Abraham Moses / Morris Marks and Family

[Leofwine]

This is a bit of a long shot, but I'm trying to trace my Great Great Grandfather, one Abraham Moses Marks.  I don't have masses of information on him, but here's what I do have.
Born: 1863, probably in Russia or eastern Europe
In 1881 he lived at 5, Fishers Alley, Spitalfields and was a Machiner At Tailors. He lived with his mother Leah (B. 1829, Warsaw) and stepfather Lazarus Levy (b. 1825, Warsaw), a Sponge Hawker.
His mother may have been at Whitechapel in 1871 as Leah Marks, but I have been unable to check the census entry yet.  Before that I don't know.
From at least 1888-1891 or after he was at West Bromwich, Staffordshire where he was married to Alice (b. abt 1855) and had 3 children - Rosalie Dorothy (my great grandmother), Michael Jacob and Montague.
I think in 1891 he was in Walsall, Staffordshire.

Any information about him or his ancestors would be great. I suspect his family may have come here from eastern europe (family tradition said Hungary or possibly he Ukraine or eastern Romania) in the 1860s, and if this is the case, can anyone suggest where to look for information. As a Jewish family, the move may not have been entirely voluntary.

[Tati]

Hi Leofwine,

The 1891 and 1901 Censuses say Abraham was born in London, and there's this birth registration:

Abraham Moses Marks
Jun 1863 Whitechapel 1c 346

 

[Tati]

FreeBMD has this marriage:

Marriage Dec 1870 London C 1c 207
Lazarus Levy to possibly Leah Marks

The 1871 census entry has Abraham's birth year out though:
1871
RG10/510 11 17
Christchurch Spitalfields, London
26 Dorset St
Lazarus Levy, head, 48, Glazier, b. Russia
Leah, wife, 45, b. Poland
Abraham, son, 10, Cigar Maker, b. do.
Mark, son, 8, ditto, b. do.
Mary, dau, 14, ditto, b. do.
Rachel, dau, 11, ditto, b. do.
Abraham Horn, lodger, unm, 20, ditto, b. do.
Lazarus Lopera?, lodger, unm, 22, Tailor, b. do.

Do you have Abraham's marriage cert? What does it say about his father?

[Tati]

Hmm. Am I right thinking you can't find a marriage record? 

Also, it looks like Rosalie's parents separated, doesn't it?

In 1891, Abraham and Alice M are living together at West Bromwich but in 1901 at Walsall he is with a different wife (Martha) and his sons, while Alice M is living with the daughters in Birmingham. 

If you're positive that your Abraham had a middle name Moses, I suppose the 1863 birth cert would be an interesting cert to get.

[Leofwine]

Thanks for that Tati!

I have very little information on this side of the family.  Even though Great Grandma Rosalie (or "Nanna at the Zoo" as I knew her - her last years were spent living just near London Zoo) and her (separated or divorced, I don't know) Husband "Grandpa Lewis" (William Edward Vaughn Lewis) died during my lifetime, I only met Rosalie once when I was about 3 so I don't really remember her, and "Grandpa Lewis disowned his family and I never met him.  I know that there were scandals involving him and his wife Rosalie, and my grandfather would rarely talk about what went on.  I only discovered that my grandfather had any siblings when I saw the 1911 census recently!

Family tradition says that my great grandfather (W.E.V. Lewis) was a surgeon at Sheffield Hospital caused a major scandal when he married a Jewess who was also a Tiller Girl (or might have been a Windmill girl).  Apparently this, or some other scandal associated with his wife, caused him to lose his job.  I don't know much about him after that other than he ended up back in Kent at the end of his life.

I know a few more stories of Rosalie, and from those I wish I'd known her properly, she sounds like an interesting lady!  My grandfather always said the family came from Hungary, but I am not sure if that was just a generic term he used for eastern Europe.  As well as the Tiller/Windmill girl episode, she seems to have been an eccentric woman in her later life.  Despite having been brought up a Jewess, at 80 she decided to convert to Catholocism.  At about 90 she travelled alone to the states on the QE2, and when she died a couple of years later, on her hospital death bed she asked my grandfather to have the priest sent to her for her last rites.  He quipped "Did she want the priest or the rabbi?" as he left.  She lasted a week or 2 more after this, and the next time my grandfather visited her the ward sister pulled him to one side and explained  that she had had the whole staff in hysterics. She had ended up calling the priest AND the rabbi and the two had actually passed each other in the corridor as one was leaving her room and the other was going to see her!  I guess she believed in hedging her bets!

I notice that in the 1911 Census William & Rosalie Lewis have been married 3 years, but have an an adopted daughter called Kathleen Marks - I cant help wondering if, given Rosalie's 'wild' reputation this may in fact be her daughter, born out of wedlock.  Certainly that would have been cause for scandal in the Edwardian medical world!

That was pretty much all I 'knew' about her before I started looking into that side of the family recently.  I only discovered her actual name recently (and my great grandfather's) when I obtained my grandfather's birth certificate which listed her as "Rosalie Dorothy Lewis, formerly Marks".   The rest I have managed to find out so far has come purely from the census reports, but luckily the 1891 census only has one Rosalie (or variant) D Marks in it, and the 1911 only has one Rosalie Dorothy Lewis.  I haven't been able to positively identify her in the 1901 census.

The same applies to Abraham Moses Marks, everything I have on him has come from a couple of census records.  So far on that side of the family I have no BDM certificates for any of the family beyond my grandfather.

I'd not seen that 1871 census entry, but that does look like him given the rest of the family listed there.   It's been a year or so since I last had a chance to do any digging, and I did have a handwritten note suggesting possibly Whitechapel 1863 as a birthdate for him.  Right now I can't remember where the identity as Abraham Moses Marks came from, but I'm 95% sure it was a pretty firm reference.  It's amazing how many small details you can forget in a year-18 months

I think maybe I need to try and get Rosalie's Birth certificate to be sure about the parental names - roll on payday! *LOL*

[Tati]

I'm pretty sure this is Rosalie in 1901:

1901
RG13/2840 41 25
Birmingham, Warwickshire
84 Well Street
4 rooms occupied
Alice M Marks, head, mar, 36 (or 34), Dressmaker (own account, at home), b. Staffs West Bromwich
Rosy, dau, 14, Printing (folding), b. do.
Louisa, dau, 10, b. do.
Charlotte Jones, boarder, s, 42?, Charwoman, b. Penkridge
William Smith, boarder, s, 35, Jeweller - Brooch Maker, b. America

Someone has a tree on ancestry giving Alice's full name as Alice Mary Coleman but they say they haven't found a marriage either.

[Leofwine]

Thank you again Tati.

I currently only have access to the 1881 free census, but looking at that I found an Alice M Coleman that seems to fit, living with her parents and maternal grandmother.  If I've identified her correctly that's great as it takes the line back 2 more generations!  This is the entry, what do you think?

1881
RG11/2819  95 37
Walsall, Darlaston, Staffordshire
42, Bull St, Darlaston
COLEMAN, Thomas B, Head, Mar, 40, Master Painter Employs 7 Hands, b. 1841 Willenhall Staffordshire
COLEMAN, May, Wife, Mar, 39, b. 1842 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Alice M, Dau, Single, 17, b. 1864 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Ada A, Dau, 15, b. 1866 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Mary E, Dau, 11, Sch, b. 1870 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Martha L, Dau, 9, Sch, b. 1872 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Clara M, Dau, Sch, 7, b. 1874 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Albert E, Son, 2, b. 1879 Darlaston Staffordshire
COLEMAN, Violet M, Dau, 0, b. 1881 Darlaston Staffordshire
WOOD, Mary, Mother In Law, Widow, 63, 1818 Darlaston Staffordshire
     

[jorose]

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
 - catalogue shows the divorce in 1924, his name is given as "William Edward Vaughan Lewis", Rosalie was the one who divorced him.

He seems to have served in the Boer War:
http://www.angloboerwar.com/Other/shipping/190211.htm

The medical register/medical directory would help you track his history.
If you search for "Lewis, William E.V." on Google Books it shows an entry in 1936 where he's listed as being restored to the Medical Register.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2461448/pdf/brmedj07589-0049.pdf
 (don't know if you can show this but Lewis, William E.V. was removed from the medical register in 1935, as he hadn't responded to a letter sent to him from the General Medical council asking to confirm whether or not his details were correct.)

[Leofwine]

Thank you jorose, that's really interesting stuff!

The Boer War connection is really intriguing as WEV Lewis is my mothers paternal grandfather, and I know her maternal grandfather (William Frederick Rudman, b. Dover, Kent 23 Apr 1882) also served in the Boer War, but as a member of the South African Constabulary.

The date for the divorce is very helpful, and I'm surprised she divorced him, I had always assumed the separation had been his decision.  I guess that helps explain some of the bitterness he felt.

I also didn't know he'd ever been removed from the medical Register, now I'll have to try and find out more about that