Searching family roots in Gombin

Include as much as you know of name, town, street address, occupation, date.
Post Reply
heather
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:38 am

Searching family roots in Gombin

Post by heather »

I have heard that my great-great grandfather came from Gombin in Poland. Records show he was born around 1837 in Gumbinnen and he that left Poland c1860s. He entered the UK via Bremen in Germany, accompanied by his German wife, Elizabeth Simons/Simmons. The anglicized name my great-great grandfather and subsequent generations go by is TAYFIELD. His first name (also anglicized) is HARRIS. We know that Harris and Elizabeth married in Germany before arriving in the UK. They are listed on the UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, via Bremen.

The Tayfield family believes that the name used in Poland was TAJFELD or TEIFELD. We can't confirm the exact spelling. We also believe that Gumbinnen may have been GOMBIN. I have been told that my great-great-great grandfather's first name was SAMUEL (Harris's father). They were Polish Jews.

A cousin and I are piecing together our family tree on the Tayfield side, and would be very interested to follow up any leads that may be generated via this forum. We both live in Australia, but were born in South Africa. Harris and his family eventually emigrated to South Africa from the UK.

Sincere thanks to Logan and everyone.
Heather.
logan
Site Admin
Posts: 159
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 1:51 am
Contact:

Re: Searching family roots in Gombin

Post by logan »

Heather,

There are several places currently or formerly known in Polish as Gąbin (pronounced Gombin). Gumbinnen was the German name of one of these places, in the former East Prussia, now Gusev, Russia. It did have a Jewish community, but I don't know much about it. Another place, still called Gąbin, is located near Płock almost in the center of Poland, and I happen to have ancestors from there, so I know where you can find details about TAJFELDs who lived there: http://www.zchor.org/gombin/akt454.pdf. One person researching TEIFELD (German spelling) from Gąbin can be reached through the JewishGen Family Finder.

I recommend asking for UK research advice on the mailing list of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. UK records might indicate the place of marriage or Elizabeth's birthplace in Germany. If you learn the town in Germany, you can try to find the marriage record, which might provide the parents' names and clarify Harris' birthplace. Also see the Southern Africa Jewish Genealogy SIG.

Logan
madeleine
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 9:47 pm

Re: Searching family roots in Gombin

Post by madeleine »

Hi Heather,

I noticed the reference to Gombin. Personally, I don't have any connectin to this town, but I helped translate, transcribe, and correct some tombstones found on a pice of film in the US Holocaust Museum. So I thought I'd try and find that link, to the site designed by Ada HOLTZMAN.

http://www.zchor.org/rafel/rafel2.htm

Also, I found this that you might find of interest, about some Teifelds: http://www.gombinsociety.org/BG%2023.pdf

Good luck!

Madeleine isenberg
Post Reply