Maria Rayna SIMONS

1850 - 1898  (48 years)

• Name	Maria Rayna SIMONS
  Birth	20 May 1850	Gloucester, England   [1, 2, 3]
  	Address: Denion(?) Street
  Gender	Female
  Census	30 Mar 1851	Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire, England   [4]
  	Age: 10m
  	Address: Old Court
  	Relation to Head of House: Lodger Her place of birth is listed as Newark, Nottinghamshire. Checking the BMD indexes I can find nothing that fits so I assume that this is an error, but it is strange one.
  Census	7 Apr 1861	Bristol, Somerset, England   [5]
  	Age: 11y
  	Address: Gloucester Lane
  	Relation to Head of House: Daughter Listed as Maria Indexed as Simmons
  Reference Number	BR 1028b
  Reference Number	BR-J
  Death	15 Dec 1898	Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA   [6]
  	Age: 48y
  Person ID	I4343	Jacobs
  Last Modified	18 Mar 2022

  
  

  Father	Lewis SIMONS,   b. 17 Mar 1823, London, England d. 25 Feb 1893, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA (Age 69 years)
  Mother	Jane JACOBS,   b. 2 Mar 1827, London, England d. 21 Feb 1922, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA (Age 94 years)
  Marriage	2 Apr 1845	London, England   [6, 7, 8]
  Family ID	F1388	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Jacob DA COSTA,   b. 26 Feb 1846, Whitechapel, London, England d. 25 Jul 1886, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA (Age 40 years)
  Children	+ 1. Hannah DA COSTA,   b. 3 Apr 1881, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA d. 4 Jul 1926, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA (Age 45 years)
  Family ID	F1389	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Jan 2020

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - Address: Denion(?) Street - 20 May 1850 - Gloucester, England Census - Age: 10m,Address: Old Court - 30 Mar 1851 - Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire, England Census - Age: 11y,Address: Gloucester Lane - 7 Apr 1861 - Bristol, Somerset, England Death - Age: 48y - 15 Dec 1898 - Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Notes from Manfred Lindner's data:- Remembered by her descendants & family members as "Rayna Simons DeCosta", there have been at least a dozen namesakes. Yet there is no English birth record of a Rayna Simons, daughter of Lewis and Jane. Ultimately I learned the reason. In searching for the Lewis/Jane Simons family in the 1861 census for Bristol, England, the children were listed, in order of age, as Maria, Hannah, Henry, Moses & David. Maria's age was listed as11 years and her birthplace as Gloucester, England. No family member alive in 1990- and to whom I spoke of this- was aware of the name Maria. All thought that the name of the oldest child was Rayna, born in 1850 in Bristol. Ultimately I obtained the birth certificate for Maria Simons; it confirmed in every detail the information in the 1861 census, and the birthdate (May 20, 1850) is that of gm Rayna. By 1870 the Simons Family was already listed in the Chicago, U. S. census, and in that record the oldest child was listed as Rayna Simons, age 20. Sometime within that 9-year interval Maria became Rayna. We now know that her paternal grandmother's name was Reyna Uzieli, who married a Henry Simons in August of 1810. Henry is known to be the name of the father of Lewis Simons, Rayna's father (see family 66 and notes on individual 237). [Note by David Simpson 9/Aug/2008:- Found the family in 1851 census and she is listed as Rayner in that census] Why the name Maria? Apparently she was named after her maternal aunt, Maria Jacobs (who was married to one Joseph Alexander just a few months following the marriage of Jane and Lewis), but changed the name to Rayna some time between 1861 and 1870. Thus, she swapped the name of a maternal aunt for that of her paternal grandmother. ! Birth Certif. No. 145, Reg. Distr. Gloucester, St. Nicholas, Gloucester County, b. on 20 May, 1850, reg'd. on 25 June, 1850. Somerset House Index for births for 2nd qtr, 1850: "Simons, Maria, Gloster", Vol XI, Pg 368, found on LDS microfilm roll no. 528262. ! 1861 census for Bristol, Eng. on LDS microfilm no. 542859, pg 80 (pg 25 of enum dist). Sup. Reg. Dist. Clifton, Enum Dist No. 3, Subdist of St. Phillip & Jacob. Lewis Simons, head. Oldest child listed as Maria, age 11, birthplace listed as Gloucester. ! 1870 census for Chicago, IL, 9th ward, pg 2132, line 6. Home of Lewis Simons. Oldest child (dtr.) Rayna, age 20. ! Marriage Certif. State of Illinois, County of Cook, City of Chicago. Dec. 31, 1870. Jacob De Costa and Rayna Simons, by Justice of the Peace, Andrew Enzenbacher (copy of certif. on hand) ! 1880 census for Chicago, IL, Enum Dist No. 83, Pg 53, line 26. Jacob De Costa. Wife, Rayna De Costa, age listed as 27. ! Declaration for Widow's Pension, No. 508,910, filed 23 August, 1890, by Rayna De Costa, widow of Jacob De Costa, Union Army veteran. ! Death Certif. No. 4107, Dept of Health, City of Chicago. Died on Dec. 15, 1898, age given as 48 y, 6 mo.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2202] Birth Cert - Simons, Maria, Bef 6 Nov 2019. [S3242] BMD - Birth Index, Bef Jan 2020, 1850 AMJ Glo'ster 11 368. [S2192] Manfred Lindner & Helen Redmond's notes, Bef Jan 2020. [S2193] 1851 Census - HO 107/1834 F109 P18 - Simons, Bef 6 Nov 2019. [S2194] 1861 Census - RG 9/1733 F80 P25 - Simons, Lewis, Bef 6 Nov 2019. [S2192] Manfred Lindner & Helen Redmond's notes, Bef 6 Nov 2019. [S2203] Marriage Cert - Lewis Simons & Jane Jacobs, Bef 6 Nov 2019. [S60] BMD - Marriage Index, Bef 6 Nov 2019, 1845 AMJ London 2 209.