Tess “Toots” Snare update

[Effie]

just wanted to share some new information I’ve uncovered about Tess Snare (aka Sarah Lypowsky Myers) and her first wedding.I had ignorantly assumed that her husband, Francis Schnare was Jewish. It turns out he was actually the son of a Bavarian Lutheran bookbinder and an English wife who married in a Parish church! To marry Sarah at the Nottinghill Synagogue, Francis had to undergo a full conversion—including circumcision. While this might have been a love match hastened by Sarah’s pregnancy, I suspect Francis was heavily coerced by her father, Abraham. Abraham was determined to ensure his pregnant daughter was married according to Jewish law and likely threatened Francis with legal action or professional ruin.Francis also had a major reason to avoid a public scandal: a deeply embarrassing family secret. A few years after his father died, his mother gave birth to a son named Albert Lazarus Ullman Schnare. The birth certificate listed a fictional father: "Lazarus Schnare, a tailor's foreman." However, by the next census, she and the children had all taken the surname Ullman. I believe the real father was Lazarus Ullman, a single Bavarian immigrant and tailor who married someone else four years later. Francis and his family likely feared that any feud with Abraham would drag their own family skeleton right out of the closet!

[kiterunner]

You could be right, but it is just a theory. I have come up with so many theories about what happened between certain of my ancestors only to find further information which proved my theories to be wrong.

[Effie]

Originally Posted by kiterunner

You could be right, but it is just a theory. I have come up with so many theories about what happened between certain of my ancestors only to find further information which proved my theories to be wrong.

Thats very true. Conversion was such a big step I guess I’m thinking that there had to be a very strong reason for doing it - either love or some sort coercion and as the marriage turned out to be abusive I’m thinking it was coercion - but as you say we can never know for sure

[Olde Crone]

My late mil was Jewish through and through, from generations of jews.. Yet she married in a C of E church, attended church on high days and holidays and was not an observant jew. But she was buried in a jewish graveyard at her own request.

I don't know what happens these days but certainly a jewish marriage did not need to take place in a synagogue to be recognised by the jewish community. Nor does a man converting to Judaism make any religious difference to his chiodren so I think maybe there's something else going on there. (You have dared to defile my daughter, you'll marry her and you'll convert. Or else.)

OC

[Effie]

Originally Posted by Olde Crone

don't know what happens these days but certainly a jewish marriage did not need to take place in a synagogue to be recognised by the jewish community. Nor does a man converting to Judaism make any religious difference to his chiodren so I think maybe there's something else going on there. (You have dared to defile my daughter, you'll marry her and you'll convert. Or else.)

OC

I think you’re right. I only know what I’ve been able to glean from the internet but I did get the impression that this was a highly unusual event. Sarah’s father had come to England from Russia in the 1880s and managed to take his family from one the poorest parts of East London, through the sweat shops of Lambeth and Soho to the leafy suburbs of Hammersmith. He must have been a determined and proud man willing to do what ever it took to ensure that his pregnant daughter was not only married but married in a synagogue.

[Janet]

Thanks for that update, Effie. Family histories are endlessly fascinating, and yours ranks high in the entertainment factor!

For those who come after me and didn't catch the initial thread, it's here:
The remarkable life of Tess Snare (or Toots and the Baron)

That said, it always behooves us to pay attention to Kite's warnings. But I do love the sequel to a good story.

[Effie]

Originally Posted by Janet

Thanks for that update, Effie. Family histories are endlessly fascinating, and yours ranks high in the entertainment factor!

For those who come after me and didn't catch the initial thread, it's here:
The remarkable life of Tess Snare (or Toots and the Baron)

That said, it always behooves us to pay attention to Kite's warnings. But I do love the sequel to a good story.

Thanks Janet - I have just today managed to order the Marriage Authorisation (required for all synagogue weddings) - Francis Henry Schnare was transcribed as Francis Newryschmare!!. I’ll post any interesting info it contains here.
By the way - here is a picture of a young Baron Sanemoto Ichijo and family https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/easthall...8c32a2a5-s.jpg
. Sanemoto is in the middle