Rob Seibert's Space

Jacob & Kunigunde Seibert arrived to New York from Hess, Darmstadt, Germany in the late 1850's. My 3rd great-grandfather Jacob and his son, George, were cigar makers and possibly owned a store. My great-grandfather Louis Albert (who later changed his name to "Arthur Lewis") became a manager at EDO Aircraft at College Point (now owned by Grumman), building aircraft engines. My late grandfather, Arthur George was a bank teller in Woodside. Years ago, I had asked my grandfather about our ancestry, and he retorted: "your German, that's all you need to know". A few years later I asked him about it again, and he confessed that my great-grandfather Louis Albert had changed the way the family pronounced the name Seibert, from "Sigh-bert" to "See-bert", because he thought "it would sound less Jewish that way". Most of the family settled in Queens, NY, eventually moving out to Long Island. There are presently no immediate members of my Seibert family remaining in NY, as we have all relocated. The German personal name "Seibert" is derived from one of three related "battle names", which were originally spelled "Siegfried", "Siegbert", and "Sigismund"; translating as "Victory-Peace", "Victory-Bright", and "Victory-Strength". My family name "Seibert", originally spelled "Siegbert", means "Victory-Bright", taken from the combination of two root words "sigi" & "berht". Used as a last name it is specifically Ashkenazi Jewish (by adopting the German personal name as a surname) and is often a variant spelling of "Seifert" which is used in Yiddish as an acronym for "Sefer Torah"(Scroll or Scribe of the Torah). The name "Seifert", originally spelt "Siegfried", translates from the German as "sigi-fridu", or "Victory-Peace". The Seibert family sheild depicts a background azure, two Stars of David argent in the upper corners, and a chevron argent in the base. An early heraldic motto I discovered for the Seibert family name is: "A mountain of strength rising above the sea, unwavering and unyeilding". My paternal grandmother's family (Connecticut Bissells) immigrated from England and can be traced back through French royal lineage to the legendary Rashei Galuta (Jewish Exilarchs, Davidic Dynasty) through Zerah bar Yehudah and Electra of Troy. My maternal family, the Nonnenberg's, originated in Prussia. According to family legend, the Nonnenbergs had some sort of dealings with the Kaiser Wilhelm family, and for unknown reasons, the Kaiser was having the entire Nonnenberg family killed. In the 1880's two brothers (Emil & Carl) fled by stowing away on a trans-ocean liner. They initially traveled to Pittsburgh, later settling around Scranton, Pennsylvania; many of them working the coal mines and becoming farmers. My grandfather, Rev. Charles W. Nonnenberg of Silver Lake, NY, tells me the surname Nonnenberg means "Mountain of Splendor", although a literal translation produces "Nun Mountain". There are very few Nonnenbergs surviving today, and most of them still live in Germany & Pennsylvania. My maternal grandmother's ancestors (Van Steenburgs, Coles, Van Kleecks, Van Kuelens) came from France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Many were wealthy Sephardic Jewish and French Huguenot merchants (wine and textiles) who escaped the Spanish Inquisition by fleeing to Holland. They were among the original Dutch and French settlers of early Manhattan, Catskills, and the Hudson River Valley. My Dutch ancestors were mariners and took part in the East & West Indies Trading Company. I have one female Iroquois ancestor from the Mohawk tribe who married Franco-Dutch explorer Hendrik Lambertse Bouts Sassian. Many individuals I researched in my tree have histories published about them and their families. So far, the only famous American I am related to is Humpfrey Bogart, the movie star. I am linked to him thru my Dutch ancestors of the family Van Der Bogaert. I have discovered legendary roots going back to the Rashei Galuta on this side of the family as well, through King Guillaume of France, son of Makhir bar Habibai and Aldane Carolingian.(Carolingian-Davidic Dynasty.)

To view my family tree, please click the Seibert Coat of Arms (above right).