Nadene Goldfoot
Chaim Halevi Mileikowsky, who had a son born in 1849, so he could have been born anywhere from 1800 to 1820 like his wife, Pesia. Pesia, was born about 1820. Pesia was the daughter of Hirsh Ber. There was the Ber of Bolechov of Galicia, and the Ber of Liubavich of Russia. It was Dov Ber b; 1773-1828, maybe her grandfather, that was the son of Shneour Zalman, leader of Chabad, a group of Jews who teach about Judaism. that might be her ancestor.
Pesia was the mother of Zvi Hirsch Halevi Mileikowsky born 1849 and Chana Mileikowsky. It's possible that both Chaim and Pesia lived to see 100 years of age, as some people do even today, so Pesia may have died by 1920, and was a viable person, perhaps at age 80 in 1900. Chaim may have lived till then. Possibly they even lived in Vilna, the capital of Lithuania. This was 200 years ago!
There were many shtetls around Vilna where they might have lived. Krevo was listed, but that didn't even get into the book, Preserving Our Litvak Heritage-a History of 31 Jewish Communities in Lithuania by Josef Rosin with Joel Alpert, editor. My town of interest, Telsiai and Lazdijai were in this book, however.
Alternate names: Krevo [Rus], Krewo [Pol], Kreva [Yid, Bel], Krėva [Lith] and none were in the book.  |
My own Jewish history goes back this far to Iosel (Josel) Symka ben Yankel Goldfus of Telsiai, Lithuania b: 1798-d: 1878, and his wife, Rasha. I also have reason to think we are related to the Vilna Gaon, and many other rabbis as well, including RASHI, who was related to King David. We know this as he was one who kept written histories of such, and in finding today's science also helps to know; DNA findings. Sadly, I do not match any Mileikowskies.
We need to know that The Constitution of 3 May 1791 was a culmination of the belated reform process of the Commonwealth. It attempted to integrate Lithuania and Poland more closely, although the separation was preserved by the added Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772, 1793 and 1795 terminated its existence and saw the Grand Duchy of Lithuania divided between the Russian Empire, which took over 90% of the Duchy's territory, and the Kingdom of Prussia. The Third Partition of 1795 took place after the failure of the Kościuszko Uprising, the last war waged by Poles and Lithuanians to preserve their statehood. Lithuania ceased to exist as a distinct entity for more than a century.
This means that until 1795 cities near and in Vilna were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, when the 3rd division of Poland was by 3 superpowers of those times-Russia, Prussia and Austria. In our minds it was Russia and Germany.
Following the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire controlled the majority of Lithuania, including Vilnius, which was a part of the Vilna Governorate.
In 1792 the Jewish population of Lithuania was estimated at 250,000 (as compared with 120,000 in 1569). The whole of the commerce and industries of Lithuania, now rapidly declining, was in the hands of the Jews. The nobility lived for the most part on their estates and farms, some of which were managed by Jewish leaseholders. The city properties were concentrated in the possession of monasteries, churches, and the lesser nobility. The Christian merchants were poor. Such was the condition of affairs in Lithuania at the time of the second partition of Poland (1793), when the Jews became subjects of Russia. 
Map of Lithuania in the Russian Empire (1867–1914)
Dark green line is the border of Lithuania with Vilna, Kovno and Suwalki Governorates. My own grandmother came from Suwalki-yellow area.
In 1837 Augustów Governorate was established in the territories of the Congress Poland, a state in personal union with Russia. Lithuanian Suvalkija was included into this governorate. After the January Uprising, Augustów Governorate was split into Suwałki Governorate and Łomża Governorate (see Administrative division of Congress Poland). This way most of the present-day territory of Lithuania fell into three governorates (Vilna, Kovno, and Suwałki). Two more governorates included some small Lithuanian territories. In 1819 a narrow coastal strip with Palanga and Šventoji was transferred to the Courland Governorate. This territory was acquired from Latvia after an international arbitration in 1920.
In 1861, after announcing the abolition of serfdom, peasants acquired civil rights, among them a right to self-governmence. To facilitate such a right townships (Russian: volost, Lithuanian: valsčius) and elderates (Russian: mir, Lithuanian: seniūnija) were established. By the end of 1861 there were 1,479 elderates in 181 townships of Vilna Governorate and 1,033 elderates in 153 townships of Kovno Governorate. The elderates would elect an elder (Russian: starosta, Lithuanian: seniūnas) and representatives to a township council (Lithuanian: valsčiaus sueiga). However, these institutions had very little power and were dependent on the local nobles. The power was concentrated in the hands of governors, all of whom were appointed by the tsar. Jews were not given any rights,
The Russians defeated Napoleon in 1812, and this meant that all of Lithuania was annexed to Russia in 1815.
By the end of the 19th century, many of Lithuania's Jews fled Eastern Europe to escape the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire and the anti-Semitism. Tens of thousands of Lithuanian Jews emigrated to the United States of America and South Africa. A small number also emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine.
The far-reaching authority of the leading rabbis of Poland and Lithuania, and their wide knowledge of practical life, are apparent from numerous decisions cited in the responsa. In the Eitan ha-Ezrachi (Ostrog, 1796) of Abraham Rapoport (known also as Abraham Schrenzel; died 1650), Rabbi Meïr Sack is cited as follows: "I emphatically protest against the custom of our communal leaders of purchasing the freedom of Jewish criminals. Such a policy encourages crime among our people. I am especially troubled by the fact that, thanks to the clergy, such criminals may escape punishment by adopting Christianity. Mistaken piety impels our leaders to bribe the officials, in order to prevent such conversions. We should endeavor to deprive criminals of opportunities to escape justice." The same sentiment was expressed in the 16th century by Maharam Lublin (Responsa, § 138). Another instance, cited by Katz from the same responsa, likewise shows that Jewish criminals invoked the aid of priests against the authority of Jewish courts by promising to become converts to Christianity. 
The decisions of the Polish-Lithuanian rabbis are frequently marked by breadth of view also, as is instanced by a decision of Joel Sirkes (Bayis Hadash, § 127) to the effect that Jews may employ in their religious services the melodies used in Christian churches, "since music is neither Jewish nor Christian, and is governed by universal laws."
Decisions by Luria, Meïr Katz, and Mordecai Jaffe show that the rabbis were acquainted with the Russian language and its philology. Jaffe, for instance, in a divorce case where the spelling of the woman's name as Lupka or Lubka was in question, decided that the word is correctly spelled with a "b," and not with a "p," since the origin of the name was the Russian verb lubit = "to love," and not lupit = "to beat" (Levush ha-Butz we-Argaman, § 129). Meïr Katz (Geburat Anashim, § 1) explains that the name of Brest-Litovsk is written in divorce cases "Brest" and not "Brisk," "because the majority of the Lithuanian Jews use the Russian language." It is not so with Brisk, in the district of Kujawa, the name of that town being always spelled "Brisk." Katz (a German) at the conclusion of his responsum expresses the hope that when Lithuania shall have become more enlightened, the people will speak one language only—German—and that also Brest-Litovsk will be written "Brisk."
The responsa (In rabbinic literature, the responsa are known as She'elot u-Teshuvot (Hebrew: שאלות ותשובות "questions and answers"), and comprise the body of written decisions and rulings given by poskim ("deciders of Jewish law"). A modern term, used mainly for questions on the internet, is "Ask the rabbi".
One such responsa shed an interesting light also on the life of the Lithuanian Jews and on their relations to their Christian neighbors. Benjamin Aaron Solnik states in his Mas'at Binyamin (end of 16th and beginning of 17th century) that "the Christians borrow clothes and jewelry from the Jews when they go to church." Sirkes (l.c. § 79) relates that a Christian woman came to the rabbi and expressed her regret at having been unable to save the Jew, Shlioma, from drowning. A number of Christians had looked on indifferently while the drowning Jew was struggling in the water. They were upbraided and beaten severely by the priest, who appeared a few minutes later, for having failed to rescue the Jew.
Luria gives an account (Responsa, § 20) of a quarrel that occurred in a Lithuanian community concerning a cantor whom some of the members wished to dismiss. The synagogue was closed in order to prevent him from exercising his functions, and religious services were thus discontinued for several days. The matter was thereupon carried to the local lord, who ordered the reopening of the building, saying that the house of God might not be closed, and that the cantor's claims should be decided by the learned rabbis of Lithuania. Joseph Katz mentions (She'erit Yosef, § 70) a Jewish community which was forbidden by the local authorities to kill cattle and to sell meat—an occupation which provided a livelihood for a large portion of the Lithuanian Jews. For the period of a year following this prohibition the Jewish community was on several occasions assessed at the rate of three gulden per head of cattle in order to furnish funds with which to induce the officials to grant a hearing of the case. The Jews finally reached an agreement with the town magistrates under which they were to pay forty gulden annually for the right to slaughter cattle. According to Hillel ben Herz (Bet Hillel, Yoreh De'ah, § 157), Naphtali says the Jews of Vilna had been compelled to uncover their heads when taking an oath in court, but later purchased from the tribunal the privilege to swear with covered head, a practise subsequently made unnecessary by a decision of one of their rabbis to the effect that an oath might be taken with uncovered head.
The responsa of Meïr Lublin show (§ 40) that the Lithuanian communities frequently aided the German and the Austrian Jews. On the expulsion of the Jews from Silesia, when the Jewish inhabitants of Silz had the privilege of remaining on condition that they would pay the sum of 2,000 gulden, the Lithuanian communities contributed one-fifth of the amount.
During the period of independent Lithuania (1918 to 1940, Stoklishok, a small town, became an administrative center. It was near Vilna. These first years were difficult for the Jews who suffered from adverse economic conditions and they received help from YeKoPo, the Committee for Helping Jewish refugees.
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewish-heritage-lithuania.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lithuania
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/milikowsky.html
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