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Ellen Appleberg - Miedzyrzec

Appelberg Apelberg Apleberg Apfelberg Eppelberg Epelberg Eppleberg

Epleberg Epfelberg






Ellen Appleberg was born in Miedzyrzec around 1885 the daughter of Aaron Leib Epelberg and Ada (Faida?) She was in London by the time of the 1891 census. Ellen had two older brothers and an older sister who like her were Polish born, she also had three younger sisters who were born after the family came to London. The name Ellen seems to have been an ‘invention’ as it does not relate to her Hebrew name Chava. Records for the Applebergs are rather thin on the ground and apart from a mention in her father’s naturalisation papers in 1899 Ellen does not appear again in the records until her marriage in 1908. She and one of her brothers and two of her sisters are ‘missing’ on the 1901 census.


It seems that Ellen’s parents were the only members of her family to come to England. There is a story that her father had two brothers one of whom emigrated to America and one to France but this is unconfirmed. Unlike Leila’s antecedents whose presence in Miedzyrzec is reasonably well recorded their are only a few records for the Applebergs in and around Miedzyrzec. As it has not proved possible to confirm Ellen’s mother’s maiden name her lineage remains a mystery. While it seems coincidental that both my grandmothers came from the same town I wonder if the families knew each other in Poland, or perhaps met in the London ghetto through their common heritage? The Freeds, Leila’s grandmother’s family provide the link between the two families.


Ellen married Leon Lewis in 1908; they had four children, Dorothy, Lily, Irene and Wilfred. My father was the youngest and the only boy. There have been suggestions that Ellen may have spoiled him!! Wilfred remained close to his parents for his whole life; I remember him saying that never a day went by but he would speak to them on the phone, and from 1948 until his parents death they only lived one road away. I remember walking up the road on a Sunday to visit Wilfred’s parents when I was little. I liked Ellen who fed me crisps and Lucozade which was a real treat! She was a tiny woman badly crippled by arthritis. I was surprised to see from old photos that she was quite a substantial women when she was younger. Ellen died in 1963 just a few months after Leon.


Please note many of the pictures of Ellen’s children are the same as in the Lewis/Pfeffercranc section. Photos are labelled with Ellen’s maiden name to maintain consistency.