Year	Historic event	Miller branch event	J.M. Briss branch event	Skaist branch event	Glass branch event	E.P. Briss branch event
1791	The Pale of Settlement is established by Empress Catherine II of Russia. Jews are expelled from Russian cities and confined to villages within the Pale.
1795	Lithuania is annexed to Russia and becomes part of the Pale when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is carved up between the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg Austria.
1796	Catherine II dies. Paul I becomes Emperor.
1801	Paul I is assassinated. Alexander I becomes Emperor.
1804	The Jewish Regulations are published, with many rules encouraging cultural assimilation of Jews by schooling, clothing, and language, and also prodding Jews toward agriculture and industry. An especially grave decree strips Jews of the right to own an inn or a tavern or to make and sell alcoholic spirits. This has been the livelihood of many Jews and it is going to be an economic calamity for them, but the regulation is not immediately fully enforced.
1812	Napoleon's army invades Russia and brings chaos to Lithuania. The French army seizes many Jewish buildings, including synagogues, and there is arson, theft, and violence everywhere the army goes.
1823	The law against Jews owning inns and selling spirits is enforced. Jews are expelled from villages, starting with those near the borders, to prevent smuggling. Also, at this time, the Jews of the Pale are compelled to take fixed family surnames.	Yisrael Bris, our ancestor, is born in the mid-1820s. No written record has yet been found of his life; his name is known only by records of subsequent generations' births and weddings, and by the inscriptions on his children's grave markers. His parents' and siblings' names are unknown. Yisrael was probably born in the Pale of Settlement, in what is today the country of Lithuania. Jewish families in the Pale of Settlement were forced to take permanent family surnames in 1823, so Yisrael was in the first generation to be born to the name Bris.
1825	Alexander I dies. Nicholas I becomes Emperor.
1827	Jewish boys begin to be drafted into cantonist schools for preparation to serve in the Russian Army. Whereas non-Jews are required to provide a quota of conscripts between the ages of 18-35, Jewish communities are required to provide their quota from conscripts aged 12-25, in order to Russify the children. Jewish cantonists are coerced to convert and be baptized into Russian Orthodoxy. Many die of hardship, sickness, hunger, and cold before turning 18. Those who survive until the completion of their education are then required to serve 25 years. Young men attempting to avoid the draft take to crippling themselves, changing their names, forging certificates with different dates of birth: anything that might save them from the draft.
1829		Sheine Esther bat Menasha, our ancestress, is born.
1830	The November Uprising begins when young officers at a Polish military academy in Warsaw revolt against the Russian empire. The revolt spreads through Polish society and reaches Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. In some places, the Polish rebels seek the cooperation of the Jews. In others, Jews are hanged or slaughtered by rebels for supposedly spying for the Russian regime. A cholera outbreak also kills many Jews during this time.
ca 1846		Yisrael and Sheine Esther marry in the mid-1840s. Over the next 30 years they will have 5 children who grow to adulthood and have families of their own. Wherever these five are born, Yisrael and Sheine Esther eventually settle in the town of Skapiškis.
1847		Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris have a daughter, Chana Mere. The 1897 Lithuanian Census indicates she was born in Pumpenai.
1851			Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris have a son, Jehudah Menashe. His 1905 South African Naturalization record indicates he was born in Pumpenai.
1853	The Crimean War begins between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Jewish communities are unable to furnish their required quotas of men for the army, and for every conscript not provided at the right time, two were then demanded. All hell breaks loose in the attempt to satisfy the quota. Boys as young as eight are kidnapped in the street. Old men, sick men, and infirm men are pressed into service. If a stranger from another town is discovered in public without his identification papers, he is enrolled on behalf of the town in which he is caught. Even men with proper paperwork are seized and their papers stolen and destroyed. It is no longer safe for any man or boy to leave his house.
1855	Nicholas I dies. Alexander II becomes Emperor.
1856	The Crimean War ends with Russia's defeat, and Czar Alexander II revokes many laws, including the cantonist law, that have oppressed Jews in Russia for a generation.
1858				Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris have a son, Avram Notte.
1861					Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris have a daughter, Buna Ita.
1863	There is another Polish rebellion, known as the January Uprising, of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire. The Jews are caught between the Polish rebels and the Empire, as the Poles suspect them of loyalty to the Empire, and the Russian Cossacks punish the Jews in the towns where rebels hide.
1867	A severe famine strikes. In South Africa, diamonds are discovered in what would become the town of Kimberley.
1868	In Lithuania, a cholera epidemic sickens and kills many.
ca 1872		As they become adults, the children of Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris begin settling in a tight cluster of towns in Panevėžys County in Northeast Lithuania.
1873			In the early 1870s, Jehudah Menashe Bris marries Chaia Ita Maas and settles in Biržai, a sizeable town and economic center. He works as a cutter of wooden shingles for roofing. His brother-in-law, Velvel Maas, owns a dry-goods, fabric, and sewing notions store in Biržai, at which Menasha's daughters Hoda, Chana, and Tzippa will work as they grow up. In 1873, Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita have a son, Itzik Yankel, in the city of Biržai.
1874						Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris have a son, Eliash Pinchus.
1876		In the mid-1870s, Chana Mere Bris marries Israel Hirsh Maler and settles in Kvetkai. Israel Maler's family owns a flour mill in Kvetkai where many of the Maler men work. He also is a tinsmith who cuts household items like tea strainers, soup strainers, jugs, and graters from tin sheeting. The town of Kvetkai has a river running through it, called Nemunėlis, which probably powers the flour mill. In 1876, Chana Mere and Israel Hirsh have a son, Chaim Yitzchak, in Kvetkai.
1877			Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a daughter, Hoda Mere, in Biržai.
1881	Czar Alexander II is assassinated, and Alexander III is crowned. There is again a great restriction in freedom and tolerance for Jews. Although the Lithuanian provincial governor does not allow open expressions of anti-Jewish hostility, arsonists set large fires in several cities, which terrorize the Jewish communities.
1882	The May Laws are imposed on the Jews of the Pale. Haphazard, malicious, and bizarre enforcement by Russian officials leads to many Jews being expelled from the homes and towns in which they have lived for years. The May Laws, supposedly temporary measures, remain in effect for 30 years, and they provide the major impetus for mass emigration out of Russia from the 1880s to 1920.	Chana Mere and Israel Hirsh Maler have a son, Yankel Menasha, in Kvetkai.	Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a daughter, Chana Fruma, in Biržai.
1883		Chana Mere and Israel Hirsh Maler have a daughter, Chaia, in Kvetkai.	Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a son, Ovsey Moshe, in Biržai.
1884	In South Africa, gold is discovered at the Witwatersrand orefields and triggers a gold rush.
1886	In Russia, a law is passed leveling a 300 ruble fine on any Jewish family whose member does not report for conscription.
1887	In Russia, a law is passed capping the percentage of Jewish students in high schools and universities at 10%.		Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a daughter, Sara Dvorah, in Biržai.	In the late 1880s, Avram Notte Bris marries Feige Kusner, daughter of Zundel. Some of their children will be born in Skapiškis and some in Ukmergė. Notte is a butcher who supplies kosher meats to the Jewish community and non-kosher meat to Gentiles. He owns or manages a large farm on which he raises cattle and chickens. Notte's children are born Brises, but he changes the family's name to Skaist in an attempt to avoid losing his sons to conscription into the Russian Army. Additionally, Notte's son Avram will change his own surname to Josetas. In 1887, Avram Notte and Feige have a daughter, Malka, in Ukmergė.
1888			Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a daughter, Tzippa Ella, in Biržai.
1889		Chana Mere and Israel Hirsh Maler have a daughter, Sora Leia, in Kvetkai.
1890			Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a daughter, Rishke, in Biržai.	Avram Notte and Faige Skaist have a son, Zundel, in Ukmergė.
1891				Avram Notte and Faige Skaist have a son, Scholem Mendel, in Ukmergė.	Buna Ita Bris marries Yitzchok Elia Glas, a shoemaker, and settles in the very small village of Papilys. [Their approximate wedding year is unknown today.] In 1891, Buna Ita and Yitzchok Elia have a son, Moishe, in Papilys.
1892	In Russia, a law is passed revoking the right of Jews to participate in city council elections.		Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a daughter, Buna Faige, in Biržai.
1893					Buna Ita and her husband Yitzchok Elia Glas have a daughter, Hena Mere, in Papilys.
1894	In Russia, Alexander III dies. Nicholas II becomes Emperor. The governor of Vilnius District recommends that Jews be permitted to settle outside the Pale beause of their growing economic distress. Nicholas II refuses, but he does cancel the decree banning Jews from the border area. Because a grandson is born this year and named Yisrael, we may assume that Yisrael Bris, ancestor of the Bris family, died in 1893 or 1894.		Jehudah Menashe and Chaia Ita Bris have a son, Yisrael Hirsh, in Biržai.	Avram Notte and Faige Skaist have a daughter, Ema Yentel, in Ukmergė.
1895				Avram Notte and Faige Skaist have a son, Lazar, in Ukmergė.
1896		Chana Mere and Israel Hirsh Maler have a daughter, Hena, in Kvetkai.			Buna Ita and Yitzchok Elia Glas have a son, Israel, in Papilys.
ca 1897				Avram Notte and Faige Skaist have a son, Avram Itzchak, in Ukmergė.
1898	In the late 1800s, many Lithuanian Jews immigrate to South Africa in search of fortune.		Jehudah Menashe Bris, by now a widower, leaves his children in the care of his eldest daughter Hoda and emigrates from Lithuania to Johannesburg, South Africa, a rough gold-mining town populated by miners, migrant workers, and those who flock to provide goods and services to them.			Eliash Pinchus Bris marries Rivka Mirvisch in the town of Vabalninkas.
1899	In South Africa, the Second Anglo-Boer War begins as the British Empire and the Boers -- Afrikaans-speaking Dutch -- struggle for control of South Africa's mineral wealth.		After the Boer Offensive commences on October 11, all foreigners in Johannesburg are expelled by the Boer authorities, and Menashe Bris moves to Cape Town.	Avram Notte and Faige Skaist have a son, Label, in Ukmergė.
1900	In Russia, although many Catholic Lithuanians continue to attack Jews for supposedly helping the Russian authorities to suppress Lithuanians, Jews increasingly collaborate with liberal Lithuanians in revolutionary efforts, such as helping to smuggle forbidden Lithuanian literature into Lithuania.					Eliash Punchus and Rivka Bris have a son, David Mendel, in Vabalninkas.
1901					Buna Ita and Yitzchok Elia Glas have a daughter, Zelda, in Ukmergė.
1902	In South Africa, England wins the Second Anglo-Boer War.		Hoda Mere Bris marries Israel Posvoletzky in Biržai.
1903	In Russia, there is an especially bloody wave of pogroms from 1903 to 1906, which kills approximately 2,000 Jews of the Pale.	Chana (Annie) Bris and Moshe (Morris) Bris emigrate from Lithuania to Cape Town. They sail from Southampton, England on the Avondale Castle on January 24. Their cousin Chaim Yitzchak (Isaac) Maler, after completing Russian Army service stationed in Tbilisi, follows shortly. Isaac is supposed to accompany his own siblings to the United States after chaperoning his cousins, but he and Annie fall in love, so they marry and he settles in South Africa, the only Maler sibling to do so. Sara Dvorah Bris dies of illness at the age of 16 in Biržai.
1904	The Russo-Japanese War begins when Japan launches a torpedo attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in Manchuria. It becomes an unpopular war with profound Russian losses, and Russia is defeated in 1905. Sheine Esther Bris, ancestress of the Bris family, dies in Kvetkai at the age of 75.		Itzik Yankel Bris marries Masha Resnekowitz in Pasvalys.
1905	In Russia, in January, thousands of striking workers and their families assemble at six points around the city of St Petersburg and march peacefully toward the Czar's Winter Palace to deliver a petition for reforms. As they approach the palace, soldiers fire warning shots, and then fire directly into the crowd. The massacre becomes known as Bloody Sunday. Anger and social unrest lead to the Revolution of 1905. The year is marked by worker strikes, agitation among the peasants, and military rebellion.	Chaia (Ida) Maler emigrates from Lithuania to the United States. She sails from Liverpool, England on the RMS Carpathia on September 5 and arrives at Ellis Island on September 14. To the best of current knowledge, Ida Maler is the first Briss family member to make the transatlantic voyage.	The Wynberg Shul is constructed. Menashe Bris will eventually become the shammes of the shul, with responsibility for keeping the building and the books in good repair. He also delivers bread, bagels, and matzah from a Jewish bakery to local Jewish customers, using a kind of wheelbarrow.
1906	In Russia, elections are held for the first Duma, the Russian legislative assembly. Two Jewish candidates are elected to represent their districts in Lithuania. A total of twelve Jewish candidates are elected to the first Duma, which is dismissed by Imperial edict after only 10 weeks in session.	Ida Miller marries Max Annis in New York City. Their home becomes the waystation for cousins who follow them. They live on East 100th Street in the neighborhood of East Harlem, which has a substantial Jewish population and is less crowded than the Lower East Side.	Tzippa and Israel Hirsh (Harry) Bris sail from England to Cape Town. They leave from Southampton on the German on September 22.
1907			After living in London, England and working as a kosher butcher, Ovsey Moshe Bris sails under the name Morris Bries from England to the United States. He leaves from Southampton on the SS Philadelphia on July 6 and arrives at Ellis Island on July 13. According to the ship manifest, his last residence had been with "cousin, M. Gordon" at 3 Spelman Street, Spitalfields, in the East End of London.
1908		Buna Faige (Fannie) and Rishke (Rose) Bris and their cousin Sora Leia (Sarah) Maler emigrate from Lithuania to the United States. They sail from Southampton, England on the SS Saint Paul on March 28 and arrive at Ellis Island on April 6. They stay with Ida and Max Annis and Morris Briss in East Harlem. Like thousands of other Jewish immigrant girls in New York City, Fannie, Rose, and Sarah work in a shirtwaist sweatshop, sewing ladies' blouses.		Malka (Mollie) Skaist emigrates from Lithuania to the United States.		Eliash Pinchus and Rivka Bris have a daughter, Sheine Esther, in Vabalninkas.
1909	In the United States, thousands of immigrant girls and women in the New York City garment industry call a strike against the shirtwaist sweatshops for better wages, hours, and working conditions. It becomes known as the Uprising of the 20,000. Also this year, South Africa is made a British dominion.	Ida, Sarah, Fannie, and Rose may have participated in the labor strike.
1910			Hoda Posvoletzky and her son David emigrate from Lithuania to South Africa. They sail from Southampton on the German on May 25.	Scholem Mendel (Sam) Skaist emigrates from Lithuania to the United States after overhearing his parents considering sending Sam to the Russian Army in his scholarly brother Lazar's stead. He sails from Hamburg, Germany on July 30 on the SS Graf Waldersee, which stops at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, and arrives at Ellis Island on August 12. He joins his sister Mollie and her husband David Wolk in Athol, Massachusetts. He eventually adopts the original family name, Briss.
1911	In the United States, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City claims the lives of 146 garment workers, mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrant women. Although the Briss cousins have already moved from New York City to Boston, they may know some of the women who perished in the factory.
1912	The RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks on its maiden voyage. The RMS Carpathia, which carried Ida Miller to the United States in 1905, rescues 710 survivors.	Sarah Miller and Morris Briss marry in Boston. A week later, Morris falls from a painters' scaffold while working and fractures his skull. He is taken to Carney Hospital in Dorchester but dies of his injury at the age of 29. By Jewish law, the next unmarried brother is expected to marry the deceased brother's widow. Harry Briss is a young man of 18 in South Africa and, in Phil Briss's words, "He stalled for time."			Moische (Morris) Glass emigrates from Lithuania to the United States. Unlike the rest of his cousins in the US, he sails not to Ellis Island, but Philadelphia, which also has a large immigrant Jewish community. He sails from Hamburg, Germany on the SS Pisa on December 21, 1911, and arrives at the Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 7.
1913			Around this time, Harry Briss leaves Wynberg and seeks work near the Kimberley diamond mines. He lives in Barkly West.		Morris Glass opens accounts for two of his siblings at the Rosenbaum Bank of Philadelphia, one of many ethnic banks which serve new immigrants who want to arrange passage to America for other family members. Srul (Israel) and Henie (Anna) Glass subsequently emigrate from Lithuania to the United States. They sail from Bremen, Germany on the SS Rhein on September 25 and arrive at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland on October 10. They settle with Morris in Philadelphia.
1914	World War I begins when the Austro-Hungarian Empire invades Serbia. In quick succession, Russia mobilizes in defense of Serbia, Germany mobilizes, France mobilizes, Germany declares war on Russia, and the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. Jewish communities in Lithuania declare willingness to fight for Russia. Thousands of families lose their financial support as men are ordered to report for Army service. Despite this demonstration of loyalty, the Jews in the border regions are again placed under martial law after the Russian Army is defeated in Eastern Prussia. Rumors are spread that Jews are providing information to the Germans.
1915	The Jews of Lithuania are beset by theft and violence in their own towns, led by their Lithuanian neighbors and Russian soldiers. In May, about 120,000 Jews are expelled from their homes in hundreds of towns for "treason." Some are removed east into the Russian interior, and some find refuge in and around Vilnius. In September, the Germans take Vilnius and the Jews of Lithuania find themselves under German military rule. Compared to recent conditions under the Russians, German rule initially seems less terrifying. However, the German Army demands food and resources, and places men in labor camps where many die of work, disease, and starvation.	Hena (Annie) Maler, the last of the children of Chana Mere and Israel Maler, emigrates from Lithuania to the United States.		Notel Skaist and his children are banished from their homes in Ukmergė. It is not known where they spend their exile.	Morris Glass marries Stella Fabricovich in Philadelphia.
1916			Fannie Briss and Sam Briss marry in Boston.
1917	The Russian Revolution topples the Czarist regime and Nicholas II abdicates the throne. As Germany weakens, and Russia undergoes revolution, both the Jewish and Lithuanian leaderships start looking to the possibility of an independent Lithuania.
1918	In February, the Act of Independence of Lithuania is signed by the Council of Lithuania, declaring Lithuania an independent, democratic state. German authorities ban publication of the Act, so it is printed and distributed in secret. In November, Germany signs the armistice and concedes defeat, and the Council takes control of Lithuania.				Israel Glass marries Sheila (later Celia) Schwiel in Philadelphia.
1919	The Paris Declaration, issued by the Lithuanian delegration to a peace conference in Paris, grants equality and autonomy for Lithuanian Jews in matters of elections, religion, taxation, education, and culture, including the right to speak Yiddish in public. The right to vote and run for office is granted to every Jew over the age of 20, irrespective of gender.			The Jewish families which were expelled from Ukmergė, including the Skaists, begin to return. An official list of residents of Ukmergė in February 1919 notes the Skaist family -- "Notel, age 61, Zundel, 27, Leyzer, 26, Ema, 25, Leyba, 20" -- all living on Rizhskaya Street.
1920	In the United States and in South Africa, Briss cousins put down roots in cities with large populations of Jews from Eastern Europe. In Boston, Briss cousins cluster in the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury. These, along with Mattapan, are connected by Blue Hill Avenue, which becomes synonymous with the Boston Jewish community until the 1960s. The Glass branch of the family settles in and around South Philadelphia. In Cape Town, Menasha Briss lives in the neighborhood of Wynberg, and his children and grandchildren live nearby.	Sarah Briss (née Miller) decides to marry Louis Plotkin. In order for her to be formally released from obligation to marry Harry Briss, family members in Boston and Cape Town pool their money to send Harry to the United States for the chalitzah ceremony. Harry sails from South Africa to England on the Kinfauns Castle, and from Southampton, England on the SS Lapland on August 5 and arrives at Ellis Island on August 14. Around this year, Annie Miller marries David Davidson in Massachusetts.
1921	The Emergency Quota Act is enacted in the United States, drastically restricting Jewish immigration.				Israel Glass dies of illness in Philadelphia, a month before his 26th birthday. He leaves his wife and their 1-month-old daughter.
1922						In February, Mendel Briss emigrates from Lithuania to South Africa. He sails on the Armadale Castle.
1924	The Emergency Quota Act in the United States is superseded by the Immigration Act of 1924, which effectively halts Jewish immigration to the US. In Lithuania, the brief window of legal equality and autonomy for Jews begins to close due to Lithuanian hostility.		Harry Briss marries Anna Adler in Boston.			Eliash (Elias), Rivka (Riva), and Sheine Esther (Sonia) Briss emigrate from Lithuania to South Africa They sail on the Kildonan Castle.
1925	Laws are passed in Lithuania which particularly affect the Jews, banning all business activity on Sundays, requiring all records and public signage to be kept in Lithuanian, and mandating discriminatory taxation.			In the mid-1920s, Avram Josset moves his family from Skapiškis to Johannesburg, making his the only Skaist branch to settle in South Africa.
1926	The Jews of Lithuania lose the right to maintain the registration of births and deaths in their own communities. In December, a military coup d'etat dissolves the democratically-elected government of Lithuania and replaces it with a nationalist government.			Ema Yentel Skaist marries Aron Matelson in Ukmergė.
1927				Zundel Skaist marries Meri Cohen in Kretinga. Mere days later, tragically, his brother Lazar Skaist dies of illness in Ukmergė. Lazar is about 32 years old.
1928					Buna Ita Glass emigrates from Lithuania to the United States. She sails from Bremen on the SS George Washington on February 15 and arrives at Ellis Island on February 25. She is the only sibling of her generation to come to the United States.
1929	The stock market crashes in the United States and plunges the country into economic depression. As a result, crucial financial support from relatives in the United States vanishes for Lithuanian Jews.		Menashe Briss dies at the age of 80 in Cape Town.	Label (Luis) Skaist is unable to enter the United States under the immigration restrictions, so he goes instead to Cuba with his sweetheart Bessie Higer. They marry in Havana.
1930	In Lithuania throughout the 1930s, there is a concerted effort to drive Jews out of all commerce, craft, and industry, and put all in the hands of Lithuanians. There is a crisis among young Jews who cannot find employment in their small towns or the cities, but cannot leave for another country because of limits imposed on Jewish immigrants.		Philip Briss, son of Sam and Fannie in Boston, begins penpalling with his cousin Annie Posvoletzky, daughter of Hoda and Israel in Cape Town. Their correspondence lasted many years. Because of this regular contact, Phil is able to keep track of the growth of the Briss family branches in South Africa, and saves the family branches from losing touch with each other.		Buna Ita Glass dies of illness at the age of 66 in Philadelphia.
1931						Sonia Briss marries Samuel Sadur in Cape Town.
1934				Notel Skaist dies of illness at the age of 76 in Ukmergė.
1937				Luis Skaist dies of illness around the age of 38 in Havana, Cuba. He leaves his wife, their almost-4-year-old son, and their almost-1-year-old daughter.
1940	Lithuania is annexed by the Soviet Union and becomes a Soviet Republic. Factories and shops, many of which are owned by Jews, are nationalized. Goods become scarce, prices go up, and Jewish quality of life worsens.
1941	The Baltic coast is invaded by the Nazis in June, and the Holocaust comes to the last Briss family members in Lithuania.			The families of Zundel Skaist and Yentel Matelson perish at the hands of their Gentile neighbors. Please see this page of the family website for more information.
1944						Elias Briss dies at the age of 67 in Cape Town.
1948	In South Africa, the National Party is elected to power and institutionalizes the white-supremacist policy of apartheid, under which South Africa's white minority controls the vastly larger black population. Apartheid remains in effect until it is officially abolished in 1990 and democratic general elections are held in 1994. Two generations of Briss family members grow up in South Africa during the era of apartheid.
ca 1968	In Boston, in the late 1960s, banks and real estate brokers exert great force on the Jewish residents of the Blue Hill Avenue area to leave, in a tactic known as blockbusting. The banks have an interest in convincing Jewish families to sell their homes to the brokers for far less than they are worth, so the brokers can turn around and sell the homes to African-American families for far more than they are worth. Brokers call Jewish homeowners and employ unvarnished racism to talk the owners into leaving their homes. As violence increases in the area, the Jewish community abandons the Dorchester / Roxbury / Mattapan neighborhoods where they have lived for decades.
1970	In the 1970s, as crime and violence became more prevalent in South African cities, Jews in South Africa begin migrating to Australia.
1982		The first Briss Family Reunion is held in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
1992		Phil Briss's great-niece Joyce writes to him, expressing interest in the family project. This inquiry launches a correspondence that lasts many years. The family project is reinvigorated with new research and computerization.
1996		The second Briss Family Reunion is held in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
2008		The third Briss Family Reunion is held in Brookline, Massachusetts.
2012		Yisrael and Sheine Esther Bris's great-great-great-great-granddaughter Aly Raisman captains the gold medal-winning US Women's Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Aly wins a gold medal on the floor and a bronze medal on the balance beam.