Chaim and Etta Zlotta Keilson

Chaim Keilson was born in Sereje, in present day Lithuania, in 1850. His parents were Shimon Leib Keilson and Chana Riva. The married in 1849, according to Lithuania Archives civil records. Chaim was the first of many children, 7 of whom lived into adulthood, and all of whom emigrated to the US in the late 1800s-early 1900s. Chaim worked as a kosher butcher. He married Etta Zlotta (Sachs) who was originally from Vilnius, Lithuania. They moved to Kybartai, a border town between then Russia and East Prussia, on the Neiman River. They had 9 children, all of whom came to the US. In addition to his formal job, Chaim worked as a people smuggler, bringing Jews from Russia across the border into East Prussia/Germany, then to the Netherlands, where he would help them book passage to the UK or the US to escape religious persecution, pogroms, and economic poverty. Finally, in September 1899 the entire family arrived in New York.