JOHN LEVEY 1812-1858-GERTRUDE LYONS 1812-1891

[phillip]

This new thread develops the initial data relating to the thread "Lewis John Levey and Flora Hart". In this thread and subsequent pots I will provide data which shows the relationships through marriage between the children of John Levey and Gertrude Lyons and families including HOFFNUNG, PINCUS, LANGLEY, MARKS, GOLDSMID, LITTEN, HART amongst others. The children of John and Gertrude settled in England, Honolulu, Australia, USA. I am still researching the various lines particularly in relation to connections to my two paternal Hart lines and the initial data posted will be further developed.

There is no accurate record for where John Levey aka John Levy was born but my distant cousin in the USA has it recorded as Portsmouth England in abt 1812 and he died in Montreal in 1858. His wife Gertrude from census and death records was born abt 1819 in Bristol although the 1841 British Census records born in county Manchester. She died March qtr 1891 Paddington 1a 4 age 72 having returned from Montreal to the UK where ate one stage she was living with her daughter Esther who had married ABRAHAM HOFFNUNG.

I will identify each of the children of John and Gertrude including who they married in a later post.
I currently hold 3 copies of the original GRO Birth Certificates for Luis Levey aka Lewis John Levey; Esther Levey; Henry Levey who were born Manchester between 1838-1843.
The first birth certificate is for Lewis:
2 December 1838 - 19 Hardman Street Deansgate Manchester
LUIS LEVEY -father John LEVEY Traveller- mother- Gertrude Levey formerlyLYONS - informant John Levey father 19 Hardman Street

19 February 1839- Cheetham Manchester - Esther Levey- father John Levey General Dealer- mother Gertrude Levey formerly LYONS- informant Gertrude Levey mother Cheetham

23 June 1843 Hanover Street Market Street Manchester - Henry LEVY - father John LEVY - Stationer- mother Gertrude Levy formerly LYONS- informant Gertrude Levy mother Hanover Street

By the time of the birth of Henry in 1843 his father John was in financial difficulty and was a prisoner in the Debtor's Prison of London and Middlesex:

London Gazette 20 Dec 1842- John LEVEY ( known as John LEVY) late of 25 Hanover Street Manchester, Lancashire General Dealer, Traveller and Dealer in Sationery- In the Debtor's Prison for London and Middlesex.
He appeared before the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors in 1843 London-
London Gazette 10 Jan 1843
John LEVEY (sued and known as John LEVY) formerly of Moreton St Manchester, Lancashire, then lodging at the Bull Inn Aldgate London and also of Moreton St Manchester then of Market St Birkenhead Cheshire at late of 25 Hanover St Manchester aforesaid and also lodging at the Saint James Coffee House Duke Street Aldgate London and during the whole of the time travelling through various counties in England, General Dealer, traveller and dealer in stationery.

As I will show John became a successful tobacconist in Montreal Canada before having further financial problems.
Phillip

[phillip]

In this post I will provide data regarding what happened to John Levey aka John Levy and his wife in Montreal Canada. Without maligning John Levey there is a brief reference in The Making of Manchester Jewry 1740-1875 Bill Williams, Manchester UP 1985 to " John Levy a Quill Dresser who left the Old Congregation with irrecoverable bad debts." This reference relates to the Halliwell Street Synagogue Manchester established in the 1820s and appears to cover a period in the 1840s. Whether or not this John Levy is one in the same as John Levey is not confirmed. However, some time in the 1840s John Levey and his wife and children moved from the UK ( his debts would have had to be settled) probably for New York and later to Montreal. There are Canadian Directories showing John Levey in Montreal in the mid 1850s- Canada, City and Area Directories 1854- John Levey tobacconist 140 ( late 115) Notre Dame Montreal.
The 1861 Canada Census ( Copyright Library and Archives of Canada) shows: Montreal Quebec
Gertrude Levey tobacconist widow 42 Jewish b England; Lewis J Levey b England tobacconist; Henry Levey 19 clerk b England; Frances Levey 15 b Montreal; Joseph Levey 13 b Montreal;Samuel Levey 11 b Montreal; Caroline Levey 7 b Montreal; Alfred Levey 6 b Montreal; John Levey 3 b Montreal; James Levey b England Tobacconist; Gertrude bRaphael b England 16 residence NY

There is a very interesting account of what befell John Levey in Montreal in Canada's Jews: A people's journey. Gerald Tulchinsky 2008-
..." By comparison, most of the Jews in the tobacco business were smaller fry. Of these, John Levy ( whose daughter married the jeweller ABRAHAM HOFFNUNG) was apparently one of the most successful, at least for a brief period during the 1850s. An immigrant from Manchester, Levy began business on a small scale. Ten years later using credit from NY City firms, he was prospering and , according to Dun reporter 'making money..owns ( real estate) and is said to be rich and good Thought to be worth $18000-22000, he was doing between $60-62000 in business anually". A Dun reporter noted that Levy put on " a princely entertainment" for his daughter's wedding in March 1858. But Levy died the followeing August leaving his widow and ten children with a rat's nest of tangled finances. His wife settled with creditors most of them in NY for fifty cents on the dollar, and continued solely in retail on a much reduced scale. She opened a shop in Quebec City and gave it to one of her sons to manage, but it closed a few years later and Mrs Levy was forced to take in borders to help meet expenses while eking out a meagre living in her own small shop in Montreal."

By 1871 Gertrude was back in England and living with her son in law Abraham Hoffnung and his family:
1871 British Census RG10 3785 92 4 (Crown Copyright,TNA) Liverpool Mount Pleasant
Abraham HOFFNUNG H 37 Merchant BS; Esther wife 32 b Manchester; Joh son 12 b Montreal Canada; Caroline dau 9 b Montreal Canada; Gertrude dau 9 b Montreal Canada; Elizabeth dau 6 b Liverpool; Edward son 5 b Liverpool GERTRUDE LEVEY mother of wife 52 annuitant widow b Bristol; Francis Levey u 22 governess b Montreal; Caroline Levey u 17 b Montreal; Bertha WOOLF sister to head b NY; Charles Wolf son 2 b NY; Josephine Wolf dau 3 mths b NY


The children of John Levey and Gertrude Lyons were:
Lewis John Levey 1838-1896 m Flora HART; Esther Levey 1839-1917 m Abraham HOFFNUNG; Emanuel James Levey 1840; Henry John Levey 1843-1926 m Annie PINCUS; Frederick Levey 1845-1845; Francis Levey 1846-1939; Samuel J Levey 1850; Cahrles V Levey 1852-1856; Caroline Rebecca Levey 1854; Alfred Levey 1855; Isabella Levey 1857-1857; John Levey 1859

In the 1881 British Census Gertrude is living alone as a lodger- RG11 37 79 11 (Crown Copyright, TNA)
24 Lancaster Road North Side Kensington- Gertrude Levey widow lodger 62 b Bristol

Phillip

[Eve Mary]

Phillip, I hope you are still working on this genealogy! We have some overlaps of sorts. I am descended from two LAZARUS brothers of Exeter and Plymouth, Devon, and a LYON descended from a Lyon family of Portsmouth and of Abraham Woolf, a founder of the Portsmouth Congregation. I'm currently building a larger network of associations to see if the Lazarus family of Devon was likely related to one of the early Portsmouth Lazarus families.
I am related to Markes Levy and Bella Woolf by marriage and I see that you also are (or at least families that you are researching). i'm interested in whether or not you found confirmation that john LEVEY was from Portsmouth (have you seen Henry Roche's files on Portsmouth Jews?)
Some of the Lazarus tribe of Devon ended up in Toronto, via Hartford, Conn, USA.
I came across your information on this site because I was looking for information about Abraham Hoffnung who was apparently a business contact of Charles Lewis Lazarus/Charley Lawrence, a descendent of Simon Lazarus of Portsmouth and apparently a notorious smuggler in the USA.
I'm casting my nets pretty wide at this point, generally looking to see who was associated with whom, via marriages, business links or whatever. One thing I'm looking to understand is what took family members to Canada (the earliest apparently in the early 1850s) and I'm now seeing that there were other Devon or devon-affiliated Jews here at that time.

[phillip]

Dear Eve
If you use the search facility and type in Hoffnung and also Levey you will see the various posts I have written on the Hoffnung/Levey - see in particular Abraham Hoffnung-Esther Levey posts started by me 11.02.2014.
The Roche data is on Synagogue Scribes site and I have consulted the data which helped locate various individuals. I need to re-check data on John Levey and see if there is any information regarding his roots - probably need to look under Levi/Levy which is likely to prove difficult. Will also look at my data on the Lazarus to see if there are any links to my specific lines.
Let me know if there is any data I can help with.
Phillip

[Eve Mary]

Hello, Phillip,

Thanks for your reply. I have the Portsmouth info of Henry Roche bookmarked, so I did a quick search and found this: LEVI, John Jacob b. Judah (son of Joseph LEVY) birth 1814 1793-1855 wife: Elizabeth, d. of Solomon LEVY to Plymouth 1817

The dates approximately match yours, but the wife's name is different, I think. There are several Joseph Levys.

I found your other entries before this one, thank you. It was searching for Hoffnung info that got me here. I don't have specific questions at the moment, just wanted to introduce myself and see if anything rang a bell with you as I find cast the nets wide sometimes catches surprising tidbits.

BTW, I noticed that you recommended Coat of many Colours, the Joseph Family history, and I think the Susser Archives. As you may have already discovered, there are errors in the Joseph history. And even Susser and Doreen Berger made the odd mistake. In fact, several errors in the Joseph history regarding the Lazarus family are part of what has led me to the conclusion that two Lazarus lineages are related, if not as closely as the history makes out.

Do let me know if you discover there is a John Levy/Portsmouth connection. I'm trying to find out who had links both in England and in Canada and the USA. Samuel Hoffnung was in Exeter at the time my Lazarus family was, and then the Hoffnungs were in Canada at the same time as my gr gr grandfather and other members of his family. So that may be part of the chain. And I'm looking for opticians.

Eve

[phillip]

Hi Eve
Let me know who the Lazarus brothers are and I will also look at any further links. I will look further at the Levey aka Levy aka Levi of Portsmouth to see if any new data emerges.
Phillip

[phillip]

Hi Eve
These are long shots and may or may not relate to John aka Frederic Levy aka Levi aka Levey. There appear to be several Levi who are listed in Trade Directories in Warwickshire, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London trading as quill merchants,pen, pencil and stationery- they are Jacob Levi 1843 Liverpool; Lyon Levi 1830; Eleazer Levi 1856;John Levi 1830 Birmingham.
I have been trying to identify any possible siblings of John Levey. The date of his birth on family trees is specific but I can't locate a record or proof.
Still looking.
Phillip

[phillip]

As a follow up to an early enquiry -see #5 of this thread- regarding proof of where John Levey was born the UK Register of Births,Marriages and Deaths from the British Consulate has an entry for: Lewis J Levey 8 Jan 1895 born Manchester England Dec 1 1837 father John Levey born PORTSMOUTH mother Gertrude LYONS born Bristol Informant Lewis John Levey Auctioneer Honolulu
The spouse of Lewis is recorded as Maiden name Flora HART born 3 August 1857 Father Aron Hart born London mother Rebecca CRAWCOUR born London
The births of 2 sons of Lewis and Flora are recorded as Percy John Levey b 18 Feb 1887 Registered Feb 7 1890 and Herbert Aaron Levey b Dec 24 1889 Registered Feb 7 1890
Given the informant of the birthplace of his parents was Lewis John Levey this suggests that Portsmouth and Bristol are likely to be accurate.
Phillip

[Eve Mary]

Hi Phillip,
I've lost track of my own train of genealogical thought here. I have very poor short-term memory these days, not to mention that I leap around all over the place with my research.
I see you asked who the brothers are from whom I'm descended. They are Lyon LAZARUS (m. Matilda LYON) (settled in Plymouth) and Eleazer LAZARUS (m. Julia SOLOMON) two of at least three sons of Moses and Nancy LAZARUS of Exeter. The Lazarus family was very active with the Exeter Synagogue Congregation, from about the 1820s, but most moved away by about the 1860s.
There seems to be an interweaving of relationships between a LAZARUS family of Portsmouth (and a LYON family there also; Matilda LYON, above, came from Bideford, but they were originally from Portsmouth, according to information I have from Henry Roche), and also the family of Henry/Hirsh Pencilmaker LAZARUS of London. I am working on a theory that all three families are one, though the evidence will likely only ever be circumstantial. I am working a diagram of connections between them.
There is also a mysterious Isaac LAZARUS, born England c. 1810, who ended up in Glasgow as John LIZARS, but whose second wife, whom he married in Portsmouth, was a relation of Matilda's. He was an optician, as were many of Lyon and Eleazer's (intermarried) descendants. The descendants of another brother, David, were intermarried with Henry/Hirsh Pencilmaker's line.
If you are interested in maintaining contact and research quests with me, could we connect by email? I can keep track better that way. My email is: erchrdsn{AT}pathcom.com