Geddert’s father: Dawe (Dawe’s parents’ are unknown)

Geddert’s mother: Lawize (Lawize’s parents’ names are unknown)

Dawe’s birth: 1779?, Vitrupas farm, Jekabnieki?

Lawize’s birth: 1778?, Cūcēni farm, Jekabnieki

Marriage: 1799?, Zalenieku Lutheran Church

Children:

• Lise, born 1892, Reņči Jahna, Jekabnieki

• Janis (Rozentals?), born 1805, Reņči Jahna, Jekabnieki (possible death 1875, Tilschu farm, Jekabnieki)

• Geddert Rozentals/Rozenbergs, born 1808, Reņči Jahna, Jekabnieki, Death 1861, Stuļģi Polu farm (Aspazija’s paternal grandfather)

• Ans (Rozenberg?), born 1810, Cūcēni farm, Jekabnieki (is this Lawize’s godparent ‘Ans Rozenberg’ in 1861?)

• Trine, 1815, Vitrupas farm, Jekabnieki

• Greete, born 1818, Cūcēni farm, Jekabnieki, Death: after 1833

Dawe’s death: 28-May-1829, Reņči Jahna, Jekabnieki, Cause of death: scarlet fever

Burial: unknown

Lawize’s death: Jul-1836, Reņči Jahna farm, Jekabnieki

Burial: Aug-1836, place unknown

More Information

Dawe and Lawize were the parents of Geddert Rozentals/Rozenbergs. That makes them great-grandparents to Aspazija. Dawe and Lawize were both born in the 1770s. This is in a time well before surnames. Peasant farming families were bound to their Baltic German landlords under strict rules of serfdom. At the time of their birth and during their childhoods this part of Latvia was actually the Duchy of Courland. It wouldn’t become part of the Russian Empire until 1795. Making sense of records of these times is a lot harder than in the 19th or 20th centuries. Luckily the records available online for Zalenieku go back well into the 1700s. Matching up records, names and dates in this time gets harder and harder to confirm relationships and identities. But I have done the best that I can. Perhaps with time these relationships can be verified more accurately.

The marriage record from 1799 that I think is most likely the correct one lists Dawe as living on Vitrupas farm (written Witrup in the old records) farm and Lawize as living on Cūcēni farm (written Zuzen in the old records). Luckily for us, in 1797 the Russian Empire had a farm census done, which is called a ‘Revision List’. These records still exist for Zalenieku/Jekabnieku.

This would have been less than 2 years before their marriage so I looked at the listing for the 2 farms. The entry for Vitrupas does have an 18-year-old man named Dawe living there. It is likely to be this Dawe.

And here is the 1797 Revision List for Cūcēni farm. There is an unmarried ‘maiden’ named Lawize listed there. Age 14 is probably not right but ages were often not 100% correct in these documents.

Dawe & Lawize’s list of children as I have recorded it, is again not 100% confirmed. Without surnames I can only go on first names, ages and farm names. But to the best of my knowledge the list that I have above is fairly accurate. Here is some more information on some of these children:

The eldest child, Lise, born in 1802 does have a confirmation record from 1818:

The 2nd child, Janis, also has a confirmation record from 1821:

I do have a death record from 1875 that could be this Janis. I do not know how to confirm this connection but it is worth mentioning. This record is from Zalenieku Lutheran Church and lists ‘Jannis Rosenthal’. He died in April-1875 at Tilchu farm. It says he was born in Jekabnieku and is 70 years old at his death. This would make his birth year 1805, which matches exactly with the above baptism record. It says he is single, which means he was never married or he would be listed as a widower. This also means that he probably did not leave any children. His cause of death is dropsy.

I haven’t been able to gather any other information about the children Ans and Trine. Except that in 1861, Geddert’s daughter, Lawize, has a godparent named ‘Ans Rozenberg’. Could this be the same man? I have not found any records that show Ans getting married, having children or dying. So more research needs to be done here if possible.

The final child Greete also has a confirmation record from 1832. This record has a bit more information than earlier in the 1800s and it shows that she is the daughter of ‘Dawe & Lawize’ from Reņči Jahna farm. (Note that Greete’s entry has no number and is squeezed between #55 and #56.

In the 1833 Farm List for Vitrupas Mattis farm in Jekabnieku, Lawize and her daughter Greete are listed. Lawize is listed as being born at Cūcēni farm in 1778 and is a widow. Greete is listed as also being born at Cūcēni farm in 1818. This is exactly right based on the baptism and confirmation records I have found for Greete. Lawize and Greete are living at the Vitrupas Mattis farm in 1833 and Lawize’s son, Geddert, and his family are living at the Vitrupas Jahna farm. But in 1835, the year before Lawize’s death, Geddert and his family have moved to Vitrupas Mattis as well as it states in the baptism record of their daughter, Greete.