Feibelmann (Philipp) Josua Josef Heilbut

Image of tombstone courtesy of Dan Bondy - epidat, Steinheim-Institut.

His holy name (shem kodesh) was Feibelman Yehoshua Yosef bar Yaakov.

His tombstone calls him a son of Yaakov. Philipp already headed a household in 1638, implying that his father belongs to the first generation of Heilbut in Hamburg. All this suggests that he was a son of Jakob Heilbot, who died in 1648. If this is correct, then he was named after his paternal grandfather.

If he was named after his grandfather Phibes, then he was born in or after 1615 and was 38 years old when he died or less. He is number eight on the oldest list of Jews in Altona. His tombstone calls him a parnas. The tombstone of his wife Hitchele calls her the wife of the parnas Philipp Heilbut (הפרנס והמנהג כמ"ר יהושע פייפלמן היילבוט). In her Memoires, Glikl calls him Feibelman (פייבלמן). She writes that he was a parnas who died during a period of tension in the Jewish Community in the same year as another parnas (Chava Turniansky, Glikl: Memoires 1691-1719 (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History: 2006), p. 69).

I failed to identify any of his children in Hamburg or Altona, but believe to have found two sons in Londen: Samuel and Jacob. Cecil Roth, History of the Great Synagogue, London, 1690-1940 (London: Edward Goldston, 1950), wrote: “Mention has already been made of another prominent family hailing from Hamburg--that headed by Samuel Heilbuth, jeweller, of St. James’s, Duke’s Place. He had been endenizened in 1675, and was formerly a Yahid of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, with which he maintained his association even after the Ashkenazi synagogue had been founded: as we have just seen, his daughter Hitchele was Benjamin Levy’s second wife. Of Samuel Heilbuth’s four sons, the eldest was Philip, who later on, as a “broken merchant”, claimed to have first projected the maritime insurance corporation which was the nucleus of Lloyds: while Isaac (whom we find nominated as a Collector for the Poor for the parish of St. Katherine Creechurch in 1715, and engaging in litigation with one Asher Levy in 1724 over a Bill of Exchange endorsed by John Jacobs) was a familiar figure in the City. Samuel Heilbuth’s brother, Jacob, enjoyed a scholarly reputation, and was one of the original members of the Burial Society in 1695/6.”

The evidence is as follows: First, Samuel Heilbuth is already mentioned in 1675, implying that he belongs to the third generation. Second, he had a daughter called Hitchele and a son called Philip. Probably, these were named after Samuel's parents. Third, Samuel had a brother Jacob, who would have been named after his paternal grandfather. For the American descendents of Samuel Heilbuth, see Malcolm H., Stern, First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1988 (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1991), p. 114.

Parnas og Mahnig (leder af det jødiske samfund)
"His holy name (shem kodesh) was Feibelman Yehoshua Yosef bar Yaakov.
His tombstone calls him a son of Yaakov. Philipp already headed a household in 1638, implying that his father belongs to the first generation of Heilbut in Hamburg. All this suggests that he was a son of Jakob Heilbot, who died in 1648. If this is correct, then he was named after his paternal grandfather.
If he was named after his grandfather Phibes, then he was born in or after 1615 and was 38 years old when he died or less. He is number eight on the oldest list of Jews in Altona. His tombstone calls him a parnas. The tombstone of his wife Hitchele calls her the wife of the parnas Yehoshua Feipelman Heilbut. In her Memoires, Glikl calls him Feibelman. She writes that he was a parnas who died during a period of tension in the Jewish Community in the same year as another parnas (Chava Turniansky, Glikl: Memoires 1691-1719 (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History: 2006), p. 69).
I failed to identify any of his children in Hamburg or Altona, but believe to have found two sons in Londen: Samuel and Jacob. Cecil Roth, History of the Great Synagogue, London, 1690-1940 (London: Edward Goldston, 1950), wrote: “Mention has already been made of another prominent family hailing from Hamburg--that headed by Samuel Heilbuth, jeweller, of St. James’s, Duke’s Place. He had been endenizened in 1675, and was formerly a Yahid of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, with which he maintained his association even after the Ashkenazi synagogue had been founded: as we have just seen, his daughter Hitchele was Benjamin Levy’s second wife. Of Samuel Heilbuth’s four sons, the eldest was Philip, who later on, as a “broken merchant”, claimed to have first projected the maritime insurance corporation which was the nucleus of Lloyds: while Isaac (whom we find nominated as a Collector for the Poor for the parish of St. Katherine Creechurch in 1715, and engaging in litigation with one Asher Levy in 1724 over a Bill of Exchange endorsed by John Jacobs) was a familiar figure in the City. Samuel Heilbuth’s brother, Jacob, enjoyed a scholarly reputation, and was one of the original members of the Burial Society in 1695/6.”
The evidence is as follows: First, Samuel Heilbuth is already mentioned in 1675, implying that he belongs to the third generation. Second, he had a daughter called Hitchele and a son called Philip. Probably, these were named after Samuel's parents. Third, Samuel had a brother Jacob, who would have been named after his paternal grandfather. For the American descendents of Samuel Heilbuth, see Malcolm H., Stern, First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1988 (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1991), p. 114.

GEDCOM Note

Bio notes: Anslået fødselsår.

Hans fulde jødiske navn var "Feiwelman Jehoschua Josef ben Jaakow Heilbut"

Død 20. marts 1653 i Altona.

Hans gravsten er ikke længere hel; stumpen afbilledet.

GEDCOM Note

In 1999 Helga Heilbut, Bergisch Gladbach, wrote to me that the Heilbuts in Hamburg were descended from the Heilbots in Hannover. Phibes Heilbot of Hannover probably is the father of Jakob Heilbut, who was buried in Altona in 1648. First, in the sixteenth century, the family name Heilbot only occurs in Hannover (with a branch in Hildesheim). Second, men called Phoebus or Phibes in German sources were called Feibelman in Yiddish (and Meshullam in Hebrew). Jakob Heilbot (died 1648) was the son of a Feibelman. Thus Jakob was the son of a Philip or Phibes Heilbot. There is unlikely to have been another Phibes Heilbot in Hannover or Hildesheim in the generation before Jakob, because Phibes of Hannover was named after his maternal uncle.

In 1988 Dr. Rotraud Ries wrote a book chapter on Phibes Heilbot. However, my short description of his life will be based on her later book on Jewish life in Lower Saxony in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1568 Phibes is mentioned for the first time, when he received a letter of protection (Schutzbrief) according to which he was allowed to marry and enjoyed the same rights as his mother and uncle Phibes, as long as his mother was still alive. Phibes, his wife and children were living with his mother Brunneken in the Altstadt of Hannover. Like his parents, he was a moneylender. However in 1588 the council decided that Jews were not allowed to charge more than 5% interest from their non-Jewish debtors. As a result Phibes could not repay his non-Jewish creditors, who charged a much higher interest rate, and in the beginning of 1598 he was imprisoned. After a year he was released on condition that he either repay his creditors or leave the city. Unable to pay, he left for Prague, where his wife died in 1603. He continued to negotiate his return to Hannover until 1608/09 (Rotraud Ries, Jüdisches Leben in Niedersachsen im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1994), pp. 116-117, 309-311). The last sign of life of Phibes is probably from Northeim. G.J. Vennigerholz, Beschreibung und Geschichte der Stadt Northeim in Hannover und ihrer nächsten Umgebung (1894), mentions a Schutzbrief issued for Philip Heilbach in Northeim. Philip lived in Northeim from 1610 until 1615, when he was forced to leave. Unfortunately, the original document has been lost and it is now impossible to check the exact spelling of the family name. Dr. Ries (1994, p. 134) believes the document refers to Philip Heilboth from nearby Hannover and not to a Jew from the distant village of Heilbach, near the border with Luxemburg, where no Jews are known to have lived at the time.

Image of tombstone courtesy of Dan Bondy - epidat, Steinheim-Institut.

His holy name (shem kodesh) was Feibelman Yehoshua Yosef bar Yaakov.

His tombstone calls him a son of Yaakov. Philipp already headed a household in 1638, implying that his father belongs to the first generation of Heilbut in Hamburg. All this suggests that he was a son of Jakob Heilbot, who died in 1648. If this is correct, then he was named after his paternal grandfather.

If he was named after his grandfather Phibes, then he was born in or after 1615 and was 38 years old when he died or less. He is number eight on the oldest list of Jews in Altona. His tombstone calls him a parnas. The tombstone of his wife Hitchele calls her the wife of the parnas Philipp Heilbut (הפרנס והמנהג כמ"ר יהושע פייפלמן היילבוט). In her Memoires, Glikl calls him Feibelman (פייבלמן). She writes that he was a parnas who died during a period of tension in the Jewish Community in the same year as another parnas (Chava Turniansky, Glikl: Memoires 1691-1719 (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History: 2006), p. 69).

I failed to identify any of his children in Hamburg or Altona, but believe to have found two sons in Londen: Samuel and Jacob. Cecil Roth, History of the Great Synagogue, London, 1690-1940 (London: Edward Goldston, 1950), wrote: “Mention has already been made of another prominent family hailing from Hamburg--that headed by Samuel Heilbuth, jeweller, of St. James’s, Duke’s Place. He had been endenizened in 1675, and was formerly a Yahid of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, with which he maintained his association even after the Ashkenazi synagogue had been founded: as we have just seen, his daughter Hitchele was Benjamin Levy’s second wife. Of Samuel Heilbuth’s four sons, the eldest was Philip, who later on, as a “broken merchant”, claimed to have first projected the maritime insurance corporation which was the nucleus of Lloyds: while Isaac (whom we find nominated as a Collector for the Poor for the parish of St. Katherine Creechurch in 1715, and engaging in litigation with one Asher Levy in 1724 over a Bill of Exchange endorsed by John Jacobs) was a familiar figure in the City. Samuel Heilbuth’s brother, Jacob, enjoyed a scholarly reputation, and was one of the original members of the Burial Society in 1695/6.”

The evidence is as follows: First, Samuel Heilbuth is already mentioned in 1675, implying that he belongs to the third generation. Second, he had a daughter called Hitchele and a son called Philip. Probably, these were named after Samuel's parents. Third, Samuel had a brother Jacob, who would have been named after his paternal grandfather. For the American descendents of Samuel Heilbuth, see Malcolm H., Stern, First American Jewish Families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1988 (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1991), p. 114.