Did some of your ancestors live in or near Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania?  If you've done research on these ancestors, you probably have looked at the All Lithuania Database maintained by the LitvakSIG organization.  The contents of this database reflect records written in Russian, Polish, German or Lithuanian in books kept in archives in Lithuania.  Copying and translating these records involves an enormous amount of effort from volunteers and paid translators.

LitvakSIG's Vilnius District Research Group (DRG) supports the acquisition of archival records and the translation of the data into spreadsheet form.  A complete set of spreadsheets covering records from Vilnius and surrounding towns is made available to qualified contributors to the DRG.  A contribution of $100 or more allows access to the data for five years, including data that has not yet been loaded into the All Lithuania Database.

The spreadsheets have been a valuable source of information in my research into the ancestry of my great-grandfather, who lived in Vilnius before coming to the US.  They can be analyzed in ways not supported by the web interface to the database.  By investigating patterns of given names across a family, I was able to use the spreadsheets to identify a substantial number of direct ancestors and other relatives previously unknown to me.  In particular, the spreadsheets helped me identify relatives from 18th century records that were compiled before Jews in Lithuania were assigned inheritable surnames.

Additional information on the Vilnius District Research Group can be found at https://www.litvaksig.org/research/district-research/vilnius-district-research-group.  LitvakSIG has a dozen other DRGs whose spreadsheets cover other areas of Lithuania.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly by e-mail, and I will be glad to respond. 

David Ellis 
Coordinator, Vilnius District Research Group
djemkitso@...

ב״ה

On the matter of “Trisket,” there is a town in Ukraine on the southern border of Belarus called Turiisk (Pol. Turzysk), known in Yiddish as Trisk. It was a 70% Jewish town until the Einsatzgruppen came and murdered them all. 

Not Lithuania, but, given the proximity to Belarus, maybe arguably Lita?

Best wishes,

Yale J. Reisner
Warsaw, Poland
JGFF #913980
<yalereisner@...>

The town of Moletai is in the Vilnius district.  Available data for this town includes revision lists from 1784 to 1888 and vital records from 1853 to 1939.

For more information on the Vilnius District Research Group, check out the page:
https://www.litvaksig.org/research/district-research/vilnius-district-research-group

Sterling/Grosberg/Segal – Manchester, Leeds, London, UK and Tryskiai-Trishik, Siauliai, Lithuania

Napolion/Bik/Siekin – Daugavspils-Dvinsk and Michaliskes, Latvia, Uzpaliai-Uszpol and Braslav, Lithuania

Sagat/Sa[bg]owski – Nowogrod and Bialystok, Poland

Friedman – Akron, Ohio and Bocejkovo, Beshenkovitz, Polotsk, Belarus