Gerson Alexander (The Father Of The Father of the Father of the Mother of Doron Zeilberger)

Compiled by Doron Zeilberger.

Please send any additions and corrections to zeilberg@math.rutgers.edu

Last Update: Nov. 1, 2023 [thanks to my third-cousin Adam Alexander]

Previous Updates: July 12, 2019 [Thanks to Dennis Bluth]; July 9, 2016 [Thanks to Michal Eylon and Dennis Bluth]; Aug. 21, 2011 (thanks to Karola Nick, to enter the approximate death date of Gerson); Feb. 8, 2004 (after getting the information from LDS mocrofilm 1,857,840 (item 2, p. 649); Dec. 24, 1999; Nov. 18, 2001 ; Feb. 13, 2002 (thanks to Dennis Bluth); March 22, 2002; Aug. 8, 2002 (after a visit to Leipzig).

Gerson Alexander (1788-Jan. 1864) was born in Labiszyn, county of Bydgoszcz, near Poznan, Poland, that shortly after (until 1918) became Labischin, county of Schubin, near the City of Posen, Grand Duchy of Posen. He was married to Zohre ? Alexander (1797-?), who was born in Graetz, county of Buk. He was naturalized a (partial) Posen citizen [the best a Jew could hope for in those days] in Graetz, Posen (now Grodzisk, near Buk, Poland) on Sept. 11, 1834. He was a teacher (Lehrer) [source: p. 2 of `The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835', compiled by Edward David Luft]. According to Heppner and Herzberg's famous book on Posen Jewry, in the footnote at the bottom of page 428, he was, at Greatz, in 1857 (together with W. Lesser) "Rabbinatsassessor", which means (according to my first-cousin Ernst ("Alex") Alexander) "dayyan", i.e. religious court judge. (they refer to Wertheim, Kalender u. Jahrb. 5618 (1858).)

His children were:

• Salomon Alexander (Dec. 9, 1826- July 18, 1911) (See http://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/family/solomon.html about him and his descendants).
• Bertha Alexander
• Raphael Alexander (c.1828-?) who married Rebecca in the 1850s. Raphael may have been a carpet dealer. Raphael and Rebecca had five children:
  • Max (Michael) "Meke" Alexander
  • Moses Alexander, a physician who was married to Frieda
  • Elias (Eliyahu) Alexander, a publisher who was married to Kate. Elias and Kate Alexander had one son, Peter Alexander (1922-1993), who moved to England. He was a well-known cancer researcher. Peter specialized in radiobiology and wrote several books, including a Pelican paperback, entitled "Atomic Radiation and Life", published by Penguin in 1957. Peter has three children, including Adam Alexander. [For information on this branch of the Alexander family (starting with Elias), read Adam Alexander's fascinating email message]. An obituary for Peter Alexander, by J.Z. Beer, C.J, Dean, and J.T. Lett was published in the Sept. 1995 issue of "Radiation Research" (pp. 352-354). When I was seventeen, in 1967, I visited Peter's mother, Kate, who lived in London.
  • Rosa Alexander Jacob
  • Helena Alexander Richter
• (Guenther) Bernhard Alexander (c. 1820-?) who married Goldi Auguste Baeck in Graetz. Bernhard and Goldi had the following children:
  • Friedmann Alexander (Graetz, 21 Dec 1855-ca. 1930) who was married to Ester Heimann (Zempellung ,29 March 1861 -?) on 22 Oct 1885 in Berlin (?). Friedmann was a merchant and owned a store for men's clothing. The 1890 Leipzig addressebuch has the following
    

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    Alexander, Friedmann, Kaufm. Firma: F. Alexander. Herren Confectionsgeschaeft, Grimm. Str. 19 pt. Wohn: HumboldtStr. 18 II.

    ---

    (Grimm. Str. is in the center, and his private residence on 18 Humboldt St. is on the corner of Loehrstr. (where at no, 10 were (and still are) located the offices of the Leipzig Jewish community). The bldg. at number 18 is new, and has a cafe called "Wall Street")

    Friedmann and Ester Alexander had four children:

    • Harry (Leipzig, 24 Aug. 1886- Sydney, 1966) who married Rita Alexander ( no relative) at Charlottenburg Berlin on 19 Dec 1918 by Rabbi DM Warschauer. Rita was the only child of Abraham Alexander and Marie (nee Michalowicz) Alexander. She was born on 17th July 1893 in Okollo-Bromberg, which is also in East Prussia. Harry and Rita had one child: Ingeborg Alexander Bluth(b. 30 July 1924). Around 1938, Harry, Rita and Ingeborg immigrated to Australia. Inge(borg) married George Bluth( Berlin, 28 Mar 1920- Sydney, Pesach, 2019) on 20 March 1948 at the Temple Emanuel, which is a Reform Shule. They have 2 sons: Dennis Bluth (b. 15 Nov 1952), and Stephen Michael Bluth (b. 6 Dec 1954). Dennis is married. Dennis Bluth and his wife have two children: Alexander (b. 14 Mar 1984, and has a baby boy, born ca. June 2016), who was a student of math and physics, and was a champion fencer, and Jonathon (b. 30 Oct 1986). Stephen married Bojana Blujak.
    • Selma who married twice and had 1 daughter from the first called Ilse. Ilse died in 1938 from childbirth.
    • Kurt Alexander, who moved to the United States, and who had at least one child, Fredi-Hans Alexander.
    • Bernhard
  • Melina Alexander
  • Johanna Alexander Goldberg, who had four children:
    • Leo Goldberg
    • Rosa Goldberg, who died in Kiryat Yam, Israel, and who had one adopted daughter.
    • Israel (Eric) Goldberg-Zehavi, who converted to Christianity, and is buried in Mt. Zion, Jerusalem. He had a daughter who was born after his death.
    • ?
• Pauline Alexander Bach, who had two children:
  • Fanny Bach Hase (sp?), who had one daughter: Ruth Hase.
  • Gerson Bach, who married Alice. Gerson, who died in the holocaust, and Alice had three children:
    • ?, a son who died when he was twelve.
    • Eva, who was killed by the Nazis, and
    • Hilde, a charming lady, ardent Zionist, and faithful Jew, who lived to her mid-eighties, and died in London in 1993.
• Fanny Alexander

Added Feb. 13, 2002: Many thanks to my newly discovered (thanks to Lucy Singer) third-cousin-once-removed, Dennis Bluth, for supplying the information about the branch of Friedmann Alexander.

Doron Zeilberger's Ancestors