The study of names encouraged us to explore the origin of the Barrows and the Fischl/Dirsztays
What led to the above chart was the coincidence of 'Simon' in the name of the wealthy diamond merchant Baron Lyons de Symons, his grandfather Simon Michael Pressburg, and his son-in-law's grandfather Simon Barrow of Barbados. The chart thus poses the question as to how Simon Barrow's father Baruch (see notes 5,10, and 11 below) is to be inserted into Pressburg genealogy (see notes 1 to 4 below). While Baruch's surname appears in the family tree of Simon Michael Pressburg (see note 13), there is nothing close enough to suggest that Simon Barrow of Barbados got his name other than coincidentally (see also note 8). Despite remaining puzzles (see note 9 below) the above chart enriches our understanding of Barrow ancestry, and it assimilates the Dirsztay Family Tree (see note 12) through joint common Baruch Lousada ancestry (see note 10 on our use of DNA analysis in this context).
The Barrows showed by their names (see note 6 below) a great willingness to associate themselves with the Baruch Lousadas (but see note 7 below) and we attribute this to a strong belief that the Baruch Lousadas figured in their ancestry. Accordingly a suggested origin of the Barrows with the Livorno Baruch Lousadas is displayed, though Simon's travel to Barbados and the links his sons developed to the Barbados Baruch Lousadas once they got there could have been quite independent. Once Jacob Barrow moved from Barbados to London by 1787, the link with the Baruch Lousadas was formalised in the Barrow & Lousada business accompanied by 2 Barrow/Baruh Lousada marriages. The Barrow assumption of Baruch Lousada ancestry and subsequent reconnection has a remarkable parallel in the case of the Fischls and de Dirsztays of Hungary.
One of the Hungarian Fischl descendants was recognized to have 'de Losada' nobility. We suggest that this descendant successfully mimicked the Jamaican branch of the Baruch Lousadas who were lucky enough to have never been challenged when they assumed the title of Duque de Losada. From our perspective, all that was achieved in this Hungarian exercise was demonstration of a Fischl/Dirsztay belief in their own Baruch Lousada origins (supposedly via Moritz Baruh who appeared in Timisoara - but see note 12 below). The Dirsztays made their own later reconnection with the Baruch Lousadas by their 2 marriages around 1900 with twin daughters of the 5th and last Lousada Duke (see here).
Notes:
1. Bratislava is known as Pressburg in German and Poesing in Hungarian. It was the capital of Hungary during the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the impulse for Hungarian independence made Budapest the capital. The grandfather of Baron Lyon de Symons was the 'Court Jew' Simon Michael Pressburg, who adopted the Pressburg name upon settling in or near Bratislava where he was active in business and in community affairs. In 1705 he moved to Vienna and as Court Jew became the key supplier to the Mint in Vienna (see also ref 387). In 1710 he made a proposal to the Vienna Court for a bank in Bratislava, a proposal which resurfaced 12 years later (ref 56). His son (ref 148) Samuel Michael Lazarus Pressburg was a wealthy Viennese banker and Government agent and a daughter Sarah Leah Pressburg married the son of the another 'Court Jew' Juspa of Geldern who died in Dusseldorf (ref 56). Court Jews were important in defence and other royal financing and of course in Jewish commercial life not least in diamond sales (ref 84).
2. Details of the children of Simon Michael Pressburg can be found in online genealogies but naming is extremely variable.
3. The death of Simon Michael Pressburg in Vienna is now (14 Dec 2015) given online as 10 Apr 1719.
4. Simon Michael Pressburg is also well known as online he is named as an ancestor of the poet Heinrich Heine and also Karl Marx! His son the rabbi Michael Lazarus Pressburg 1687-1756 is the ancestor of the 2nd wife of the composer Arnold Schoenberg. Their grandson E Randol Schoenberg has assisted us in this area. Simon Michael Pressburg is also an ancestor of the well-known Australian philosopher Peter Singer.
5. Was Simon Barrow of Barbados named after Simon Michael Pressbug? If so, the reasons are unclear in that Baruch Lichtenstadt is not obviously closely related to Simon Michael Pressburg or his wife Hannah Menzels though no doubt there are many indirect connections (see note 13 below). It is interesting to note that if as once occurred to us there was a grandfather-grandson relationship, Ashkenasi naming rules (ref 35 p20) might have come into play as Simon Michael Pressburg was alive in 1709 when Simon Barrow of Barbados was born. This would not have been a breach of Sephardic naming rules if Baruch had a Sephardic (Baruch Lousada) mother. But we note that the naming of the second Simon Barrow raises this issue - but perhaps the family thought of itself as well and truly Sephardic by then since the younger Simon's father Jacob Barrow had 3 Sephardic grandparents and in any case he married a Sephardic wife.
6. The Barrow Family Tree exhibits a belief that the mother of Simon Barrow of Barbados was a Lousada (see note 7 on the question of whether she was a Baruch Lousada or one of the other Lousadas). Certainly there was much subsequent use made of 'Lousada' as a forename in the Barrow family; we know of Major-General Lousada Barrow #225 b1816, Charles Lousada Thesiger Barrow #325 his son b1852, Reginald Lousada Barrow #360 b1889, Captain Hugh Lousada Barrow #301 b1861 and Nina Lousada Barrow #1125 b1891. Cheesman (ref 33) suggests that a brother of Simon Barrow of Barbados was named Lousada but he offered no evidence for this. Analogously, 'Montefiore' appeared as a forename for Cecil Montefiore Barrow #333 b1843, no doubt reflecting the fact that the wife of Simon Barrow of Barbados was Bailah Montefiore 1720-73. Because this marriage occurred decades before the Montefiores appeared in England from Livorno, we look to Livorno and perhaps Tunis for the origin of the Barrows. But an element of creative thinking occurred when some of the Barrows contemplated their ancestry! For Simon Barrow of Barbados was born about 70 years later than the appearance of the Baruch Lousadas in Livorno. Certainly, Iberian naming tradition forms double surnames by putting the father's surname ahead of the mother's, but there is no plausible way to invoke that tradition here since 'Baruch' was not used as a surname by the Barrows (in fact around 1759 'Simon son of Baruch' became 'Simon Barrow' in Barbados). 'Baruch' for the Barrows was simply a Jewish patronymic as used before surnames became obligatory elsewhere in Europe. Admittedly some confusion has arisen on this point because the Baruch Lousadas in London and Barbados, almost 100 years before Simon bar Baruch became Simon Barrow in Barbados, did use Baruch or Barrow as a single surname for some purposes. But the Barrow Family Tree seems to have been written in ignorance of the fact that Moses Barrow of London was Moses Baruh Lousada and therefore it did not need to invoke a mysterious wife Senorita Lousada to introduce the Lousada ancestry! Besides, the fact that Simon Barrow of Barbados was born 10 years after Moses Baruh Lousada of London died was overlooked by the overly creative author.
7. We can not demonstrate with complete certainty that of the 5 families we know bore the 'Lousada' name in the 100 year period around 1700 it was the Baruch Lousadas that provided the Barrows with a Lousada ancestor in Livorno or Tunis. Certainly we can rule out 3 of them. The NY Lousadas do not appear to have come from Livorno for in London circumcision was required whereas Livorno had a fully functioning Jewish community. The Den Haag Louzadas do not appear to have been in Livorno - they had a Venice connection (but were probably Baruch Lousadas). The Lumbroso Lousadas do not appear in Livorno records after 1652. It is much more difficult to assess the not very numerous Levi Lousadas. They remained in Livorno (with one appearing in Amsterdam and others in Tunis) throughout the 18th century. Of course they too appear to be closely related to the Baruch Lousadas. They seemed to have had Mendes ancestry in common and furthermore Abraham Levi Lousada was an uncle of Isaac #42 with the newly-arrived (from Madrid) Isaac living in his house in 1641 and 1642.
8. The identity of the father of Baron Lyons de Symons has benefited from the recognition of the name of Samuel Lyon de Symons in that of his paternal grandfather Samuel Michael Lazarus Pressburg. Samuel Lyon de Symons married Bella Barrow in 1828 - she was widowed on the death of Moses Baruh Lousada in 1826. The name of Samuel's brother Aaron echoes the name of the maternal grandfather Aaron Goldsmid. But while the name of their nephew Sir Barrow Helbert Ellis echoes that of Baruch the father of Simon Barrow of Barbados, we have found no evidence that this was not mere coincidence.
9. Principal among these puzzles is that the circa 1735-40 marriage of Simon Barrow of Barbados and Bailah Montefiore did not occur in Livorno. Baruch, Simon's father, married a Baruch Lousada but again not in Livorno.
10. But how were Simon Barrow of Bath and his father-in-law related? They both had an Ashkenasi background, their families came together in England via the 1808 marriage of Tryphena Esther Lyon de Symons and Simon Barrow of Bath who showed himself to have had exceptional access to the Viennese court. But we have no evidence that Baruch Lichtenstadt the great-grandfather of Simon Barrow of Bath was closely related to Simon Michael Pressburg (we have commenced exploring this - eg see note 13 below). Our exploration of autosomal DNA matches supports the presence of Baruch Lousada ancestry of the Barrows (and also of the Fischls & Dirsztays - see note 12 below). But DNA evidence also raises a question as it does not show the expected elevated level of Pressburg ancestry possessed by Julian Land and his 4th cousin Ed Barrow over that of John Griffiths (descendant of the Joseph Barrow shown in the chart). This suggests that Tryphena Esther Lyon de Symons may have had a biological father other than Baron Lyon de Symons! The Y-DNA evidence from Ed Barrow is powerful as it points to Baruch having Wertheimer, Myers or other possible ancestry. For Hannah's father is given in the literature as Mair Menzels, and the grandmother of Baron Lyon de Symons - after her first husband Isaac Liepmann died in 1711 - married Samson Wertheimer d1724. However we have yet to elucidate Baruch's Y ancestry.
11. The oldest son of Simon Barrow of Barbados was named Baruch Barrow, after the paternal grandfather, for the name of Simon's father was Baruch.
12. This remarkable tree was mysteriously volunteered to Peter Lousada some time after he made a business trip to Budapest, and was among the first items of Lousada memorabilia he made available to Julian Land when they first met. A person named Moritz Baruh is the vehicle by which Baruch Lousada ancestry is introduced into the Dirsztay family tree, but we think erroneously. The name does of course resonate - for Moritz Baruh surely equates to Moses bar Baruch! A better hypothesis as to the origins of the Fischls and Dirsztays is given here; it gives a different Baruch Lousada link.
13. On 30 Oct 2023 Randy Schoenberg found in the 1729 Prague census the brothers Gedalia and Simon, sons of Baruch. In turn Baruch was son of Moses Lichtenstadt. Baruch and Gedalia were glaziers. This 1729 data appears in ref 379. A compilation of the Lichtenstadts found on geni.com may be found here.