Aspazija is the pen name of writer, poet and playwright, Elza Rozenberga. Aspazija is one of the most famous Latvians of the 20th century. She was born in 1865 in Zaļenieki to parents Davis Rozenbergs/Rozenvalds and Grieta Freimanis. Her father, Davis, inherited the Daukšas farm from his mother’s family in the 1850s. I am not sure how his aunt and uncle, Grieta and Dave Vigants, had acquired the farm, but by the mid-1800s more and more Latvian peasants were becoming small land owners across the eastern and northern parts of the country.
I discovered through two handwritten family documents that my husband’s family had a connection with Aspazija. It was up to me to figure it out. When I began my search several years ago, I found out that almost nothing was known about Aspazija’s father’s family. After several years of research I was able to make the connection.
Davis Rozenbergs/Rozenvalds’s father was Geddert Rozentals/Rozenbergs. Davis was Geddert’s eldest son, born in 1832. Geddert’s 1st wife, Anne, died in childbirth with Davis. Geddert married again and had three more children before being widowed for a second time in 1856. In 1859 or 1860, he married for a final time. His new bride was Anna Rudzis. A young maiden, much younger than him, already with a child of her own born out of wedlock, Kristaps. Geddert and Anna were to have one child together, Lavize, in January 1861. Sadly, Geddert would pass away only a few months later.
Anna’s ‘illegitimate’ son, Kristaps, is my husband’s great-great grandfather. I have documented extensive information about Aspazija’s father’s family on a seperate website that you can access here if you would like to learn more: Aspazija Rozenbergs Gimene.
Looks very interesting.