Family MOSES TOBIAS, Heimbach-Weis

german version

Moses und Jettchen Tobias
Moses and Jettchen Tobias

Moses was born on January 24, 1854, in Niederwambach. His father Michael worked as a peddler and cattle dealer. He died when Moses was only four years old. His mother Esther had to raise at least five children with only a little help from her family. Moses and his elder brother Tobias „Theodor“ both became butchers. Theodor moved to Oberwambach and ran a butcher shop in Altenkirchen, while Moses settled in Heimbach-Weis, a small village between Neuwied and Bendorf-Sayn. He married Jettchen Oestreich from Langstadt, Babenhausen, Hesse. She was born on October 14, 1848, and her Hebrew name was Yochevet Bat-Yizchak. We don’t know how they met. Maybe Moses came to Hesse when he was a journeyman. Later, a niece of Jettchen, married Jacob Salomon, a butcher of Neuwied. Jettchen’s brother Nathan and his wife Guthal, also moved to Neuwied to live with their daughter Settchen. Jettchen’s sister Julie left Langstadt as well and married Aron Marx of Linz on Rhine.

Heimbach Hauptstr. 82
Former house of Moses Tobias in Heimbach-Weis

In Heimbach-Weis there were three Jewish butchers who could all make a living. Moses owned a house on the corner of Weiser Street and Oberbüng Street. The locals also called it “Moses’ Lane.” Attached to the residential house and the shop, there was the slaughterhouse. Way down the lane there were the pastures for the cattle.

Moses and Jettchen had nine children. They gave them common German names without any Jewish sound. One daughter, Johanna, died in infancy. The others were all sent to middle school to get a good education. The eldest son, Moritz, took over his father’s business. Sophia, the eldest daughter, married Moses Mayer, a butcher from the other side of the Rhine. Dorothea was a single woman until the age of 47, when she married the widower Josef Kronenthal, who was a cousin of her father. Daughter Julie was a

Grabstein von Jettchen und Moses in Bendorf-Sayn
Grave stone of Jettchen and Moses in Bendorf-Sayn

merchant, working as a floor manager in a department store in Mülheim on Ruhr. She didn’t marry. Julius fell at the very beginning of World War I in Belgium. His twin sister Lina married a Christian military musician, who became a revenue officer. They lived in Cologne. Albert was also a clothing merchant and married a protestant woman. He started his own clothing store in Solingen. Jettchen was already 46 years old when she gave birth to her youngest son Max. He became a tailor and merchant. Max ran a shop and tailoring school in Cologne. He married a protestant woman as well. Four of Moses and Jettchen’s children perished in the Holocaust and only three of them survived.

When Moritz came back to Heimbach-Weis after World War I, Moses retired. Jettchen, who was six years older than her husband, died on March 22, 1928, at 79 years old. She was buried in the Jewish cemetery of Bendorf-Sayn. Moses died only three years later on June 26, 1931. His name was added on the headstone of Jettchen. He was 77 years old.


Family tree:

Generation 1

  • Moses Tobias (1854-1931) ∞ Jettchen Österreich (1848-1928) Heimbach-Weis/Neuwied

Generation 2

  • Michael Tobias (1802-1858) ∞ Esther Kronenthal (1824-1899) Niederwambach/Puderbach
  • Isaak Oestreich (1811-1891) ∞ Hanche Kahn (1814-1882) Langstadt/Babenhausen

Generation 3

  • Tobias Herz (1758-1833) ∞ Täubchen Samuel (1774-1860) Oberdreis/Puderbach
  • Joseph Moses Kronenthal (1795-1865) ∞ Johanna David (1796-1865) Dierdorf
  • Nehm Oestreich ∞ Jendel Isenburger Langstadt/Babenhausen
  • Abraham Kahn ∞ Sara (1773-1863) Aschaffenburg