| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. From the Jewishgen website 28 Apr 2009 <http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/HTML/VsiaVilna.htm>: Introduction To The 1915 VSIA VILNA DATABASE by Scott Noar
The 1915 Vsia Vilna (All of Vilna) database contains over 17,400 entries from the 1915 city directory for Vilnius, Lithuania. The entries are from the section entitled, "List of Inhabitants of Vilna and Subscribers of the Vilensko Telephone Service." While most of the entries are for families and individuals, the entries also include those businesses and government offices with telephone service. The directory was written in Russian. Entries for families and individuals usually list only the head of the household, not the spouses nor the children. The information given may include: SURNAME, Given Name, Father's Given Name, Occupation/Business, Address, Telephone Number, Other Comments. A representative entry is: ROZENKRATS, Dav, Abr, physician, Vilenskaya Street 22, 15-06. This entry is for David Rozenkrats, the son of Abraham/Abram Rozenkrats, a physician who lived at 22 Vilenskaya Street with a phone number of 15-06. The Vsia Vilna database is searchable for each of the above fields. In addition to surname searches, other information can be gathered by searching for addresses, telephone numbers, etc. For example, a search of the phone number 7-84 yields: S. Bezmertny, M. Rosenblyum, and A. Yadlovker who were all partners in a business known as "Yarb."
A useful database of likely Given Names abbreviations can be referenced at <http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/vr_abbrev.htm> Some of the entries refer to different state and local offices where Jews were not allowed employment. These entries are of less interest to Jewish genealogy so, to save time and money, these fields may contain untranslated Russian transliterations. If there are any questions about entries in the database, please contact SRN26@cornell.edu .
The following entry is found: "VERZHBLOVSKY, Genr; father Zakh; address Bolshaha St.; year 1915; town Vilnius; Uyezd Vilnius; Gubernia Vilnius; page 48; publication type Vsia Vilna (City Directory)."
Using the database for name abbreviations referenced above: "Genr." = "Genrikh" and "Zakh." = "Zakhar".
2. From Oct. 7 to Oct 10, 2016, I and my mother Irene visited Lithuania by car. We entered from Latvia on the west coast along the Baltic Sea traveling from Kuldiga in Latvia. We passed through the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda before turning inland to Jurbarkas. According to my research on Jewish.gen, there was a presence of some Verblovskys in Jurbarkas. This locality is a rural farming and small industry area with no real town center. It is mainly surburban housing and there was no place for local history nor historical buildings of any interest. No time was spent here except to view the area.
From Jurbarkas, we drove down south along the Russian border of Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad is what used to be Prussia of Germany and it remains in Russian hands since WWII. From the border gate about 7 kilometers east is the small village of Virbalis, which is believed to be the source village for the name Verblovsky (see separate discussion on this). This area was under Polish administration for many years which explains the -sky ending in our name, which means from such and such a place. the Jewish people here most likely spoke German. There are a few old buildings among the both the older and modern suburban homes, but there is no Jewish presence here nor much more than a small city hall and a library. We were here on a Saturday and nothing was open nor does there appear to be any research opportunities there.
From Virbalis, we traveled to Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania. There is a synagogue that is about 140 years old still remaining and well worth the visit. Nazi Germany used the building as a warehouse and it survived that time period. There was a caretaker couple there who also confirmed that the previous small village of Virbalis is most likely the source for our surname. They were will-informed and knew no on with our surname. They did provide us a contact by the name of Galina Baranova at the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, Gerosios Vilties 10, LT-03134, Vilnius. She is a Director in the facility and the Jewish expert.
We then traveled to Vilnius and spent two days. We first visited the Jewish Gaion Museum, which was a disappointment for research purposes. It was more of an art museum with some history as well, but certainly not a research resource. I did learn in one exhibit that at in the very earliest 1800s, the authorities required the Jews to take on surnames since they were instituting excessive taxes on them and needed to better account for them. This would mean that the Verblovsky name probably only came into existence a generation before Zacharie. Also it was interesting to learn that at one point in history, Lithuania had the hightest per capita of Jews which amount to almost 20% of the population.
Our next stop in Vilnius was to the actual Archives where we were able to meet with Galina Baranova. From our short visit I learned the following:
1. She confirmed that Virbalis could very well be the source of the Verblovsky name. It doesn't necessarily mean that our family came directly from there, but it could very well be the source of the name.
2. She did not feel that our Verblovskys were of Vilnius even though they may briefly lived there.
3. She was able to locate the street name Bolshaha where Genrikh Verblovsky lived in 1915. It is now called Didzioji and is one of the most prestigious streets in the old city. It fronts the City Hall and the Philharmonic Hall. Today it is the most fashionable street for international fashion houses. It would indicate that Genrikh was probably well off financially.
4. She confirmed that until the early 1900s, there was no civil registration of vital events. Each religious group kept track of these events; i.e. the Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox, and the Jewish shetls. The only source of births for our family would be Jewish records. She also used and recommended the same site I do which is the Lithuanian history site https://www.litvaksig.org/. She said that there are occasional updates, but unfortunately some areas have good records and others have none -- so it is hit and miss.
5. She also confirmed that if the family was financially well off, then they could have easily paid a poorer family for their sons to render military service in their behalf.
6. She indicated that Virbalis records, if any, could perhaps be in Polish archives since this area was under their dominion at certain parts in their history.
7. Since Adolphe achieved First Guild status in his lifetime according other sources we have, she indicated that Russian Archives may have more information on our family.
8. The Lithuanian Archives does not do research, but they do offer a reading room. The documents are mainly Russian, who had dominion over Lithunia from 1795 to the modern era. She did not think a search would be to fruitful unless there was a specific village we could prove we are from. Their cataloging is mainly by locality. She was not very hopeful about this approach, but she says there may be some government document that mentions our family in passing.
RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Research of Konnor Petersen, Oct. 9, 2022:
This is the family of Govsey Verblovsky, one of the sons of Zundel, brother to Adolf, according to the 1874 Merchant List of Vilnius is as follows:
Govsey (Eusei) Verblovsky - 1845 Vilnius
Emiliya - wife - 1846
Paulina - daughter - 1870
Malka - daughter - 1872
German - son - 15 February 1874
Compare this list to the following 1894 Conscription List of Vilnius on Jewish GenWeb (LVIA/938/10/442)
Genrikh Verblovsky - 1847
Emilia - wife - 1846
Pavlina - daughter - 1870
Mala - daughter - 1872
German - son - 15 February 1874
Osip - 1879
Both families line up exactly with Genrikh apparently being a more secular form of the name Govsey, also with another variation of Eusei. It is this same Genrikh who is most likely the man of that name living in Vilnius in 1915, who was the son of Zachary aka Zundel.
BURIAL:
1. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1411&h=952384&tid=&pid=&queryId=d058749546125234bacc432245d8bffe&usePUB=true&_phsrc=csD11&_phstart=successSource accessed 17 Aug 2020: Section 24, Row 10, Plot 12.
|
Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1845 - Aft 1915 (> 71 years)
