Abraham Lewis was tried at Middlesex Gaol on the 17th Aug 1833 and convicted of stealing a silk handkerchief. He was transported to Australia on the "Fairlie", arriving in New South Wales on the 15th Feb 1834. He was a barber by trade, had a crippled right leg and 18 years old. His father gave evidence at the trial and stated that he, too, was a barber and had lived in the same house in Aldgate for 22 years.
Abraham married Johanna Sullivan at Windsor, NSW, Australia in 1845. NSW BDM gives surname LEWES. The following year they had a daughter, born Rachel Lewis at Windsor. Abraham and Johanna parted company in the early 1850's and Abraham went on to live a life of petty crime. He took his own life by jumping off the Holdsworthy Bridge near Liverpool, NSW on the 16th Jan 1896. He was 81 years old and newspaper reports state that he was the oldest living Jewish convict.
On the NSW BDM, his name was recorded at time of death as LOUIS NATHAN. Whilst living in Sydney, he carried on his trade as a barber and was known as "Louey the Barber", also Judah Nathan and Hugh Nathan.
I would really like to find out who the parents of Abraham Lewis are. My brickwall is my paternal great great grandmother, Rachel Nathan. I have no idea who her parents are. All I know is, she was supposed to be Jewish. She married my great great grandfather, James Mullins at the Presbyterian Church in Sydney on the 19th March 1862. The witnesses were Johanna Nathan and Dorindah Nathan. Rachel was aged 17 and the certificate states she was born at Windsor, NSW. I have searched the NSW BDM and there is no birth recorded for a Rachel Nathan. I have looked at every record for a Rachel born at Windsor for around 1846 and the only name which rings any bells or sounds Jewish is the birth of Rachel Lewis to Abraham and Johanna.
I have had my DNA tested and it shows that I am 4% Jewish. My father's only brother is 7% Jewish...working back from this, it would mean that Rachel would have beeen 50% Jewish, so that perhaps Abraham and Johanna were her parents kind of fits my theory.
I have a 50 cM DNA match with a descendant from (Mark) Mordecai Nathan and his wife Frances Isaacs, through their son Joseph Nathan who married Elizabrth Levy. These families lived in the Spitalfields area of London. I also have lower DNA matches with other families associated with the Nathan/Isaacs offspring.
So what I'm wondering is how can I tie Abraham Lewis in with the Nathan family from Spitalfields....why was he also known as Judah Nathan?? Were the family once known as Nathan and changed to Lewis?? I can't seem to find any barbers on the 1841 census to fit the profile for Abraham's father, maybe he'd died by then. Everyone seems to be general dealers.
Does anyone agree that my great great grandmother, Rachel Nathan, could be Abraham's daughter?
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers, Deb
