Salomonson and Almelo

Recently someone from England contacted me about the Salomonson family, a prominent Almelo family. We had corresponded before, but I had not really pursued it any further forwards in time, as Godfried’s children mostly leave Almelo. But I started thinking, why would some of them end up in England?

The family is part of the textile industry in Twente, the part of Overijssel where Almelo is  located. The brothers Godfried and Hein Salomonson, sons of an Amsterdam linen trader⁽²⁾ bought up the bankrupt estate of Thomas Ainsworth, the Englishman, who invented the steam loom; and the Salomonson brothers started the first large scale textile company in 1852 in Nijverdal (the name literally means industrious valley). According to another source⁽³⁾ Godfried and Hein started a firm, dealing in cotton, in 1816. Whether or not the father came from Amsterdam is unclear (neither his marriage, nor his father’s is recorded in Amsterdam), but they did start the textile revolution in Twente with the purchase of Ainsworth’ factory. Seen from this perspective a connection with England seems logical.

Godfried’s parents were Moses Salomonson (dutch link) and Rachel Hijmans. In 1812 Moses takes the permanent surname of Salomonson for himself and his children, so they will no longer be designated by their patronymics. The widow of his brother does the same for her children. And that is the start of the dynasty.

Moses had seven children, all but one go on to marry (and it is possible that that one married also, but I just didn’t find it yet). None of them marry partners from Almelo, the Jewish community is too small, they  find their partners from the larger Dutch and German community. Moses’s wife Rachel came from Gildehuis, a small place just across the border with Germany. His children’s partners came from Wageningen, Rotterdam, Amersfoort, Middelburg, Zaltbommel. Some of his grandchildren find partners in Almelo, but also from Wageningen, and the Isle of Man. When Godfried’s son Hein married in 1846, he was living in Manchester, England, and they probably went back there. Same with Godfried’s son Barend, although the marriage certificate states that they were both from Almelo, they legitimize four children born in Manchester.

I am sure, I could spend countless more hours collecting data about this, but it does not pertain to Almelo, so it falls outside that project, and it does not pertain to my family, so it fall outside that project. Textile and Thomas Ainsworth is the connection between England and the Salomonsons.

(1) For more information about Jewish life in Almelo, see The Jewish Community of Almelo (at Akevoth) or Jewish Communities Almelo
(2) See History of Ten Cate-Nijverdal, a large Dutch textile Company
(3) Joodse Canon 1852 (dutch only)