Dāvis’s father, Geddert, and his new wife, Trine, had a daughter, also named Trine, in 1833. This little baby died the following year in 1834. They had another daughter in 1835 named Greete. They were living at Whitruppu farm in Jekabnieku at this time. In 1838, Geddert and Trine had a son who was baptized ‘Kristaps Rozentals’. This is the first reference to the surname that the family originally adopted. At Kristaps’s birth the family was living at Stulgu Pohla farm in Jekabnieku.
There are no records by which to trace the family again until 1856 when Geddert’s wife Trine dies. They must have moved back to Trine’s ancestral farm, Kaulinu Bascha, where her extended family were still the managers. Trine dies with the surname ‘Rozenbergs’. This shows a name change had happened from ‘Rozentals’ to ‘Rozenbergs’ sometime prior to April 1856. After Trine’s death, Geddert must have moved back to Stulgu Pohla. In the following year of 1857 Dāvis is listed in the Revision List with the surname ‘Rozenvalds’ which is another name change during these years.
Now, in March 1858 a young woman named Anna Rudzis (or Radzin) gave birth to an illegitimate son named Kristaps at Raggenhof manor in Jekabnieku. This Kristaps would become the maternal grandfather of Zanis ‘John’ Zekants (my husband’s grandfather). Geddert, at this point in his early 50s, married for a third time. He married young Anna Rudzis (Radzin). Unfortunately, the marriage records in Zalenieku church for the years 1859-1861 are missing. Anna and her son Kristaps were now part of what would become the extended family of Aspazija.
In January 1861, Geddert and Anna had a daughter. She was baptized in Zalenieku church with the name ‘Lawize Rozenbergs’. This is the only biological child Geddert and Anna would have because Geddert died in 1861. Three years later, in 1865, Dāvis and Grieta have Aspazija who is baptized with the surname ‘Rozenwalds’. Between 1865 and 1877 they would have 3 more children who all are baptized with the surname ‘Rozenbergs’.
From this point there is a huge gap in the records for this branch of the family. Anna’s illegitimate son, Kristaps, takes the surname of his step-father, Geddert. Kristaps marries Anne Smiltnieks in 1883 with the name ‘Rozentals’. Kristaps and Anne have 4 daughters. At least two of their daughters use Kristaps’s sister, Lawize, as a godparent. Lawize is also using the ‘Rozentals’ surname even though she was born ‘Rozenbergs’.
Sometime before 1899, Lawize moves to Riga where she joins St. Martin’s Lutheran Church. She gets married in 1899 to Karl Vimba. She marries using the name ‘Rozentals’. But for the rest of her life, she tells her descendants that her maiden name was ‘Rozenbergs’. Her half-brother, Kristaps (born 1858), also moves to Riga and spends the rest of his life using the surname ‘Rozenvalds’. In passport documents he even lists his father as being ‘Geddert’ even though that was not his biological father. But all three of his daughters use mixtures of the names ‘Rozentals’ and ‘Rozenvalds’.
It was directly due to this family connection that I was able to come up with the information about Dāvis Rozenberg’s family history. It was the little key that was needed to bring together the scant information available. Even though my husband’s connection ended up being a step relationship with Aspazija rather than a biological one I was still very interested in mapping out the family. I had already done so much research and realized that I had the ability to put this mystery together to share with others who were also looking for this information. And in the end, the maiden name of my father-in-law’s grandmother came from Aspazija’s family and if her grandfather hadn’t married his third wife, Anna Rudzis, then the sequence of events that led to the birth of my own children would not have happened.
As far as living relatives, there is still a lot of research that can be done there. There are certain to be living relatives from Aspazija’s paternal grandmother’s line (of Klawe & Trine of Kaulin Bascha). But there is less to be found when it comes to Aspazija’s paternal grandfather. Dāvis was the only child of Geddert and Anne. Geddert and Trine had 3 children; but the first one, Trine died as a baby. I have not been able to find any information about the fate of the second one, Greete, born in 1835. The final child of Geddert and Trine, Kristaps born in 1838, lived until at least 1894. He is listed in a civil person list of the Zalenieku area in that year. This was the Kristaps who was baptized with the surname ‘Rozentals’ in 1838 but in this 1894 list he is using the name ‘Rozenwalds’. He is listed as having married a woman named Greete but I do not know when they married or if they had any children. There is no evidence in the Zalenieku records that he had any children so I suspect he did not. Geddert’s final biological child was with his third wife, Anna Rudzis (Radzin). Their daughter Lavize is also listed in that 1894 list as living with her much older half-brother, Kristaps who was born in 1838.
Lawize and her husband, Karl Vimba, only had one biological child together. This daughter was named Elza (she was the mother of the man, Paulis, who alerted me to the Aspazija connection). Elza and her husband did not have any biological children but adopted two sons.
My father-in-law’s grandfather, Kristaps Rozentals/Rozenvalds born in 1858, had three daughters that lived into adulthood (Emilija, Olga & Anna Zelma). Olga and Anna Zelma do not have any living descendants. Only Emilija has living descendants, from her only son Zanis ‘John’ Zekants. That is our family group living in Australia.
And of course, Aspazija never had children either. She had three siblings and only one of them had children. Her brother, Julijs Zamuels, had a daughter named Virēna. Virēna, though, had no children. This all means that there may not be any biological descendants of Aspazija’s paternal grandfather, Geddert.
After 7 years of research, I have finally been able to put together this family history of Dāvis Rozenbergs, the father of Aspazija. All of this information is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I am sure there are errors and pieces of information that may be found to be wrong and need to be changed in the future but I feel confident that this is the best explanation as to the family history of Aspazija’s father’s family history to date.
