Was he named for the Vilna Gaon, who died in 1797?

Translation from The Jewish Communities of Balwierzyszki [Balbieriskis] and Veisiejai [Vsihei] by Berl Kagan. Published in Landsmen Quarterly Publication of the Suwalk-Lomza SIG Vol 7 Numbers 2-3.

On Veisiejai (Vishei) Rabbis - "Eliayahu MARGOLIS, born 1811 in Kalvarija. He was Rabbi in Przerosl, Veisiejai, Radun and Rakishok, where he died in 1867. In Amudei Or by Rabbi Yekhiel HELLER there is a rabbinic responsum to him. His son Mordechai, who was head of the rabbinical cour in Alikst [Alexotten? - Ed] and rabbi of Disne, wrote Sugah be-Shoshanim (Vilna: 1873 - 74). Mordechai's son Asher, author of Shoneh Halakhos (in Halakhos Gedolos: Vilna, 1893 - 94), was rabbi in Rakishok. Many of his Torah discourses were printed in Ha-Magid."

Sources

• The Unbroken Chain by Dr. Neil Rosenstein, Vol 1 2nd edition, page 18. Paragraph G.12.3
• The Margolis Family by Dr. Neil Rosenstein, 1984.
• Translation from The Jewish Communities of Balwierzyszki [Balbieriskis] and Veisiejai [Vsihei] by Berl Kagan. Published in Landsmen Quarterly Publication of the Suwalk-Lomza SIG Vol 7 Numbers 2-3.