RITTENBERG Family from Poland

Janet66 1 | 3

8 Sep 2018 / #1

HI all, I am searching for any information on my family name and specifically my 3 x Great Grandfather. His name was Jacob RITTENBERG and born in Poland in 1842ish. His fathers name was Israel.

Jacob moved to England and married Harriet Brook and I have all the information on him after that but cannot find anything prior to him moving to the UK.

Many Thanks, Janet

Ziemowit 14 | 3936

8 Sep 2018 / #2

Rittenberg is a popular Jewish surname, so when you google "Jacob Rittenberg" you get lots of results, including the website of a Rittenberg family which is obviously not yours. You should know at least where in Poland your Jacob ("Jakub" in Polish) was born.

There used to be a very good team doing Jewish on-line genealogy research on the French-Polish forum called "Les Forums de Pologne" where they have the section called "Généalogie Juive". The language of the forum is French, however.

klub-beskid.com/phorum

OP Janet66 1 | 3

8 Sep 2018 / #3

On one of the British census it says Cobner, Russia and the rest say either Russia or Poland.... I cant even find his arrival in the UK from Russia / Poland

OP Janet66 1 | 3

8 Sep 2018 / #4

My error in the above post I think I have found the ship that he came to the UK on.. The Aurani..

Ziemowit 14 | 3936

8 Sep 2018 / #5

Cobner, Russia and the rest say either Russia or Poland....

The town is most likely Kowno in today's Lithuania. The town of Kowno was on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that ceased to exist in 1795. Although in that year it became a Russian town, I bet that in 1842 its inhabitans could have still thought of it as "Polish".

The letter "w" can be easily mistaken for the letter "b" by those to whom the name Kowno was unfamiliar. The final "o" which in Polish is pronounced without any phonetic reduction (as it would be in English) may have easily be taken for the ending -er by an English speaker. Hence, in my view, this transformation from "Kowno" to "Cobner".

Ironside 50 | 12383

8 Sep 2018 / #6

Rittenberg is a popular Jewish surname

It doesn't strike me as a Jewish surname. It might be popular amongst Jews but not no exclusively Jewish.

The town is most likely Kowno

That is a stretch. Kowno (Covno) and Cobner? Really? How about Kobryn?

Ziemowit 14 | 3936

8 Sep 2018 / #7

[Rittenberg] doesn't strike me as a Jewish surname.

And "Israel" doesn't strike you as a Jewish first name?

How about Kobryn?

I gave my arguments for "Kowno". Now it is your turn ...

The picture is too small on my screen, so I cannot decipher anything.

OP Janet66 1 | 3

9 Sep 2018 / #8

Sorry, im trying to get the file smaller so it will let me upload it here.. hopefully this is better

GBC_1911_RG14_22548_.jpg