[Hebrew illegible]
...
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
THE PIOUS PRIESTESS
FRANCES HERMAN
Frances Herman was born Frances Rebecca Hoch in 1803 in Neustadt Poland/Prussia. She was married to Samuel Herman (father Judah) who was born in Kronin, Russia, in 1802.
They had three children, all born in Russia: Abraham David who was born in Kronin in 1828, Rose, also born in Kronin in 1831, and Phoebe who was born in Babiak in 1841.
There are no records of their early life or of when they came to England, but by the 1851 census the family was living at 51 Killigrew St, Falmouth, Cornwall. Samuel is recorded as Rabbi of the Falmouth congregation, Abraham as a bookbinder and Phoebe as a scholar (schoolchild).
According to the Falmouth records Samuel remained as rabbi there until 1860. However his appointment as minister in Bath was announced in the Jewish Chronicle in early 1856. So there is some confusion as to whether he was paid by both congregations.
Their son Abraham married Ester Cohen in Bath in 1856.
By 1858–59 Samuel is listed in the Bath City Directory at 8 Kingston Buildings as ‘Minister of the Hebrew Congregation and teacher of Hebrew and German’.
Frances died at home in Bath in February 1860 after three years of continuous bronchitis.
Samuel remarried and went to Australia with his second wife Sarah Jacob, arriving on 23 January 1864 in Port Philips Bay.
Samuel was one of the ministers to the Ballarat Hebrew Congregation and was a foundation member in 1864 of the Beth Din or rabbinical court established in Victoria to decide questions of Jewish law. He was said to be better versed in Jewish law than any other minister in Victoria. However, since he failed to master English, his authority was often superseded. He resigned his pulpit at Ballarat in 1868 and went to Geelong where he served the congregation until his death in 1879, retaining the position of Ab Beth Din or Chief of the Jewish Ecclesiastical Board for the Australian Colonies (source Hilary Rubinstein).
Abraham and Ester daughter Lila and son Louis were born in Falmouth. By 1861 Abraham was the Jewish minister in Sheffield. The family moved to London where their daughter Philippa was born in 1862 and son Keith in 1868. In the 1881 census Abraham is listed as an inspector of meat.
Abraham died in Hackney in 1907.
Rose Herman was married in April 1853 in Birmingham to a Mr Levy. Their first son Levi was born in 1854 in Birmingham. Her son Solomon Levi was born in 1856 in Sealake, Victoria, Australia as were her three daughters and one other son, who was born in Ballarat, Victoria. Rose died in 1906 in Ballarat.
Phoebe Herman lived in Sheffield and was married in 1862 to Harris Cohen, a watchmaker. They had three children.
Census records
1851
51
Killgrew Street
Falmouth
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
Associated addresses
1856-1860
8
Kingston
Building
Family home and place of death