"The village of Latskivoh in the Kovno district of Lithuania seems to have had a direct pipeline to Muscatine, Iowa, for example, and one resident of the town in the 1950s had the impression that everyone that arrived there came because of letters from the 'landsleite' [fellow countrymen]."

About Jews in Iowa:

"MUSCATINE has an organized Orthodox Jewry with all the necessities belonging thereto Charles Fryer L Rubenstein and Oscar Weintrauber landed in that beautiful little city in 1882 and when their number increased they have organized the congregation Bnai Moses 1890 and notwithstanding their common poverty during the early days they have managed to build a little synagogue buy two Sepher Torath and engage the services of a minister who acted as schochet chazan and teacher. They number about fifty families and are blessed with many and goad children. For a time nearly all of them continued as peddlers but now a number of them are engaged in various business enterprises and are doing quite well. Mr J Bleeden whose services were engaged immediately after the formation of their congregation continues among them as their schochet even unto this day. SL Cohen Charles Fryer and Greenblatt Brothers are among the leading merchants of Muscatine while M Isaacson L Diamond and B Goldstein are the leaders in congregational and charitable work among the peaceful hard working Jews of that growing city."

Note: Charles Fryer is a relative by marriage of Max Reib Rubenstein. L Rubenstein is presumably Max Reib Rubenstein. Oscar Weintrauber is likely Oscar Weintraub, likely the brother-in-law of Mary Fryer and also a relative of Max Reib Rubenstein.

From: The Jews of Iowa by Simon L. Glazer, 1903 (Google Books)

This will be an umbrella project for projects on specific shtetls and towns in the Kaunas Province in the Shavli District and nearby in the Telshi District (specifically the towns of Skuodas and Telšiai or Telshi):

• Šiauliai (Alternate names: Šiauliai [Lith], Shavl [Yid], Shavli [Rus], Schaulen [Ger], Szawle [Pol], Šauļi [Latv], Shavel, Schavli, Shawli, Shaulyai, Shiaulai, Silaliai, Šiaulių)
• Zagare (Alternate names: Žagarė [Lith], Zhager [Yid], Zhagare [Rus], Żagory [Pol], Žagare [Latv], Zhagar, Zager, Žagarės)
• Viekšniai (Alternate names: Viekšniai [Lith], Vekshne [Yid], Vyekshnya [Rus], Wieksznie [Pol], Veckshna, Vekshni, V'yekshnyay, Viyekshnyay, Viekšnių, Vekshnyay, Vekshnya)
• Klykoliai (Alternate names: Klykoliai [Lith], Klikol [Yid], Klikl [Yid], Klikoli [Rus], Klikole [Pol], Klikul, Klykuolių, Klikolyay)
• Leckava (Alternate names: Leckava [Lith], Liatzkovo [Rus], Latskeve [Yid], Łacków [Pol], Lyatskovo, Letskava, Leckavos, Leckavas, Latskove, Latzkova, Latzkeva, Latzuva)
• Akmene (Alternate names: Akmenė [Lith], Akmian [Yid], Okmyany [Rus], Okmiany [Pol], Akmyane, Akmenės)
• Papile (Alternate names: Papilė [Lith], Popelyan [Yid], Popelyany [Rus], Popielany [Pol], Popelian, Papilės, Popyle)
• Kuršenai (Alternate names: Kuršėnai [Lith], Kurshan [Yid], Kurshany [Rus], Kurszany [Pol], Kuršēni [Latv], Kurschenen [Ger], Kurshenay, Kurshchenay, Kuržėnų, Koršienā)
• Tryškiai (Alternate names: Tryškiai [Lith], Trishik [Yid], Trishki [Rus], Tryszki [Pol], Tryškių, Trīškē, Trishkyay)
• Telšiai (Alternate names: Telšiai [Lith], Telshi [Rus], Telzh [Yid], Telsze [Pol], Telsche [Ger], Telši [Latv], Telšē, Teltsch, Telshe, Telschi, Telsh, Telshie, Telšių, Telz)
• Skuodas (Alternate names: Skuodas [Lith], Shkod [Yid], Shkudy [Rus], Szkudy [Pol], Schoden [Ger], Skoda [Latv], Shkud, Skuodo, Skudoas, Skouds)

(others to be added)

Geography:

• Skuodas is 29 miles WSW of Leckava
• Viekšniai is 15 miles SE of Leckava
• Klykoliai is 22 miles E of Leckava
• Telšiai is 28 miles S of Leckava
• Zagare is 16 miles E of Klykoliai
• Shavli is 29 miles S of Zagare

Each project will document the familes who lived there in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and discuss their diaspora to places as exotic as South Africa, Glasgow, Scotland, and Muscatine, Iowa! We will also list notable inhabitants and descendants of each town or shtetl.

I started this project because In researching my great grandparents, Max Reib and Fannie Rubenstein, I discovered that Muscatine, Iowa was the destination of a number of families from Shavli province. The families of Muscatine, Iowa were from a number of villages in the Shavli, Kaunas region -- Leckava, Skuodas, Zagare, and Klykoliai for certain. The names in the Bnei Moshe Cemetery from early Muscatine are echoed strongly in the lists of families from these towns:

• Leckava - Light/Licht, Becker, Lifflander, Levin, Hurwich, Urdangen, Hellman, Rubenstein, Glick, Sheksner, Schoop, Gould
• Skuodas - Urdangen, Hurwich
• Klykoliai - Greenblatt, Povalonki, Glattstein, Cohen, Rubenstein, Lifflander
• Vieksnai - Reeb, Rib, Ryb, Ribas, Rubenstein, Blieden, Markus Medalie, Chotzer, Edelman, Spiro, Shapiro, Sapero, Lourie (Lurie)
• Zagare - Rieben, Reiben, Blieden (Bleeden)

Surnames from other areas

• Weintrob / Vayntrub / Weintraub / Wintrobe - Volyhnia (Zhitomir, Ostrog, Proskurov)
• Frejer / Freer / Freyer - Volyhnia (Ovruch, Zhitomir, Proskurov, Radomysl)
• Reib - Volyhnia (Zaslav)

Did the original settlers of Muscatine - Rubenstein, Reib, Weintraub, Freyer come from Volyhnia and then were coincidentally joined by settlers from Shavli? Or did they have family ties to Shavli?

Muscatine, Iowa Immigrants (Year of Arrival in US of Head of Household)

1880s

• Benjamin and Rosa D Goldstein arrival 1878 (Rosa 1885)
• Charles and Mary Fryer (Freyer) arrival 1882, probably from Volhynia Province, Ukraine
• Benjamin Share arrival 1883
• Max Reib and Fanny Rubenstein arrival 1885 ("Rieb," on the Moravia arr June 23, 1885), probably from Volhynia Province, Ukraine
• Simon J Gould arrival 1886
• Max and Anna Schoop arrival 1886
• Samuel and Flora Lieflander arrival 1886
• Max and Mollie Skolnik arrival 1886
• Joseph and Sarah Powclankey arrival 1883 or 1887
• Oscar Wintrob (Weintraub, Weintrobe) arrival 1887 or 1892, probably from Volhynia Province, Ukraine
• Jacob and Dora Goodman arrival 1888
• Samuel and Lena Lowenthal arrival 1888
• Ella Siegal, widow, arrival 1888 with son Max age 23
• Joseph and Bessie Siegal arrival 1888

1890s

• William E. and Eva Gladstein arrival 1903 (Eva - 1890)
• Gladstein's sister-in-law Anna Lieflander arrival 1890
• Harry and Henrietta Gladstein arrival 1890
• Louis and Fannie Diamond arrival 1890
• Joseph and Sarah L. Bleeden arrival 1890
• Edward (Essac) and Fannie Helman arrival 1890
• Harry and Annie Wolf arrival 1890
• Jake and Sarah Mark arrival 1890
• Jacob Ziffren, single, arrival 1890 with daughter Isabel and with mother-in-law Minnie Davis (mother-in-law from Germany)
• Jacob and Minnie Greenblott arrival 1890
• H and Mary Sheer arrival 1891
• Marvis and Minnie Isaacson arrival 1891
• Jacob N. and Minnie Glick arrival 1892
• Harman and Mary A. Share arrival 1893
• Israel and Mariam Pearman arrival 1897
• Barney and Mollie Urdangen (Vedangen in Census) arrival 1897
• Abraham and Mary Becker arrival 1899
• Issac and Emma Skolnik arrival 1899
• Maer (Meyer?) and Annie Smith arrival 1899 (older couple, parents?)

1900s

• Samuel and Ethel Mark arrival 1900 (Samuel in 1906)
• Isaac Rosenbaum, single, arrival 1900
• Max and Hanna Smith arrival 1901
• Jacob and Jennie Rosenberger arrival 1903
• John and Rosalie Schuster arrrival 1903
• Shuster's granddaughter Hilda Brader arrival 1903
• Schuster's brother William Gretz arrival 1903
• Max and Fannie Lewin arrival 1904
• Samuel and Bessie Orwitz (Horwitz/Hurwich) arrival 1905
• Eli and Sarah Lutskey arrival 1905
• Samuel and Emma Pernick arrival 1905
• Hing A and Natalie Tober arrival 1908
• William E. Gladstein's brother Graham Gladstein arrival 1907

Emigration from Leckava to Sweden and South Africa

• Sheksner (changed to Jackelson) - South Africa
• Glick - Sweden
• Berghaus - South Africa
• Eppel (David, Zalel) to Sweden and to Denmark
• Mitovski to South Africa (married Katz from Vieksniai)
• Weiss to America

Emigration from Vieksniai to various places

• Katz to South Africa
• Reeb to South Africa and Israel

Emigration from Klykoliai to various places

• Gavronsky to America

My sources were:

1. www.jewishgen.org - Jewish Gen Family Finder and the databases for Lithuania including birth, death, marriages, taxpayer, and especially the Revision Lists.
2. obituaries from Muscatine newspapers and headstone transcriptions for early setters to Muscatine.
3. a free Google online book about Jewish immigration to Iowa -- the short section on Muscatine.
4. various Internet family trees and other sources that give the origin of these Shavli (Siauliai) district emigrants who went to Muscatine, but also to South Africa, Israel, and Scotland.
5. books on immigration to small towns in America.

Notable Shavli Descendants

• Ambassador William R Rivlin
• Donald Herschel Rivlin
• Ambassador Charles H Rivlin

General Links

• http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/shavli/shavli1.html
• http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/shtetls/LithuaniaShtetlsLeftByUezdS.htm
• http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~community~-2619282
• http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/lithuania/LithuaniaRegions.htm
• http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_lita/lit_00363c.html
• Gavronsky of Klykoliai family tree