People

Levi Isaak Ahrons was born in Lüneburg in 1775, the son of the "Schutzjude" Isaak Abraham Ahrons and his wife Jetta von der Port. "Schutzjude" referred to a status granted by German sovereigns to Jewish merchants from about the 14th to the 19th century in order to profit from their earnings and to control the settlement of Jewish families. In return for the payment of high protection fees and adherence to strict rules on freedom of movement, a certain degree of external protection and privilege over other Jews was assured. In the Kingdom of Hanover there were Schutzjuden until the 1840s.

From 1796, Levi Isaak Ahrons himself was named as a Schutzjude in Lüneburg. He married Amalia Horwitz from Wusterhausen in Prussia. They had at least three children: Dorette, Isaac (later known as Eduard) and Adolph. Amalia Horwitz died in 1830; her husband outlived her by more than two decades.

After the arly death of his father, Levi Isaak had taken over the paternal banking trade as a very young man, first together with his mother, the widow Jetta von der Port. The address of the store and also of the family"s residence was consistently Große Bäckerstraße 14.

From 1810 to 1815, according to the address book, Levi Isaak Ahrons traded there in "Chits and Calico." Both terms refer to cotton fabrics, chits was the usually printed finer fabric, calico the somewhat coarser variant. From 1816, he engaged in a trade in "Ellenwaaren", i.e. presumably other textiles as well. This remained so until his death in 1855. Levi Isaak"s son-in-law Julius Lippmann, who had married Dorette in 1844, continued to run the business in Lüneburg until the 1880s.

Levi Isaak Ahrons died in 1855 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Lüneburg.

Sources and info:

Zvi Asaria, Die Juden in Niedersachsen, Leer 1979, p. 112

Info on the historical concept of "Schutzjude": https://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=571&language=english

Name variants: Arons Aarons Levy Levien Isaac