On this page, I'll share some of the Briss Family mysteries I'm currently puzzling over, along with any clues I've discovered. If you can help solve the mysteries, please drop me a line! Also, if there's a Briss mystery you would like to have an answer to, I'll post it on this page until the answer is found.
Where did the Skaist surname come from?
Jack Miller has said that his mother (Annie Miller, née Briss) had an uncle in Lithuania named Velvel Mas, who owned a dry-goods store. Where did the Maas family live? Who are our Maas cousins today?
UPDATE: I have found records of the family of Vulf Mas of Birzai from 1887 and 1908!
Solly Josset has spoken of a lady named Muma ("Auntie") Chaya, who lived in Skuodas along with Zundel Skaist's family. Also in Skuodas was Zundel Katz, "a cousin of Notte Skaist." Zundel Katz had two sons, Sam Katz and Oscar Katz, who both went to South Africa. Oscar Katz had a son named Hertzel who has migrated from South Africa to Israel. How are the Katzes related to the Brisses?
Yentel Skaist was married and had a son before the Nazis invaded Lithuania in 1941. What was her husband's name? What was her son's name? Did any of them survive the war?
UPDATE: I found the marriage record of Yentel Skaist. She married Aron Matelson on 26 February 1926 in Ukmerge. They had a son, Chaim, later that year.
Lazar Skaist was a rabbinical student in the early 20th century. Did he become a rabbi with a congregation of his own? Did he marry? Have children? Did he survive the war?
UPDATE: I found a passport record for Lazar which identifies him as a single merchant in 1920. The same record reports he died in 1927.
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