ISAACS - LEVY - GARCIA

[mark_bridge]

I'm trying to establish the parentage/further ancestry of Emma Rebecca Levy who married Abraham Garcia by license at St James' Clerkenwell on 11 January 1832.

Emma was born c. 1816 in the parish of St Martin in the Fields.

She seems to have been the daughter (possibly adopted) of Ann (died 1853), the wife first of a Mr Levy, then of Samuel Isaacs (died 1843), orange merchant, of New Street, Covent Garden and later gentleman of Claremont Terrace, Pentonville.

By her first husband, surnamed Levy, Ann seems to have had three surviving children:

- Ann Levy, 1805-1877, wife of Samuel Isaacs, picture dealer, of 131 Regent Street and of Bedford Square.

- Isaac Levy Isaacs, 1807-1872, who was apprenticed as a tailor and later served as a rifleman; he married Jane Head, who had worked as a nurse for his (half or step?) sister Emma.

- Israel Levy Isaacs, 1807-1852, a general dealer, who married a Hannah Garcia, presumably a relative of Emma's husband Abraham.

At some point it seems that Mr Levy died, or possibly the couple separated, and she either married or at least cohabited with Samuel Isaacs, the orange merchant. Because I can't find any marriage for Samuel and Ann or any birth record for Emma, it is difficult to understand how Emma fits into the family.

Ann called her "my daughter" in her will but seems possibly a little old to have been her mother. Ann's age was disputed in a Chancery case; she claimed to be 85 in 1853 but her son Isaac Levy Isaacs said that she was between 93 and 94; that puts her birth between 1759/60 and 1768; if she (Ann) was right that makes her about 48 when Emma was born, if Isaac was right she would have been in her 50s.

In the Chancery case, Ann's daughter and son-in-law Ann and Samuel, and son Isaac, claimed that Abraham and Emma Garcia and Israel Levy Isaacs were controlling Ann (Sr.)'s finances to their advantage when she wasn't any longer in her right mind. They lost the suit. I've only had a chance to view some of the papers.

Samuel Isaacs does not name Emma in his will; leaving bequests only to "my wife's son" Israel Levy Isaacs "my nephew" George Isaacs [that's changed in a codicil to explain that he is George Samuel Isaacs, son of Ann and Samuel Isaacs [i.e. Ann Levy and Samuel Isaacs, the picture dealer] and an annuity to his sister Sarah, the wife of John Jacobs, of Pentonville, with the remainder to his "dear and loving wife Ann Isaacs".

Abraham Garcia is called Samuel's son-in-law on Samuel's death certificate, but I suppose this could simply be because Emma was his step-daughter.

In a Chancery deposition, Isaac Levy Isaacs calls Emma "Mrs Garcia" rather than "my sister" and says that:

"Mr Garcia is a defendant in this suit. I do not consider him to be in any [sic] related to me as his wife is not legitimate."

Given all this, I'm not sure whether Emma was the daughter of Anne, either by Samuel Isaacs but born before their marriage (assuming they were married - he calls her his "wife" in his will and she was also called his widow in her death notice in The Spectator); or the illegitimate daughter of either Samuel Isaacs or Mr Levy by another woman, raised by Ann. Or some other illegitimate relative treated as a daughter.

Samuel Isaacs seems to have left quite a large estate to Ann; and she left all her estate to Emma.

Beyond the question of Emma's parentage; I'm interested in the origin of her (probable) mother Ann and possible father Samuel Isaacs. A document in the Chancery proceedings states that Ann was the aunt of Hannah Nathan, widow, of London Road. Hannah was the daughter of David Mendes, an army accoutrement maker, of Whitechapel, then of Southwark, so it looks like Anne was a sibling of either David or his wife.

Various family trees online make Samuel Isaacs, the orange merchant, (who was born c. 1768) the son of an Isaac Isaacs, glass cutter, of Smock Alley, Spitalfields, by his wife Sarah; stating that Samuel's brother Joel was the father of Samuel Isaacs, the picture dealer, who married Ann Levy. Hence Samuel Isaacs Sr. would be the great-uncle of the George Samuel Isaacs named in his will as his "nephew". Samuel Jr., was living in Norwich at the time of his marriage and some family trees put his father Joel in Great Yarmouth.

Emma and Abraham Garcia's son Charles Henry Russell Garcia was godson of the composer Henry Russell from the prominent Sheerness/London family; and there has been speculation in the family of some link between Emma and the Russells (who according to some sources sometimes used the Levy name).

I would be very grateful for anything anybody can add to this. The descendants of the various Garcias and Levy Isaacs are well documented(there are several good trees on Ancestry); and I have Abraham Garcia's line back to his immigrant ancestors Daniel and Abigail Garcia who came to London from Portugal in the 1720s.

Best wishes, and apologies for the length of this post,

Mark

[Ellen]

... Was wondering if you have you done any further research on Ann Levy/Isaacs [1805-1877]?

As you mention the trees on Ancestry, might you be able to clarify the 1861 Census citation invariably attributed to Ann [ above] i.e Ann Isaacs '' Widow-Lady'' [ Kensington St Mary Abbott]. As Samuel Isaacs does not die until 1877 & leaves his estate to Ann ... am I missing something?

I am researching Isaacs & Levy & have considered all of the above ....even downloaded Ann's[ Senior] Will at one point !! Clearly the Ann referred to in the 1861 , can not be Ann Snr: either??

Clara , a spinster , eventually gets Probate on Ann's[Samuel's wife] estate in 1911 . Ann survived Samuel by months only.

Thank you for posting ....

[phillip]

Mike and Ellen
I have previously posted on the relationships between my Crawcour lines and the various connections that they had with Garcia; Simons; Isaacs; Russell ( possibly Levi/Levy) through marriages and family connections. As an example, Henry Russell the composer in his second marriage was married to Hannah Cohen De Lara whose mother was a Crawcour. Benjamin Simons married Hannah Crawcour and the Garcia are related to the Simons. Samuel Garcia was a witness at this marriage and Berger in her 1861-70 volume has recorded the relationships between the Samuel Garcia; Engel; David Levy; Simons; Asher; Phillips; Beyus lines through marriages.I have begun to unpick these relationships and will post data where relevant.
Phillip

[Ellen]

Hello Philip ,
Good to have your input . I did think of you when I read [ above] ...''an annuity to his sister Sarah, the wife of John JACOBS, of Pentonville, '' any thoughts? Also... I am sure that I read something about a Joel Isaacs [ above] ''a travers'' one of your recent topics ; unable now to locate it, but I am fairly certain that it made a connection with Levy Isaacs [ Portsmouth] ??
Ellen

[phillip]

Ellen and Mike
I hold a copy of a large Crawcour family tree which includes the Garcia lines beginning with unknown Garcia 1736-1851 and his children David; Phillip m Lucy Lyons and their son Samuel m Sarah Simons with their sons Alfred; Walter and daughter Lizzie m Lawrence Engel. The family tree for Garcia focuses on the descendants of Lizzie Garcia/Lawrence Engel and includes thev marriages of Sarah Garcia to Joseph Hart; Anna Engel m Arthur Benjamin; Nellie Engel m Max Hahn; Lucy Engel m Albert Cohen; Leon Engel m Srah ? ; Frank Engel m Alice Abrahams. The descendants of Samuel Garcia and Sarah Simons include- Samuel Garcia; Phillip Garcia m Violet Fowler and Jessie Barnett; Michael Garcia m Gertrude Beyfus; Lucy Garcia m Asher Asher - these various lines relate through marriages to Barnetts; Singes; Ansley;Livingstone; Cohen; Mong; Tyler; Hart; Caffer;Schwabeten; Speyer; Loewe; Phillips; Da Costa; Norton; Moss; Benjamin; Smith; Lewis;. The Hart lines begin with Hertz Hart m Kate ?
The family tree links Abraham Garcia who married an Isaacs as brother of Samuel;Robert;Jane; Martha; Hanna m an Isaacs; Abigail; Sara m ? Whiting;; Clara m ? Phillips. The line of Hannah Garcia/Isaacs includes Abe Isaacs; George Isaacs; Anne Isaacs.
Nb I have made no attempt to verify any of the lines listed other than the Benjamin Simons marriage to my Crawcour and his links to the Garcia. There are links also between Simons and Jacobs from the daughter of Philip Simons- Leah who married Henry Phillips and their daughter Betsy m Samuel Jacobs. The tree is large and contains both dead and living individuals who relate to my Barnett Crawcour line.

With reference to #1 of this thread the Samuel Isaacs will summary appears on Synagogue Scribes site NA 197 7 June 1843- Samuel Isaacs fruiterer - spouse Ann.

I am looking further at the various data but as I said earlier I have not substantiated any of the family tree data other than what I stated.
There are also Isaacs/Jacobs and Crawcour/Isaacs marriages which I will post on if relevant.
Phillip

[phillip]

Ellen and Mike
See Synagogue Scribes site NA 850 14 Oct 1845- Samuel Nathan - this data includes reference to his wife Hannah and importantly includes a range of family data including individuals and their relationships. See also Synagogue Scribes GSM 113/08 Marriage Hannah Mendes- Channah- father's Hebrew name David Mendes Sephardi- Samuel Nathan 6 Jan 1808.
Suggest you cross reference this data.
Phillip

[phillip]

Mike
See on this forum the thread " Samuel Nathan-Re-visited" started 24.11.2007. In particular see post 20.10.2009 which refers to Samuel Nathan/Hannah Mendes. This post is by a main administrator of the forums and she descends from this line. Suggest you contact her to see what other data she has which may be of relevance.
Phillip

[mark_bridge]

Hi Ellen and Phillip,

Thank you both very much for your replies.

Ellen - I'm afraid I haven't done any specific research on Ann (1805-1877) and can't explain the "Widow Lady" census description. The names of the relatives indicate that this has to be that Ann. Obviously Samuel wasn't with the household when the census was taken, but I can't think why they would have suggested he was dead. I suppose she may have preferred to present herself as a widow if, say, they were temporarily living apart for whatever reason, e.g. if he was away (possibly abroad) for a long period on business.

Otherwise I guess it might have been a genuine mistake/misunderstanding if a neighbour or landlord or someone like that completed the form for some reason(?)

The National Archives documents for the Chancery case I mentioned (Isaacs v Garcia; there's a second case involving the same parties, Isaacs v Isaacs, that I haven't looked at) paint a vivid picture of the lives of the various people involved. I've only looked at some of the papers due to time constraints, but there's a lot of colourful material that gives an insight into Samuel (Jr.) and Ann's lives taken from servants' testimonies etc., e.g. I seem to remember the documents indicating that they spent a lot of time in France, and they had a house called Gothic Villa at Turnham Green. I will send you any relevant notes/transcriptions when I get round to looking more closely, but I'm afraid that's unlikely to be for some time.

Phillip - the Samuel Garcia who married Sarah Simons was the the brother of the Abraham Garcia I mentioned in my first post (my ancestor). I hadn't known anything about her family, so the connections you mention are very ineresting. Samuel and Abraham Garcia were sons of Philip/Abigador Garcia and his wife Lucy a.k.a. Lucky or Mazaltob, who was the daughter according to the Bevis Marks marriage record of a Samuel Lion. I'm not clear whether she (Lucy) was Ashkenazi - there's no note in the register that she was a "tudesca" but I don't know whether that was always stated. It's interesting that the family tree you mention has her surname as Lyons rather than Lion.

Philip Garcia seems to have been quite a successful fruiterer; for a time (circa 1830s) he supplied fruit to the royal household. Two of his brothers, William and Daniel, were transported to Australia and Van Diemen's Land in 1816 and 1817 (as teenagers) for theft and pickpocketing so the family may have been fairly poor in the early 19th century, although both brothers protested their innocence.

I wasn't aware of Samuel Garcia's connection by marriage to the Crawcours and Russells; and haven't looked into his descendants although I had noticed the Asher and Beyfus links. I'm grateful for your information on the various further surname connections listed in the family tree.

I knew that Israel Levy Isaacs (in my first post) married a Hannah Garcia, but couldn't place her within the Garcia family - it looks like your family tree makes her a daughter of Philip and sister of Abraham and Samuel, which would mean that two Isaacs siblings or half-siblings (Emma and Israel) married two Garcia siblings (Abraham and Hannah).

Thank you for pointing out the posts on Samuel Nathan and Hannah Mendes. Hannah was the niece of our Ann (Sr.) Isaacs (wife of Samuel, the orange merchant) - that's the only clue I have to Ann's origin - so I will certainly contact the poster as you suggest to see what further information she has on Hannah's family.

There's an interesting death notice in The Gentleman's Magazine for May 1839 that may refer to Ann Sr.'s sister-in-law or sister:

DEATHS

March 10. Aged 73, Sarah, wife of David Mendes, of Middlesex-st. Whitechapel, leaving 92 children and grandchildren.

Best wishes,

Mark

[phillip]

Mark
For your future reference I hold copy of a large Crawcour family tree handwritten which has the Garcia and Simons links to a number of families. I had forgotten about this tree and two of my distant cousins and myself only focused on the relevant data to our lines. The tree records Abraham Garcia married to unknown Isaacs and their children Abe; George; Anne but no other data. The most detailed Garcia line is that of Sarah Simons and Samuel Garcia with data on their children and their marriages to Fowler; Barnett; Beyfus; Engel. Martha Garcia daughter of Samuel and Sarah also has a detailed line through her marriage to Solomon Phillips- their children married into the Beyfus; Da Costa; Moss; Benjamin; Norton. Lizzie Garcia who married Lawrence Engel has a detailed line with marriages to Hart; Benjamin; Hahn; Cohen; Abrahams. There are further lines connecting the Hertz Hart and Rabbi Asher of Lublin lines.
I do have Hart/Crawcour/Jacobs paternal lines but have not made any connection between these lines and the Hart/Jacobs who appear on the family tree but that is not to say there are none given the interrelated nature of the Anglo Jewish Jewish families.
Phillip

[Ellen]

Hello Mark & thank you for your reply.

I see from the 1871 Census, that Ann is again living with her daughter [ Emily]& children as 'Grandmother' aged 66 . I am sure you are correct in what you write.

I would be very interested in anything that you have on these Isaacs, whenever . I had hoped that Ann ' Widow -Lady' might have been , my recently widowed[ Samuel Isaacs 1858] Great Great Granny ...& eldest daughter Julia[ right ages] . Julia married in 1866 , from Princes Square & so was local to this area at the time of her marriage.

I will try to check out the Isaacs v Isaacs case .
Ellen