Obwohl sich diese regionalhistorische Homepage nicht zu sehr auf genealogische Themen beschränken soll, möchte ich heute meinem langjährigen Mitarbeiter Leo Hoenig in New York behilflich sein, dessen Publikationen und Forschungen sich zurzeit auf die Region Friesheim (Erftstadt), Bodendorf, Sinzig, Remagen, Niederzissen, Burgbrohl und auch Bayern konzentrieren. Inzwischen liegt seine gewaltige 1.738seitige Genealogie vor, die sich ursprünglich mit seiner eigenen Familie, inzwischen aber mit westdeutschen Familien befasst, die ihre Vorfahren im heutigen Nordrhein-Westfalen und Rheinland Pfalz haben. Das Werk hat sich inzwischen als wahre Fundquelle für Ahnenforscher etabliert.
Es handelt sich grundsätzlich um die jüdische Familie FRIESEM (später FRIEDSAM), die aus Friesheim (heute ein Teil von Erftstadt) stammt und dort schon um 1700 ansässig war. Erst ab 1808 und diesbezüglichen Verordnungen gab es endgültige Namen für Juden, so dass daher die Ahnenforschung heute erschwert ist. Etwa zur Zeit der Französischen Revolution zogen der Sohn von Andreas Friesem, nämlich Moses Andreas, und dessen Ehefrau, Clara Grau, mit den drei Kindern Regina, Andreas and Claude von Friesheim in die Nachbarschaften der Ortschaften Niederzissen und Burgbrohl im heutigen Landkreis Ahrweiler in Rheinland-Pfalz.
Folgende englischsprachige Ausführungen führen zu der berühmten Familie FRIEDSAM in New York, deren Familiengeschichte im 19. Jahrhundert mit der amerikanischen Historie zu tun hat. Die Leser meiner Homepage werden gebeten, sich mit Leo Hoenig direkt in Verbindung zu setzen, falls sie bei seiner Recherche weiterhelfen können.
Leo Hoenig stellt nun seine bisherigen Forschungsergebnisse vor, zu denen bereits Archive und Heimatforscher dankenswerterweise beigetragen haben:
An Addition for Information to Ancestors and Descendants by Leopold Hoenig
The Friedsam Family from Friesheim and Bodendorf
(...) In the late 1700s the children of Andreas' son Moses Andreas and his wife, Clara Grau, --- Regina, Andreas and Claude --- moved from Friesheim to the neighboring villages of Niederzissen and Burgbrohl and they took on the family name Friesem, while the family of another of Andreas' sons, Moyses Leib "Andrer" and his wife, Gudula, moved from Friesheim to Bodendorf near Sinzig and Remagen and took on the name Fridsam and Fritzam, which eventually became Friedsam.
At this time, I am trying to find the link between some of these Friedsams from Bodendorf and a famous Friedsam family here in New York. Perhaps some of your readers can come up with this connection.
One of Moyses Leib's grandsons, Andreas [Fritzam] Friedsam (March 29, 1812/Bodendorf - September 27, 1864/Bodendorf), married Rebecca Hartmann (1815/Sinzig - before 1872/Bodendorf) in Bodendorf on March 11, 1836.
They had two or three children before their marriage. They are:
1. Moises Friedsam, born in 1830. His name appears only once in the Bodendorf records, in the town register of December 4, 1861. He appears there are a "Gastwirt” [proprietor] in America. In the United States, people who carried the Hebrew or Yiddish name "Moish" or "Moishe" were sometimes known as Morris. In Germany, however, those people used the name Moritz for Morris.
There lived in New York City a well-known man named Morris Friedsam. He was born in Germany (Bodendorf?? Bavaria??) on November 29, 1830, and some time before 1858 --- perhaps before 1855 --- he married Barbara Lehburger, who was born in New York on March 4, 1832. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen on July 6, 1853 and he renounced his allegiance to the "King of Bavaria." The naturalization document indicates Morris was born on July 4, 1832 in "Bavaria, Germany.".[July 4 is a date that often appears on documents of foreign-born people who do not know their exact date of birth, but November 30, 1832 appears on Morris Friedsam's burial plaque in the family mausoleum at Salem Fields Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York USA.] Morris Friedsam died in New York on July 19, 1890.
Morris Friedsam was active in politics in the Republican Party. He was appointed by President Chester A. Arthur as the Collector of Internal Revenue for the 5th District (New York), and he served as an alternate delegate to the 1884 Republican national convention. One of Morris and Barbara Friedsam's sons was Col. Michael Friedsam, born on February 10, 1858 in New York. Michael was extremely well known and served as the President of the large B. Altman and Company department store for many years. He and his sister, Bessie, are listed as cousins of Benjamin Altman. When Morris Friedsam died on April 7, 1931. Leo Friesem, who was born in Sinzig on November 29, 1859 [the son of Alexander and Johanette (Hirsch) Friesem] and migrated to the U.S. in the 1880s, traveled by train from Chicago to New York to attend the funeral of his "relative." This leads me to strongly believe that Col. Michael Friedsam's father, Morris Friedsam, was part of the Bodendorf Friedsam family and is probably Andreas and Rebecca's oldest son.
2. Joseph Hartmann (Friedsam), born Hartmann on March 11, 1832 in Bodendorf. He was adopted by Andreas Friedsam, and took on the Friedsam name on March 11, 1836, when Andreas and Rebecca were married. Joseph died on June 6, 1905 in Sinzig, and he was married to Dina Nierendorf. I have no information about her except that since he apparently was a widower at the time of his death, she must have died before June 1905. Were Andreas and Rebecca married by a Rabbi in the synagogue in 1830 or 1831, but not in a civil ceremony, recognized by the government, until March 11, 1836??
3. Regina Hartmann (Friedsam), born Hartmann on January 21, 1836 in Bodendorf. She was adopted by Andreas Friedsam, and took on the Friedsam name on March 11, 1836. At this point, there is no additional information about Regina.
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