Elizabeth Daniel

Nothing certain is know about Elizabeth Daniels except the inscription that remains on her headstone.

The English inscription records that she was born in Amsterdam and died in Bath on 13 April 1831, aged 90 years and 11 months. The age at death is very precise and assuming it is accurate she was born in Amsterdam in May 1740. 

Some Hebrew letters on her headstone are now indecipherable. However, the consensus of some English experts in reading Hebrew headstones is that Elizabeth was married to Chanoch/Henoch Falek/Palk/Polak Ha Cohen Daniels, a respected member of the Hebrew community in Amsterdam, and that they were Ashkenazi.

An expert in Jewish studies at the University of Amsterdam has identified a marriage registration with the Amsterdam municipality that may provide some clues to her identity. The record is for Bele van Gelder, born in 1741, daughter of Samuel Adolf Leib v Gelder v Feen and Clara Gluck Joseph de Mets Maarsen who lived in Batavier Street, in the middle of the Amsterdam Jewish quarter. Her husband, who was three years older, signed his name as Salomon Daniels junior. He was a diamond polisher, the son of Daniel Gedalya Avraham Polak and Marianne Michela Jacob. 

It is not certain that this is the same woman and at the time of writing, research into Elizabeth’s life is continuing.