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ABSTRACT OF # 77Revue du Cercle de Généalogie Juive # 77 February 2004 |
OUR SOCIETY'S LIFE _______________________________________________________ FAMILIES Origine and extension of the Gugenheim surname (Part 3, Section 2). John Berkowitch This article, the fourth and last of
a series, completes the highlights of an investigation on the title
subject. The resulting Gugenheim family tree
extends from the mid-1400's to the early 1800's, covering about
ten
generations. The first four generations precede the adoption of
the surname
by a Joseph (1555-1615), native of Frankfort on the Main, who made
one
stay, or more, in a locality formerly named Gugenheim (today Jugenheim),
situated 20 km southwest of Mainz. Not a single reference supports
the
hypotheses, previously put forward, which tied the origin of the
surname to
either of two localities similarly named at the time, one northwest
of
Strasbourg, the other south of Darmstadt. The children and grandchildren
of
this Joseph evolved primarily in the realm of the middle Rhine valley,
especially in and around Bingen, Francfort, Stühlingen, and
Worms. Their
descendants then started to scatter so that, by the end of the period,
the
surname was found from Hamburg and Copenhagen, to the North, to
the Aargau,
to the South, and from Vienna and Berlin, to the East, to Alsace
and
Lorraine, to the West.
The Rothenburg
and Rothenburger families.
Pascal Faustini
Pierre Kahn was talking with the author about his Rothenburger ancestors from the Haut-Rhin Département, and asked him : « Could they possibly descend from the Rothenburg MaHaRam who died in 1293 in the Ensisheim prison ? » The research started with this quip. The Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin Rothenburg[er] families were searched, also in Phalsbourg and Worms. The # 673 manuscript in the Oxford Bodleiana Library, as well as ancient tombstones in Ettendorf have lead to a possible family tree reaching back to Meir Rothenburg, but which is still hypothetical for the first generations. A subtle and learned inquest, to be continued. The Jews in Wattwiller
during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Denis Ingold
The author tries to reconstruct the history of an Alsatian Jewish community. He cross-checks three types of sources : the local archival documents, without which identifying the individuals is not always possible ; the Mohelbücher (circumcision registration booklets) of the Rabbis Shimon and Naftali Hirtz Blum which are family oriented ; the 18th century marriage contracts in Alsace, compiled by A.A. Fraenckel. The result is the vivid reconstruction of a social group, whose members are shown in their business and religious daily life. Conversions appear in appreciable numbers. Reconstruction
of the 1808 surname adoption list for Plobsheim (Haut-Rhin).
Pierre Katz
The official register cannot be found, neither in the mairie (Town Hall) nor in the Département Archives. The May 1808 census of the Alsatian Jews shows five individuals. The vital records of the village have allowed the author to reconstruct the Jewish population of Plobsheim, with a family tree of the families residing there in the early 19th century. _______________________________________________________ RECENT EVENTS _______________________________________________________ OUR LIBRARY We have received numerous documents
on Alsace and Lorraine but also original pieces concerning the communities
of Saint-Esprit, Bayonne, and Bordeaux provided by Nicole Rodrigues
Ely, found among others in the office of the solicitor Laborde.
_______________________________________________________ BOOK REVIEW Guilherme Faiguenboim, Paulo Valadares, and Anna Rosa Campagnano,
Dictionary of Sephardic Surnames, Sao Paolo, SP, Frahia, 2003
Paul Arnsberg, Die Jüdische Gemeinden in Hessen, Societäts-Verlag _______________________________________________________ PRESS REVIEW _______________________________________________________ QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |