Whereabouts of Benjamin and Rosa LEVY in 1841 Census

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
Have so far drawn a blank in discovering where this small Sephardic Jewish family were in the 1841 Census.  Benjamin LEVY and his wife Rosa (MANDOLA) were at an address in Three Tuns Alley, Whitechapel in the 1851 Census, with their expanding family of 5 children then.  I have an earlier address for Benjamin of 37, Goulston Rd, Whitechapel in 1844.  He was born in Germany or Prussia in about 1815, and there's an immigration document for him coming to London in 1836.  Rosa MANDOLA was born some time between 1819 and 1821, and they apparently married in Germany some time between 1834 and 1836, I believe.  They had a son Abraham born in 1840 in the Aldgate area.
Could anyone possibly locate them for me in the 1841 London/Middlesex Census, please?
Many thanks, Keith

[middlesbrough]

1841
Still Alley, St Botolph without Aldgate, East London.

Benjamin Levy 23 Foreign
Rose 20
Abraham 1

Piece no. 725
Schedule 397

They are with
David mench 65
Isaac 5
Abraham 4

[Keith Sherwood]

Oh, very well done with that, Middlesborough!
Thanks so much,
Keith

[JustinL]

Hello Keith,

I didn't notice any other posts from you in relation to this family, so I was wondering whether they are part of your core interests.

My surname is Levy, and I can't resist researching bearers of the same surname.

The 1891 census indicates that Benjamin was born in Fraustadt, which was in the Prussian province of Posen. It is now called Wschowa in Poland. He would have been Ashkenazi Jewish.

His wife's maiden name was Meldola, not Mandola. Judging by the names that she and Benjamin gave to their children, I would say that she was a daughter (or granddaughter) of Raphael de Hezekiah Moses Meldola and his wife Estelle. The Meldola family appear to have moved from Livorno, Italy, to London in the first decade of the 19th century.

Estelle Meldola was recorded as a widow in 1841 and 1851 censuses, she died in 1851.

Justin

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Justin,
The background to my interest and enquiry is this.  I very recently made contact again with a close friend of mine from college days.  For nearly 50 years sadly no communication passed  between us.  However, now we are reconnected he is very interested to discover more about his Ashkenazi Jewish roots, and as I have been a regular on Rootschat for the last 18 years I told him I would put out feelers on here for him.
His father passed to him literature and a family tree that suggests he is descended from the De Sola family.  And I realise that you can believe nothing you read on those Ancestry Public Member trees.  But his gt-gt-grandma Rosa Mandola/Meldola appears there as a daughter of David Aaron De Sola, b.1796 in Holland, d.1860 in Hackney.  And thereafter the De Sola family tree dates back to the 9thC apparently.
You are probably far better informed than I am about Jewish ancestry - this is my very first foray into it on my friend's behalf - so do please disabuse me of any of the "facts" I might have erroneously got hold of!
Very best wishes, Keith

[JustinL]

Hi Keith,

Great to hear that you've reconnected with an old friend.

I think I have seen that Ancestry public tree. Much of the information is correct. However, Rosa Meldola was more likely a niece or sister in law of David de Sola, who was married to Rebecca born Meldola. Both Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews had fixed surnames in the UK by the start of the 19th century.

I'll check through the Jewish records, but I'm probably going to be very short of time over the next couple of weeks.

All the best, Justin

[Keith Sherwood]

That's so helpful of you, Justin...
All in good time, many thanks for that, although I see I'm already mixing up Sephardic (which my friend insists is his Jewish ancestry, with his gt-grandparents Moss Benjamin LEVY and Julia MOSS marrying in the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue in Bryanston St, Marylebone in 1886) and Ashkenazi, in my ignorance...
Keith

[JustinL]

Hello Keith,

Just wondering if you had noticed my private message to you.

Justin

[T-A]

Hello - I'm a bit late to this post - thank you for the information here Keith and Justin.

Did Benjamin Levy travel on the 'Oriental' ship to Wellington, NZ in c. 1839? Thank you