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
