Were they Jewish?

[Mouchoir]

Hi
Further to my last post about the John Lewis Fridenry (coffee roaster) and his daughter Charlotte Louisa Lewis Fridenry, I've tracked down another descendant of Charlotte, but am still at a dead end.  We both seem to have come to the conclusion the family could be Jewish (Fridenry / Freidenreich/Fradjenraj) and have been puzzled that on Jewish websites this name is equivalent to 'Wertheimer'.  I've also read that the use of 'Lewis' could be an anglicised version of a Jewish name.  How sure can we be?  And if names were adopted on arrival in this country, how can I pursue this?  John seems to have appeared from nowhere and I can also find no record of his death.  Any suggestions welcome!  I'd like to know - I WANT them to be Jewish, but don't know if I am assuming too much.
Thanks
Maddie

[Redroger]

My understanding is that Lewis is an Anglicized style of Levi.

[Mouchoir]

Thank you!   So I might be right....Any further advice would be welcome.

[Redroger]

Suggest you google Jewish Family History and approach the site you think will be most useful to you.

[JustinL]

Hello Maddie,

I'm lucky enough to have a lot of Jewish ancestry. Researching this ancestry has been fascinating.

Unfortunately, I can't give you a definitive answer to your question.

Lewis was the common Anglicised form of the Yiddish nickname ליב = Leyb or Leib (German spelling)  pronounced libe . This name is the Yiddish word for lion and draws on Jacob's description of his son, Judah (Yehuda), as a lion.

In the early years of the 19th century, many German Jews with the Yiddish name Leib were known as Levi / Levy to the wider non-Jewish population. The best known example was Levi Strauss. BTW, the Hebrew and German forms of the name rhyme with heavy.
Justin

[Redroger]

Justin, As a brief aside (or highjack) to the thread for a minute do you know whether the surname Ayres (and variants) has any Jewish association? I understand it is Gypsy in origin, and yet an ancestor is buried at Lode Cambs with a Star of David toimbstone. Thanks.

[Mouchoir]

Thanks Justin!  That's great.  It may sound silly, but I SO want to have Jewish ancestors.

It is driving me mad - I seem to have spent ages looking on ancestry and on the JGSGB and have found nothing.  It is as though John Lewis (Levy?) Fridenry has been erased from history!

RedRoger - I did try and get in touch with someone on a Jewish Genealogy site, but to no great avail - they are just volunteers and whilst very helpful can only offer general advice (e.g. databases to search), most of which I've already tried. I think it is fairly obvious that Charlotte Louisa Lewis' husband was not Jewish, but that doesn't mean that her family weren't.  John Lewis Fridenry as I've said though just seems to be a missing link!

Thanks both anyway.  If anyone else has any thoughts, I'd be very grateful. 
Very best wishes
Maddie 

[Mouchoir]

Still no further progress with any of this, though I've spent hours looking and have signed up for premium Ancestry membership.  I just can't understand why I can find no mention of John Lewis Fridenry, aside from on his daughter's marriage certificate.  I'd hoped there might be some kind of immigration record / indication of this birthplace which might give further clues.  My main problem is the number of different ways Fridenry could be spelt (Freidenreich etc.) and the fact that John Lewis is probably an anglicised adoption.  Anyone got any further suggestions as to places I could try looking?
Best wishes
Maddie

[Redroger]

Looking back on this thread it is not clear to me what the time period is. Have you tried to find John Lewis Fridenry on any of the available censuses? The most recent of course being 1911. If he first appears on say the 1901, but his daughter was born in (say) 1903) then you know he was an adult in 1901. Look who else was in the house, and try to find them in the previous census, he might just have been not recorded for any of several reasons.Once you have exhausted this line of enquiry go back to the original census entry and search for the family at that address in previous copies of a local directory e.g. Kelly's.

Hopefully this will give you more to look at, but I hope you are not going to say the marriage took place in 1933