Hi Sherry I haven't been able to respond because I've been travelling for a few days, but thanks for your kind assistance which did prompt me to do some more research that was useful. I don't have a marriage authorisation for Charles/Isaac LEWIS, just the marriage certificate from the GRO. Nor have I been able to find a record of his dearth - there are no death records for a Charles LEWIS that seem to me to be likely candidates, and about 6 for an Isaac LEWIS that could be candidates - which makes it hard to know where to start. However, I was in London at the end of this week, so I took the opportunity to visit the LDS Family History Centre in Kensington where I found a record of the marriage on a microfilmed copy of the Great Synagogue marriage register. I'm assuming that perhaps the patronymic is recorded in the hebrew script on that record (some is in english and some in hebrew) which I can't read. Just in case, I took some photographs of that record using my mobile phone (if I'd thought ahead I'd have taken a proper camera) and then pasted the pieces together and enhanced it with some photo editing software to make it more legible. The birth place is recorded in the two censuses is as York, Yorkshire. I checked the dates of the death of Isaac's parents-in-law and the birth dates of Charles' children. Isaac's wife's parents were Amelia and Barnett Emanuel who died on 3 and 13 December 1878 respectively. Charles' oldest daughter was Amelia, born in 1877, and his second son was Barnet born in 1880. Ordinarily that would seem to me to count against my hypothesis that Charles and Isaac were one and the same ... except ... also at the LDS FHC, I found a book: "The Jewish Victorian" in which I found this: "BARNETT EMANUEL died 9 King St. Aldgate age 78 on 13/12/1878, Amelia (wife), Moses (son), Amelia (granddaughter), Elizabeth (daughter), Isaac Lewis (son-in-law)." It so happens that at the time of Isaac's father Barnet's death, Charles and Elizabeth had just the one child - Amelia! Finally, I searched for the birth of an Isaac LEWIS in 1845... and could find none that matched well :-( So now I'm wondering ... if Isaac changed his first name from Isaac to Charles, could he have also changed his surname to LEWIS? I asked my aunt who thinks that somewhere in the family someone may have changed the name from LEVY to LEWIS because it was a better trading name. Which makes me wonder ... could Isaac Levy of London have decided to become Charles LEWIS of York for his profession as a Traveller in Pictures? Is it possible that he kept the name Isaac for official purposes (his marriage certificate, for in death announcements etc.) And only once he had retired did he revert to puuting his real place of birth, London, on census returns? Could this also explain why he recorded his father's name as Levy LEWIS on his marriage certificate? Still it all sounds a little far fetched, but slowly the evidence seems more and more credible to me. If someone could read the hebrew from the Synagogue register for me, that might be enough to resolve it - if the hebrew names bear any relation to the english names, of course. Any further comments or suggestions would be welcome. Steve Sherry in France wrote: > Hello Geneva, from frosty Viersat, France! Welcome to the list. Yes, > you are exactly right, one of the main purposes of the list is to > share such information and see if we can get a solution between us. > > I think you have enough to make what you have told us reasonable as a > hypothesis. I understand your need to verify a bit more though. > > I have a couple of questions: > Do you have a) the marriage authorisation and b) the burial of Isaac > LEWIS (AKA Charles)? The former would give the patronymic. The > gravestone, assuming there is one, would confirm the same. > The birth place York...is that the city or the county? If you have > been using the LDS index of 1881 they have a nasty habit of mixing > counties up with cities. At one time, almost a quarter of the > population lived in Yorkshire! > > Also: Elizabeth's mother is Amelia and you say Charles' eldest > daughter was also named this. I would check forward for Barnet & > Amelia and try to establish if she died before the birth of Amelia > (d/o Charles) > > HTH, let us know how you get on, because I am sure most people would > be interested. > > Best > Sherry > > > > > > On 15/04/2008, Steve Lewis <slewis@slewis.co.uk> wrote: > >> Hello from snowy Geneva, Switzerland. >> > > > > >