Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Mapping the Lazarus Family in London
Residences
Places of Work
Synagogues (Places of Marriage)
Monday, September 11, 2006
Flora Blumer Lazarus (née Cohen)

She was born in Aldgate, London, around 1833, and was 2-3 years older than Morris.
At the time of her marriage to Morris on December 6th, 1854, she was living at 33 New Street, Gravel Lane.
(Above: Photo with the Geisler children; approx 1906, in Brighton)

It seems she was the daughter of Michael Cohen (deceased before 1851) and Phoebe Cohen (Maiden name unknown). She had an older brother Moses, and a younger sister Sarah.
After her marriage, she and Morris moved into 3 Princes Court, where her mother and stepfather. Isaac Allen lived. Their first child Mary was born there in 1855.
By 1859, they were living at 10 Vinegar Yard, Brydges St, Long Acre, where Catherine was born.
From 1860- 1866, they lived at 126 Drury Lane, moving briefly to 2 Conduit Court, Long Acre, and then on to 46 Drury Lane in 1871. In 1873, they moved temporarily to 27 York Street, Southwark, and in 1878, the family resettled above their new butcher's shop at 26 Draper Street, Newington Butts.
(Photo above: probably taken in the mid 1880's)
Phoebe (named for Flora's mother) married John Stutchfield in 1888, and it appears she and Morris didn't attend the wedding (probably as R.E. Stutchfield was a Gentile, though he converted at some stage to Judaism, and was buried in a jewish cemetery.)
When the younger son John married in 1898, neither Flora nor Morris were in attendance, as far as we can see from the wedding photos. At the time of Morris' death in 1901 they were still living at Draper Street, but were on a trip to South Africa.
Flora was still alive in the 1920's and spent much time with her daughters and grandchildren in South Africa and Britain. We are unsure of the date or place of her passing.
Sources & Resources
The Cemetery Project
Ellis Island
JewGen
Cyndi's List
Public Records Office - Family History Center; Census Records; Births, Deaths & Marriage Records
Ancestry.co.uk
Local Studies Libraries in London (incl. Southwark)
London Metropolitan Archives
Family History Centers in: Boston, New York, London, Vienna
British Library
Boston Public Library
New York Public Library
Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston
Books & References: (Among many...)
- Founders & Fathers, by
- The Streets of London - The Booth Notebooks
Reunion (Leisterpro) for Macintosh
SOHO Notes (Chronos)
Credits, Acknowledgements & Thanks
Extra special thanks to: Julian Phillips, Ginny Counard, Gavin Posner, Wendy Frankel, Julian & Doris Lurie, Ethne Van der Veen,
And to (in no particular order):
Eric & Dora Stutchfield, Tim Shapiro, Linda Flaxman, Sigmund & Janice Shapiro, Keith Posner, Penny Adelstein-Moore, Bunny Adelstein, Bev Phillips, John & Martin Stutchfield, June Borman-Posner, Barbara Lancaster, Janet Nicoll, Martin Jacobson, Gill Cohn, Audrey Holman, Wally Lurie, Stephanie Berrington, Beverley Lewin, Jill & Steven Harris, Stephen Klotz, Nick & Kevin Jacobson, and many more...
What or who are the "Lazari"?
They had 13 children (12 of whom survived to adulthood).
The 10 daughters married, and started new Families, all today who could be called 'Lazari'. These names are: Posner, Stutchfield, Geisler, Shapiro, Jacobson (twice), Starfield and Schlosberg.
The 2 sons married Sampsons & Banbury/Gingell, and one son's descendants changed their name to Lancaster & Linton.
As a consequence, today there are no known descendants of Morris & Flora, who hold the surname of LAZARUS. (However, there were other siblings of Morris Lazarus, who we have not yet traced...)
Morris Lazarus marries Flora Cohen in 1854
At the time of their marriage, Morris was living at 56 Middlesex Street, Aldgate (now Petticoat Lane). Flora was living at 33 New Street, Gravel Lane.

(Copy of the Marriage Certificate of Morris & Flora - thanks to Julian Phillips)
Seven Dials, London WC2 and the Lazari
"By the middle of the 18th century, the area had 'declined' to the extent that 39 night-watchmen were needed to keep the peace. By the early 19th century the area became famous, together with St. Giles to the north, as the most notorious rookery in London.
Shaftesbury Avenue was cut through along the north-west side of Seven Dials in 1889 as a combined work of traffic improvement and slum clearance. The Woodyard Brewery closed in 1905 and its old premises were converted into box, fruit and vegetable warehouses serving Covent Garden Market.
Covent Garden Market moved out in the 1970s, which led to many changes of ownership and uses and dereliction. Seven Dials was declared a Conservation Area in 1974 and since the mid-1970s much restoration has been carried out within the parameters of the former GLC Covent Garden Action Area Plan, one aim of which was to safeguard and improve the existing physical character and fabric of the area. The reconstruction of the Sundial Pillar is a symbol of the regeneration of this area." [Thanks to www.sevendials.com]

(Extract from 25" 1894 London Map)
The Lazarus Family lived and worked in the Seven Dials District of London for two generations, starting (as far as we know) with John Lazarus [a Master Veal Butcher - see 1851 Census, the father of Morris Lazarus], who lived at 13 West Street, above his Butcher shop, with his wife Sarah (née Solomons) and their 7 children:
Ralph, Lewis, Samuel, Clara, Morris, Mary & Judah.
Morris took over the butcher's shop at 13 West Street, Seven Dials. In 1871, Morris was registered as working at 3 West Street, in partnership with his brother Samuel, who kept the shop, when Morris & family moved to Newington Butts, near Elephant & Castle, Surrey in 1878.
[Morris' brother Samuel continued at 3 West Street until 1891, after which the shop relocated to 6 West Street. Samuel retired or gave up the shop in 1900.]
As yet I have been unable to trace any of the descendants of Morris' siblings... I would be glad of any help!]

[Map © maps.google.com]
The sound of Bow-Bells...
The bells referred to are from the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside, in the City of London. Studies made in the 1990's (concluded that at today's sound levels, anyone born within 1.8 miles of St. Mary-le-Bow could be called a "Londoner", and in the 19th Century, the range extended to 3 miles.
Both Morris & Flora Lazarus and most of their children (except for Sophia/"Lily") were indeed born "within the sound of Bow-Bells" at various locations around London. (The distance as the crow flies from St. Mary-le-Bow to Drury Lane is 1,327 miles/1,823km - see the GoogleMap at the end of this post.
I include a quote below, and a map showing the range of the bells...
"Another tradition has it that to be born within the sound of the Bow Bells makes you a Cockney. There has been much discussion on various genealogical newsgroups concerning whether an ancestor was a Cockney. The first major problem occurs in determining in which church the bells are housed. Many think, wrongly, that the church is St Mary's in Bow which is just over three miles further to the east than the true home of the Bow Bells, St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside. The next problem is just how far away from the church can the bells be heard. If the legend of Dick Whitington is to be believed then the bells could be heard on Highgate Hill fully six miles distant from the source. In 1991, Dr Malcolm Hough carried out research taking into account such things as weather, wind and landscape to map where the Bow Bells could be heard. The map shown below illustrates the limits when the background sound levels are taken into consideration. Dr Hough estimated that before motorised traffic the sound levels would be in the region of 50 decibels during the day, reducing to 30 decibels at night. The equivalent reading today would be 60 reducing to 45 thus greatly reducing the Cockney area."
[Source: The East End, then and now; Winston G Ramsey]

Getting Started on the Project
This Blog is intended to be the beginning of a document of the journey I have undertaken, one that consumes and thrills me, and fascinates and intrigues many of the extended Family. As of today (April 15, 2005), there are 402 people (including spouses of direct relations) on the Tree (which I ultimately intend to upload to its own website), of which their are now 6 generations subsequent to the Core Family: Morris & Flora Lazarus.
I have had incredible help from many members of the Family, but most of all from Julian Phillips in Melbourne, and Ginny Counard, in Hamilton, New Jersey, for which I am very grateful! And my thanks to my parents Julian & Doris Lurie of Johannesburg, for their ongoing support and contributions to this vast project.
I seem somehow to have taken on the task to meet as many Family members as possible, and to try to document in very rudimentary detail, the legacy of Morris & Flora!
Le Chayim!