Finding Fanny's Family - a Jewish Jigsaw

As we work back through time in our family trees, the availability of “direct” evidence (i.e. sources which directly state the answer to a research question) reduces and we must pull together all the indirect evidence we can find to build a picture of the ancestor being researched (like putting a jigsaw together without knowing the final picture). This problem often depends on the nationality or social group of an ancestor, as different countries or different religions and sects within religions kept different types of record for different life events with differing levels of detail and varying levels of survival. This is particularly so for a Jewish ancestress who married “out of the faith” and was born before registration, such as my 3xgreat-grandmother, Fanny/Frances Common nee Isaacs. Is there any way of working out who her parents were and if she had any siblings? I’ve been fortunate in being able to find a lot of indirect evidence out of which I was able to build a picture of the family Fanny came from.

The Birth Certificate of my great-great-grandfather Henry John Common indicates he was born on 4 May 1844 at 55 Rosemary Lane, Whitechapel to Henry Common and Frances née Isaacks.¹ Further research found that the marriage for Henry Common and Fanny Isaacs took place at St Leonard’s Church Shoreditch on 4 Sep 1843.² Fanny is stated to be of full age, resident in New Inn Yard and the daughter of Hyam Isaacs. The witnesses were Samuel Bailey and Sophia Isaacs. Given the shared surname, Sophia is a possible relative of Fanny’s particularly as Henry and Fanny later named one of their daughters Sophia.

I was unable to find a Fanny or Frances Isaacs in the 1841 census, but Henry and Frances Common appear in the 1851 census living in 3 Mary Street, St George in the East.³ Despite being born only 8 months after the marriage, Henry John is not the oldest child in the 1851 family having an older brother, Simon Robert, age twelve and thus born about 1839. From this I was able to find an 1841 entry for “Francis” Common age 20+ and her son Robert Common, age 18 months.⁴ I was unable to find an entry in the 1841 England and Wales census for Henry Common. Birth registrations and baptisms were found for both Simon Robert and Henry John confirming their relationship to Henry Common and Fanny Isaacs.^1,5,6,7 I was also unable to find an entry in the 1841 census for Hyam Isaacs.

1. First step towards a family group for Fanny

In 2009-10 Ancestry released the London Metropolitan Archives holdings of Church of England parish registers. In the “Marriages and Banns 1754-1938” data set you are able to search for a father’s name. Just on the off chance (after all “Fanny Isaacs” is a rather Jewish name and she might have been the only one of her family to marry “out of the faith”) I ran a search for “Hyam Isaacs” as father of a party and this threw up four matches in addition to Fanny’s marriage:⁸

• 7 Aug 1843 at Christchurch Spitalfields, Betsey Isaacs daughter of Hyam Isaacs married Charles Stephens. The witnesses were Henry Common and Sophia Isaacs
• 8 Dec 1843 at Christchurch Spitalfields, Rosetta Isaacs daughter of Hyam Isaacs married Thomas Watling. The Witnesses were Charles Stephens and Elizabeth Stephens
• 26 Nov 1849 at St John at Hackney, James Isaacs son of Hyam Isaacs married Sarah Gable. The witnesses were John Pogson and Matilda Pogson
• 25 Jul 1862 at St George in the East Church, Elizabeth Stevens, widow age 37, daughter of Hyam Isaacs married Edward Martyn. The witnesses were Petter Halverson and Frances Common

So Sophia Isaacs witnessed the marriages of Betsey and Fanny Isaacs, Fanny’s (at that time de-facto) husband, Henry Common being the other witness of Betsey’s marriage. The recently married Charles and Elizabeth (AKA Betsey) Stephens then witnessed the marriage of Rosetta Isaacs and, after the death of Charles Stephens, Frances (AKA Fanny) Common nee Isaacs witnessed the second marriage of Elizabeth (AKA Betsey) Stephens nee Isaacs. The inference to be drawn from this “cross-witnessing” is that Fanny, Betsey, Rosetta and Sophia Isaacs were closely related in some way, possibly sisters (though we have no evidence as to the name of Sophia’s father). James is another possible sibling, though not tied to the other offspring of Hyam Isaacs by witnesses.

When the same search was performed on parish registers from the City of Westminster Archives (added to the Ancestry site in 2020) a marriage for Henry Isaacs son of Hyam Isaacs to Ann Elizabeth Peach on 21 Mar 1859 at St Anne Soho was found, the witnesses being Henry Common and Frances Common nee Isaacs.⁹ Thus we have another possible sibling for Fanny.

2. Family group with siblings inferred from Church of England marriage records

Further support for the connections above comes from the marriage entry of Fanny’s daughter, Sophia Common, to Conrad Hoffman 24 Feb 1867 at St Leonard Shoreditch, the witnesses being Henry Isaacs and Frances Common.⁸

Leaving aside James Isaacs for the moment, we have a group of people of surname Isaacs who, together with their spouses, are witnessing each others’ marriages. All but one of these Isaacses are stated to be offspring of Hyam Isaacs. The odd one out is Sophia Isaacs. However there is an earlier pre-1837 marriage for Henry Isaacs, also celebrated at St Anne Soho, on 23 Mar 1835 to a Sophia Maishman.⁸ Henry and Sophia then appear together in both the 1841 and 1851 censuses (Henry aged 25+ in 1841 and 38 in 1851).^4,3 This is probably the Sophia Isaacs who witnessed the marriages and she is thus an Isaacs by marriage rather than by birth. (Incidentally Charles and Elizabeth Stevens are living in the same house as Henry and Frances Common in 1851.³)

Fitting this small group of puzzle pieces together we have 4 potential siblings, offspring of Hyam Isaacs (Henry, Fanny, Betsey & Rosetta) plus one probable (James) giving us more lines of research for finding information on Hyam Isaacs.

3. Using Church of England marriages to put Sophia in the right place

Searching the 1841 census for a Betsey and a Rosetta appearing in the same family leads us to the entry for Hyam Issaacs [sic] age 70+ (indexed as Hyam Josaus by Ancestry).⁴ The household includes Catherine age 50+, Betsy age 18, Rosa age 16, Isaac age 16 and Elizabeth age 8. This is almost certainly the family of the parents of Fanny Isaacs. Catherine (age 63) appears living on her own in the 1851 census, Hyam having died on 21 Jul 1849, at Russell Court, Blue Anchor Place, Whitechapel.^3,10 The informant for the death of Hyam was Zuss Isaacs of Spitalfields. We know that Betsy and Rosa had married by 1851, but what happened to Isaac and Elizabeth? Elizabeth is possibly the Elizabeth (age 16) residing with Zuice Isaacs (age 36, = Zuss) and his family, though she is listed as Zuice’s daughter.³ She does not appear with Syes (age 25+, =Zuss) Isaacs and his family in 1841 and is probably too old to be the daughter of Zuss’s wife (Louisa/Rachel, age 34 in 1851).^4,3 Isaac is the right age to be equated with the James son of Hyam Isaacs who married Sarah Gable (age 25 in the 1851 census, c.f. 16 in 1841).^3,4 We now have a potental set of seven siblings: Henry (c. 1812), Zuss/Zuice/Syes (c. 1815), Fanny/Frances (c. 1820), Betsy/Elizabeth (c. 1823), Rosa/Rosetta (c. 1825), Isaac/James (c. 1826) & Elizabeth (c. 1833).

4. After finding the 1841 census entry and death certificate for Hyam

At this point I would have been stuck but for the work of enthusiastic Jewish Genealogists who transliterated and published some of the records of the London Synagogues. From the marriage records of the Great Synagogue came the following two entries:¹¹

• GSM 49b/13 1799 14 July: Isaacs, Hyman s. of Isaac Galaga & Hart Fanny Frumat d. of Hirtz
• GSM 102/49 1806 20 Aug: Isaacs, Hyam: Son-in-law of a Privileged Member: Moshe Chaim; s. of Isaac Pressburg & Levy, Catherine: Daughter of a Privileged Member: Trynla d. of Leib S.G.L.

The second, 1806, marriage could easily be the parents of Fanny and the siblings listed above.

In the marriage records transliterated from the Hambro Synagogue records were the following three entries for people whose father was Hyam Isaacs:¹²

• HSM138 (15 Aug 1827): Myer [Meir] Myers, son of Hyam b. Mordecai of Gravel Lane, Houndsditch = Sarah [Sarah] Isaacs daughter of Mr Hyam Isaacs
• HSM255 (4 Dec 1836): Michael [Yechiel k/a Michael] Isaacs, son of Hayim Isaacs of Rosemary Lane = Leah [Leah] Myers, daughter of Mr Jacob Myers
• HSM257 (30 Mar 1837): Zose [Eleazer Zesman] Isaacs, son of Mr Hayim Isaacs of Rosemary Lane = Rachel [Rachel] Abrahams, daughter of Abraham our father

The last of these can be identified with Zuss/Zuice/Syes who registered the death of Hyam and “adopted” Elizabeth, the probable youngest child of Hyam and Catherine. Michael, whose father was also “of Rosemary Lane”, can be tracked through the censuses and is too old (born c. 1801) to be a child of Hyam and Catherine, but could be a child of Hyam and Fanny Hart.^4,3 By the time of the 1841 and 1851 censuses Sarah Myers née Isaacs had apparently died and Myer Myers had remarried, though three of his children predate his second marriage and must be the children of Sarah.^4,3 We do not have enough data to determine an approximate date of birth for Sarah and must just leave her as a probable child of our Hyam Isaacs.

5. After finding information in some published transliterations of Jewish Records

As these and further transliterations are gradually made available on the internet, I’ve been able to find a few more events, in particular the following curcumcision records:¹³

• 10 May 1809: Samuel (Samuel) Isaacs, son of (Hiam) of Rosemary Lane
• 28 Dec 1810: Henry H (Zvi Hirsh) Isaacs, son of (Hiam) of Ratcliffe Highway
• 21 Nov 1815: Jacob (Jacob) Isaacs, son of Hyam (Hiam) of Rosemary Lane

This Henry can be equated to our Henry who eventually migrated to the USA and who at times uses the middle name “Hyam” (Ratcliffe Highway is not far from Rosemary Lane). In addition to the relationship to “Hiam” of Rosemary Lane, I have also found and purchased the marriage certificates for Samuel (son of Hyam Isaacs to Hannah Lyon, 8 Aug 1838) and a John Isaacs (son of Hyam Isaacs to Mary Solomon, 10 Dec 1837).^14,15 John’s ages in the censuses are variable but it is not out of the ball park to identify him with Jacob.^4,3,16,17 So we now have nine children who are probably the offspring of Hyam and Catherine. In roughly birth order: Samuel (1809); Henry Hyam (1810); Zose/Zuss/etc (c. 1813); Jacob/John (1815); Fanny/Frances (c. 1820); Betsy/Elizabeth (c. 1823); Rosa/Rosetta (c. 1825); Isaac/James (c. 1826) and Elizabeth (c. 1833). We also have a probable son of Hyam and Fanny (Michael, c. 1801)) plus a possible daughter of Hyam, mother uncertain (Sarah). The final family structure built from this mixture of direct and indirect evidence is shown below.

6. With information from an ever increasing amount of online databases

Further support for this family structure comes from DNA matches for myself and my father. I have identified 18 matches who are descended from six of the eight full siblings of Fanny Isaacs enumerated above, plus one match who descends from Michael.^18,19 According to specialist researchers I am what is known as a “golden nugget” for Jewish Genealogical research.²⁰ Having just one Jewish ancestor (at the 3xgreat-grandparent level) clarifies relationships for relatives with extensive, recent Jewish ancestry where the ancestral lines are confused by endogamy within the Jewish community. To quote Douglas Adams, “glad to be of service”.

7. Support for my work from DNA matches. The green highlighted box is my ancestor, Fanny Isaacs. The yellow highlighted boxes are proposed siblings of Fanny among whose descendants I have been able to trace a DNA match.

I cannot guarantee that there will not be further additions to this family in the future, but I’m reasonably confident that the family group is accurate as far as it goes.

Sources

1. England and Wales, birth certificate for Henry John Common, born 4 May 1844; citing 2/526/491, Jun quarter 1844, Whitechapel registration district, Holgate sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
2. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Henry Common and Fanny Isaacs, married 4 Sep 1843; citing 2/368/335, Sep quarter 1843, Shoreditch registration district; General Register Office, Southport.
3. 1851 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
4. 1841 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
5. England and Wales, birth certificate for Simon Robert Common, born 14 Nov 1839; citing 2/102/389, Dec quarter 1839, St George in the East registration district, St Paul sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
6. St George in the East Parish Registers, St George in the East, London, England, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 19 Nov 2010.
7. Christ Church Watney Street Parish Registers, St George in the East, London, England, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 19 Nov 2010.
8. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
9. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 26 Sep 2020.
10. England and Wales, death certificate for Hyam Isaacs, died 21 Jul 1849; citing 2/765/448, Sep quarter 1849, Whitechapel registration district, Aldgate sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
11. Shire, Angela, Great Synagogue Marriage Records 1791-1830, Crediton, 1999.
12. Gent, Frank J., New Synagogue Records CD, Crediton, 2002.
13. Synagogue Scribes, https://synagoguescribes.com/blog/, Accessed 21 Sep 2020.
14. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Samuel Isaacs and Hannah Lyons, married 8 Aug 1838; citing 02/161/11, Sep quarter 1838, City of London registration district, General Register Office, Southport.
15. England and Wales, marriage certificate for John Isaacs and Mary Solomons, married 10 Dec 1837; citing 02/261/6, Dec quarter 1837, City of London registration district, General Register Office, Southport.
16. 1861 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
17. 1871 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
18. Ancestry ThruLines for Alfred Commons (https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/5C9DF31B-1477-4562-84BC-ED25F3066CCC?filterBy=all).
19. Ancestry ThruLines for Susan Law (https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-matches/list/080ab020-82f7-4145-bc9c-3bf177830102).
20. Legacy Family Tree Webinars, 'Dealing with Endogamy', https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/dealing-with-endogamy/?fbclid=IwAR3GSWO1eKwU4OnenUqMUyUqAOkSjjEbjdSw4bjcoTAPD_iHHYxmjK_tZps, Accessed 13 Sep 2022.