Wolff Levisohn

[m_w_r]

Unless of course his name is misspelt in all the censuses but you thought it was fun to tell me he's in them, but withhold the vital part of the info from me so I can't find him?

Yes, quite.

More tomorrow, if I can find the time - or if you get there first ...

Would you be prepared to resile from your appropriation of R. Michael Gordon's view of Levisohn as a "mysterious even sinister" man, supposing that I provided all the references to which I've referred? If you would, then the whole thing has some moral value, I suppose.

Regards,

Mark

[HelenaWojtczak]

the 1891 census, the 1901 census, the 1911 census...

Mark

I have just this moment searched for "Wolff Levisohn" on ancestry (all records including censuses) and get NO hits apart from his marriage.

There are 22 Levisohns in the 1891 census and none of them is Wolf or Wolff or anything like that. There are 15 in the 1901, ditto. There are 27 in 1911, again no Wolf or Wolff or anything resembling it.

There are 37 men called Wolff in the 1901 census, and 32 in the 1891 but none of them is Levisohn or anything resembling it. There is a Wolff Levison (ie different spelling) in the 1881 census.

I think that can safely be described as "missing from the records."

Unless of course his name is misspelt in all the censuses but you thought it was fun to tell me he's in them, but withhold the vital part of the info from me so I can't find him?

Helena

[m_w_r]

Hi Helena,

But his absence from records is odd.

Yes, apart from the marriage records when he marries, the 1891 census, the 1901 census, the 1911 census, his son's war records as next of kin, and his other son's marriage certificate (1920), when he is recorded as deceased, and, no doubt, countless other sources, including the sources linked to the Klosowski trial, where he appeared at the police court, and then at the Central Criminal Court, under his own name, and giving the correct details. Shady? Missing from the records? I don't think so.

I mean, I'm with you to the extent that I can't find a death registration either, but I haven't looked very hard. But I think we can dispose of the idea that Levisohn was a man of secrecy who excluded himself from universal records.

Regards,

Mark

[HelenaWojtczak]

Hello Helena

At Klosowski's trial he stated:

WOLFF LEVISOHN. I live at 135, Rosslyn Road, South Tottenham, and am a traveller in hairdressers' appliances.

See trial transcript posted by Howard Brown at JtR Forums

Chris

Indeed that is where I got his name from.

But his absence from records is odd.

I think the correct spelling of his name is Lewisohn.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hello Helena

At Klosowski's trial he stated:

WOLFF LEVISOHN. I live at 135, Rosslyn Road, South Tottenham, and am a traveller in hairdressers' appliances.

See trial transcript posted by Howard Brown at JtR Forums

Chris

[HelenaWojtczak]

I've just done a search for Wolff Levisohn on Ancestry and got only one hit - marriage in Whitechapel in 1887 To either Alice or Rebecca.

So I searched for just Levisohn hoping to see some forename similar to Wolff but there is nothing - not even one starting with a W. Can't find any living in the East End, either, who are in the hairdressing supplies business.

This is really weird - no birth, no death, no incoming passenger on a ship, no census record not even 1881, 1891, 1901, nothing, absolutely nothing. It's as though he didn't exist, or never registered anything, except his marriage.

I have found an Adolf W. Lewisohn, general dealer, in Tottenham in 1891. And his wife is Alice.

I also tried searching for his wife after 1887, but there are also no records for Rebecca Levisohn (nee Mercer) or Alice Levisohn (nee Sutton) either before or after her marriage, with the exception of a death record for an Alice Levisohn, so I guess it was Alice Sutton he married in 1887.

Mr Gordon says in his books what a mysterious even sinister man W.L. was. But even if a man refuses to register on the census, once he's dead he cannot prevent his next of kin from registering his death - so how come no death record?

Can anyone shed any more light on him for me?

Helena