Eppstein Family

With this family, which is one of the earliest antecedent families of the Reis family, there is a lot of variation in the name by which it is known. Here we have disregarded most of these variations and instead simplified and modernized the name. As a result, most of the people shown here are called simply Eppstein. However, the family has also been known as Gompstein, or Gomphen, or Gompert or Gumpert or HaLevi. We use HaLevi here as a kind of prefix thus: (HaLevi) Eppstein.

It is sometimes the case that a husband will acquire his wife’s name if she comes from a more prestigious family. It’s possible that Joseph Gumpert became Joseph (HaLevi) Eppstein through his marriage to Schejnle whose father was a Rabbi and who went by the name Kopel who came from Eppstein.

The descent from this family down to the Reis family is as follows where == is a marriage and >> is a child of that marriage and N.N. we do not know thee name.

Efraim Gumpert zu Köln == N.N. >> Joseph (Josel) (Joselin) Gumpert from Köln [(HaLevi) Eppstein] == Schejnle (HaLevi) Kolb aus Eppstein >> Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein (? –  1514) == Mejmlen-Mimlen >> Efraim Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein (ca. 1480 – 1516) == Frumet Shalom (? – 1516) >> Joseph (Josel) (HaLevi) Eppstein == N.N. >> Blume (Ha Levi) Eppstein (ca. 1500 – 1560) == Simon (Schimon) aus Boppard (ca. 1480 – 1531) >> Gutlin Boppard == Moses Weissenburg, zum Kessel (? – 1522) >> Edel / Udel Weissenberg == Mendlen (Menachem) Lauchheim – Bacharach of Knoblauch (ca. 1535 – 1599) >> Samuel Mendel Bacharach (ca. 1550 – 1628) == Henlen Bloch (ca. 1584 – 1643) >> Edel Bacharach (ca. 1605 – 1668) == Simon Wolf Oppenheim (ca. 1600 – 1664) >> Abraham Oppenheim (1633 – 1693) >> Blume Wohl (ca. 1637 – 1683) >> Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664 – 1736) == Gnendel Behrens-Cohen (ca. 1670 – 1712) >> Sara Oppenheim [er] (ca. 1695 – 1713) == Chaim Jonah Frankel-Teomim >> Magdelene Genendel Frankel-Teomim (1713 – 1778) == Simon Isaac Bondi (1711 – 1773) >> Jonas Bondi (1732 – 1765) == Bella / Belle Schifra >> Clara / Caroline Bondi (1760-1829) == Koppel Loeb of Bamberg >> Moises Loeb / Moritz Reis (1782 – 1855) == Émilie Bickartt (1784 – ) >> Jonas Reis (1809 – 1877) == Marian Samuel (1825 – 1900) >> REIS FAMILY

Looking at Joseph’s wife — Schenjle — her father (or grandfather) was Rabbi Jakob Kopel, zu Storch, zu Buchsbaum who lived in Frankfurt and who came from Eppstein (a town outside Frankfurt).and her mother (or grandmother) was Chava / Hawa daughter Abraham.  Rabbi Jakob died in 1438.

Rabbi Jakob and Chava may have had a son Natan who may have been the father of Schejnle. It is not clear whether Jakob was her father or whether Natan was. Natan was termed “zum Buchsbaum”.  Natan is said to have died in 1470. Whatever the case, Schenjle married:

Josef (Joselin) Gumpert (HaLevi) Eppstein who was born circa 1440 at Baden, Baden District, Aargau, Switzerland. His father was Efraim Gumpert.

He married Schejnle (Bejle) Kopel whom we assume was the daughter Rabbi Jakob Kopel, zu Storch, zu Buchsbaum and his wife Chava / Hawa daughter of Abraham Joseph and Schejnle had a son Nathan.

Joseph died on March 19, 1502 at Frankfurt am Main, and was buried at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery. Below, the remains of Josef’s gravestone:

Schenjle’s father (perhaps grandfather) was Rabbi Jakob (Yaakov) Kopel, zu Storch, zu Buchsbaum. Jakobs’s father is stated as Natan Eppstein. Jakob Kopel died on October 23, 1438 at Frankfurt am Main and he was buried at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, Frankfurt am Main. His grave is shown below:

The son of Josef (Joselin) HaLevi Eppstein and his wife Schenjle is: Nathan / Natan (HaLevi) Eppstein. Nathan was born in about 1460. He married Mejmlen-Mimlen HaLevi around 1480. Mejmlen was the daughter of David. Nathan and Mejmlen lived zum Kessel, dann zum schwarzen Ring, then to Höchst. Mejmlen-Mimlen was also known as: “Mämlen”.

Nathan and Mejmlen were the parents of Efraim Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein [below].

Nathan was the brother of Henlin (Hanlin-Emelin) Weissenau (HaLevi) Eppstein and Menachem (Mannes) (HaLevi) Eppstein.

Nathan died on April 23, 1514, at Frankfurt am Main, almost a month after his wife Mimlen. He was buried at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, Frankfurt am Main. His gravestone is shown below:

Mejmeln / Mimlen died on March 30, 1514, at Frankfurt am Main and was buried at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, Frankfurt am Main. Below, the gravestone of Mimlen the wife of Nathan (above), daughter of David, and mother of Efraim / Ephraim Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein.

Efraim Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein was born about 1480. He was the son of Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein and Mejmlen-Mimlen. Efraim married Frumet / Frommet, daughter of ‘Shalom’. Efraim and Frumet were the parents of:

1. Joseph (Josel) HaLevi, zum Schwarzen Ring, zum Storch (d. around 1536), and

2. Jacob (Jaakow) Ephraim HaLevi (d. around 1533).

Efraim Nathan, was also known as Gompchen. He probably married around 1500 and lived first in the Hekdesch (asylum for the poor and sick), later probably in the Black Ring and in the Affen. The Hekdesch, also called “Heckhaus,” was one of the oldest buildings in the Frankfurt Jewish ghetto. It was initially built in 1462 on land that is now the Konstablerwache.

Efraim died on 22 May 1516, at Frankfurt am Main. His place of burial was at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, in Frankfurt am Main.  His grave is shown below:

Frumet, the wife of Efraim Nathan (HaLevi) (above) was born around 1480. She was the mother of:

1.  Joseph (Josel) (HaLevi) Eppstein, and 2. Jacob (Jaakow) (HaLevi) Eppstein.

Frumet died on August 13, 1516, at Frankfurt am Main. Her place of burial was at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, in Frankfurt am Main. Her gravestone is shown below:

One of the sons of Efraim Nathan (HaLevi) Eppstein and his wife Frumet was Joseph (Josel) (HaLevi) Eppstein. He was sometimes known by such place names as: Schwarzen Ring, Storch, and Kessel.  He was born around 1500 and he died around 1552. His wife has not been identified. His grave has not been identified either.

They had a daughter – Blume.  Her date of birth is not known but we assume circa 1540.

Blume married twice: 1. Simon (Schimon) aus Boppard and 2 Isaac Ben Moshe Aschaffenburg.

The Reis family is descended from the first Boppard marriage, and in particular the product of that marriage – Gutlin Boppard – who married Moses Weissenberg.

Blume died on 3 April 1560 and was buried at Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, Frankfurt am Main. Her gravestone is shown below.

All the above are the direct ancestors of the REIS FAMILY. Below are two Co-Laterals’ graves.

Simmel Zimel Halevi Aus Eppstein was the son of Rabbi Jakob Kopel, zu Storch, zu Buchsbaum and his wife Chava daughter of Abraham Zu Bruchenau. Simmel was the brother of Sejnle-schejnle Aus Eppstein who married Josef (Joselin) (Halevi) Eppstein. He died on October 10, 1486 at Frankfurt am Main, and was buried at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, Frankfurt am Main. His gravestone is below but a search of the graves database did not find his grave.

Josef (Joselin) (HaLevi) Eppstein and his wife Schenjle (sister of the above Simmel) had a daughter Henlin who married Simon (Schimeon) aus Weisenau.

Henlin died on 14 March, 1505 at Frankfurt am Main and was buried at the Battonnstraße Jewish cemetery, in Frankfurt am Main. She married around 1473; her husband was at this time “the richest and most brilliant representative of Frankfurt’s Jewry” (Dietz, 316). He died in 1523. Her grave is shown below: