Number 73: Our cousin Shari Hearne ‘nee Sharynne Penwarden has done astounding research on our maternal parents’ family history, from which much of the below is taken.

Our late grandparents and mother always referred to their surname as “a’ Cohen Treves” despite their Identity Documents reflecting only: “a’ Cohen”. When the family came to South Africa,  they were forced to drop the Treves portion of the name by immigration officials. However the name Treves continues to be included in many ways – naturalisation papers; name of the house at 22 Silverlea Road in Wynberg was called: “Treves”, my second name is Treves and the Family Trust I initiated is called: “The Treves Schkolne Family Trust”. Especially with the perishing of so many of our family in the Holocaust and that our Grandparents had three daughters and no son to continue the family name, it has been vital to our family to preserve the name in other ways. Sadly there are also no surviving male members of the family that continue the “a’ Cohen” part of the family name.

Attached is a document our late grandfather Jacob “Jaap” arranged to have sent by the Portuguese Israelite Community in Amsterdam confirming that the family name is indeed the full “a’ Cohen Treves”

“Treves” claims descent from Rashi and the town of Troyes in France. It has a long and illustrious history of many scholars and rabbis. Trefus; Dreyfus; Trivash; and many others were all different spellings of the same name.

Our family’s oral history has it that the Treves family came to Amsterdam in the mid-17th Century from the Venice Ghetto, Italy.

Josef and Ester Treves had one son, Samuel who never married and had no children, and four daughters: Ester, Ribca, Lea and Rachel. Ribca was born, 1729, in Amsterdam and married Matatia de Mordechay a’ Cohen. Their sons Mordechay (who sadly passed away childless) Joseph and our direct ancestor, Moses, born 10/02/1762, were given the name a’ Cohen Treves and thus the perpetuation of the “double-barrelled” name, inclusive of Treves, through six further generations until it was lost forever in the Holocaust.

Yair Edelstein Schkolne

Born 24/12/1985; Nahariya Israel

Maya Golda Schkolne

Born 2/09/1988; Haifa Israel

Raymond Treves Schkolne

Born 17/06/1957; Cape Town

Married 16/01/1983

Marcelle Schkolne ‘nee a’Cohen Treves

27/11/1927 – 05/02/2014

Married: 21/03/1954 Born Amsterdam

Died 5/02/2014: CapeTown

Jacob a’ Cohen Treves

10/11/1897 – 28/03/1978

Occupation: Briljantslijper

Born: Amsterdam; Died Cape Town

Moses a’ Cohen Treves

Born 5/07/1874  Amsterdam

Married 22/08/1895 Amsterdam

Died 12/07/1944 Theresienstadt

Jacob Haim a’ Cohen Treves

14/06/1836 – 23/03/1890

Married: 5/09/1869

Buried: Oudekerk

Matitia a Cohen Treves

16/12/1803  – 25/07/1845

Occupation: Bediende

Moses a’ Cohen Treves

10/02/1762 – 23/08/1833

Amsterdam

Father of Moses:

Matatia de Mordechay a’ Cohen

Father of Matatia de Mordechay

Mordechay a’ Cohen

Mother of Moses:

Ribca  Treves

B: 1729

M: 19/04/1754

Parents of Ribca:

Joseph Treves				Ester
D and Buried 14/09/1755				Buried 10/03/1751

Parents of Joseph:

Samuel Treves     Ester  Treves ‘nee Israel M: 1679     M 1679