Almost like an Auntie

11 Underwood Street

This pair of houses is at the end of a terrace in Underwood Street, in Mile End New Town in the East End of London. The house on the right is number 13, with a confectioner's shop on the ground floor - a veritable 'corner shop', very convenient for any children living nearby, and there were a few, next door at number 11.  This house seems to have played a significant role in the lives of my Frankenstein family in their early days in London.

Mutual ignorance
At this point I ask you to bear in mind that 10 years ago, neither I nor anyone else in my own Frankenstein branch knew of the existence of the family of Rachel Frankenstein, who is the central character of this part of the family story. Nor did we know of the existence of Abram Rajn's family, and how they are connected to us. The ignorance was total, and mutual.

None of us knew anything. The links which appear to have been so strong 100 years ago had grown weaker over the generations, and all but disappeared. All but: the one exception was a vestige of a family Tree reconstructed by Rajn and Boll cousins in the USA, who knew they were linked to each other by the two Frankenstein sisters, Tauba and Rywka Laja. They also knew there were more Frankenstein cousins somewhere, but they didn't know who we were, or where to find us. You can see how we found each other here: Finding more new cousins.

Since then we've got our collective heads together, rummaged through archives, searched the far corners of the internet, walked the streets, shared photos, you name it. We even have a Facebook Group with over 100 members, all Children of Frankenstein ....

Back to number 11
I introduced the house in a couple of posts two years ago - It's Rajning Cousins, and 11 Underwood Street - I but didn't go on to write up the stories of the people involved.

Here's what we know so far. First, the dates we have are:

1905: baby Jacob
The first mention we have of the house is in March 1905, when baby Jacob is born there to Morris Lefcovitch and his wife Rachel Leah Frankenstein. 

Rachel's father Israel Jacob had died in Poland some time in the mid-late 1870s, and her mother Sarah came to London a few years later with Rachel, and her siblings Boruch (Barnett) and Bajla (Betsy); Rachel's older brother Jonah (Jacob) was already there - his first child Moses was born in London in 1879. Rachel and Morris were not in this house in the 1901 Census - they were in Spelman Street, another place that figures repeatedly in the family story - so they must have moved to Underwood Street some time between that Census and the birth of baby Jacob in March 1905.

Rachel and Morris are still there in April 1911, when the next Census was taken, and we have no documents showing them anywhere else until they set off for (another) new life in Australia in January 1913.

But before they go, they play host to a couple of family events that allow us to firm up our understanding of how some of the members of our Frankenstein clan relate to each other. 

1907: Abraham and Bloomah
The first occasion is the marriage of Abraham Isaac Ray and Bloomah Freedman in 1907 (see It's Rajning Cousins)

Abraham Isaac Ray, aged 22, is our Abram Icek Rajn, b 1883 according to the Polish records, and he is marrying Bloomah Freedman, also 22. His father, "Harris Barnett Ray", is Hersz Ber Rajn, who had died in 1894. Hersz Ber was originally married to Tauba Frankensztajn, and she is the mother of Abram. However, she died in 1887, and Hersz Ber re-married, this time to Tauba's younger sister Rywka Laja Frankensztajn.

But first, why are the happy couple both down as of "11 Underwood Street"? The Lefcovitches haven't moved out, indeed they are still there in 1911, as we've seen. Is there a family connection? Specifically, is there a Frankenstein connection? Is Rachel Frankenstein Lefcovitch connected to Abram's mother, Tauba Frankensztajn Rajn? It turns out we've asked this question before, and the answer is: Yes.

In Two stones: son of Leib, we pulled together all the clues, and concluded that these two families are indeed one. The link between the characters in this story is that Rachel's father Israel Jacob turns out to be a brother of Wolek, the father of Tauba and Rywka Laja. So Rachel is a first cousin to the two sisters, and first cousin once-removed to Tauba's son Abram. So it made sense for her to host his wedding. She's almost like an Auntie to him.

1916: Freda and Aaron

In Is this the Missing Link? we looked at the marriage a few years later of Aaron Hyman and Freda Rayne (1916).  Freda is the daughter of Rywka Laja Frankensztajn and Hersz Ber Rajn, which makes her a half-sister to Abram. In fact, I am reliably advised that because they have the same father, and their mothers (Tauba and Rywka Laja) are sisters, Abram and Freda should be ranked even closer - they're three-quarter siblings.

There was also a what-house-is-it clue in that marriage. Freda's husband-to-be Aaron Hyman gave as his address 28 Blythe Street, which we recognised as the home of Barnett Frankenstein. Barnett of course is the brother of Rachel Frankenstein Lefcovitch. So Freda has the same relationship to Barnett as Abram does to Rachel - they're first cousins once-removed. He's almost like an Uncle to her.

1912: Fanny and Lewis

Then, in August 1912, just a few months before they set off for Australia, Morris and Rachel Lefcovitch play host to another happy couple - Louis Allerhand and Fanny Shalinsky - see Another Link in the Chain.

Fanny is a shadowy figure. She appears in the 1901 Census as a grand-daughter of Rachel's mother, Sarah Frankenstein. She is shown as born in Gombin, the family's home-town, around 1887, but we know little about her parents. We see on the Certificate that her father was Samuel Shalinsky, but we have found no further trace of him either in Poland or in England. As for her mother, we have to presume that she was a daughter, as yet unidentified, of Sarah and Israel Jacob. In other words, Fanny's mother is a sister of Rachel Frankenstein Lefcovitch.

Fanny is not with Sarah's family in London in the 1891 Census, so a working assumption is that her mother had died in Poland some time in the 1890s, and Fanny - probably no older than 10 or 12 - was sent over to live with Grandma Sarah. In the 1911 Census Sarah is around 70, and boarding with an unconnected family, but I have not yet found Fanny. Sarah died in June 1912.

All this suggests that when the time came for Fanny to marry Lewis Allerhand in August 1912, it made sense for the bride and groom to be staying at the house of Morris and Rachel Lefcovitch. After all, Rachel really was her Auntie.

1912: Uncle Morris

And there's one more touch that cements the relationship between our two Frankenstein branches. One of the witnesses to Fanny Shalinsky's marriage is Morris Frankenstein. This is Moszek Boruch, a brother of Tauba and Rywka Laja. If you've been paying proper attention, you will recall that Morris's father Wolek is brother to Fanny's mother's father Israel Jacob.

All of which makes Morris a first cousin to Fanny's mother (whoever she is). So he's a first cousin once-removed to Fanny herself, and thus a very suitable witness to her marriage. He's almost like an Uncle to her.