Monday 2 April 2018

Salomon Schiff

My great great great grandfather Samson Schiff who was born in 1807 had three older brothers. The eldest brother was Leopold, born in 1797, about whom and whose many descendants I have discovered and written a great deal. The second son was Aron Adolph, born in 1802, who appears to have died in Nuremburg in 1860, a teacher, and apparently unmarried. The only other information I have been able to discover about him is that he taught languages in Muhlhausen and Dresden, and that in his youth he had been considered a rebel, and was secretly observed by the Royal Saxon Police in 1854 who commented on his 'democratic attitudes' that he wished to express openly. Mühlhausen is just 35km east of Mannheim, but Dresden is much further away, at 380km.

The third brother, who long remained a mystery to me, was Salomon, who was born in 1805. Whereas Leopold went into commerce, Adolph into teaching, and Samson into a craft as a silversmith, Salomon followed a career as a doctor.


Below is an automatic translation of a summary I wrote in French about Salomon and his descendants


The first ancestor whose name we know for sure is Samuel Schwalbach, of Hanau. Born in Hanau after the death of his father, also Samuel, whence his name, according to the Ashkenazi custom, he was married to the orphan Augusta Fuld of Mannheim, who no doubt brought him a considerable dowry. After this marriage he changed his surname from Schwalbach to Schiff, but this family name was not completely forgotten either by the family or by the authorities.This couple gave birth to one daughter and four sons: the eldest was named Leopold, the second Adolph, the third Solomon, and the youngest son Samson, my own ancestor. Leopold became a merchant, Adolph was a language teacher, Samson was a goldsmith, and Salomon, apparently the smartest, became a doctor in 1832. Born in Mannheim in 1805, he married on May 4, 1837 Caroline Zimmern, from a good Jewish family also from Mannheim. Their son Rudolph was born on April 2, 1838. When he was one year old his father Solomon died, leaving this son and a pregnant wife. His little brother Friedrich Salomon (thus taking the name of his deceased father) was born July 16, 1839, but henceforth we lose all trace of him. As for Rudolph, he reappears at his wedding to the Christian Maria Anna Josepha Kunkel on July 24, 1866 in Feudenheim, a suburb of Mannheim. Their four children were Mathilde, born in Frankfurt in 1867, Otto, also born in 1869 in Frankfurt, Elise, born in Bruchsal in 1871, and Franz Salomon, born in Mannheim in 1876. It is not known when this family arrived in Paris, but Rudolph was recognized by the French state as an 'officer of public instruction' before his death in 1918. Of his children, so far of Mathilde we know nothing apart from her marriage to Baptiste Faugeras, concerning Otto I discovered his Parisian life as a musician and composer, of Elise I recently discovered some details of her life, especially concerning her marriage to the Polish Jewish lawyer Roman Flatau. Franz Solomon married at the age of 19 Julie Oppenheim, who appears to be the daughter of a Jewish couple. Franz and Julie had three daughters: Octavine, Lucienne and Yvonne. All three married, and Octavine has many descendants in France, Lucienne left family in Chile and the United States, and Yvonne also left descendants in the United States.

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