Silversmiths - how to trace

[Oxfordshire Cockney]

Theresa...How fast we work when we get excited about this Genealogy job...I love it..I'm 85..
Now then....Moss Levin's shop....Listed in a trade directory as  Moss Levin,, Watchmaker/Silversmith,,7 Cooks Court,,Carey Street,,London WC2...Carey Street is just off the Strand....He had no silver marks as he made things for other silversmiths ..The shop is still there and still a silversmiths....Regards...LES...

[TessieWessie]

Hi Les,
On reading your reply to me the penny dropped, as your brother Malcolm is in touch with me and explained his (and your) links with Kitty and Moss.  My husband is Arthur Spencer whose mother was Grace Crawford the daughter of Harry Crawford who married Sarah Levine daughter of
Jane Fairey who married Louis (Lewis) Levin, Moss's last boy child.  So a 2nd cousin to you and Malcolm.  I have several letters concerning Moss which were sent to me via another family member regarding Moss's behaviour while in the Richmond workhouse and also the activities of his wife Ann's the mother of Kate.

Do you think that Moss was the son of Gotschalk Levien who originated from Hannover and went to Jamaica made his fortune and eventually settled and died in Minories, London?  That is a line I was given by one  of the many gennies who you come across while doing this researching.

Les I would love the address of the shop as Arthur and I will visit it next week.  We live in Shepperton so just half hour train ride away.  If you want copies of letters I have re the workhouse let me know and I will send them to you.

Thanks for the info, and I hope you enjoy genealogy as much as I have.

Take care.

Tessa

Arthur and I went to see the workhouse site and the gate posts are still there and I suppose Moss was buried in the cemetery at the rear of the workhouse site which is now a very posh gated housing complex.

[Oxfordshire Cockney]

HI " COUSIN "...  I forwarded the shop address a while ago OK??  I contacted the Jewish newspaper ""Jewish Chronicles"" as I heard about them on BBC program "Heir Hunters"..They record all births deaths and marriages of every Jew in UK..The problem was their records only start in 1841,,same as the census returns..Oh Well!!!  They did give me a clue as to Jewish surnames... LEVIE/LEVY/LEVIEN/LEVIN/JUDALIEB are all definitions of the same name..It all depends on where they were born and which district as well...In Warsaw,,Poland for example there are 6 different Jewish districts,,each has a different spelling of the same name..The family records in Poland are so complicated to understand they recommended I don't go there..HE WILL SHOW UP ONE DAY---WON'T YOU Mr MOSS??  Where for art thou Moss?? Are you receiving me--Over...   Regards...LES.

[TessieWessie]

Hi Les,

Just to let you know Arthur and I went to Carey Street yesterday to find where Moss had his business.  And, can you believe it, we are convinced we have found it.  It's not in a Silversmith Shop as we were led to believe, there is a very old silversmith shop still there but its not where Moss did his business as we asked the proprietor who told us it was never known as the address we have in the trade book.  As we know the address for Moss's business was 7 Cooks Court, Carey Street.  We went through the passage that is shown on the internet (Lincolns Inn) and once through the passage you find a very large square.  Once in the square you can see where a number of barristers domains were housed.  Right in the corner is a number 7.  In this area there is a passage still, which has a number of doors along it, but the passage leads out to Carey Street, right next door to a pub called the Seven Stars.  This pub is about 400years old.  We went into the pub to ask where Cooks Court was but unfortunately no one knew.  We stayed for a drink and the landlady came and spoke to us asking us if we were new to the area.  After explaining what we  were trying to find she informed us that at the end of her pub (the end that was up against the passage which led to No.7 in the square) there was s room which she had bought many years ago. It has once been a room off the passage once used by a watchmaker and then a person who sold 2nd hand clothing to the clerks and barristers who worked in Lincolns inn.  She bought this room to turn it into a small dining area for her pub.  As this room would have been on Carey street, as was the pub, and the passage led out to no.7 in the square we are convinced that the room was the one Moss Levin used to trade as a silversmith and watchmaker/repairer.

I am now going to use the internet to try to find a Barrister by the name of Cook who resided in Lincolns Inn around 1800.

We took photos of both the pub and the room and will try to send them to you if you can give me your e-mail address.

Tessa & Arthur Spencer (your cousins)