I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so I hope I'm doing it right!

I'm trying to trace the roots of my paternal grandfather, who was known as Lewis BOWMAN when he moved to London, probably in the first decade of the 20th century (he married my grandmother, Rebecca WEINSTEIN in London in 1910 so he must have arrived in England before then). The only document I have for him with any information about his family is his UK naturalisation certificate. It gives his date of birth as 10 March 1877, his birthplace as "Kutno, Warsaw, Poland, Russia" and his parents' names as Joseph and Eva. According to my father, the family name was BAUMAN. The only other written evidence I have in my possession of this being the family name is a photo of four young people, probably taken around 1930 with the names Jozef, Sabrina, Bela and Henryk BAUMAN written on the back and apparently taken in Warsaw. I don't know who these people are.

I have searched extensively in JewishGen and JRI-Poland with name alternatives for Lewis, Joseph and Eva and found nothing, even expanding the search to the whole of Poland. I've also searched for the four in the photo and again, nothing. I am trying to get hold of my grandfather's death certificate in the hope it might lead to a gravestone with his and his father's Hebrew names, which might give me another clue. But other than that possibility (impossible at the moment because of coronavirus lockdown), I've met that famous brick wall.

If any of this sounds familiar to anyone or if anyone can give me guidance on where else I can look, I would be most grateful if you could let me know.

Many thanks.

Hi,
My grand grand mother was Sura Bauman (maiden name).
I have about a hundred of names on this side of the family, back to 1750.
The names you mention sound familiar but except for Henryk Bauman I can't find them in my tree (yet?)
Trick is, my Bauman's family is from Ciechanow, now 1h55 drive from Kutno. So maybe it won't lead us anywhere, but it might worth having tchat to try figuring if we are related.
Best,

In the UK, Lewis Bowman & Rebecca Weinstein had 2 children, Fannie & Israel, see the indexed births on the website of www.freebmd.org.uk 
There is also the indexed ref. for the Marriage of Lewis Bowman to Rebecca Weinstein in 1910.  
There is an entry for Lewis Bowman in the database of www.findmypast.org.uk in the 1911 Census  for England & Wales this is a paid for website.

If you need any further advice in UK research you could contact me, or put a message on the Facebook page of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain.  Regards,

Michael Hoffman, Borehamwood, HERTS UK

Hi Michael

Thanks for telling me about freebmd.org.uk. I've never heard of it before.

I had already found a few UK documents and censuses for my grandfather in the UK (I'm subscribed to Ancestry). Israel (Gerald) was my father but he knew almost nothing about his father's life and family in Poland. It's the Polish records that I can't find for him or any other members of his family. I had hoped to find his grave on Findagrave or Billiongraves because that would tell me his and his father's Hebrew names which might give a clue to the names they used in Poland. But it is not listed (yet). Do you know of any other documents where I might be able to get this sort of information?

Many thanks

Lesley Fenton

Gers, France (born London)

I have an index to all volumes of the Kutno BOOK OF RESIDENTS (BOR).  I could not find any direct reference to BAUMAN or anything similar, but did see  a notation which I can't interpret:  On a detailed listing for my GOLDMAN ancestors in Kutno that our researcher sent to me, in Volume III-77-81 there is a listing for Goldman, Chaja nee' Hodys b. 1870 with this cryptic notation where they usually indicate a son of or daughter of someone else in the BOR.  It says "1. Bauman 2. Kiersztajn, 2nd w/o".  Tracing that particular family unit, it seems she was married to Uszer GOLDMAN b. 1868 and the son of Matys Ajzyk GODMAN. This doesn't tell you that much about a BAUMAN family other than someone with that name or who married a person with that name, was in Kutno.  It does not seem that any BAUMAN was a head of a household and listed in the BOR which covered a long period.  Volume III, for example dates from 1872 and was last updated in July, 1931.

Dick Goldman
Boynton Beach, FL