Samuel van West, the second of the nine children of Salomon van West and Sophia Hen, was born in Amsterdam on 14 February 1881. He was a commercial assistant, salesman and commercial traveller by profession. On 12 Februry 1908 he married in Antwerp Blondina Maria Joanna Heckmans, a daughter of Jan Alfons Heckmans and Philippina Lowies Tambuyser. Blondina was born on 2 March 1888 in Mechelen. The couple Van West-Heckmans had one son, Salomon Emile, who was born in Antwerp on 27 September 1910.
Samuel arrived in 1892 with his parents from Amsterdam in Antwerp. When he got married, he lived at Stierstraat (Rue du Taureau) in the Antwerp neighbourhood Zurenborg. Up from 1908 he was employed as salesman with an American Company of music instruments at Lange Koepoortstraat 67, for a salary of Bfrs 20 weekly plus a certain percentage of the sales.
After the wedding was concluded, Samuel and his bride Blondina Heckmans moved into a house in Berchem, after which they moved again several times to different addresses in Antwerp, Mechelen and Borgerhout. The marriage however did not last and in the end the marriage was dissolved by a divorce on 29 January 1924. The then 14-year old Salomon Emile van West remained living with his mother and most likely he survived the war, just as his mother.
After the divorce, the last known addres of Blondina Heckmans was Lamorinièrestraat 68 (previously with Samuel van West and her son Salomon Emile living at Pesthofstraat 31) and in July 1926 she opened an inn at Carnotstraat 81 in Antwerp. Samuel van West remained living in the Pesthofstraat 31 in the Municipality of Borgerhout (Antwerp), where he passed away on 27 January 1945.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, Peoples Registry 1874-1893/inventoty numbers 1792 and 1794/Samuel van West; The Dossier of Foreigners of the City of Antwerp, nr. 75238 image 458-504 and the certificate of death, made out by the City of Antwerp, nr. 777 dated 10 February 1945 for Samuel van West.