Our Simon Family Story

who originated in Celle, near Hanover, Germany, and through the years descendants eventually migrated and settled in England (London, Liverpool), Brazil and the United States (New York, Georgia, California) and elsewhere.

This is the former home of our ancestor, Simon Hirsch (1756-1834), in the beautiful northern German town of Celle.  Being Jewish they were forced to reside outside of the city wall of Celle.

We know that Simon Hirsch, also known as Hirsch Simon, was the father of two sons, although there may have been others.  My ancestor was Henry (Heinrich) SIMON, who was born in 1800 in Celle and died in 1872 in San Francisco, California, where several of his sons had settled.  Henry Simon was a banker and tax collector, and he had a brother Moritz Simon who died in 1863 and had been a tax collector and administrator of lotteries for the Kingdom of Hannover.

Henry Simon (photo) and his first wife, Johanna Behrend (drawing)

Henry and Johanna had six children who grew to adulthood: five sons and one daughter - Bernhard, Julius, Bertha, Theodor, Sigismund and Isidor Simon.

Julius Simon was a successful merchant and banker in London, a Director of Anglo-Californian Bank, the firm with which his brothers were associated in San Francisco.

Several of the sons of Henry and Johanna Simon settled in San Francisco, California.  In 1986 I was in San Francisco and researched them as much as time allowed.  I typed up notes based on the research I completed that weekend.  I was also able to track down the widow of William S. Meyer and we got together one afternoon and discussed family.  William S. Meyer seemed to be the only survivor of that cluster of Simon uncles who had settled in San Francisco.  My notes are inserted here:

 

And here is the death certificate for Sigmund Simon, which incorrectly states his mother's name.  It shows his mother as Caroline Behrend.  Caroline Gans was his step-mother.  Johanna Behrend was his natural mother.

 

One son of Henry Simon was Theodor Simon, who was born in Celle April 2, 1834 and died in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany May 2, 1919.  Like his father, Theodor was also a banker.  He traveled extensively, living at various times in Brazil, London and Germany throughout his long life.  In 1865 in Rio de Janeiro he married Frances Hime, daughter of Elkin Hime and Frances Levi.  Theodor and Frances SIMON had 7 children, six of whom (3 boys, 3 girls) grew to adulthood.  All 3 sons settled permanently in Brazil, but the girls all settled elsewhere - Grace in London, Nellie in Germany, and my great-grandmother, Justina "Jessie" moved around the world with her engineer husband, Walter Littell.

Below is the Last Will and Testament of Elkin Hime, who was born in Liverpool, England in 1816 and died in Rio de Janeiro in 1894.  Read it and see if you get the impression that he really, really disliked his son-in-law, Theodor Simon.

more on Theodor Simon and Frances (Hime) Simon later...