On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 16:26:31 UTC, Jslevey@aol.com wrote:

Hello,

As you all know, I wrote in a few weeks ago that I had started on my family
tree and discussed my father's side of the family, who had migrated to
England.

I found that according to the British census my grtgrt grandfather, Samuel
Levy (sometimes spelled Levi in the British records) was born around 1856 in
Warsaw. I now understand that there is a region (and also a province?) named
Warsaw and that he could be >from a small town within that region and/or
province. Prior to 1881 after marrying my grtgrt grandmother, Leah Caro, he
cannot be found on any census. He married Leah in 1878, in Birmingham, and
lived in Birmingham until his death in about 1896. He was a boot finisher.
I ordered a copy of the certificate of marriage registration, which states
that his father's name was Lewis Levy and that he was a peddler. I don't
think Samuel migrated with his family, as I find nothing on any census for a
Lewis Levy that would match (birth year and/or place is off).

I do know that Lewis would have to have died prior to 1887, because Samuel
and Leah named one of their sons Louis.

I have looked on Jewish Gen databases searching all of Poland but I can't
find anything that seems to match.

I'm not in a position to visit Poland right now, especially since I'm not
really sure where exactly I am looking. Does anyone have any suggestions as to
how one finds the town of origin and how one might find some type of record
of this family. I realize that the spelling could have been LEWI or LEWY in
Poland in addition to Levy/Levi.

I understand >from your description above that you are looking in the Polish
records for a "Lewis LEVI" (spelled somehow). The probability of findind a
Lewis LEVI (or any other surname) in Poland is vanishingly small. But
perhaps I have missed something in your posting.

It does seem strange that Samuel took it upon himself to anglicize the
forename of a parent who was in Poland and therefore not in need of
anglicization, but we know little of Samuel and his proclivities.

Perhaps you have already looked for more probable names, e.g. forms of
Eliezer (Lazar, Lejzor, etc), and have just not mentioned it. Not that there
is a logical track between any particular Polish/Yiddish/Jewish name and
Lewis.......

Good luck.

--
Stan Goodman, Qiryat Tiv'on, Israel

Searching:
NEACHOWICZ/NOACHOWICZ, NEJMAN/NAJMAN, SURALSKI: Lomza Gubernia
ISMACH: Lomza Gubernia, Galicia, and Ukraina
HERTANU, ABRAMOVICI, LAUER: Dorohoi District, Romania
GRISARU, VATARU: Iasi, Dorohoi, and Mileanca, Romania

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