Family Ashmele

Family Notes...Jacob Ashmele and Sarah Rubenstein.

Jacob Ashmele (great-grandfather)...

Jacob Ashmele was probably born in Poland in the middle of the 19th century.  He is referred to on various family documents as Jacob, Yankel and Yacov, and the family name may have been Aszenmil.  Headstone inscriptions and documents for the male line include "..h'Levi",  indicating descendants of the tribe of Levi.  Jacob is also described as a painter, a journeyman paperhanger and a dyer, and is believed to have been involved with the textiles industry of Lodz. 

Jacob is believed to have had six children - two sons, Rifka (b.1878), Dinah (b.1880), Joseph (b.1884) and Yetta (b.1890) when he abandoned his wife Sarah when she was pregnant with their seventh child Aaron (b.1892).

Jacob is believed to have followed Sarah and her family to England, demanding money from her. He may also have been in London for the wedding of his son Joseph in June 1907. Sarah is described on her death certificate as "widow of Jacob Ashmele" in 1910; however, the final days and resting place of Jacob are unknown.

Sarah Rubenstein (great-grandmother)...

Sarah (aka Sevel) Rubenstein was born c1856, probably in Poland, and married to Jacob Ashmele.  Pregnant and abandoned by her husband, Sarah emigrated to England with her three daughters, Rifka, Dinah and Yetta, giving birth to Aaron soon after arriving in England. She was later joined in England by her son Joseph, and the family name Ashmele was adopted.

The family is believed to have lived in Scotland for a while, where Sarah sold fruit from a market stall. She is also believed to have worked as a midwife in the East End of London. 

Sarah died age 54 in May 1910 at Knotty Ash, Liverpool from hemiplegia exhaustion.  She is buried in the Rice Lane Jewish Cemetery in Walton, Liverpool, although the burial register lists her as "Ashmede". Row G7 contains several headstones dated 1910, but none bear the name of Sarah Ashmele. There are, however, several unmarked and overgrown graves, one of which is certainly that of Sarah.