First name: Dāvis

Last name: Rozenbergs/Rozenvalds

Father: Geddert Rozentals/Rozenbergs

Mother: Anne (daughter of Klawe & Trine)

Birth: 2-Apr-1832, Reņču Jahna farm, Jekabnieku

Baptism: 10-Apr-1832, Zalenieku Lutheran Church

 

Confirmation: unknown

Marriage: Grieta Freimane, 1859/1860?, Zalenieku Lutheran Church? (no image available)

Children:

• Johanna Emilija Lizete (Elza) Rozenvalds, (1865-1943) – This is Aspazija
• Kristaps Roberts Rozenbergs, (1874-1911)
• Dorothea Albertine Rozenbergs, (1877-1925)
• Samuel Julius Rozenbergs, (1877-1909)

Death: Mar-1901, Jelgava

 

Burial: St. John’s Cemetery, Jelgava

More Information

Dāvis Rozenbergs was born without a surname in April of 1832. His baptism record is not available on the regular Raduraksti website. I found it only on the FamilySearch website where there is a collection of records from Zalenieku Lutheran Church from the 1820s and 1830s (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS59-NRZN?mode=g&cat=713123).

His parents were Geddert Rozentals/Rozenbergs and Anne (daughter of Klawe & Trine). His mother, Anne, died in childbirth 2 weeks after his birth. His father remarried within a month and Dāvis’s new step-mother was also his mother’s sister, Trine (daughter of Klawe & Trine).

Dāvis’s siblings are as follows:

• Trine (half-sister) 1833-1834
• Greete (half-sister) 1835-unknown
• Kristaps (half-brother) 1838-died after 1894
• Lawize (half-sister) 1861-1945
• Kristaps (step-brother) 1858-1835

In the 1833 Jekabnieku Revision List, Dāvis and his baby sister and his parents are living at Vitrupas Jahna farm.

 

I really don’t know how Dāvis spent his childhood except that he most likely moved around to various farms with his family. His maternal aunt, Grieta, and her husband, Dave Vigants, moved to Daukšas farm in 1829. I doubt they became owners at this time because this was before peasants, who had only recently been emancipated from serfdom, could own their own land. But at some point, probably in the early 1850s, they become the owners of this farm. In 1854, Dave Vigants died. I think that Dāvis was the best male option in the family for his aunt Grieta to leave the farm to. By the 1857 Revision List, Dāvis is listed as being the manager/owner. His name is listed as ‘Rozenwalds’ here. In 1857, Dāvis was not yet married. Other family members living at the farm at this time are:

• Grieta Vigants (his mother and step-mother’s sister)
• Ans Budien & wife Liese (his mother and step-mother’s brother)
• Jahn Gulbe & wife Lawize with 4 children (his mother and step-mother’s nephew)

 

Daukšas farm still exists today. Aspazija and her siblings were all born here. In 1886 when Aspazija was 21 years old, her parents forced her to marry a man named Wilhelm Max Valter. Dāvis and Grieta Rozenbergs gifted the farm to the young couple upon their marriage. This marriage was a disaster. Valter ended up squandering all their money and the farm was lost. Valter left Aspazija and fled to America never to be seen again. Aspazija was able to get a divorce in 1891. Aspazija’s parents moved to Jelgava where it seems Dāvis died depressed and alcoholic in 1901.

 

There is also a document from an 1858 Civil Register List that shows Dāvis and wife and 4 children. Since the last children weren’t born until 1877 this was obviously a document that was continuously updated over a number of years. The family is listed with the name ‘Rozenwald’ with an alias of ‘Rozenberg’. It lists their residence as Daukšas farm. It lists Aspazija using one of her middle names: ‘Lisette’. A small notation after Dāvis’s name says ‘Ged.’. This shows that his father’s name was ‘Geddert’. As far as I know this is the only document that makes a written link between Dāvis Rozenwalds/Rozenbergs and his father’s name. This document is not available online.