I was first lured into the addiction of genealogy around 1995 when my maternal uncle, Stancil, and his wife, Agnes, provided several members of my mother's family with their own notebook containing much Weill family history (my mother's maiden name). This gift proved to be a seminal event in my life, as it provided the motivation for me to finally do what I had been talking about for years, specifically to research my family tree.

Once I started, the project immediately became an all-consuming passion, which has occupied my time and my mind off and on ever since. When I began, I did not realize that there was no such thing as a finished genealogy. Nor did I know that the addicted genealogist doesn’t want there to be such a thing. I’m afraid it becomes something of a drug. I established as my initial goal the surnames of my eight great-grandparents: four on my father’s side and four on my mother’s. For the purpose of this document, that would include Weill, Covington, Jernigan and Stewart. With the Internet as my primary research tool, I set out to find what I could. At first I spread as much bread upon the water as possible with all four of these lines in order to determine which of them would be the most productive vein to mine. Almost immediately I struck on Covington, learning that this tree had been thoroughly shaken by those who had gone before me. Some pretty exciting Weill and Jernigan discoveries quickly followed this early success, and I have been able to add at least a little information about our Stewarts.

In this epistle (condensed version), I will relate what I can about the Weills. I have related my knowledge of the Stewarts in a separate document. At this writing, I have not yet addressed either the Jernigans or the Covingtons. The Jernigans I will one day do. As for the Covingtons: not only have others done them more completely than I could, but theirs is a tree so complex and twisted I get a headache from trying to follow it.

Starting, of course, with the information supplied by Stancil and Agnes, I knew that our own forefather, Theodore was a Jewish German immigrant, who came to this country with his older brother, Louis from Frankfurt. Since my motivators already supplied nearly all of the descendants of Theodore, I decided to try and track some of the descendants of Louis. Indirectly this lead to the discovery of a third immigrant, Abraham Weill, who I’m told was related to the first two, but as of yet I don’t have the link. Thus far I have been unsuccessful at learning any information at all about the German origins of Theodore and Louis, which is my single largest frustration. I will relate what I have of all three of these gentlemen, in the hope that someday, I may be able to tie them together.

Louis (b.1846 - d.1911) and my great-grandfather Theodore (b.1860 - d.1908) were two of at least four brothers. In 1866, they immigrated together from Frankfurt, Germany (one source says Bavaria) to the US. I don’t yet know where they landed, but they soon ended up in Rockingham, NC, where they married two sisters, Caroline and Elizabeth Covington. The sisters were among 14 children born to the Rev. James Augustus Covington, a Methodist minister, and his cousin-wife, Caroline Powell Covington. The two sisters also had two brothers who married two sisters of another family, and the mother of these latter two sisters was also a Covington before she was married (only in the South!). But the Covingtons are another story.

The children of Louis were raised as Jews, and most of their descendants today are Jews. For whatever reason, the children of Theodore were raised in the Christian faith.

When I first learned that the Brothers Weill immigrated to the US in 1866, I was extremely intrigued. This meant two things:

(1) Theodore was six years old at the time he left his homeland forever to travel to a new country without his parents

(2) they arrived in Rockingham during the height of Civil War Reconstruction, when the cotton-based economy had been destroyed, and economic opportunity was dismal.

My guess on the first would be that Theodore was an orphan, and that Louis, who was 14 years older, had taken charge of his younger brother on the death of their parents. I said that’s a guess.

The second fact, however, demanded an explanation, and maybe I found one. When I contacted Louis grandson, Charles Weill in Greensboro (who was a wealth of information) he told me about a cousin of his named Laura Weill, who he thought might have been a descendant of Theodore. Well she’s not, but her story is quite interesting.

I knew from Charles’s information that Laura, a native of Wilmington, had married into the Cone family. The Cones are one of the wealthiest textile families in NC, but hail originally from Baltimore, where two spinster sisters of Laura’s husband donated the Cone Wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art, which is loaded with Picasso’s, Matisse’s, etc. I’ve been there, and it’s pretty impressive.

Anyway, through various sources here’s what I learned: Laura was the granddaughter of Abraham Weill, a German immigrant who lived in Charlotte and Wilmington during the Civil War. In March 1865, when the South was collapsing, Confederate President Jefferson Davis gave his wife a pistol, showed her how to use it, and told her to flee Richmond with their four children, the oldest of whom was nine. They traveled to Charlotte, where a house had been rented for them, but when they arrived, they discovered there were no cooking utensils, and the locals were unwilling to help them, fearing reprisals from invading Yankee troops.

The agent in charge of renting the house was -- you guessed it -- Abraham Weill. For several days he sent meals for the Davis family from his own house, and apparently extended himself to care for them in other ways as well. He refused payment for his services, and endeared himself to Mrs. Davis to the extent that, when she wrote a two-volume biography of her husband more than twenty years later (a copy of which was given to me as a gift by Barrett Freedlander, the husband of Laura’s great granddaughter), she made special note of his kindness in the book. At some point Mrs. Davis also gave the Weill family a silver pitcher and wrote a personal letter recommending Abraham’s daughter for admission to the Daughters of the Confederacy. I have seen her original hand-written note, and have a photocopy of it.

Abraham begot Solomon, a prominent attorney and politician who was elected to the New York Assembly shortly after the Civil War, while still a recent Southern transplant. Unfortunately he died young as the result of a buggy accident. Before he died, Solomon begot Laura, leaving her a young child at his death. However, in the short time they had together, they developed a warm, loving father/daughter relationship. I have read some of the letters Solomon wrote to his little girl. Laura’s adult life is an impressive story unto itself, but I’ll save that for another time. Laura begot Edward T. Cone, who is now a retired professor from Princeton, and who still lives in NJ. Edward confirms that Abraham was a relative of Louis and Theodore. But I have no proof.

At any rate, the presence of an uncle or older cousin already in the area where the brothers Louis and Theodore landed in the new world in 1866 would seem to provide at least the possibility of an explain as to why they came here during such a bad time. It’s just a theory, however, and I’m still working on it.

By 1890 Louis seems to have established himself in business and other circles in Rockingham, NC. He operated the Hotel Richmond with its adjacent livery. I have conflicting reports as to whether he owned the hotel or managed it. At any rate, he was well enough known to be the victim of a wretched slur. According to a newspaper clipping that Charles Weill supplied me, some trash of the time verbally assaulted -- not his nationality, not his religion, nor his honesty or character. Worse. They called him -- brace yourself -- a Republican! So incensed was he at this vicious effrontery that he paid for an ad in the Rockingham newspaper which read:

"The report was circulated here that I had joined the Republican Party and voted the Republican ticket. The person who circulated that report lied willfully, maliciously and knowingly. The persons who hung crepe on my office door Monday night are a set of low-down dirty cowards who would steal and lie, and would burn me out if not afraid of being caught at the act, or would rob me on the highways if not afraid to attempt it. These are my sentiments, and whoso don’t like them can help themselves. (Signed) L. Weill."

Further evidence of Louis’s financial success comes from a society article in a 1909 edition of the Rockingham newspaper which describes the "lavish" wedding of Louis’ only daughter, Ina. The wedding took place at the "palatial" home of the bride’s parents.

Louis and Caroline (Carrie) Weill had a total of ten children:

• The oldest of the Weill children was William (b. 1874, d. 1948), who was a sales executive with the Varsity clothing company for much of his career. He lived in Charlotte and Monroe, NC, where he and his wife adopted two children: Will, Jr. now of Gastonia, NC and Richard, deceased, of Sumter, SC. Will, Jr and his wife, Pat were important contributors to my work. In addition to a great deal of information, they have provided me with photos of the nine children who lived to adulthood. There is a family resemblance.
• Second son, Vance, (b.? - d. 1936) lived in Goldsboro, NC, where he was also in apparel sales.
• Brothers Simon (b. 1879 - d. 1922) and Gus (b.? - d.?) operated a livestock business in Atlanta, which according to Agnes and Stancil was called American Livestock. Gus’ only son, Al changed his name to Wheeler and is an attorney in Washington.
• Charles Weill, Sr. (b. 1883 - d. 1953) started a successful insurance and real estate firm which he passed to his son, Charles, Jr., in Greensboro, NC. It was Charles, Jr. (Buddy) who provided so much early assistance to me which lead to my discovery of Abraham.
• As mentioned, only-daughter Ina married Abram Levy, a wealthy Savannah attorney in 1909. The couple moved to Atlanta, where the marriage ended in divorce around 1920. Ina’s son Hugh was another valuable source.
• Russell (b.? - d. 1957) was an auto parts rebuilder in Atlanta, who had two daughters. It took some doing to track down daughter Helen in Memphis, but I found her quite helpful once I did.
• Poor Bubba Weill (b. 1890 - d. 1942) must have had a hard life. Not only was the nickname "Bubba" an escape from his real name -- Hector Bascom -- but the unfortunate fellow ended up being married to a woman who’s name appears in various reports as either Eflin or Ethylene. Old Hector was an apparel salesman in Charlotte. No children.
• Son, Louis was apparently not Louis, Jr. for he himself had a son named Louis, Jr. Go figure.
• Youngest child, Herman Weill was fatally shot in some kind of accident at the age of five. It is he who is buried in an unmarked grave near that of his parents, as per Stancil and Agnes.

I won’t spend much time on Theodore in this report because I don’t know much. I have been able to learn volumes about Abraham, a man we may or may not be related to, and who comes from a town so small it’s not on the map. But I have found little about my own ancestor.

He was the village blacksmith in Clio, SC. Exactly when he moved there, or whether he stayed with brother Louis in Rockingham long enough to get an education I don’t know. But the link between Louis’ Rockingham livery, Theodore’s Clio livery, and the fact that two sons of Louis’s went into the livestock business seems to me to carry a secret clue to the German origins I seek.

The timing of his arrival in Clio may have been coincidental with the expansion of the railroad and an expected boom in the growth of the town.

His first wife, Elizabeth, died in 1894 at the age of 34, and that he married Sally Ushery a few years later.

I do have a copy of Theodore’s final estate papers showing that he died intestate. These documents would lead one to believe that he died almost penniless, but having heard Stancil talk about the "banking" habits of Theodore’s son Max, I would not be surprised to learn that Theodore left his widow a lumpy mattress to sleep on.

Theodore became a naturalized citizen in 1888.

Through a remarkable turn of luck, I have been able to put together the history of Abraham’s family dating back to the 1600’s.

Jewish genealogy is often difficult or impossible. One obvious reason would be the Holocaust, and similar anti-Semitic events throughout history. Another, closely related would be the nomadic nature of many Jews in European history. But there’s more to it than that. When you dig into it, you run into some pretty strange stuff.

Like the Ashkenazi patronymic naming customs of many European Jews. It goes back a few centuries and works like this (I think): Nobody had any last names, see. So it got confusing. In order to tell one Fred from another, the first one, who was the son of Bob might be called Fred Bob. Unless this same Fred had a mother named Susan, and Susan’s family had more money than Bob’s. Then, instead of calling the kid Fred Bob, he’d be called Fred Susan. The other Fred in town might be called Fred the Butcher or Fred the Tailor. Or if Fred got behind in his alimony and the law was after him, he might change his name to Fred Somebody-Else’s-First-Name until the heat died down. Later he might change his name back, or he might not. Or, sometimes Fred might be named after a recently departed grandparent.

To sum up, Fred might have his father’s first name as his last name; he might have his mother’s first name as his last name; he might have his grandfather’s first name as his last name; he might have his profession as his last name. Or none of the above. But whatever his last name was at any point in time, his son’s last name would be different, and so would his father’s.

This nonsense went on until around the time of Napoleon -- about 1808 -- when the gentiles said, "Enough already. How can we tax you if we can’t figure out who you are." At which point Fred looked at Bob and said, "Took ‘em 300 years to figure that out?"

So all the Jews in France and parts of present-day Germany had to march down to the courthouse and sign up as a family. They had to pick a real last name, and they all had to use it. Unfortunately, Jews in the rest of Germany and Poland kept the old ways until forced to adopt surnames around 1830. You can imagine what it would be like trying to trace a family history through that muck.

However, thanks to my encounter with a remarkably selfless German citizen of Lambsheim (Abraham’s hometown) named Alexander Vollmer, I have, as I said, Abraham’s genealogy dating back to the 1600’s. It is my hope that someday, I will link up Theodore and Louis to this tree.

For no apparent reason, other than genuine kindness, Alexander went to extraordinary lengths to seek out obscure historical information and provide it to me in surprisingly short order.

I had learned from the synagogue in Wilmington, NC (of which Abraham was a founding member), and from newspaper articles in that town, that Abraham hailed originally from the German town of Lambsheim. Lambsheim, as I mentioned above, is an ancient town so small it does not appear on most maps. I had to turn to the US Defense Mapping Agency to find it at all. Once armed with map coordinates, I posted messages at appropriate places on the Internet seeking guidance on how to conduct genealogical research in the town or its parent state. Usually such queries will, at best, result in advice on where to look. However, within a week I received a message from Alexander saying, "I am from Lambsheim, how can I help you." He has been remarkable, and I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.

I call your attention to the story in Attachment 2 of the Lambsheim synagogue, located at Hauptstrasse 43. As mentioned in the report, this building has played an important role in the history of both the Weill family and the Jews of Lambsheim. Ownership of the building was passed from one generation of the family to another for a number of generations. Records of that ownership served as a primary source for Alexander to track the lineage. Hauptstrasse 43 was, of course, a focal point of Nazi anti-Semitism in the 1930’s, when they tried to burn it, but could not do so without burning the town.

Using Hauptstrasse 43 as the focal point, following is a chronology of the history of Abraham Weill’s family:

• Salamon (no last name) moves to Lambsheim (from where?) in 1658. Brings two sons with him, including Low. Salamon is the first Jew to return to Lambsheim following the 30 Years War (1618-1648). He lives in a house on the North side of town.
• Low (Lion), Son of Salamon, purchases the building at Hauptstrasse 43 in 1684 (from whom?). Low dies in 1705, the same year the address becomes the synagogue. Apparently, until his death, he lives upstairs, while his son lives downstairs. Speculation: his son (Moses?) may have been the Rabbi.
• Simon der Altere (Simon the Older, believed to be son of Low) (born, Lambsheim, 1686-died, Lambsheim, 1748) buys the building from his brother Moses in 1726.
• Isaak or Itzig Simon (or Isaak Son of Simon) (born, 1727- died ?) lists the house as his address; daughter Sara Simon lives there with him.
• Sara Simon (born, Lambsheim, 1757 - died, Lambsheim, 1825) married Levi Weill (born, Grosslissa, Poland 1752 - died, Lambsheim, 1825).
• Levi and Sara Weill give birth to Naphtali Weill, (born, Lambsheim, 1795). Naphtali is the father of Abraham Weill (born, Lambsheim, 1831 - died Wilmington, NC, USA, 1902) who emigrated to the US in 1848.
• Ownership of Hauptstrasse 43 continues down the Simon line for several more generations.
• In 1938, Haupstrasse 43 is attacked by members of the Nazi-SA, who try to burn it, but cannot do so without burning the entire town.
• In its later years, Hauptstrasse 43 has been separated into two houses, and a two-car garage was added to it in the late 1960’s. Yes, it is still there.

Abraham’s great grandparents were born, raised and died in Grosslissa, Poland. The name means Greater Lissa, and at one time there were three towns with that name! Now there are only two. The third was bulldozed to get at the coal beneath it. Whether records exist that would allow tracking these ancestors further, I don’t know. Unless and until I learn to speak both German and Polish, I may not find out.

In addition to the fact that members of Abraham’s family have told me their branch of the Weill tree is connected to our branch, there is evidence that a further search is warranted. As mentioned above, Abraham’s father was named Naphtali. One of Naphtali’s brothers was named Benjamin. One of Benjamin’s sons was named Abraham (different Abraham). This latter married a woman from Oppenheim, outside of Frankfurt. Further, there are a fair number of Lambsheim Jews who left and moved to Frankfurt for better economic opportunity. I’ll get there!

Abraham had seven or eight children who dispersed. Some went to Philly, some to San Francisco. The phone book shows a number of Weills today in both places. Attachment 3 shows what I know about the family of Abraham Weill.

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I have attempted to make contacts in Frankfurt in order to learn the parentage of Theodore and Louis. So far, I have been completely unsuccessful. In one case, I wrote to the local archive for information. I was warned in advance that any response I might receive from such a request would take between one and two years, since the staff is minimal. It has now been a year since I made the request. In the interim I turned my attention to working on the lines on my father’s side, and have left the Weills to themselves. If I do not hear from the archive soon, I will have to put my cap back on and think of new approaches.