Lithuania and Minnesota

Our earliest known Rogalsky ancestor is Isaac Rogalsky, born about 1820 in Lithuania. He studied in Kovno to become a rabbi but was also a mill owner in Pilvishki. Isaac married Rifka (surname unknown); their two children were Marks and Joheved.

Marks emigrated to Minnesota to join a cousin, B.J. Summerfield, who had come to the USA in 1876 to establish himself as a merchant. Marks was one of the founders of the town of Hibbing, Minnesota, which at one time had a thriving Jewish culture. In Winona, he managed the Inter-State Merchandise Company. You can read an enlargement of the image above by clicking on the photo.

Marks married Anna Rose Kirkinsky in St. Louis County, Minnesota and he and his wife had five daughters: Ruth, Sarah, Frances, Beatrice and Marian. Marks died in 1943 in Hennepin County. He's buried at Adath Yeshurun Cemetery in Edina, Minnesota.