Sneierson Family

The Sneierson family came to Kupiskis from Vabalninkas in 1860 according to the existing records. The earliest Sneiersons were Sneyer Sneierson and his son Hirsh-Yankel Sneierson. Hirsh-Yankel, born in 1844, married Taube, born in 1850, and they had several children including: Louis, whose birthdate is unknown, Gutel, born 1873, Sheyna, born 1874, Lazar, 1876-1939, Gershon-Zelig, born 1878, Feige, born 1882, Chana-Leia, 1884-1886, Abram-Mikhel, born 1890, and Iosel-Berel, born 1894.

All of the surviving children, with the exception of Lazar came to America, and eventually their mother Taube came as well in the 1920s to Chelsea, MA. There they joined many other families from Kupiskis.

In Kupiskis, Lazar Sneierson became a businessman and he traveled to South Africa during the period of the Boer War as an itinerant merchant. Little is known of these travels other than he returned to Kupiskis to marry Yenta-Leah Levinas, 1877-1941. They set up their household in Kupiskis and had a store and house in town at #52 Gedimas gatve according to the address found on postcards sent to their family in America. They also had a farm outside Kupiskis in the countryside.

The couple had several children: Chaim-Genakh, 1912-1912, Alte "Althea", born 1913-1941, Zalman "Samuel", 1915/1916-1983, and Hershel, 1921-1941. Althea Sneierson worked in the Kupiskis Town Hall near their home. Zalman worked on the farm transporting products such as flax into town to be sold. Stories abound of Samuel and his horse "Charlie" and their adventures in the Kupiskis area woodlands. A favorite childhood friend he played with was Notte-Leib Berz, son of Eliash Berz and Rivka Gafanovich, according to his cousin Mina Siegel Smith.

Zalman was an active member of the local Maccabi soccer team as well as the Betar youth organization, and attended the Panevezys Yeshiva, as did many Kupiskis boys. He also was drafted into the Lithuanian Army and served as a ski-trooper in 1937-1939 in the Panevezys area. His best friend during this time, who was also from Kupiskis, was another boy whose last name was Kobel and who later left for South Africa and then Petach Tikvah, Israel, where he was an optometrist.

Althea was on the U.S. Immigration waitlist in 1938 and early 1939 to go to America. When their father Lazar became ill, she let her brother Zalman go in her place so that she could care for her father.  At the last possible moment the papers came through and Zalman went to America, where he stayed with his various aunts and cousins in Chelsea, MA. Lazar died in 1939 and shortly after Zalman’s departure for  America, World War II broke out, trapping the rest of his family in Kupiskis. His mother Yenta-Leah, sister Althea, and brother Hershel were all murdered by local Nazis in the first days of the German occupation of Lithuania in 1941. May their souls rest in peace with all the many martyrs of Israel.

Zalman Sneierson lived the rest of his life in Lynn, MA, where he ran a thriving tire business, until his death in 1983. He was married to Ida Rosenfield and had two children – Elaine Sneierson and William Sneierson. He was a loving husband and father and a genuine Litvak from Kupiskis!

Alte "Althea" Sneierson and Zalman "Samuel" Sneierson, Kupiskis, 1924.