
unknown
unknown
    
 
Children of first marriage:
GA/U/F
 
 
Married:
Date of marriage:
Place of marriage:		  
 
    
 
  1. second wife
 
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		est. 1854
Poland/Russia
  [age  ]
 
 
 
 
 
unknown
unknown
 
Child of second marriage:
GU
 
 

5th. Generation
 
Joseph 'Abraham' ROGGELOFSKY/JOSEPH(S)
GU
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		c. 1871
Poland/Russia
 
 
 
 
 
 
Abraham ROSELOFSKY
first wife
 
 
Married:
Date of marriage:
Place of marriage:		 est. 1900
 
    
 
unknown - possibly Minnie ALCHELAR
 
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		est. 1875
Poland/Russia
 
 
 
 
 
 
unknown
unknown
    
 
Children:
1C-1R
    1. Morris 'Joseph' JOSEPH/S
        Born: Jul/Sep 1900, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales
        Born: Oct/Dec 1957 (age 59), Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales


Birth Registration
(Cardiff 11a 403)

Death Registration
(Cardiff 8b 196)
    1. Isaac 'Joseph' JOSEPH/S
        Born: c. 1903

    1. Samuel 'Joseph' JOSEPH/S
        Born: c. 1905

    1. Mark 'Joseph' JOSEPH/S
        Born: c. 1907

    1. Lewis 'Joseph' JOSEPH/S
        Born: c. 1909

    1. Bella 'Joseph' JOSEPH
        Born: Jan/Mar 1910, Bedwellty, Monmouthshire, Wales

Birth Registration
(Bedwellty 11a 151)
NOTES:
  • Joseph adopted the surname Joseph or Josephs and was last heard of living in Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales.

Brother of:

 
Lewis Frederick 'Abraham' RESHOLOFSKY/ROSOLOFSKY
Grandfather
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		1872
Lomisha, Russia (Lomza, Poland)
28 July 1926
City of London, England
July 1926
Montagu Road Cemetery, Edmonton, London, England
 
Tailor
Abraham ROSELOFSKY
first wife

Death Registration
Married:
Date of marriage:
Place of marriage:		 Jan/Mar 1895
Mile End Old Town, London, England
 
Marriage Registrations
Ada 'Berel David' FISHSTEIN
 
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Date of death:
Place of death:
Date of burial:
Place of burial:
Inscription:
Occupation:
Father:
Mother: 		1873
Vilna, Russia (Daugai, Lithuania)
06 Jan 1935
West Ham, London, England
Jan 1935
Montagu Road Cemetery, Edmonton, London, England


Berel David 'Henry (Zvi)' FISHSTEIN
Miriam

Death Registration
Children:
A/F/U

 
Sylvie Roselofsky
    1. Sylvie 'Lewis' RESHOLOFSKY/ROSOLOFSKY
        Born: Jan/Mar 1902, Bethnal Green, London
        Died: Jul/Sep 1946, Essex, England
        Sylvie never married.
        Judging by her place of death, Sylvie was probably living with her sister Sophie at the the time of her death.
 
Birth RegistrationDeath Registration
 
 
 
    1. Joseph 'Lewis' ROSELOFSKY
        Born: Oct/Dec 1907, Bethnal Green, London, England
        Died: Oct/Dec 1907, Bethnal Green, London, England
 
Birth RegistrationDeath Registration
 
 
Rene Roselofsky
    1. Irene 'Lewis' ROSOLOFSKY
        Born: Apr/Jun 1913, Bethnal Green, London
        Died: c. 1964
        Buried: c. 1964, Federation Cemetery, Rainham, Essex, England
        Rene never married and lived with her sister Sophie's family.

Birth Registration
NOTES:
  • My paternal grandfather, Lewis Roselofsky (1872-1926), a tailor from Russia, arrived in England prior to 1896. All of his children, Martha, Sophie, Sarah (Cissie), Sylvie, Abraham, Joseph, Henry (Connie) and Irene. were born in England so we know that he married in the first quarter of 1895 in Mile End Old Town to Ada Fishstein. The 1901 UK Census records his surname as Resholofsky and the 1911 UK Census as Rosolofsky. However, he was always known as Mr. Lewis and that was the surname adopted by the family. The surname of his older brother Joseph was recorded in 1901 as Roggelofsky. He moved to Cardiff and his branch adopted the surame Joseph or Josephs. They had a half brother Woolf by their father's second wife, who was also recorded in 1901 as Roggelofsky. The brothers also had a sister who may have married Ada's uncle, Judah Fishstein, her name being Mary Rogal(of)sky.

  • The 1901 Census shows the Reshelofsky family living with Ada's parents at 28, Church Street, Bethnal Green.

  • The 1911 Census shows Lewis as being born in Lomisha. There may be a transcription error as I've been unable to identify this place with that spelling but it is probably Łomża (see map). In the same census Ada is recorded as being born in Vilna although we know that her family came from Daugai which is in the county of Vilnius. At the time of the census they were living in Kerbela Street in Bethnal Green, London.

  • I've assumed that as I was given the same Hebrew name as my grandfather, Ephraim Arieh ben Avraham (אפרים אריה בן אברהם), that my great grandfather's name was also Abraham after whom my father was named.

  • My grandfather was sometimes referred to as Frederick, which could be an Anglicised version of Ephraim and it appears that two other of his grandsons (my 1st. cousins) were given the name Ephraim, although they were generally known by their second names: Ephraim Louis ADLER and Ephraim Lionel RUBIN (PLASKOFSKY)
  • UK Census 1901 (31 March/01 April 1901)


    1901 UK Census for Lewis Rosolofsky
    Ada's parents and siblings were also living at this address (see the Fishstein family page).

    Church Street (now Redchurch Street), Bethnal Green, London today (2012)

    Location of 38, Church Street today (2012)
  • UK Census 1911 (02 April 1911)
      54 Kerbela Street, Bethnal Green, London, England (see map)

    1911 UK Census for Lewis Rosolofsky

    22-36, Kerbela Street (1964)

    Kerbela Street today (2012)

    • Half brother of:
     
    Woolf 'Abraham' ROGGELOFSKY (RESHOLOFSKY)
    GU
    Date of birth:
    Place of birth:
    Date of death:
    Place of death:
    Date of burial:
    Place of burial:
    Inscription:
    Occupation:
    Father:
    Mother:     		1876
    Poland/Russia
     
     
     
     
     
    Tailors' machinist
    Abraham ROSELOFSKY
    second wife
     
     
    		Married:
    Date of marriage:
    Place of marriage:    		 c.1894
    Poland/Russia
        
     
    Betsy
     
    Date of birth:
    Place of birth:
    Date of death:
    Place of death:
    Date of burial:
    Place of burial:
    Inscription:
    Occupation:
    Father:
    Mother:     		1875
    Poland/Russia
     
     
     
     
     
     
    unknown
    unknown
        
     
    Children:
    1C-1R
      1. Martha 'Woolf' ROGGELOFSKY
          Born: c. 1895, Russia

      2. Leah 'Woolf' ROGGELOFSKY
          Born: 1897, Spitalfields, London, England

      3. Alexander 'Woolf' ROGGELOFSKY/RESHOLOFSKY
          Born: Jul/Sep 1899, Whitechapel, London, England


      4. Polly 'Woolf' ROGGELOFSKY/RESHOLOFSKY
          Born: Apr/Jun 1901, Whitechapel, London, England


      5. Esther 'Woolf' RESHOLOFSKY
          Born: Jan/Mar 1903, Bethnal Green, London, England


      6. Joseph 'Woolf' RESHOLOFSKY
          Born: Oct/Dec 1904, Bethnal Green, London, England


    Birth Registation


    Birth Registation


    Birth Registation


    Birth Registation

     
    NOTES:

    • According to the 1901 UK Census first child of Woolf and Betsy was born in Russia in 1895 and the second in London in 1897.
        We can therefore assume that they married in Russia and emigrated to England in about 1896.
  • UK Census 1901 (31 March/01 April 1901)
      17 Princelet Street, Spitalfields, Whitechapel, London, England (see map)

    1901 UK Census for Woolf Roggelofsky


    17 Princelet Street today (2012) - birthplace of Miriam Moses.

    • 4th. Generation


     
      Abraham 'Lewis' ROSELOFSKY (RESHOLOFSKY)
        alias: Sidney "Sonny" LEWIS
    Father
    Date of birth:
    Place of birth:
    Date of death:
    Place of death:
    Date of burial:
    Place of burial:
    Inscription:
    Occupation:
    Father:
    Mother:     		17 April 1905
    Bethnal Green, London, England
    18 November 1985 (age 80)
    Woodford Green Essex, England
    18 November 1985
    Waltham Abbey Jewish Cemetery, Essex, England

    Furrier
    Lewis 'Abraham' ROSELOFSKY
    Ada 'Berel David' FISHSTEIN

    Birth Registation
    		Married:
    Date of marriage:
    Place of marriage:    		 08 September 1935
    Egerton Road Synagogue, Stamford Hill, London, England
     
    Marriage Registrations
    Elizbeth 'Alexander' ISAACS
    Mother
    Date of birth:
    Place of birth:
    Date of death:
    Place of death:
    Date of burial:
    Place of burial:
    Inscription:
    Occupation:
    Father:
    Mother:     		28 September 1909
    Hackney, London, England
    21 November 1993 (age 84)
    Bournemouth, Dorset, England
    21 November 1993
    Waltham Abbey Jewish Cemetery, Essex, England

    Fur specialist
    Alexander 'Simon' ISAACS
    Rosa 'Hartog (Henry)' HARING

    Birth Registation
    Children:
    Root person/Sister
     
     
    NOTES:

    Jews' Free School
    Abraham Roselofsky age 10.
    "Sonny" age 10

  • My father, Abraham Roselofsky was born in Bethnal Green; known as Sidney Lewis but all of the close family called him "Sonny" as he was the first son after four sisters.
  • He attended the Jewish Free School and by profession he was a furrier.
  • He and my mother were married at the Egerton Road Synagogue in Stamford Hill and before WWII lived in nearby Ravensdale Road, Stoke Newington London. (see map below)
  • During the Second World War "Sonny" served in the Royal Army Service Corps was posted to Dorchester and was a cook - he always insisted on making porridge with salt like he did in his army days. Although his army pay book says that he'd learned to drive a truck in the army, he never drove in civilian life.
    • Abraham Roselofsky R.A.S.C.

    R.A.S.C.
  • My mother, Elizabeth Isaacs, named for her paternal grandmother Betsy Haring (there were actually seven of her granddaughters named Elizabeth) was born in Hackney, and was known as Bessie by the family; but as she worked with so many other Bessies, Essies, Nessies and Hessies, in later life that she preferred Elizabeth. She attended many different schools as her parents moved around a lot. However, this was not detrimental to her education and she was very well read and spent some time as a companion to a Lady Veigtor (not sure how that's spelt). She was a fur specialist having learned her profession from the husband of her mother's 1st. cousin, Will Elf. While she was pregnant with me, towards the end of WWII, she was evacuated to Macclesfield, an area well known for it's cotton mills (as well as silk production). I wasn't actually born there, my mother having given birth at the Bearstead Memorial Hospital, which during the war had moved out of Hackney to Hampton Court .... which is quite a good address to have. I spent the first months of my life in Macclesfield and I like to say that "when I was a little bitty baby my mamma would rock me in the cradle in them old cotton mills back home". That's a song my wife and I perform with our group "Canaan Country" and the foregoing spiel is my preferred introduction and always good for a laugh or two.

  • My earliest recollection of life was when we lived in a flat over my grandparents fish and chip shop in Leman Street. I recall briefly going to school in Whitechapel: Commercial Street School, now Canon Barnet School. My parents then moved to Barking, Essex where they were members of the Barking & Becontree Hebrew Congregation; and later to Woodford Green, Essex where my father died. My mother then went to live with my sister and they all moved down to Bournemouth where my mother passed away.

    		•


    Elizabeth age 2/3



    Elizabeth age 4/5


    Egerton Road Synagogue


    Ravensdale Road today (2012)


    Brother of:
     
    Henry (Connie) 'Lewis' ROSOLOFSKY/LEWIS
    Uncle
    Date of birth:
    Place of birth:
    Date of death:
    Place of death:
    Date of burial:
    Place of burial:
    Inscription:
    Occupation:
    Father:
    Mother:     		31 May 1911
    Bethnal Green, London, England
    <Nov 2000
    England



    Professional boxer, London taxi driver
    Lewis 'Abraham' ROSELOFSKY
    Ada 'Berel David' FISHSTEIN

    Birth Registation
    		Married:
    Date of marriage:
    Place of marriage:    		 c.1950
     
     
    Marriage Registrations
    Rose M. 'Henry' GOLDSMITH
     
    Date of birth:
    Place of birth:
    Date of death:
    Place of death:
    Date of burial:
    Place of burial:
    Inscription:
    Occupation:
    Father:
    Mother:     		04 Sep 1924
    Bethnal Green, London, England
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Henry 'Abraham' GOLDSMID
    Anne 'Abraham' PRISSIAN

    Birth Registation
    Child:
    1C
     
     
    NOTES:
  • My father's younger brother, Henry, was born in Bethnal Green; known as "Connie" Lewis, he was a London taxi driver but in his early years was a professional featherweight boxer. According to the records he fought 15 bouts between 1928 and 1935, won 6, lost 8 and drew 1.
    My father was one of his seconds.


    Connie and Rose lived in Cavendish Mansions, Clapton Square. Lower Clapton, London.
    Cavendish Mansions is at the far end.

    Most of the Roselofsky family at the wedding of Henry ("Connie") & Rose
    Top Row L to R: Elizabeth, Abraham (Sonny), Alec, Cissie, Irene
    Bottom Row L to R: Lynn, Ann (Rose's mother), Lorette, Charlie, Rose, Connie, Sophie, Jay
    Behind the cake is Martha and far right .... the toastmaster.




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