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 – 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.

Surnames Continued

The next batch of surnames relating to direct ancestors, covers I - M

Isaacs – this line starts with John Isaacs born in London in 1796. He is Diane’s 2 x great grandfather.

Joshua – this line starts (and ends) with Eve Joshua who married John Isaacs (see above) in the Hambro Synagogue, London in 1819. She is Diane’s 2 x great grandmother.

Levy – this line starts with Yehuda Levy born about 1780. He is Diane’s 3 x greatgrandfather.

Malnick – this line starts (and ends) with Leah Malnick born in Russia in about 1863. She married my great grandfather Joseph Balsom in about 1888 probably before they came to England.

Martin - Martines – Nunes Martines – this line starts with Jose Nunes Martinez who was born 1690 and was married in Bevis Marks in 1711. He is Diane’s 6 x greatgrandfather.

Mendoza – de Mendoza- Mendosa – this line starts with Patriarch de Mendoza born about 1624 in Seville, Spain. He is Diane’s 8 x great grandfather.

Miller – this line starts (and ends) with Yetta Miller born in Russia in about 1858. She married my great grandfather Solomon Godalski in about 1877 before they came to England.

Mizrahi – this line starts (and ends) with Palmona Mizrahi who married Abraham Rodriques-Ribera. She is Diane’s 6 x great grandmother.

Surnames

In our family tree when you include our extended families, there are about 100 surnames. Of these, however, only about 30 are direct ancestors. Over the next few blogs I will go through our ancestors. So lets start with A-D. Actually there are no A’s or D’s.

Balsom – Balzum – Belson - Benson – this line starts with my paternal greatgrandfather Joseph Balsom who came to England from Russia around 1889.

Benjamin – Binjamin – this line starts with Benjamin Benjamin whose daughter Leah married Moses Hart in 1819.  Benjamin was Diane’s maternal 3 x greatgrandfather

Bittan – Betan – this line starts with Yamin (Abraham) Betan who was born in Gibraltar and then moved to Morocco. He is Diane’s maternal 3 x greatgrandfather.

Cardoso – Nunes Cardoso – this line starts with Moses Nunes Cardoso who was married in Bevis Marks, London in 1697. He is Diane’s maternal 7 x greatgrandfather

                       

Chaves – de Chaves – this line starts with Rachel de Chaves who married Moses Nunes Cardoso (see above). She is Diane’s maternal 7 x greatgrandmother.

The first thing I want to say is that I am very lazy. I think I should rename my blog “The Lazy Genealogist”. Jennifer Shoer at The Scrappy Genealogist very kindly sent me the Ancestor Approved Award, which was begun by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here. She did this on 15^th January and it has taken me till now to respond.

I must admit that I had not come across this award before but it is a great idea. So firstly thanks to Leslie Ann for coming up with the idea and secondly thanks to Jennifer Shoer for thinking of my blog. I know that “An English Jewish Family’s quest for their roots” is a bit of a mouthful but it seemed a good idea at the time and I hope you find it interesting.

The award asks the recipient to list ten things learnt about any of their ancestors that have surprised, humbled or enlightened them. It also asks the recipient to pass the award along to ten other bloggers who they feel are doing their ancestors proud.

So firstly my ancestors and I include my wife Diane’s ancestors in this:

1. I have found that I know nothing about my ancestors prior to them coming to England in the late 19^th century from what was then Russia and is now Poland.
2. Similarly we know nothing about Diane’s father’s family prior to them coming to England about the same time and from the same area.
3. Diane’s maternal grandmother Dinah was Sephardi.
4. Diane’s Sephardi line has been in England for over 300 years.
5. The first recorded marriage in Diane’s family in England was in 1697 in Bevis Marks Synagogue.
6. Diane is distantly related to the actor Peter Sellers, to the first “scientific” boxer Daniel Mendoza and to Rufus Isaacs, first Marquess of Reading and Viceroy of India. 
7. My oldest grandson is a firstborn child as is his father, as I am, as my father was and his father was. Not sure if it means anything but we had a Pidyon Haben for my oldest son and for my oldest grandson.
8. I found that I had a brother who died at the age of 10 months when I was 4 years old.
9. Diane has ancestors from Italy, Spain, Gibraltar, Holland, Argentina, Morocco, Russia and of course England.
10. Diane and I have found cousins so far in Australia and the USA.

Secondly bloggers that I respect. Jennifer obviously has very similar tastes in blogging to me, since 4 of her awards are to blogs on my reading list. So here goes:

1. dearmyrtles-genealogy-blog at http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/
2. Dick Eastmans online genealogy blog and newsletter at http://blog.eogn.com/
3. Geneamusings at http://www.geneamusings.com/
4. Geneabloggers at http://www.geneabloggers.com/
5. Genealogy Blog at http://www.genealogyblog.com/
6. Genealogy Star at http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/
7. Ancestry Insider at http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/
8. Blundering Blindly Backwards at http://blunderingblindlybackwards.blogspot.com/. I wish that I had thought of this name. It sums up everything I do.
9. You Don’t Choose Your Family at http://mikeydawson.wordpress.com/
10. The Wandering Genealogist at http://wanderinggenealogist.wordpress.com/