When I joined the Vilna Board of Directors about six years ago, I looked at the Hebrew names on the walls of the sanctuary, and asked my fellow board member and genealogist, David Rosen, if anyone had tried to locate descendants of the people whose names were on the walls. I thought that they might want to know that, before their ancestors moved to Brookline, Revere, Dorchester, or Roxbury, they lived in the crowded West End and created a community at the Vilna. David had tried about ten years prior and had no luck. The difference was that in 2012, the 1940 census was released, so that now we could look for people in that census who could potentially had already had children by then, and who might still be alive. Thus began the founding of the Vilna Shul Genealogical Project.
There are a total of 400 names in four locations: the 1923 Men’s Wall, in the back of the sanctuary, the 1923 Ladies’ Auxiliary Wall, in the back of the women’s section, and 1907 and 1936 Women’s Auxiliary plaques. These are the only remaining records of the early days of the Vilna. Starting in the winter of 2013, we began researching these names, and to date we have located 500 living descendants of the founders of the Vilna, and have had three annual Descendants’ Days. We have given these folks historical documents for their families, and now have a devoted group of descendants who come regularly to Vilna events. And we’re not done yet!
We get many inquiries from people all over the world looking for their ancestors who were from Vilna. Our research is primarily limited to people who lived in the West End of Boston in the vicinity of the Vilna Shul. If you think your ancestors may have been at the Vilna and would like us to check our database of names on the plaques, please send an email to genealogy@vilnashul.org or use the contact form on this website.