Circus Family Performers/Martinek Family

[cerchier]

  I am looking for information on the Martinek family that toured Europe around the turn of the last century.  They eventually went into film and were not only actors but got into some production work.  I am primarily interested in their early days and the groups they travelled with.
  Thank you and I appreciate any help or info you may have.

Cheers
Chip

[CaroleW]

Hi

Can you add details re: christian names/birthyears/birthplaces please

[crisane]

A small bio on Ivy which may help with names
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0553321/bio

More info re family connections on this forum
http://thebioscope.net/2010/02/10/from-the-deep/

[cerchier]

Carol
  The names that I have are; Emmanuel Martinek (1847-1919) - m Apr. - 1870 Sophia Sumner Fisher (1848-1933).  They had four children, Leonard Charles 1870-?, Baby boy 1873-1873, Oceano Oscar Henry 1876-1932 and Emily Olympia 1878-1950.
  I have Emmanuel born in Jassy, Romania and would like to find his roots along with Sophia, born in England.
  I know they got into film through J B McDowell, who is my wife's grand father.
  So any help to find where they come from would be greatly appreciated.

 Crisane
  Thank you for the links, very interesting.

Cheers
Chip

[crisane]

Sophia Sumner Fisher
Baptised 28 May 1848 Parish -  St Mary's Bryanston Square Westminster
Father - Edward Fisher occupation Coachman
Mother -Patience Fisher
residence Gloster mews

marriage
on same page FreeBMD
June 1/4 1843
Edward Fisher and Patience Sumner reg district Chertsey Surrey
vol 4 page 35

The marriage certificate for Sophia and Emmanuel should give you his father's name and occupation. Do you have it?

The probate notice for both Emmanuel and  Oceano Henry Oscar are on the same page 1935 even though Emmanuel died 1919. It took a few years to settle an estate of 100 pounds for Emmanuel.
Oceano left an estate of 2088 pounds 17 shillings and one pence

[crisane]

According to a report in the The Era on 25 June 1876 Oceano was born 24May at sea when Emmanuel - the celebrated equestrian artist- and his wife were sailing from St Petersburg to Stockholm with the Ciniselli Company.

If you type Ciniselli circus in to a search engine you will get lots of hits.

[cerchier]

Hi Crisane,
  Thanks for the info, we didn't know some of this and some we had was vague. This helps to clear some of it up.  Interesting about the circus, looks like it is a very successful enterprise.
  For your previous post, we do not have the marriage certificate for Sophia and Emmanuel.  Do you have access to it, or can you tell me how to find it.
  We appreciate all your help, thank you very much.

Cheers
Chip

[crisane]

Hi
You can order the certificate online here https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp
 details from FreeBMD below but check them for yourself first., http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
 Always use the spelling that FreeBMD have otherwise the GRO will say they don't have a certificate for them.

June 1/4 1870
Registration district Kensington
Emanuel Martinek
Sophia Sumner Fisher
vol 1a pge 344

[S Martinek]

Hi. I know this post was 2016 but I've only just caught it as occasionally I search H O Martinek in case new links have come up.

Emanuel's parents (E was born in Roumania and his parents were down as Itinerant) were Francis Martinetti/Martinek who was Bohemian, and Lizeta/Aloysia Perteka who was Hungarian. They were married by a Catholic priest who was, afterwards, invited to watch them perform and subsequently wrote a letter of admiration and thanks. Sophia's parents were Edward Fisher and Patience Sumner. As far as I know, Edward was a coachman and Patience was in service so maybe that's how they met. Also as far as I can gather they started a livery stables but Edward died. I think the family carried on with the livery stables and it's possible the circus people boarded some horses there, or went there to buy a a horse (pure supposition) which might explain how Emannuel met Sophia.

To date, I haven't managed to get further back than Francis and Lizeta. I think Patience Sumner was born in Wiltshire with father John, mother unknown, and Edward was born in Surrey with parents called William and Elizabeth.

I'm in the middle of a computer changeover so won't have the relevant documents until after 1st June, when the drive from my old laptop is transferred through to my new desktop, but I do have photocopies to back the Francis and Lizeta information up, found at the Kew National Archives, and anyone who would like a copy can contact me at sallyemartinek@gmail.com  ....after June 1st 2018.

I was pleased to be referred to the name of the Ciniselli Circus but so far have found no information regarding Emmanuel. I have a couple of photos of a large number of people performing an act in either Canada or America, which involves horses and cowboys/Indians (native Americans) and am assuming this is Emmanuel and children (Oceano, Leonard, Emilie and possibly daughter-in-law Ivy)
and have found a record of a ship passage from Canada to the UK which contains several people of the name Martinek.

I understand that Oceano and Leonard performed as a clown/acrobatic duo under the name of the Martinek Freres and I have original promotional postcards showing the two of them in various acts. Again, I'd be happy to share copies of these.

Please do get in touch if you want any copies or maybe have further information  I would be pleased to have, and thank you.