1. MYER SAMUEL¹ ISAACS was born about 1758 and died in East London in 1842. He married REBECCA SAMUELS REYZER on 11 November 1796. She was born about 1772 in Leeuwarden, Friesland, Netherlands and died in East London, England in 1844 . Rebecca was daughter of SAMUEL JACOBS REYZER and BREINE IZAKS in Leeuwarden, Holland.

Notes for MYER SAMUEL ISAACS:

Myer Samuel Isaacs lived in Leeuwarden, Friesland, Holland, until impoverished by the Napoleonic wars. His name in Dutch was Myer Isaks or Meijer Izaak; his Hebrew name was Myer, son of Samuel Isaacs. The Dutch also spell the name Meyer, Meijer or Meier. Isaacs also seemed to be spelled variously as Isaac or Izak or Yzaak.

Myer Samuel Isaacs’ father is listed as Izaak (e-mail from Chaim Caran caranchaim@ailatcity.co.il, January 20, 2004). Myer’s date of birth is estimated to be 1758 and it is unknown where he was born and how he came to Leeuwarden, perhaps in 1796. He married Rebecca Samuels, born in Leeuwarden about 1772, 11 November 1796. Isaacs’ profession, listed as banker, may have been a pawnbroker or merchant, which was a type of banker in the early 1800’s.

His father-in-law’s name was Samuel Jacobs Reyzer and his mother-in-law’s name was Breine Izaks (Isaacq) de Jongh. She was born in September 1740.  They were an established, well respected Leeuwarden family who married in approximately 1765.

According to the tax register of the time, he is listed as a merchant, living in the Kleine Kerkstreet (Kirkstraat) 1808. He purchased the house in 1807 for 2,305 carg. In 1810, he borrowed 4,000 carg. guilders from Breine Izaks, Rebecca’s mother, using their furniture as security for the debt. The same research indicates that he and his wife had 10 children that survived.

[Source: research conducted by Ype Brouwers, geneologist living in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, January – February 2004, letters and e-mails sent to John Isaacs]

The Leeuwarden house built in the 1590’s where the family lived still exists (as of 2021), and during the 2010 Isaacs family reunion, attendees were invited into the large home. Later in 2010, with the approval of the present inhabitants, a plaque was placed in front of the home honoring Myer Samuel Isaacs. His work and his prior home were profiled in a book entitled “Famous Frisians in America” by Peter de Hahn. The plaque was unveiled in a ceremony outside the house attended by family members John Graham Isaacs and Edit Futterman from the United States and Kathryn Baker Berman and Elliot Berman from Israel.

Dutch Jews began emigrating to England and the U.S. during the Napoleonic occupation of the Netherlands. The primary reason was the economic damage of the war between France and England. Dutch merchants, with their long-standing ties to England, suffered severely from wartime disruption in international trade due to naval blockades and trade embargoes. Migration to England offered a good alternative to economic ruin and bankruptcy.

Moreover, before Napoleon’s conquest of the Netherlands, the House of Orange had granted Dutch Jews full civil rights in the constitution of 1796. The French occupiers instituted a series of intrusive economic, political and religious “reforms” that was a prelude to the imposition of new taxes and quartering French troops in Dutch homes.

One of those reforms, however, had a major impact on Jewish names. For example, the first Isaacs who eventually emigrated to the United States was known by the first name, son of, as in Myer, son of Samuel Isaacs, which after the Napoleonic reforms became Myer Samuel Isaacs.

Between 1800 and 1830, many Jews emigrated to England, and a smaller number went directly to the United States, Most of the Dutch Jews in the U.S. lived in four cities, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans.

[Source: “Nineteenth Century Dutch Jewish Immigration,” Robert P. Swierenga, American Jewish History, Autumn 1990]

Upon moving to East London in the Spitalfields section, in 1814, he supported his family by teaching. He also became a burial minister. Four of his five sons became rabbis.

Children of MYER ISAACS and REBECCA SAMUELS are:

2.     i.  RIEKJE ISAACS, b. about 1797, Leeuwarden, Holland

3.    ii.  ISAK (Isaac) ISAACS, b. about 1799, Leeuwarden, Holland. Children Rebecca, Sara and Pamela  [Source: e-mail from Chaim Caran, 28 February 2018].

1. Note: Isaac (or Isak) Isaacs: He is listed as the fourth son, in addition to Samuel Myer, Jacob Myer and David Myer, who entered the ministry, but there is little information about Isaac’s life.

[Source: ”Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century,” Henry Samuel Morais, Philadelphia: Edward]

        iii. GRIETJE [Julie or Julia] ISAACS, b. about 1800, Leeuwarden, Holland (in London, name may have been Julie or Julia). If so, she was married to Ephraim Samuels, in London, England. He was born around 1798 and died in 1884 at the age of 86.  [Source: e-mail from Chaim Caran, 28 February 2018]. She probably  died in 1886 at the age of 86 years old ( born ca 1800) in Bethnal Green ( near Middlesex / London) ( deed 1c 148) [Source: e-mail from Chaim Caran, 28 February 2018].

 EPHRAIM SAMUEL(S)
Notes for EPHRAIM SAMUEL(S):
When Lewis Isaacs died in 1869, Rev. David Isaacs and Mrs. Ephraim Samuel(s) were listed as siblings to Lewis Isaacs. Thus Mrs. Ephraim Samuel(s) — it is listed with and without an “s” — clearly is one of the sisters of Samuel, David, Jacob and Lewis who married Ephraim Samuel(s).  [Source: The Jewish Victorian, Genealogical Information from the Jewish Newspapers 1861-1870, p. 162, p.338, Transcribed and edited by Doreen Berger, Robert Boyd Publications, 2004] According to Chaim Caran, that sister is likely Grietje or Julie or Julia Isaacs [Source: e-mail from Chaim Caran, 28 February 2018].

4.     iv. BRIJNE (BRANDINA) ISAACS, b. about 1803, Leeuwarden, Holland. Married 23 October 1838 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to Jacob Nathan Cohen-Bessie, born 31 May 1812. His parents: Nathan Daniel Cohen Bessie and Esther Ruben Stokkeman (Cohen) [Source: e-mail from Chaim Caran, 28 February 2018].  Their children were Rebecca Cohen (born Bessie) (1842-1911), who married Hijman Kiek (born 12 Sep  1839 in Groningen, The Netherlands, and died 5 June  1905 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  Their children: Elisabeth Martha Kiek, Levie Kiek, Jacob (Jaap) Kiek, Lazarus Kiek, Maurits Kiek, Nathan Kiek, Flora Kiek, Elie Kiek, Jeannette Kiek, Isidore Kiek, David Kiek, Rachel (Emmy) van Beusekom (born Kiek). Source: Timothy Lever family tree on MyHeritage web site.

5.    v. SAMUEL MYER² ISAACS, was born  in Leeuwarden, Holland. He was circumcised 22 January 1803  (https://www.dutchjewry.org/friesland/friesland_circumc.shtml ).  He died on 19 May 1878 in New York, NY. He married Jane Symmons on 25 Jun 1839. She was born in 1823 in London, England. She died on 21 May 1884 in New York, NY

      vi. DOETJE (Kitty) ISAACS, b. about 1805, Leeuwarden, Holland. In 1854, she is listed as living in London, England.

      vii. LEIB ISAACS, b. about 1805, Leeuwarden, Holland, circumcised August 10, 1805, died before 1806.

6. viii. LEWIS (Leib, Levi) MYER ISAACS, b. 1807, Leeuwarden, Holland, died 18 June 1869, London, England; circumcised 22 November1806 https://www.dutchjewry.org/friesland/friesland_circumc.shtml); d. 18 June 1869, at 17 St. Thomas’s Square, Hackney, County of Middlesex, England. He married JANE HARRIS. She was born in 1805 and died on 22 February 1869.

7.  ix. RACHEL ISAACS, b. about 1807, Leeuwarden, Holland. She may have married Barend?/Barnet ? Phillipson ( children Philip (in Sydney) /Sara/Betsy x q2 1849 in St. Lukes Meyer Gluckstein/Rebecca x q2 1846 City London Isaac Elkins (Elkan) /Phoebe in London  [Source: e-mail from Chaim Caran, 28 February 2018].

8. x. JACOB MYER ISAACS was born in 1808 in Leeuwarden, Holland. He was circumcised 27 July 1809 (https://www.dutchjewry.org/friesland/friesland_circumc.shtml). He died on 22 Dec 1865 in London, England. He married BLOOMA OR ROSE. She was born in 1810 in Holland. She died on 17 Feb 1888 in London, England.

9. xi. DAVID MYER ISAACS was born in 1810 in Leeuwarden, Holland. He was circumcised 21 July 1810. He died on 01 May 1879 in Southport, England near Liverpool. He married Esther Levy in 1832. She was born in 1817. She died in 1886.

xii. ROSA ISAACS was born about 1810 in Leeuwarden, Holland. She died on 10 Oct 1854 in Sydney, Australia. She married JOHN ISAACS.

Notes for Rosa Isaacs and John Isaacs:

There has been confusion about whether Rosa or John Isaacs was the sibling in the family of Myer Samuel Isaacs and Rebecca Samuels Reyzer. But the weight of evidence is that it was Rosa who was the sibling.
Most particularly, from an e-mail by Terry Newman, Sydney, Australia, May 20, 2005: “Some of the following notes, that came from my transcriptions from some old Sydney tombstones done in the early 1970’s, helps to clarify a few points. From the tombstones: Rosa, wife of John Isaacs, of this city, died 20.10.1854 aged 44. She was a sister of Mr Jacob Isaacs, Reader of the Sydney Synagogue.” In addition, the dissertation on “Samuel Myer Isaacs: a 19th Century Jewish Minister in New York City,” p.210, names Rosa as the sibling, and lists as the source The Asmonean, XI, 2-23-1855

Rosa and John Isaacs are called early free immigrants to Australia. They arrived on April 24,1833 on the ship “Enchantress.” John Isaacs was one of the early leaders of the Sydney Synagogue, and he was very active in the Jewish community. He also had a house and shop in George Street. He stood as a candidate for the Bourke Ward at the first Municipal election and was a freemason. The evidence is Rosa and John were childless and speculates that they moved back to London before their deaths.
Source: Australian Jewish Historical Society, Volume IX, Part 4, November 1982, Sydney, Australia

     xiii. ANNIE ISAACS ?? (Source: e-mail from Kathryn Berman, August 08, 2000.), b. unknown. She married Mr. Levy