We know little of the history of the Voss family prior to Sigismund and Sacha's father other than this family tree.

Sigismund and Sacha's grandfather was said to be a bandsman in the Russian Army during the siege of Sebastopol. He is said to have drunk a bottle of Vodka a day and lived to a ripe old age. Military service gave Jews special privileges, among them to live outside the Pale, which could have included Courland. He was allowed to settle in Hasenpoth/Aizpute. Of his family, one was supposed to have been very able financially, and to have been created a baron by the Tsar; another cousin was said to be pretty intelligent, to have married to a Baltic baron (German), but not being accepted socially in Courland, settled in Capri or Ischia.

Sigismund's and Sacha's Father and Mother

There is uncertainly about Sigismund and Sacha's father's name. The Latvian searches indicated that it was Shmuel. Web searches show a Schmul Foss/Voss registered to vote in Riga in 1907 and lists his father as Levin. A Levin Foss/Voss with father Sussman is also listed. These are consistent with the searches in Latvia. According to Sacha's birth certificate, his father is described as Semionovitch. (son of Simon). The Russian custom was for a man's second name to be "'son of his father'. Thus he could also have been Stanislaw – Sigismund's second name (it was the eldest son's name that was traditionally that of the father).

He was a leader in the local community, and was an estate manager and general trader involved in timber, meat etc. He was German speaking. His wife was Cecilia (could it have been changed from an original Jewish name? Or was she not Jewish?). From a photograph, she is said to look a beautiful woman with an olive complexion. She died in about 1893, around the age of 28 in Italy while being treated for TB. She was buried in a Jewish cemetery in Merano (in one of the Valleys near Cortina).

He remained living in Latvia. Some of the family Arthur (and Bill?) met him when, together with his daughter Ida, he visited Sacha in Berlin, with his daughter Ida, in 1931. He was alive at the start of WW2, but did not survive the Russian occupation. For what happened in Latvia under the Nazis see "Letters fro Latvia" by Lucy Addison, edited by Rhona Chave, published by Futura 1987.

He was of a short and sturdy build like Sigi, had blue eyes and a fresh complexion. As can be seen from his photograph, he had distinctive eyes. Arthur has speculated whether he had inherited Khazar blood. Arthur Koestler has written about the Asiatic tribe which, under pressure to convert to Christianity and Islam by the competing powers of Byzantium and Damascus, chose Judaism as a way out. See "the thirteenth tribe", Random House, 1976. He was frugal in habit, not a bottle of Vodka a day man like his father. Both his sons treated him with the greatest respect.

He had five children:- Freda, Sigismund, Ida, Sacha, and Hannah. For Sigismund and Sacha, click on the left, for the others see below.

Freda Voss b 10.6.1883

After the death of her mother, she had been responsible for bring up the younger children. Emigrated to Canada. Married Adolf Cremer, a Montreal jeweller. Whether she went out to marry him in Canada or they emigrated together is not known. When Maud and Arthur went out to join Sacha in New York, they stayed with them in Montreal in the summer of 1919 in a cottage at the nearby village of Point Clare on the St Lawrence. They were strict orthodox Jews. Not being Kosher, Arthur and Maud were not allowed to eat with them. They had four children – Annie, Alex, Line and Sammy. Alex led a successful jazz band in New York. Alex was visited by Sacha whenever he was in New York after the war. Sammy became a manufacturer or retailer (or both) of fancy goods.

Ida Voss b 25.4.1889

Remained in Latvia. Married someone whose name was phonetically spelt white or wight. Came more than once to stay with Sacha in England. She had a daughter - Annie, who visited England and stayed with Sacha's family in 1935. She was described as a listless girl. Ida looked after her father in Latvia after the rest of the family went overseas.

Hannah Voss b 22.2.1897

Hannah (Hannschen) – emigrated to Canada. Married Mr Aaronovitch, an engineer in the aircraft industry in Montreal. They had two sons. The older, David was a brilliant violinist. After World War 2, Mr Aaronovitch, an idealistic communist returned to Russia with David. David became first violinist in a leading Russian orchestra.

Leonard, an engineer in aircraft factories, changed his name to Arnold. He married Fay, an English Canadian. They visited Arthur Foss in England twice in the sixties. He died of cancer in the late sixties. They had two sons and one daughter. Daughter Lorrie is an anthropologist, also visited Arthur in the seventies. She met and married a Lebanese while working in Cyprus.

Hannschen, after being deserted by her husband, moved to California and married an Austrian catholic named Bucher.