Lithuania Researchers - The Beat goes on! - New Database
Susan King
JewishGen, Inc. is pleased to announce today day, the addition of the
"HaMagid" Database Search engine to our fast growing online searchable
databases.
<http://www.jewishgen.org/search.html>
For those researching in Lithuania, the data contained and extracted
could shed some light on some of your ancestors residing in Lithuania
in 1871 and 1872. (Indeed it is very possible that the Yitzak Krolewitz
listed in Simnas could well be my great-great grandfather.)
From the contents below, the database is by no means complete... and
perhaps an impetus to build a team of volunteers to continue to extract
the data contained in the HaMagid Persian Famine Donation Lists.
A special thanks to Jeffrey Maynard for the years of effort and his
ongoing contributions to Jewish Genealogy.
Here's a description of the new database:
The HaMagid Persian Famine Donation Lists
Donors from Lithuania
by Jeffrey Maynard
The Persian Famine donation lists of "HaMagid", which were printed in the
Hebrew newspaper "HaMagid" in 1871 and 1872, provide a resource of the
names of over 40,000 Jews from the Pale of Settlement, including over
5,000 Lithuanian Jewish heads of families.
As a result of a famine in Persia in 1871, the London "Jewish Chronicle"
ran a leading article on 4th August 1871 entitled "Famine in Persia".
The article explains that Sir Moses Montefiore gave a hundred pounds for
famine relief and laid the subject before the Board of Deputies. (The
Board of Deputies of British Jews, which has been in existence since the
eighteenth century, is the parliament of British Jewry, with members
representing constituents such as synagogues and communal institutions).
"The calamity is fearful. The Persian Government can do little and all
that it does will be for its Mussulman subjects."
The appeal was picked up by the Hebrew newspaper HaMagid and it was
reported in the Jewish Chronicle on 17th November 1871 that "The Jews
of Persia have addressed an earnest appeal for aid to their brethren
in Bagdad. The famine in Persia has attained a most terrible point.
The Magid has given a Hebrew translation of the leading article 'The
famine in Persia' which appeared in a recent issue of the 'Jewish
Chronicle'."
"HaMagid" appealed in its columns for donations. Donations were collected
in communities and forwarded to the editor. Names of donors were printed
in the newspaper as proof of receipt and the money was forwarded to the
London Committee and then on to the needy Jews in Persia.
The appeal "caught fire" in the Pale of Settlement, and particularly in
Lithuania, where it had an especial poignancy because the Lithuanian Jews
had been going through hard times and food shortages themselves and
understood the meaning of food deprivation. Collections were made in
many towns, often at the instigation of the local Rabbi. Sometimes
collectors were appointed who went from house to house, and sometimes
an appeal was made in the synagogue, for example, appropriately on Purim.
Many of the donations were extremely small, but they were nearly all
recorded.
The data included in these charity lists may be compared to that retrieved
from subscription lists. However, these lists are far more comprehensive
and "grass roots" than the subscription lists, sometimes demonstrating
that a significant percentage of heads of families in a town were
contributors, even of just a few kopeks. Also, because these lists were
all compiled in a single year (1871-2), there is very little repetition.
Some of the information recorded is genealogically significant.
Fathers are listed with sons and sons in-law, for example.
The lists include donations from towns in Poland, Germany, Russia,
Lithuania and so on. Lithuania is well represented. I have found 70
lists from 57 locations. Almost 5,500 names. Most were extracted from
photocopies made from a microfilm of the Hebrew Union College copies of
"HaMagid". Some from original copies at the New York Public Library.
It should be born in mind that the microfilms are not always easy to
read, and there may be errors both of transcription and in the original
printing, where the names were printed from hand-written lists and
there are many spelling variations.
The database consists of the lists from Lithuanian towns, which I have
already found to be a useful resource. (I picked a dozen or so
advertisements requesting family information from Lithuania that were
printed in "Avotaynu" and "Search" in the last few years and found
relevant information for about a third of them).
It should be noted that in translating (or transliterating) the Hebrew,
the original spelling has as far as possible been followed, even when
apparent members of the same family have variant spellings of their
surname. The words "ben" and "bas" mean "son of" and "daughter of"
respectively. Some towns recorded mostly first names, i.e. Moshe ben
Yosef; presumably either the collectors or the donors thought that the
Hebrew first names were sufficient.
This is a list of the towns covered and the numbers of names. It will be
seen that for certain towns, if these are heads of families and the
average family has five members, a very significant percentage of the
total population is listed.
Here are the towns and number of contributors represented in the
"HaMagid" database:
Antakalnis 89
Anyksciai 29
Cekiske 101
Darbenai 36
Gargzdiai 90
Grinkiskis 67
Joniskis 59
Jubarkas 39
Kalvaria 166
Kaunas (Kovno) 493
Keidaniai 148
Kelme 101
Krakes 77
Kraziai 24
Kretinga 5
Kursenai 75
Kvedarna 52
Kybartiai 36
Lazdijai 246
Marijampole 280
Merkine 185
Nemunaitis 35
Panevezys 121
Pasvitynas 24
Pikeliai 130
Plunge 57
Prienai 7
Raiguva 41
Raseiniai 74
Rumsiskes 28
Ruzhany, Byel. 15
Sakiai 185
Salantai 80
Saukenai 64
Seduva 128
Serujai 105
Shereshevo, Byel. 1
Siaulenai 80
Siauliai (Shavli) 30
Simnas 62
Skaudvile 41
Sveksna 38
Taurage 125
Telsiai 181
Trakiai 38
Tryskiai 62
Ukmerge 1
Utena 75
Vabalnikas 41
Vainutas 57
Veliuona 25
Vieksniai 118
Vilnius (Vilna) 64
Viliampole Sloboda (Slobodka)112
Vistytis 318
Volkovysk, Byel. 180
Zagare (new - Chodosh) 140
Zagare 2
Zelva 14
Zidikai 43
Ziezmeriai 126
On behalf of the Board of Directors of JewishGen, Inc. and our team of
volunteers, we want to thank the many of you who share and participate
in the JewishGen "vision" and "spirit" each and every day!
This has truly be an incredible year... and the beat just goes on!
Susan E. King (susan...@trace.cgsg.com)
---
Heather/Chana Luntz
Susan King <susan...@trace.cgsg.com> writes
> JewishGen, Inc. is pleased to announce today day, the addition of the
> "HaMagid" Database Search engine to our fast growing online searchable
> databases.
>
> <http://www.jewishgen.org/search.html>
Firstly thank you very much to all who made this database possible.
I just tried it out and it is both useful and userfriendly.
In the description of the data base, Jeff Maynard writes:
> Here are the towns and number of contributors represented in the
> "HaMagid" database:
>
> ...
> Krakes 77
> ...
Can somebody tell me about this town - where it is and any information
you may have about it.
On doing a search on the HaMaggid database, I turned up an Aaron SHEPHTZ
in this town.
I then tried to find the town in Shtetl seeker - and it came up with a
whole list of towns for the name. In particular there were two Krakes
given, and one Karkozy (and a whole bunch of others). Now I plotted the
towns against the co-ordinates for Shoveli (Siauliai) and discovered
that the one Krakes is 68.7 miles NW of Shoveli, the second one is 40.2
miles SSE of Shoveli, and the Karkozy is exactly 60 miles South of
Shoveli.
Now the reason I plotted them against Shoveli is because - I am
searching for my great-great-grandfather - Aaron SHEPS, who apparently
came from 'Koshin' (at least that is the way the family pronounced it) -
which was supposed to be 60 miles from Shoveli (where the rest of the
family came from). 1871/2 (the time of the donations recorded by
HaMaggid), is a perfect time for my Aaron to be giving money - he would
have been a married man with young children.
Krakes seems to me to not be too distant a name from Koshin, but I
wonder rather if I am jumping to conclusions. It would be so exciting if
this was my great-grandfather - especially as there are entries from the
same town for an Eliezer, Yosef and Yehuda SHEPTZ (who could be either
brothers or a father, i have no more information on the branch except
for the name of Aaron's wife, Annie LIPSCHITZ)
So can anybody help with information on the town - Krakes listed in
HaMaggid?
Much appreciated
Chana
Chana Luntz