Are your roots in Vilijampole (Slobodka), Lithuania? In the 19th century
this was the largest town in Kaunas uyezd (district). In terms of size of
Jewish population, even the City of Kaunas (Kovno) was a mere shtetl
compared to Vilijampole. In terms of importance, Vilijampole is to Kaunas
uyezd what the City of Vilnius (Vilna) is to Vilnius uyezd. Vilijampole is
where the famous Slobodka Yeshiva was located.

Over the years the LitvakSIG Kaunas uyezd research group has acquired the
1834 and 1850 revision lists and the 1898 family list for
Vilijampole. These lists are in the All Lithuania Database (ALD), but you
can do a quick surname check in my newly-created Vilijampole alphabetical
surname index at <http://home.att.net/~kovno/slobodkanames.htm>.

If your roots are in Vilijampole and your surname is found in the
aforementioned index, you may not realize it but you have a genealogical
problem: you and your fellow Vilijampole researchers are missing the
entire generation between 1850 and 1898, making it virtually impossible to
continuously trace your ancestors >from the latter part of the 19th century
back to the first half of the century.

Fortunately there is a solution. There is an 1874 Vilijampole family list,
the translation and data entry of which has just been started for the
LitvakSIG Kaunas uyezd research group.

If you are interested in obtaining the translation of the 1874 Vilijampole
family list when it is completed (long before it appears in the ALD),
please contact me for further information.

Ada Green
LitvakSIG Kaunas uyezd research group co-ordinator
adagreen@att.net