The Quest is getting back on track

Some time back, one of my excuses for not posting on a regular basis was that I was lazy. Considering that my last post was on 7th September 2011, I wonder what that makes me. There must be a word for being more than just lazy.

The quest will, therefore, continue. The loss lat week of an aunt aged 96 was a wake up call. In April we will be celebrating her sister's 90th birthday. My mission, therefore, is to drive my cousins mad with requests for information on each of their families, so that I can have a family tree ready for the party. This will only be the descendants of my dad's grandparents.

I am still working on my mum's family and also my wife Diane's family. Later this month we celebrate our Golden Wedding, so I would like to get as much done as possible on the complete family tree so that we can show our family.

The URL for this post is http://ditonb.blogspot.com/2012/03/quest-is-getting-back-on-track.html

Tony Benson - Blog Editor

On this day – 7th September

In 1775 Jacob Martin (Nunes Martinez) was born to Isaac Moses Martin (Nunes Martinez) and Abigail Mendoza. He married Rebecca Emanuel on 10th January 1796. Jacob was Diane’s 3 x greatgrandfather.

On this day – 5th September

In 1862 Jacob Bittan was born to Abraham Bittan and Miriam Solomons. Abraham was the son of Joshua Bittan and Phoebe Martin (Nunes Martinez) who were Diane’s great great grandparents.

Birthdays

September is always a busy month for birthdays in our family, especially the first 5 days.

On the 1^st it was my 75^th birthday

On the 2^nd it was my number 2 grandson’s 21^st birthday

On the 4^th it will be my middle son’s 45^th birthday as well as his 3^rd wedding anniversary

On the 5^th it will be my oldest son’s 48^th birthday.

An expensive time for all the family.

On this day – 19th August

In 1912 my father Simon Belson was born to Harry and Dora Belson. Sadly he died in 2002, shortly before his 90^th birthday.

On this day – 17th August

In 1902 Esther Feinson was born in Russia (now part of Poland) to Lewis and Cecilie Feinson. She came to England in 1904/5 with her parents and older brother Jack. She was my mother’s sister.

On this day – 15th August

In 1848 Samuel Bittan was born in Spitalfields to Joshua Bittan and Phoebe Martin (Nunes Martinez). He was one of 11 children. He was the brother of Diane’s great grandfather Benjamin.

In1930 Alma Annie Rubinstein was born to Max And Lily Rubinstein. She was Diane’s sister. Alma married Paul Emin and they had 2 children. Alma died on 17 August 1993. She is greatly missed by Diane.

On this day – 11th August

In 1835 Benjamin Bittan was born in Spitalfields to Joshua Bittan and Phoebe Martin (Nunes Martinez). He was one of 11 children. He was Diane’s great grandfather.

He married Esther Levy on 10 February 1857 at 3 Cope’s Square, Middlesex Street. Their daughter Dinah married Aaron Hart. They had 8 children, one of whom Leah (Lily) was Diane’s mother.

It's not all about Blogging

I have been very lax with my blog recently.

In part this is due to watching Sky News on television for far too long over the past 4 days. Many of us have been amazed how these riots have happened and worried that they don't reach our local area. Living in North West London, one realises that it can happen anywhere.

Another reason is that I have been involved in setting up a new blog called Jewish Ancestors? for which I and the Chairman of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) will be writing posts. This can be found at www.jgsgb.org.uk/blog. It will be worthwhile following.

The final reason, which is the most likely, is that I am just lazy.

So from tomorrow I hope to get back on track.

MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER

The only thing I have of any of my grandparent’s possessions, apart from a few photos, is my maternal grandmother’s Identity or Aliens Book.

This was probably issued to her in 1914 at the start of the First World War. According to this she was unable to write and signed it with a cross and a thumbprint. Whether she was actually unable to write anything, or just unable to write in English we will never know. The Book was also used after the war and during World War 2.

According to her Book she was born Cecelie Walbaum to Woolf and Sara Walbaum in Bialystok in Russia (now in Poland) probably in 1877. She married Lewis Feinson in about 1899 in Russia and came to England in about 1904 with her husband and 2 children. My mother the youngest child was born in England, as were 2 other children.

How they got to England I do not know, but in all probability they came by boat via Libau in Latvia or Hamburg in Germany.

Again according to her Book she came to England on a Russian passport, number 2176, issued by the Russian Police in Bialystok in 1904.

Aliens were required to register with their local police every time they left the area overnight and register with the local police in the area they were staying.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 56 Lindon Buildings, Bethnal Green. In 1912 when my mother was born, they were living at 7 Whitby Street, Bethnal Green. In 1934 the family moved to 50 Graham Road, Dalston, London, E8 and in September 1940 my grandparents moved to 34 Springfield Road, Windsor where my parents and I also lived. On 8^th December 1940 my grandmother was given permission to visit 50 Graham Road until 14^th December.

She died on 18^th December 1940 in the King Edward Vll Hospital in Windsor from Cerebral Haemorrhage and Hypertension, when I was 4 years old.

On this day - 21st July

1940 - My brother Michael Jeffrey was born at the Bearstead Memorial Hospital, Hampton, Twickenham, Middlesex. At the time, my parents and I were living at 150 King Edward Road, Hachney, London, E9.

Michael was very ill from birth and eventually died on 8th June 1941, aged just 10 months, in the County Council Emergency Hospital, Old Windsor. The cause of death is recorded as:
1 (a) Cardiac failure
   (b) TB Meningitis
2       TB Broncho Pneumonia

At the time of Michael's death we were living at 34 Sprinfield Road, Windsor wth my grandfather on my mum's side. My grandmother having died on 18th December 1940. It must have been a very painful time for my mother.

HOW THE INTERNET BEGAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that one shouldn't plagiarise, but as I don't know where this originated from, I thought that I would take the liberty of posting it.

With apologies for offending anyone and everyone. Remember it is only a bit of fun.

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?" And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load - but simply said, "How, dear?" And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)." Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. The drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent. To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures: Hebrew To The People (HTTP). But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted for insider trading. And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS. And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drum heads and drumsticks. Lo, Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others!" And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known, he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are." And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com. Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything(GOOGLE) And that is how it all began.

 AS IF YOU HAD ANY DOUBTS !!!!!

TRUE LOVE

On the 16^th April my wife Diane’s Aunty Milly died aged 98. She was Diane’s dad’s youngest sister. 8 weeks later on the 11^th June her husband Jack died.

Milly and Jack originally met and fell in love in the early 1930s. However, the path of true love never runs smoothly. Milly’s parents did not approve of Jack because he was only a butcher. In those days, unlike today, girls didn’t very often go against their parents wishes, and in 1936, aged 24, Milly married Morry who was a tailor and whose parents had a menswear shop.

Jack was always a close friend of the family and Diane always referred to him as Uncle Jack. When I joined the family and called him Jack, he very quickly put me right and said it’s Uncle Jack to you. Jack was at our wedding, our three sons’ barmitzvahs and weddings.

In 1984 Uncle Morry died

Even though she was now free to marry “Uncle” Jack, she wouldn’t whilst Diane’s dad was still alive. He died in January 1989.and later that year Milly and Jack married, over 50 years after they first fell in love.

During the last few years they were in an old age home together, always arguing but still very much in love.

When Milly died, Jack couldn’t carry on without her.

On this day - 6th July

1712 - Abraham Rodriques-Ribera married Paloma Mizrahi at Bevis Marks Synagogue. He was born in 1690 He was Diane's 6 x great grandfather on her mother's maternal side.

On this day – 2nd July

In 1837 Abraham Bittan was born to Joshua Bittan and Esther Martin (Nunes Martinez). He was one of 11 children. His brother Benjamin was Diane’s greatgrandfather on her mother’s maternal side.

On this day – 1st July

In 1838 Moses Hart died.  He was Diane’s 2 x great grandfather on her mother’s paternal side..

COINCIDENCE

Looking in the diary, I noticed that a year ago (or to be precise 52 weeks ago on Sunday) we attended the wedding of the daughter of close friends.

The wedding ceremony (Chupa) took place in an Orthodox Synagogue in North West London. The Chupa was a wonderful occasion and the Rabbi in his speech to the newlyweds managed to bring in the disappointment the whole country felt at England being knocked out of the World Cup by Germany.

After the Chupa we then had to drive to the outskirts of North London to a restaurant where the reception and dinner and dance were being held.

It was a very hot day and the reception was held in the open air.

Following the reception we all (about 120) went to the function room which was above the restaurant. 

We were seated at round tables of 10, and all those on our table were friends we had known for over 30 years. Unfortunately one couple couldn’t make it because of illness so the table was only set for 8.

We were having our starter, when the head waiter came over and asked my wife Diane if she minded if they put someone next her as we had room on our table. Obviously Diane said to was ok.

We were then joined by, to me, a young woman in her early 40’s named Lisa. She explained to Diane that she lived in Brighton, and that a friend of hers, who was a friend of the bridegroom, had been invited with her son. The son couldn’t make it, and she had asked Lisa to go with her so that she wouldn’t have to travel on her own. It so happened that the son was supposed to sit on the children’s table and that’s why Lisa ended up next to Diane.

My wife, always on the look out to matchmake, although our 3 sons are all married, asked Lisa about herself. She said that she was a widow with 2 teenage daughters and found it very hard to meet Jewish men in Brighton. She stayed in Brighton only because her parents lived there.

Hearing part of the conversation, a sudden thought passed my mind. I leaned across and asked Lisa what her surname was. The answer she gave meant nothing to me. I then asked what her maiden name was. The answer was Feinson, and I replied that her dad Paul was my first cousin and that Paul’s dad and my mum were brother and sister. Lisa immediately phoned her dad, who I hadn’t seen for a few years.

I  know it’s a long story, but the amazing think is that she could have been put on any table and anywhere on our table.

On this day – 21st June

In 1857 Joshua Bittan was born in Stepney to Abraham Bittan and Miriam Solomons. He was a Cigar Maker and later a General Dealer in Clothing.

Joshua married Esther Martin at Bevis Marks Synagogue on 8^th August 1876.

In 1883 Joshua and his family moved to New York and 2 of his 8 children were born in New York. By 1901 the family was back in London.

Joshua’s uncle Benjamin is Diane’s Great Grandfather on her mother’s maternal side.

On this day – 16th June

In 1819 Eve Joshua married John Isaacs at the Hambro Synagogue, London. They had 3 children, Isaac, Elizabeth and Leah.

I believe that Eve and John were Diane’s 2 x great grandparents on her mother’s paternal side.

On this day - 11th June

My sister Carole was born in Slough, Bucks. I am too much of a gentleman to say which year.