Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Joel Herzenberg

Male Abt 1852 -


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  • Name Joel Herzenberg 
    Born Abt 1852  of Pilten (Piltene), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died Warsaw, Warszawskiego, Poland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I4030  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Israel Herzenberg,   b. Abt 1819, of Pilten (Piltene), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1900, of Pilten (Piltene), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 81 years) 
    Mother Leye,   b. Abt 1822, Ventspils (Windau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married Bef 1836  of Ventspils (Windau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1909  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Married Warsaw, Warszawskiego, Poland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1930  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. The Latvian Archives is online and I have reviewed all Registers for Pilten. Registers are in German and I indicate what I don't understand. I extracted all Herzenbergs of which the following excerpts apply to this family:
      "<http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/en/menu/lv/13/ig/13/ie/5507/book/30316.html>
      -Image 205. Has two columns of ages after the name with the first being 1858 and the second 1871; presumably if missing in the second column then probably deceased in the interim. There are several comments with this family requiring translation; however, Feigmanis offered a translation in his 1997 report to Harold Hodes as follows: "…mentioned that for this family somebody was take[n] in army; as well in 1854 some Jew without passport go in army." He comments: "Because conditions of military service were very difficult and 25 years long…, rich Jews try to find some poor Jew or Christian [to] go in the army for them. Also "no passport" Jews might be [caught] and given [to] the army." List #1, Family #11:
      -50 Elias Lämmchen Herzenberg, 54, 67
      -his wife Blume
      -51 his son Israel, 37-1/2, 50
      -52 his son Abraham, 22-1/2, 35-1/2
      -53 his son Levin, 10, 23
      -54 his son Joel, 6, 19
      -55 his son Jossel, 4, 17.
      -56 son Naphthaly, 31, 44
      -his wife Nesse
      -57 his son Lämme, 1-1/2, 14-1/2
      -58 son Hosias, 24, 37
      -59 son Abraham, 18, 31"

      2. Could be same individuals as the following from Jewishgen.org's "Riga Tax Administration List, Fond 1394":
      A. Israil Herzenberg, son of Elia, age 58 in 1878, d. 1899 in Riga.
      B. Joel Herzenberg, son of Israil, age 27 in 1878, d. 1907 in Riga.
      C. Jossel Herzenberg, son of Israil, age 26 in 1878.

      3. Leo Herzenberg per website below indicates he was born in Warsaw, Poland.

      4. Website of Peter Bruce Herzenberg of London, England (since relocated to South Africa). Website is no longer functioning as of 7 Aug 2007. Copies of much of his data from the website in my possession. His source is HL for Leonardo Herzenberg. In regards to this individual:
      HL105/028 shows b. in Windau and d. in Warsaw.

      BIOGRAPHY:
      1. 28 Jul 2007 Http://www.herzenberg.net/leo/htmlrh/Content.html copyrighted by Leo Herzenberg:
      "An meinen Sohn (To my son) Leonhard Herzenberg von (from) Robert Herzenberg. Memoirs written during the 1940's. Translated during the 1990's by Leonardo (Leonhard) Herzenberg. The entire memoir is quite lengthy and included in its entirety in my notes with Joseph Herzenberg, the original known ancestor, in this database. The following is only the portion dealing with this part of the family:
      "GREAT-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
      [30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
      In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
      Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
      Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
      Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec."

      3. Website of Peter Bruce Herzenberg of London, England (since relocated to South Africa). Website is no longer functioning as of 7 Aug 2007. Copies of much of his data from the website in my possession. He indicates references by codes, but I am not familiar with "HR".
      HR shows marriage in Warsaw with a unknown daughter and a son named Nathan. No wife's name.

      BIRTH:
      1. Date and place are unsubstantiated guesses only by Kenny Petersen.

      SOURCES_MISC:
      1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/