Finding out if someone was Jewish or not?

[EachandEveryone]

Well, my gran must have been because she told us she was. My brother did the DNA swab with put him at 1/8 Jewish so that would go with my grans story that her mum was. Her mum was called Violet Stockman. Im new to this and all I can find is that she was married in a church she was born in Bermondsey in 1911. I just thought it would show up somewhere. Any ideas?

To be honest without spending money on it you won't really get anywhere. I've been doing this for 23 years and I'm afraid online resources can only get you so far.
You need to buy some certificates, look in the local archives when they are open and make enquiries at the local synagogue when it's open.
If I had just used online resources my tree wouldn't be be very accurate it all. Through painstaking research I know its correct - I often find myself looking at other people's mistakes.

Have you found the births and deaths of all 8 children and where was the 4th living child in 1911?

So you have some Devon connections in your tree. The following folks may be worth delving into further: Isabella, Olive and Rheuben as there seems to be very little in the tree about them.

And was the leather market a Jewish area?

Agree that you need to invest in actual paper certificates.
It may be useful to get the advice of a genealogist who specialises in Jewish ancestry. There are quite a few out there as it's very important to be able to prove your Jewish ancestry if you wish to make Aaliyah or return to Judaism.
Iirc there are various Jewish genealogy societies run by volunteers too.
If you can uncover a Jewish marriage in your line then you should get a lot of historical information as the Jewish wedding "certificate" usually lists previous family marriages iirc.
If you have Ashkenazi heritage then this will show up in DNA and again I am sure an expert can advise.

This is so exciting though. It's what I love about genealogy. There's always something new and interesting to discover.

Looks don't mean anything though. People often assume I am either Jewish or Romany because of my looks/name but I am almost completely Irish and Scots but only 2% Scandinavian. I got tested because so many thought I was just trying to hide something.

Im always been asked if Im Jewish. I think this will have to wait until I get my retirement lump sum😂😂😂😂

My initial DNA test came up with 1% Ashkenazi but subsequent revisions have none now although it says 5% East European and 1% each Middle Eastern and African which would probably come from migrations thousands of years ago because until relatively recently (ie after WW2)the family on both sides was almost exclusively Irish.

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Also Judaism is a matrilineal religion. So if your maternal grandmother was Jewish then you and any siblings would be regarded as Jewish too.

I know but its on my dads side so he wouldve been

I think in the UK records may be limited to help you. It is only in the last 20 years or so that synagogues have been able to be licensed for marriages (as with non-Anglican churches).

My late Nan Rita (my Mum's mum) always hinted at her father being Jewish & I've so far been unable to discover the truth.

His name was Charles Bloomfield Simmens & he came from a middle class family in Norfolk.
His sister Maud married a Walter Lawrence (sp?) who was head of the Czech Bank in London in the 20s / 30s.
Charles was definitely CofE by the time of his marriage to Lilian White in 1918, as I have a teaching bible he was given in 1899.
They were both serving in the army in France. Charles was an RSM & Lily was 'Worker White' in the WRAC from a poor (I assume) Christian family.
They moved to Manchester where Lily's family lived & the couple then ran a succession of shops & pubs in various districts.
They had 3 children in the early 1920s; Leslie, Rita & Stanley.
Strangely Charles insisted that they learned German.

Charles' father was also called Charles Simmens & was a cattle trader from Norfolk I believe?

I've traced Charles' ancestry on his mother Annie's side to a Census in the early 19th century which showed her as a child living with her parents, Norfolk labourers 'Gern & Daniele' both born approx 1820 place unknown, i can find no other record of this couple other than in this census.
I even wonder if the names Gern & Daniele were correctly transcribed or if Bloomfield was their original name.

I guess a DNA test may help discover if some of these ancestors were Jewish?

did they keep up any Jewishness in secret?

I heard a radio story this was common in Mallorca.