In the article 'Deiches' from the Jewish Encyclopedia, Louis Ginzberg writes:

"Samuel b. Aryeh Löb Deiches:

Lithuanian rabbi; died at Wilna March 23, 1825. His father was rabbi at Lida, near Wilna; his grandfather, called Elijah Arkes ("Arke" is the diminutive of "Aaron"), was a native of Cracow. On his mother's side he was a nephew of the dayyan of Wilna—"the great Simeon." Like the latter he was for many years one of the dayyanim of Wilna, and was famous for his devotion to the study of the Talmud. Many of the works printed at Wilna during his term of office bear his printed approbation. His brother David was the father of Elijah Judah Deiches; his other brother Meïr was dayyan at Kovno." (https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5048-deiches)

Does anyone know who 'the great Simeon', dayan of Vilna circa 1750 may have been, and whether any of his genealogy is known?

Thanks.
--
Adam Cherson

I think this is the same family as that of Rabbi Salis Daiches, Rabbi of Edinburgh in Scotland in the early 20th century. His immediate family came from Neustadt Scherwindt (its German name) in Suwalki gubernia, in the bit that went from Poland into Lithuania in 1919. Salis Daiches came from a long line of Rabbis and his own children were also distinguished, Lionel as the senior legal officer for Scotland (Lord Advocate) and David as Professor of English at Sussex University. David wrote a memoir of his Edinburgh childhood in 1956, which outlined his Lithuanian rabbinical line - called "Two worlds". You can buy this on Amazon (published by Canongate). My mother and her sisters grew up with the Daiches sons in Edinburgh, attending hebrew lessons given by Salis.

Jill Whitehead, Surrey, UK

I would have guessed that Arkes was “the son of Arke”. My litvak ggfather was Feive Zippes (Feive son of Zipporah).

Judith Diamond nee Letchner
researching Glick & Epel, from Leckava; Lechner & Rath from Bukovina; Horowitz & Holzer from Krakow

Thanks Jill, I now see that R' Salis is the 2x great grand nephew of R' Avraham Shimon Preger, HaGadol, Dayan of Vilna circa 1750
--
Adam Cherson

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I located a record from the Old Snipishok Cemetery provided by LitvakSIG:

Surname

Given Name

Father

Age

Comments

day

month

year

Town

Uyezd

Guberniya

Type of Record

page

No. on map

 

PREGER

Avraham-Shimon

Tzvi-Hirsh

Gregorian date of death 1776/1777. Nickname: 'Rabbi Shimon Hagadol (the Great)'. Righteous teacher

5537

Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius

Snipiskes Cemetery

I am confident the rabbi was Avraham-Shimon ben Tzvi-Hirsh Preger and known as R' Shimon Hagadol. On some trees the surname is being given as Freger.

--
Adam Cherson

More info about him, here:

https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36927&st=&pgnum=199&hilite=
--
Yair Segal