Sometimes I feel I get a bit obsessed with checking the statistics on this site. I like to see what visitors are searching for and what pages they read (or at least visit). This can be useful though – allowing me to respond quickly to my new Cullum cousin recently for instance. The stats can also prompt a tweak in the content, making me realise I haven’t quite got the content up to date or clear enough to answer a search phrase.
And sometimes a search term prompts me to check out what the hell they might be looking for, as its certainly not on Cutlock and Co. Today was one such, and after a while it led to a website new to me – the British Jewry Leeds Database. Leeds is where my Jewish Brookstone trail led, and yes there on the Database site was Jonny’s mother Toba Lazarus and the confusion of names around her two marriages and various offspring (see Finding that elusive Jewish connection). There doesn’t seem to be any sources given for this lot of records, so I can’t do my own check of the data or see if it might contain any more clues. But the additional marriage information (precise date, place: 10 Sep 1865, Belgrave St Synagogue for Toba and Isaac) is consistent with what you’d expect from a certificate or register entry, so good enough for the moment. The death date of Jonny’s father Isaac will be taken on trust – 25th April 1889.
Equally it is clear what is missing – and what is much more definite now I have a death for Isaac. The following appeared highly likely, given no other matching Brookstone in 1891, but was still a supposition. Jonny, or rather Jacob as he started out, was in the Jews Orphanage in Norwood, London at 1891 with two sisters, Annie and Eva, the youngest of the family. Presumably because Eva wasn’t born at the 1881 census, she isn’t on the Leeds database at all. I’ll have to get in touch to exchange notes.
That’s quite enough wordage for a quick update.
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