Researching Cohen/Barron family tree

[Estherlesley]

Hello all,

I only discovered this forum yesterday and am eager to take a proper looked around at posts.

I have been doing my family tree on and off for a couple of years, my grandfather did not share/know much about his family. I believe that his fathers family were from Courland, Dennenburg (I have managed to find a naturalisation cert)and his mothers family were from Russia (this info is taken from a census). I am finding it very difficult to go back any further than my Great Great Grandparents.

I have recently found out that my Grandfathers Aunt spent time and passed away in Colney Hatch Mental Hospital, I believe that to gather any more information on her time there I need to have a death certificate which I have not been able to find yet.

Hopefully people may be able to help and point me in the right direction.

Esther

[suemalings]

Perhaps you would like to give names of the people you are looking for, especially your grandfather's aunt. What was her maiden name and was she married? If so what was her married name?

[Estherlesley]

Hi Sue,

Thank you so much for your reply.

My Grandfather Michael Cohen b. 26.01.1926 in London and d. 30.09.2005 in Nottinghamshire. His Father Mark Cohen b. 13.03.1879 in Dennenburg, Courland and d. 11.04.1960 in London. I have located a naturalization certificate for him which states his parents are Solomon Cohen and Rachael Cohen. I have not been able to go any further back than this. I believe my Grandfathers Father was married 3 times to Rachel Harris in 1904, Annie Barron in 1919 and Esther Horowitz in 1928.

My Grandfathers Mother was Annie Barron b. 1896 and d. 04.12.1926 (before my Grandfather was a year old). Annie’s parents were Solomon Barron b. 1866 in Russia and d. 1936 in London and Jane Barron (Braz/Brez) b. 1868 in Russia and d. 01.10.1954 in London. I believe they had a total of 8 children and one of their daughters, Hannah Barron b. 1902, died in Colney Hatch Mental Hospital on 21.01.1925.

I feel like I have been stuck in the same family tree position for the past 6 months and am not sure where to go from here.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Esther

[Pam Downes]

Hello Esther,

We don't allow duplicate threads because it causes confusion so I've deleted the duplicate one, and moved your original thread over to the Jewish Roots forum, and also given the thread the title 'Researching Cohen/Barron family tree'. It's always better to put a name in the title of the thread if possible as people can immediately see if they might have a connection.

Pam

[Estherlesley]

Hi Pam,

Thank you and apologies for any confusion that I caused.

Esther

[christanel]

Hi Esther and welcome to the Brit-Gen forums
Solomo.n and Jane married in the UK. Do you have their marriage certificate? If not you can purchase it from the GRO using these reference details. https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/
Jane Brez
Registration Year - 1895
Registration Quarter: June quarter
Registration District: Mile End Old Town
Inferred County - London
Volume 1c Page 848
Samuel Barron

This record should give the names and occupations of both Jane's and Solomon's fathers.

Christina

[Estherlesley]

Hi Christina,

Thank you so much. I had assumed that because they were both from Russia that that is where they had got married. I have been trying to search for a naturalization certificate for them but haven't been able to find one.

Thank you again for your help.

Esther

[phillip]

Have you looked on the JewisGen Latvia data base which includes the Pale of Settlement and Courland. I also have relatives from Courland and know that the name changes on arrival in the UK and elsewhere can be very different. The last names Braz and Bez appear on the Latvian data base including marriages and births.
I will look further on the Cohen to see if they appear in the Jewish Chronicle archives.
It was often the case that the family name was too difficult to spell or pronounce and the patronymic name chosen on arrival.
The GRO records I hold on my Courland relatives show this very clearly and they are not the last names or first names they used in Courland which were Russian.
I will post any relevant data.

[phillip]

A small note linked to #8- the place name is Denenburg which is Yiddish; the Russian is Dvinsk and Latvian Daugavpils.

[phillip]

Another note- 1 Ancestry family tree has Jane Brez/Braz born Romania- see JewishGen Romania data base which has several Braz individuals and 1 Brez. With regard to Cohen and Latvia I suspect that this is the adopted name on UK arrival.