Rabbi David Chayim /Chaim /Chajim (Spira Wedeles) Wiener - Research Note

Do you have a link to the Jacobi Shapiro tree? If Wachstein says he was Benjamin's son then I am inclined to believe it.

I'm sorry but I borrowed the Jacobi volumes from the library, and anyhow, they don't have graphic trees in them. They are of the type that lists pedigrees in chronological order using a numbering system. If anyone is interested in pursuing the information they will have to obtain the appropriate volume somehow. Jacobi considers Wachstein and many other sources and if there is a departure from Wachstein or any other respected soure, there will be an explanation as to why with additional sources provided.

I am not suggesting that Wachstein is wrong. I'm only mentioning the absence from Jacobi for the benefit of someone who is deeply invested in this particular branch who may want to find out more about the situation.

I'm a descendent of Rabbi Benjamin Wolf Spira and have two questions that are not exactly related to this discussion. One is, a typed out family tree I have from my grandfather, Paul Frankl's cousin, Friedl Frankl, says the information about the family comes from the "Familien Buch". I wonder whether that Familien Buch is in Prague.
As well, I was looking at the list of Prague families in the late 1700s. It seems that the "Spira" name was no longer being used. Is that because a Spira married into the Frankl family and took over the Frankl name?
Lisle Kulbach

Lisle Kulbach You are asking some good questions and I do not pretend to be a Shapiro expert.

My initial reaction to the 'familien buch' is that it refers to some private family tree kept by the family, rather than to any official document, but that could be wrong. I know that the Jewish Community around the Alter Schul of Prague kept an official 'memory book' which recorded life-events in the community, but I'm not sure that the 'Familien Buch' refers to that 'memory book'.

Upon further consideration, perhaps the Familien Buch is referring to articles by M. Brann called: 1) 'Die Geshichte der Familie Fraekkel-Spira in Prague' and 2) 'Die Familie Fraenkel', both from a book called Monatsschrift fuer die Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums, which is edited by Z. Fraenkel, H. Graetz, and M. Brann. (These materials are from around 1900 but are still referred to, and in fact I found them in the Bibliography to the Spira chapter which I describe below).

My only further suggestion would be that you obtain somehow Volume 4 of the Papers and pore over the Spira chapter: https://avotaynu.com/books/Jacobi-Papers.html (or try Worldcat to see if a library near you has one).

Hello Adam Cherson,
Thank you very much for you suggestions. I had thought that the Familien Buch might have been a bible of some sort, but you have suggested different avenues for me to explore.