52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #1 -Aaron Lazarus Samuel - A Fresh Start

I only made it to Week 18 of last year's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks". (I have all kinds of excuses, but I'll spare you the experience of listening to me whine.) I'm going to try again. This year I'm combining the 52 Weeks challenge with Thomas MacEntee's "Genealogy Do-Over."

For 2015, there are weekly themes associated with each of the 52 weeks. Appropriately, Week One is "A Fresh Start." So - who to choose?? I decided to choose my 3rd Great-Grandfather, Aaron Lazarus Samuel , who was the first of my father's direct line to arrive in the United States. I checked last year's blog posts for any mention of Aaron. Turns out he was the first post in last year's 52 Ancestor's challenge!! Come on! Seriously? Yup - last year I chose the "ancestor" by closest birth-date to the posting date. Aaron was born on January 4, 1824.

What to do.....? I'm sticking with Aaron. This post will focus on his "fresh start" in the United States as well as an opportunity to revisit and "do-over" my previous research related to him.

So here goes.......

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #1 -Aaron L. Samuel

I have amended this post to reflect the new challenge presented by Amy Johnson Crow on her blog:  http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/




Her challenge is to blog about one ancestor each week for the entire year. The challenge fits in quite well with my Birthday Blog posts and will encourage me to "fill-in" missing weeks each  month.

BTW - you can find a listing of some of the participants on the blog: Tangled Roots and Trees 

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Aaron L. Samuel born January 4, 1824, is my third great-grandfather. Aaron’s name has been passed down to several of his descendants (My grandfather, Aaron Edgar later switched his name around, taking Edgar as his first name. My nephew’s middle name is also Aaron.) It is due to Aaron that our family is now living in the United States. He and his family immigrated to the USA in 1857 on board the packet ship Margaret Evans.

Aaron was the third of six children born to Lazarus Samuel and Sarasta (Sara) Nathan. His mother died ( or left the family??) somewhere between 1832 (Aaron’s sister Kitty may have been born that year) and 1841, as the 1841 UK Census listed Lazarus and four children living at 9 Marmon Street in London, England. (Older sisters Esther and Rachel were no longer living with the family.) This census lists him as working as a cigar maker.

1841England Census

Lawrence Samuel

Margaret Evans - Packet ship built in 1846

Lawrence A. Samuel is my second great-grand-uncle, the third child of my third great-grandfather, Aaron Samuel. Lawrence was born on Dec. 27, 1846 in Whitechapel, England. In 1851 he lived with his family at 47 Green Street in Stepney, England. By 1857, Aaron and his wife, the former Phoebe Levy had 8 children in total. The youngest child, John, had just been born in February of 1857. John would become my second-great-grandfather.

By August of 1857, Aaron and his family were sailing to America on board the Margaret Evans. (More about this in the post on Aaron’s birthday January 4) Lawrence was 11 years old when he arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey.