Moritz Reis was the father of Jonas and Eva Reis. He was born on 30 of October 1782 in Bamberg, Upper Franconia, Germany and he died on 2 of December 1855 at Mainz. He did not start out his life as Moritz Reis but rather as Moises (Moses) Koppel.
This change of name came about because, during the first decades of the 19th century, Jews were forced by law to take on full “civil” names. This name change is clearly stated on both his marriage and his death certificates which are shown below. On both of these it indicates that Moritz / Maurice was the son of Koppel Loeb (Koch Loeb), a merchant, and his wife Chaylia [Clara Keila] (Jonas) Bondi (1760 – 1829). The two certificates can also be viewed as PDFs: the marriage in PDF is HERE and the death is HERE.
There is also a ‘name change project’ for Mainz online which can be accessed HERE and which confirms the information found on the two certificates shown below. As a result of this insight, it is possible to trace Moritz’s maternal ancestry quite far back as his mother’s Bondi family married into families that had made significant contributions to Jewish life in Central Europe including: Oppenheim, Behrens-Cohen, Bacharach, Frankel-Teomim, Wohl, Spira, Isserles, Horowitz, etc. which are also (or will be) explored on this website.
However, the name change has not been noted on most of the genealogical databases. A good example is the Bondi family page which can be viewed here which has Chaylia [Caroline / Clara] Bondi on it but not her son Moritz Reis. There is also some confusion over whom she married. Her record on the GENI database which can be viewed HERE has her married to Loeb Koppel, whereas the Bondi family page (linked to above) has her married to Kolb Bamberg. This maybe because Loeb came from the town of Bamberg.
However, what we do know is that Moritz married Émilie Bickartt (born 1784 ). She was the daughter of Marcus Bickartt and Thomer Levy. Marcus was a merchant living in Mainz / Mayence. Émilie changed her first name to Émilie from Minette. The information regarding Émilie comes from her death certificate below:
Moritz and Emilie had the following seven children:
1- Eva Reis (1817-1890) married Isidor Léo Lebrech=>3 sons: Wilhelm, Carl, Joseph (married Lina Bessunger)
2- Johanna Reis (died young)
3- Caroline Reis
4- Theres
5- Babette Reis married Victor Simon
6 – Simon Reis (died young)
7 – Jonas Reis who was born in 1809 although once he was in England he claimed to have been born in 1819 which was the year his brother Simon was born. Note: his mother’s father was named Jonas.
Below a screen shot from the online Mainz name change project:
Reis Family on Mainz Census – It is not always possible to interpret the handwriting on the Mainz census for the Reis family, however the following is assumed to be accurate:
Moritz Reis born 30 ? 1782 (deceased); Emilie Bickhartt born 28th September 1784 (deceased); Jonas born 5 August 1809; Simon born 1819 (deceased); A girl born 1811 – (deceased); Eva born 1817; Johanna born 1820 (deceased); Caroline born 1821 (deceased); ; Babette born 1823; and Clara born 15 April 1830.
As far as we can tell, only three of these children managed to reach an age where they married, namely: Eva who married Isidor Léo Lebrech; Babette Reis who married Victor Simon; and Jonas who married Marian Samuel.