Naomi Leon wrote :

I wonder if you can help me with something please. I am trying to
locate a birthplace mentioned on a 1911 census record. The record
seems to say Schagarren, Rurland/ Rarland/ Kurland, Russian empire.
Family lore suggests it was somewhere near Novogrod, although the rest
of the family originated in present-day Ukraine.


French[!] wikipedia shows:

"Žagare (jusqu'en 1919: Schagarren) est une petite ville de Lituanie du
district de Šiauliai au nord du pays qui se trouve près de la frontière de
la Lettonie."
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagare>

Stetlseeker:

Žagare, Lithuania
Alternate names: Žagare [Lith], Zhager [Yid], Zhagare [Rus], Zagory [Pol],
Žagare [Latv], Zhagar, Zager, Žagares
Region: Kovno
56°21' N, 23°15' E in the Latvian border.
Jewish Population: 5,443 (in 1897), 1,928 (in 1923)
<http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~community~-2620841>

Wikipedia:

Courland (Latvian: Kurzeme; Livonian: Kuramo; German and Swedish: Kurland;
Latin: Curonia / Couronia; Lithuanian: Kuršas; Estonian: Kuramaa; Polish:
Kurlandia;), a region of Latvia is the part of Latvia just north of the
border. In 1740 the Dutchy of Courland also enclosed the Lithuanian area.
"There was a small but vigorous Jewish population."
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland>

"Hitler, Dönitz, and the Baltic Sea: The Third Reich's Last Hope, 1944-
1945" By Howard Grier, page 107, shoes that there was heavy fighting
around Schagarren, Courland on 7 Oct 1944:
<http://books.google.nl/books?id=u4IbqxEQeBMC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107
&dq=Schagarren>


Evertjan Hannivoort.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)
Visit [recently changed URL]: <http://synagogeenschede.nl/>