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Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: Tillyboo on Friday 06 July 07 23:50 BST (UK)
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Hello,
My G Grandmothers brother, Herman (Third Generation), came to England from the Netherlands in the late 1800's - early 1900's before emmigrating to Australia in 1912.
The family surname was Bollegraaf but Herman changed his name to Isaacs upon emmigrating. Why would he do that ?
My G grandmother also took the name Isaacs and came to London, again we don't know when, and we had never heard of the name Bollegraaf until researching this line of the family.
We have the following information :
201. Herman Izak ISAACS (Salomon Izak BOLLEGRAAF , Jacob Simons BOLLEGRAAF , Simon Isaacs ) was born on 31 Jul 1878 in Amsterdam, NH, NL. He died on 16 Sep 1943 in Randwick, Sydney, AUS.
It appears that Herman Izaak Isaacs was Herman Izaak Bollegraaf, but was forced to change his name when he immigrated from the Netherlands to Britain. Iimmigrated from Londen to Australie, possible in 1912.
Herman married Elizabeth ITALIAANDER on 7 Jun 1903 in Londen, UK. Elizabeth was born in 1877 in Amsterdam, NH, NL. She died on 17 Feb 1949 in Randwick, Sydney, AUS.
They had the following children:
+ 522 F i Sara ISAACS
+ 523 M ii Simon ISAACS (SIMON WAS THE JUDGE)
+ 524 M iii Joseph ISAACS
+ 525 M iv Salomon (Charles\Charlie) ISAACS
+ 526 F v Lena ISAACS
+ 527 M vi Maurice ISAACS
528 M vii Larry ISAACS died in 1912 in Onboardship To Australia .
Does anyone know anything about the name Bollegraaf or indeed the Bollegraaf family ?
From the information i have it seems the vast majority sadly perished in the WW2 camps.
We have the Genealogy of Simon Isaacs Bollegraaff (First Generation) and this is what it say's :
Simon Isaacs BOLLEGRAAFF was born on 9 Jul 1764 in Amsterdam, NH, NL. He died on 7 Mar 1839 in Martenshoek, Hoogezand, GR, NL. Simon was employed as Kruier, Porter.
This man adopts the name Bollegraaff. See certificate of name adopting, Cityarchives Amsterdam
Would this certificate be available online ? My internet connection is really playing up so I'm going to switch off in a minute (this is my 3rd attempt at posting before my laptop crashes again !)
Many thanks
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This site might be worth a look- lots of Bollegraafs mentioned in the database: www.dutchjewry.org
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Hi Tillyboo,
You haven't quoted the source of your information but, on Googling, it seems that it possibly comes from the following site (or is this your site?):
http://www.mh-tempel.nl/stamboom/bollegraaf/
(You list Herman as number 201 and he is listed on that site as number 201; etc, etc ...).
That site states (as do you) that Herman Izaak BOLLEGRAAF was forced to change his name to Herman Izaak ISAACS when he migrated from the Netherlands to the UK. If it is your site, what is the source of the information about being 'forced'; and if it is not your own site, have you contacted the site owner and enquired as to the source of the information ???
From the above website it seems that it was a reversion from BOLLEGRAAF to the family's original name of ISAACS? That is, that the 1764 paterfamilias was born as Simon ISAACS but changed his name to BOLLEGRAAF. Perhaps the reason is given in the quoted certificate about this change? Have you enquired of the owner of the website whether he/she has a copy of that certificate?
Over to you,
JAP
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Hi Aghadowey,
Oh, this research is becoming so difficult and confusing for me. I have just received a copy of my GG, Leah's 2nd marriage certificate from 1919 and I was shocked to see a different father's name to the one we have researched.
We have Leah's father to be Salomon Jacob Izak but the 2nd marriage certificate states her father to be Charles Izak. I have had a very quick look but cannot see a Charles in my data (http://www.mh-tempel.nl/stamboom/bollegraaf/pafg04.htm#457C) other than Salomon (Charles\Charlie) ISAACS who was Herman's (Leah's brother) son.
Maybe Leah didn't want to record her father's correct name or want to be traced/ identified because she was Jewish ? Or, maybe her father changed his name to Charles or wanted to be known as Charles. At least the Izak bit is constant. But who knows ?
My mother has confirmed some of the names within the website above as she remembers her Gran talking about them and two actually visited whilst my mum was very young.
I will check out the website you suggested, thank-you !
Hi JAP, your post has just popped up. Yes, it is indeed the website you refer to. no, it's not my site but I have since contacted the authors and so far introduced myself and given the history of my family. I will ask about the history of the change of name. Unfortunately there is no further data related to Leah other than what is listed but I could ask about her father possibly changing his name to Charles from Simon.
It's all very intriguing. I will post back when I have received a reply, the author seems very helpful and pleased I have contacted her.
Laurie
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Also try Yad Vashem website (www.yadvashem.org) to search database. There are lots of Bollegraaf entries to go through but the Testimony records are especially helpful as they were filled out by surviving relatives.
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Hi Aghadowey, that sounds really interesting, thank-you. How do you know so much ? You seem to be very knowledgeable in the Dutch/ Jewish area.
I still haven't had any luck identifying where Sarah Eskildsen (Leah's daughter & my Grandmother) was born (previous posts). We now think she was born in Antwerp. Can you point me in a direction of a website that might be able to help me find her in local records ?
Laurie :)
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Have used Yad Vashem website to trace people that were talked about when I was a child and found it very easy to find what I was looking for in it.
Haven't done any Belgium research except for my German relatives travelling through Antwerp. Have a look at what's listed for Cyndi's List for Belgium.
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Hi Aghadowey,
News at last ! ...
I have just found a birth entry in the UK census for 1906 for the right Q for my grandmother, Sarah Eskildsen, daughter of Leah Isaacs (Bollegraaf).
She is registered as Isaacs in an area I didn't recognise so I may have by-past it at an early stage. I've researched so many names and variations of names and spellings I've lost count and the trail had got very confusing.
So, it looks like she was illegitimate and later took the name Eskildsen and Alf Shou/ Shau was not my biologcal great grandfather.
My mum was always told her grandfather was Portuguese so we couldn't understand where that had come from .... now we know.
Anyway, I've ordered the birth certificate so hopefully a better picture will emerge.
Laurie
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Have just put a few misc. thoughts about Alf on other posting. Now, reading the above have a few more ideas which I will send in a pm instead of posting in the open.
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Ooh, sounds intriguing ! pm - is that 'private mail' ?
Haven't even started on my fathers side of the family yet and I'm exhausted. God knows what I'll unearth there !
I stay up way too late and moan the next day that I'm tired. My hubby tells me not to stay up too late every night but I can't help it.
Looking forward to your mail !
Laurie
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Hi,
I found this on the Dutch genlias site. It seems that the family lived mostly in hte province of Groningen. His profession changes from "sjouwer" = porter to is "Kramer", which means Pedlar, to Koopman = merchant.
Simon Izak Bollegraaf, died 07-03-1839 in Martenshoek, which is within the boundaries of the municipality of Hoogezand. He was 75 years old and it says that he was born in Amsterdam.
The name of his father is Izak Bollegraaf and his mother's first name is given as Marchien, but no surname. It also says that he was the husband of Hester Abraham Cohen.
You write the name of his son as Herman, but on Genlias it's always spelled as Heiman.
It also appears that the family also went back to Germany at times, because their son Abraham (son of Izak and Hester) was born in Rheinberg in Germany according to his marriage records.
You can find all this on Genlias but you need to decipher the Dutch.
If you would like me to look up some things for you, let me know.
Greenvalley
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aghadowey and greenvalley, One learns so much on RC - many thanks to you both.
aghadowey, I'd not seen the Yad Vashem website. Although I'd been aware that the mother/grandmother of dear friends of mine had perished in Theresienstadt, it still comes as a shock to read her name on that site.
JAP
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I just came across Tillyboo's 2007 queries about the name change of Herman Izak Bollegraaf to Herman Isaacs some time in the late 19th or early 20th centuries and the extensive response to them. Lots of interesting speculation there...
Let me add some facts to the (possibly now dead -- anyone listening out there?) discussion and fuel a little further speculation!
I am a grandson of Herman Isaacs. As I understand it, the story about him being forced to change his name to Isaacs (presumably by some British immigration official who did not like foreign names) has no documentary evidence to support it and some members of the Isaacs family in Australia dispute it with other variations.
I am certain of the following: I have seen a scan of his birth certificate and his name is Bollegraaf and so is that of his father.
I have also seen a scan of his certificate of marriage to Elizabeth Italiaander in London in 1903 and there his name definitely is Isaacs. When, where and why he changed his name between his birth in 1878 and his marriage in 1903 is as far as I know unknown.
It would be interesting if anyone had an earlier document (eg a British census document). We could then see what name he used.
Indeed I do not even know when he moved from the Netherlands to England or why.
Family scuttlebut has it that he met Elizabeth in London, but we do not know when and why she moved from Amsterdam to London or why. Given their common Jewishness and origin in Amsterdam it seems at least possible they had already met there.
Enlightenment would be great, as would a copy of the birth certificate of Elizabeth Italiaander!
Cheers
igeoff
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Hi
I had another look at Genlias and found the following:
Source Burgerlijke stand - Huwelijk
Archives Groninger Archieven
General Place: Groningen
Type: Wedding Document
Document number: 285
Date: 15-12-1839
Groom Heiman Bollegraaf
DOB: 02-12-1814
Place of Birth: Hoogezand
Bride Bloeme Koekkoek
DOB: 09-10-1817
Place of Birth: Groningen
Father groom Simon Izaks Bollegraaf
Mother groom Hester Abraham Cohen
Father Bride Barend Benjamin Koekkoek
Mother bride Heintje Jacobs
More info Profession of groom, father groom and father bride: entrepreneur (koopman = seller of something)
groom 25 years; bride 22 years
Simon Izak Bollegraaf died 07-03-1839 aged 75 years in Martenshoek part of. Hoogezand
Hester Abraham Cohen died 26-03-1853 aged 82 in Martenshoek, part of Hoogezand, she was a widow and her husband came from Amsterdam
Heiman Bollegraaf died 08-03-1892, aged 77 in Martenshoek
Bloeme Koekkoek died 07-04-1903 aged 86 in Martenshoek
The name is always spelled as Heiman, not Herman, but I can't find a birth for Herman Isaacs. I wonder if they simply dropped the name because it was too difficult for te Brits to pronounce?
Greenvalley
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Hello, it's great that this discussion is still alive.
A bit more to add to the story ...
My Gt Grandmother, Leah, was Hermans sister. Leah's husband Alf Shou (Schau?) Eskildsen went to Australia to join the Australian Infantry but upon enlisting stated he was single and that his name was in fact Alf Edwards. Haven't a clue why he lied but he did later retract the false info and did cough up that he was married and had joined under a false name.
I came across a copy of a letter from Herman to Alf begging him to give himself up to the authorities, for what reason I do not know, otherwise Herman was going to have to pay Alf's debts, lose his home and basically be thrown out onto the street. It's a very sad and cross letter with Herman basically telling Alf he was a cad and when was he going to face his responsibilities, that he had a wife and child back in London and also that the whole affair was affecting his beloved Elizabeth.
Alf and Leah are a mystery, I am not sure that my Grandmother, Sarah, was in fact Alf's daughter as on the birth certificate the father is left blank. Did Alf get Leah pregnant, leave her on her own and then come back later and marry Leah or was he a stepfather to Sarah.
Alf died of blood poisoning on a hospital ship in Plymouth after being hit by shrapnel in 1918. I have visited his grave at Plymouth Cemetry which was very moving as my mum could see her mum (Sarah) and Grandmother (Leah) names on the headstone.
Any more info about Leah or Alf would be very welcome :)
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This is more a reply to greenvalley's's post today than to the most recent one about Alf from tillyboo.
However, I really would like to hear from tillyboo outside this discussion,but haven't been using this forum long enough to know how to do so -- over to you tillyboo.
Firstly, I am a grandson of Herman Isaacs. He is NOT descended from Heiman, but from Jacob Simons, an older son of Simon Isaac Bollegraaff.
I now have several ORIGINAL documents relating to names.
Firstly Herman Izak's birth certificate (photostat of the Dutch original, which someone got from the Amsterdam Burgerlijke Stand, whose archives are NOT on the web) makes NO mention of the name Bollegraaf. His father is given as Saloman Izak and his mother Saartje Frank.
Second, the 1901 Census of England and Wales has Herman Izak and his future wife Elizabeth Italiaander by exactly those names. Again no mention of Bollegraaf. No name change at all so far.
Herman married in 1903 (I have a copy of the certificate) as Herman Isaacs (A simple anglicizing of Izak).
That's it. I have lots on his coming to Australia, life there etc, but no name change.
Now, back to the line of descent. We have Herman Isaacs (Izak) is the son of Salomon Izak who is the son of Jacob Simons who may be Izaak or Bollegraaf: I have no primary source.
His father was Simon Isaac, who was also the father of Heiman.
On 26 May 1812, obeying the new Napoleonic Law obliging everyone to have a surname, Simon Isaac took the surname Bollegraaff (yes, two fs, but given the contemporary attitude to spelling this does not matter). I have a copy of the name taking certificate in front of me. It is dated before Heiman's birth, so he does not appear on it. Six other children do.
It says (in 19th century Dutch of course) that, in accordance with the law, these children too should bear the name Bollegraaff (Heiman, too and any other later issue presumably).
Looking at the descendants of the various lines on the tree it would appear that most, if not all of the children did this. Hence all the Bollegraafs.
I have some doubts about Jacob Simons (in my line of descent), because his son Salomon and HIS son Herman seem to have used the surname Izak. When I get to Holland next year, or perhaps via the Groningen archives, which are on line, I will check this.
To summarize, however, the original issue was how Herman Izak Bollegraaf became Herman Isaacs. I believe the answer is that he never was Bollegraaf. The only change was Izak to Isaacs.
Cheers
Geoff
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Amsterdam archives :
death registration Amsterdam 25 March 1755
Engelbart Bollegraaf.
Also a search warrant for Samuel Bollegraaf dated 14 January 1870.
This police record was kept with a passport photograph of released prisoners to keep track of them
Amsterdam Police
You can buy and find the record here:
https://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/archieven/archiefbank/indexen/signalementenregister/handleiding/index.nl.html
https://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/archieven/archiefbank/indexen/doopregisters/zoek/search.nl.pl?v1=&b1=&a1=bollegraaf&r1=0&v2=&b2=&a2=&r2=0&d1=&m1=&y1=&d2=&m2=&y2=&rs=0&x=53&y=4
Also marriage registration records Amsterdam :
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Hi,
I am sorry if I upset anyone. I didn't mean to interfere, was just trying to help.
Greenvalley
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Greenvally - I have not been offended or upset so please don't worry ! It's great to get lots of info and ideas form others on RC :)
This part of my family is a real mystery, it's driving me bonkers and I'm not sure if it's possible to find out the answers I desperately want i.e. the true identity of the father of Leah's daughter, Sarah (my Grandmother). Also, why Leah came to the UK and why did Alf deny any relationship upon enlisting in the Australian Infantry.
I guess some things are meant to remain a mystery.
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Herman, Leah's brother came to the UK in 1899 or 1900 (according to a police report of an interview with him in his Australian naturalization file). When did Leah come?
I suspect that we are going to have to look at the history of the Jew people in Europe and the Netherlands for likely reasons for emigration. It might just be that Herman and Leah were part of a more widespread trend to move at this time.
I have done no research on this yet, but specific issues like antisemitism and more society-wide ones like unemployment or an economic depression are the usual suspects.