Emdin

Emdin Family

by Louise Mason

GENEALOGY MY JOURNEY

My journey into genealogy started quite by accident when we visited South Africa in 2004.

We met my cousin on my father’s side and were invited to his home together with a couple whose surname was Emdin who he knew were relatives but did not know the relationship. I was showed photographs – did they resemble any other family members? I was also given two different family trees one the Descendants of Velva Emden and the oterh had ?Emden m ? unknown at the top of the tree but we British Emden’s were not on it (note the different spellings).

When I got home I started to investigate further. In my baby book it was written that my Gt Grandmother was Frances Emden and my Gt Grandfather was Benjamin Simon. My father had already passed away but I was able to ask aunts, cousins and my mother questions. I also had a piece of paper written by my late father which said Benjamin Simon married Frances Emden and Edith Emden married Jack Myers. I also found photographs of South Africa taken in 1942 and a letter mentioning the Emden family.

I decided to visit the Family Records Centre in Islington (it has since relocated to Kew) with my large notebook. I knew that my father’s family the Simon’s only came from Middlesbrough. I pulled out large birth, marriage and death ledgers. I also looked at the census and found the Simon’s came to Middlesbrough about 1883 from Russia/Lithuania and. I found out lots of information on that visit but putting it together was another matter.

From my early research, things started to blossom extremely quickly.

I joined ancestry.co.uk and also the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britian and Jewish Gen where I posted a message and made contact with other Emdin/Emden descendants from South Africa. I started to match the records and things snowballed from there.

In 2005 I sent off for a birth certificate of one of my grandfather’s siblings (child of Fruma Emden and Benjamin Simon) as I had found from the Census that he had not been born in this country and this was a turning point in my early research. I had expected the parents to be Benjamin Simon and Frances Emden but not so, it showed the mother as Fanny Myers. I then knew that Jack Myers was an assumed name and he really was Jacob Emden. I sent off for the wills of Jack and Edith Myers as I had been told they had left money to all the unmarried Simon Gt nieces, this provided me with their children and grandchildrens’ names and with the aid of The Jewish Chronicle, UK which came online in 2006, I was able to trace their granddaughter. When she called me, she said this was a ‘Eureka Moment’ she had been researching the family for over seven years, had even visited Lithuania and had not known of our existence. She gave me the Naturalisation Document of Jacob Myers which showed his parents as Elka and Myer Emden – they took their father’s first name as their surname.

Also in 2005 Professor Eric Goldstein, a Professor of Jewish History at Emory University posted a message on Middlesbrough Kehillat asking if anyone knew the Simon family and detailing lots of names. The message eventually reached me and we enjoyed many emails. I also found out that someone had written a book chronicling the Simon family which I bought.

From the Simon Family Tree Book I was able to see that my Gt Grandfather Benjamin had a brother, I previously had found a photograph of him with the name Feivel on it – I traced his lineage in the book and was able to see that he had lived in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. I Googled his descendants’ name and an announcement appeared of a birth only a couple of years old – I emailed the Shul and within 24 hours was in touch with the family.

In 2008 I was able to find the birth of my Gt Grandmother Fruma Emden on Jewish Gen – born 15 March 1858 (12 Nissan ) Plunge, Lithuania Father: Meer Grandfather: Yankel Mother: Elka, this provided me with her parents’ names as previously mentioned and her grandfather Jacob, it was at this point I was able to put all the family together and connect us up to the Emdin’s that I had first met in South Africa in 2004 - my cousin called me a super sleuth.

In May 2011 I decided to visit the National Archives, Kew, again to do some more research they hold all the Naturalisation documents. Although having been given a couple of pages of the Naturalisation of Jacob Myers (really Jacob Emden), I decided to look at all the documents and I found out something absolutely astonishing, scribbled between two lines it said Elka’s (my Gt Gt grandmother) maiden name was Simon, but that was my maiden name also. When I got home I got out the Simon Family Book and there was only one Elka born in 1829, emails went off to everyone all over the world including Prof. Eric Goldstein – Professor of Jewish History at Emory University and he had not known who she had married. I now know that my Gt Gt Grandmother Elka Ziman and my Gt Gt Grandfather Meer Emden were first cousins and they fit ? Emden & ? at the top of the second tree given to me in South Africa in 2004.

DNA – In 2003 R Emden of South Africa (Plunge line) and C Myers, Grandson of Jacob Myers(Emden), London and A Emden of New York had a DNA test and it showed they are related to each other, this was updated in 2012..

I have been featured in Woman & Home Magazine, GB and The Jewish Chronicle, GB and through my genealogical research I have discovered family all over the world. I keep my large notebook at hand at all times and write everything down and I have over 5000 people on my tree. I know we are related to the famous Rabbi Yaakov (Jacob) Emden b. 4 June 1698 d. 19 Apr 1776 the son of Rabbi Tsvi Ashkenazi, the Chacham Tzvi.

Looking into my family history has been an exciting personal journey and it never ceases to amaze me how much you can find out at the click of a button. My family may think I’m crazy for devoting so much time to my research, but finding out where I come from and meeting family I never knew existed makes the work worthwhile.

Louise Mason, London