Hi list,

at the moment I am trying to understand a Familiant >from Prague.
The closer you look at it the more complicated it gets.

My gggggrandfather Elias Pohl (born in Prague in 1764) married Sara Katz >from
Jenikof in 1793. Three years later in 1796 their son Lippmann, my GGGGfather,
was born.

On the marriage certificate his wife's father's name is given as Philip Katz

from Jenikof. On the Familiant her name is given as Saara Lippmann Philip.

Am I right to believe that Lippmann perhaps was her grandfather's name and
Philip is her father's name, the one I found on her birth certificate.
So Saara's first born son Lippmann probably was named after Saara's grandfather?
Why is Saaara's father's family name Katz not mentioned on the Familiant?

On the Familiant there are no more son's of Saara and Elias given.

But there is one thing that really makes me wonder.

The entry for Saara Lippmann Philip is followed by the German word "geschieden"
= divorced.

And Elias married again in 1818 at the age of 54. The name of this second wife
was Helena Isak Schmelkes. They had three more sons, in 1819, 1821 and in 1829,
when he was 65. Elias died in 1832 at the age of 68.

As Elias' first son Lippmann Pohl received the marriage consensus and became
the new Familiant. The names of his parents are given as Elias and Helena.
Why is his mother's name given as Helena and not Saara, his mother's name?

And of course I would like to know what a Jewish divorce almost two hundret
years ago was like. What did it mean for the parents and children?

Regards

Peter Zimmer
Muenster, Germany