| The Van Praagh Family
Story... 1700 - 1998 Chapter 1 |
HOW THE DUTCH AND ENGLISH VAN PRAAGHS DISCOVERED EACH OTHER AFTER A
HUNDRED YEARS Early in November 1984, John Van Praagh received a
telephone call from Holland. It was Selma Jacobs Van Praagh. She had heard that Gordon Van
Praagh had recently visited Holland and had called on Mrs Van Praagh Of Utrecht, who had
been able to give him information about the Van Praaghs in Holland in the 18th
Century, some of whom had migrated to England in the early years of the 19th
century. Selma explained that she was a descendant of the same family and that there had
been some intermarriage between the Dutch and English branches of the family during the 19th
century. She was, therefore, a distant cousin of John and a less distant cousin of Gordon.
So developed a continuing interchange between Selma and
Gordon and John and another cousin, Rodney Silverman, who's mother's mother had been one
of the English Van Praaghs. In March 1983, Rodney had sent a circular letter to all the
Van Praaghs in the English telephone directory, seeking information about his Van Praagh
ancestry and so had made contact with Gordon and John and Peggy, another cousin by
marriage (to the late Eric Van Praagh). In the early 1960's John had investigated the English Van
Praaghs, by visiting the Jewish cemeteries in London and Brighton and by writing to his
cousins in New Zealand, Canada and the USA. So when he received the circular letter, he
immediately telephoned Rodney and said "I am your third cousin: your
great-grandfather Lewis and my great-grandfather Morris were brothers and were the sons of
Benjamin Moses Van Praagh'. In the subsequent investigations into the details of the
Van Praagh family in Holland in the 18th century, great help was given by the
staff of the archives office in Groningen and by their publications on the history of the
Jewish community in the Groningen area. The Amsterdam archives was a major source of
information about the family and the Rotterdam office also provided some material. The 19th Century Population Censuses for England and Wales, stored in the Public Records Office, provided a mass of information about the English family. |