Jacob Steinhart

Jacob Stienhart was still alive in 1869, but deceased by 1874 (when a grandson was named in his honor).

He lived with, and later legally married, Elisabeth [Betta] [Betti] Freud, b. household #48, 25 Jun 1800, dau of Markus and Roda (Tandler) Freud. She is seen as a widow in Holesov in 1880 and in 1890, living in the home of her daughter, Louisa Spitzer. She d. in Holesov, 18 Mar 1891, “age 92”. Gravestone still standing – “Betti Steinhardt, wife of Yaakov, died 8th Adar II 5651”.

Holesov, 1857: [House #90a.] STEINHART, Jakob, b. 1787, ledig, with FREUD, Betti, b. 1800, illegitimate dau FREUD, Rosi, b. 1822, dau Rosi, b. 1832, son FREUD, Leopold, b. 1829, dau Amalia, b. 1820, dau Fani, b. 1827, dau Pepi, b. 1831, dau Lisi, b. 1844, and dau Hanni, b. 1846.

[https://www.mza.cz/scitacioperaty/digisada/detail/8421?image=226301...

It is possible that they had been married in a Jewish ceremony but not in the eye of the civil authorities. Alternatively, they may have been officially married later, for example, if one of Jakob Steinhart's elder brothers had been a Familiant but then died, leaving Familiant status to Jakob. Or perhaps they married after Familiant rules were lifted.

Holesov, 1869: [pg. 446] STEINHART, Jakob, b. 1785, ledig; living with FREUD, Betti, b. 1800; their dau, FREUD, Louisi, b. 1846 [in Weisskirchen, Mahren]; and their dau, FREUD, Hanni, b. 1848 [in Lidrezko, Mahren].

Holesov, 1880: SPITZER, Lousa, b. Holleschau, 1842; son Jonas, b. M. Ostrau, 1874; son Samuel, b. M. Ostrau, 1875; dau Henrietta, b. M. Ostrau, 1876; + STEINHART, Betti, b. Holleschau, 1799, widow.

Holesov, 1890: SPITZER, Luise, b. Holleschau, 1843; son Jakob, b. M. Ostrau, Mistek, Mahren, 1874; son Samuel, b. M. Ostrau, Mistek, 1875; dau Henriette, b. M. Ostrau, Mistek, 1876; and mother, STEINHART, Beti, b. Holleschau, 1797, widow.

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source: Regional Archives in Opava, Hutisko birth records, page 147, image 148

[http://digi.archives.cz/da/PaginatorMedia.action?rowTxt=148&_source...

Robert Hanscom

I am quite confident that Jacob Steinhart and Elisabeth ["Betti"] Freud were indeed the parents of all of those children. Here's the explanation. Jacob was clearly a younger son in one of the Steinhart families (I haven't figured out which one, however). The Familianten Laws, enacted in the mid-1700s, prevented him from legally marrying. That right was accorded only to eldest sons in Jewish families, with exceptions sometimes being made for younger sons.

As a result, many of these younger sons in families throughout Holesov remained officially "unmarried" [in the records, denoted as "ledig"]. Yet, privately, almost none of them were without a partner. What I have seen throughout Holesov records (and throughout Prostejov records) that these younger sons would "marry" -- in a secret Jewish ceremony -- young women in their community, and would start families. Because the penalties were so harsh for violating the Familianten Laws, a facade was maintained. There was never any official -- or legally recognized -- marriage, and any children born to these couples were recorded as "illegitimate", with only the mother's name being entered. This was quite widespread throughout Holesov.

The Familianten Laws were relaxed in the late 1840s, then repealed (1850s). At that point, many of these couples -- who had in some cases been living together for 20-30 years -- were officially married, and then took the additional step of "legitimatizing" their children. However, a good number of those couples were concerned that they might be charged with violating the Familianten Laws while they had been in existence if proof emerged that they had married and had produced children during that restricted time period. In 1857, when that first full census was taken, that fear was still hanging over many of these families. So, when the census was taken, they described family relationships in ways that would keep them out of trouble. I've seen this throughout the 1857 census.

By the 1860s, much of that fear had dissipated, and more and more of these couples were legally married. My great-great-grandfather's twin brother, Moses Tauber (1803-c1882), had privately wed Rachel Husserl (c1813-1885) in 1833. They were the seven children born between 1834 and 1852, all registered as illegitimate and under their mother's surname of Husserl. When the 1857 census was taken, the relationship of these members of the Tauber family was somewhat vaguely laid out. The family was clearly not yet convinced they had full ability to be open about something they had kept secret for greater than 20 years. But in December 1865, after being together for 32 years, Moses Tauber and Rachel Husserl were legally married. Moses then officially recognized Rachel's four surviving children -- Betty, Abraham, Amalia, and Michael -- as his now-legitimate children, and they used the surname "Tauber" from that point forward. When the 1869 census was taken, Moses Tauber is listed as head of household, Rachel as his wife, and all of the children still living at home are listed under the Tauber surname.

I think a similar thing happened with Jacob Steinhart and Elisabeth Freud. They were likely wed in a secret Jewish ceremony about 1818 or 1819, and then produced all of the children that you see listed. All of them were under the surname "Freud", and their status was illegitimate to the outside world. After the disappearance of the Familianten Laws (fl. 1849-1853), they were likely not as convinced as others that they were safe to inform a government census taker of their exact relationship to each other. So, while one of the children is listed as the "illegitimate daughter" of Jacob's housekeeper, Betti Freud, the others -- all under the surname Freud -- were listed as "foster children". That was likely an easy way to not give too much information to somebody that they did not trust.

But clearly, by 1869, they had become more confident that they were safe. While they still hadn't legally married yet, Jakob Steinhart and Betti Freud were still residing in the same household, sharing it with their two youngest daughters -- Louisi and Hanni.

Holesov, 1869: [pg. 446] STEINHART, Jakob, b. 1785, ledig; living with FREUD, Betti, b. 1800; their dau, FREUD, Louisi, b. 1846 [“in Weisskirchen, Mahren”]; and their dau, FREUD, Hanni, b. 1848 [“in Lidrezko, Mahren”].

In later records, both of these young women, as well as their older siblings, are all listed as STEINHART. It's my guess that Jakob Steinhart and Betti Freud were legally married shortly after 1869 -- even though Jakob was very old by then -- and all of their children then officially dropped "Freud" and shifted to the use of "Steinhart".

So I am very, very confident that these children were all from the same union of Jacob Steinhart and Betti Freud. What happened with them is very similar