BAISOGALA:  The word means "To find a bed-time story: "Fairy Tale" + frog-dragon."
(Source:  The Master Genealogist. info@genealogy.emcee.com).

BEISAGOLA, also BEISOGALA, is a town and mansion in the Szawel (Lithuania) district, located on the Kirszyna River, 51 kilometers south of Szawel.  Beisagola received town civic rights in 1791 from Stanislaw Augusta, King of Poland.  The town has an orphanage and an elementary school.  In 1858 there were 2453 inhabitants.  Also, there is a Catholic parish church, The Holy Trinity, made of wood, erected in 1539 by Zygmunt the First, King of Poland.  The Catholic parish of Krock's Decanate includes 7533 souls.  Branches exist in Pocunele (Pocuneky) and Pokany.  Chapels exist in Woletkance and Skieny.  Beisagola has a railroad station on the Koszedary-Libawa line in the Koszedary-Radziwiliszki area, between Datnow and Radziwiliszki, 25 kilometers from Radziwiliszki.  Beisagola's landed property belongs to the Konar family, who own 315 hectares of farmland.  (Source:  Gazetteer of Poland, Vol. 1, p. 125.)

Uprising of Szawel:  An uprising of peasants occurred in 1769 in Szawel district, Lithuania, against landlords.
(Source: Popular Encyclopedia, Poland (1962)).

Baisogala had a Jewish population of 106 in 1920-30.  Location:  55o 38'/23o 43', 45 km southeast of Siauliai.  (Source: Where Once We Walked).  References to Baisogala are found in:  Hebrew Subscription Lists, Ber Kagan, Ktav (1975);  Jewish Genealogical Family Finder, Jewish Genealogical Society, POB 6398, New York 10128;  Latter Day Leaders, Sages, and Scholars, Computer Center for Jewish Genealogy, Elizabeth NJ (1983);  Shtetl Finder, Chester Cohen, Heritage Books, Bowie, MD (1989);  Yahadut Lita, Vol. III, Hasman, Lipec, Association for Mutual Help of Former Residents of Lithuania in Israel, Tel Aviv (1967).

Baisogala, North of Kovno.  Located west of Ponivezh.  Birthplace of Yosef Yakov Markus c1879-1933 who moved to the U.S. in 1923 and was a rabbi in Baltimore.  1912 - Israel Benyamin Bendet Feivelson, born 1865, was rabbi here.  Birthplace of Eliezer Atlas 1851-1904, journalist and opponent of Zionism.  Kagan 1229.  (Source: Shtetl Finder, Chester Cohen).

BAISIGOLA (BAIDOGALA) - Keidan District.  Baisigola is near the Kirshina River, 8 miles from Grinkishok and one mile from the nearest train station.

In 1780, Stanislas Poniatovsky granted it the privilege to conduct fairs.  In 1791, the town received the rights of a city, although it actually did not turn into a city.  In 1831, it was captured from the Russians by Polish rebels.  The land on which the town was situated belonged to Count Komar.

Jewish settlement began in the first part of the nineteenth century.  Records of the Chevra Kadisha (burial society) start in 1813.  In 1847, the Jewish population was 461, and in 1897 - 634 (more than 50% of the general population).  By 1914, the Jewish population declined to about 100 (15 families).  During World War I, they were exiled.  After the War, 8 families returned.  Six of them rebuilt houses near the train station.  The Jewish population in 1929 amounted to only 6% of the overall population of the town.  There were a few Jewish families living in the town just prior to the Holocaust.

The Jews made their livelihood from small-scale trade, peddling, gardening and small vegetable gardens.

The cemetery was not in the town, but located at Grinkishok.  Baisigola was at one time well-known in the Jewish world for its rabbis and native sons.

From the rabbinate:  R. Abraham-Yitzhak bar Raphael Grushkin (served there as rabbi for 19 years;  died in 5645/1885);  R. Shmuel-Avigdor Feivelson;  R. Aaron Bakesht;  R. Avraham Yitzhak bar Shmuel-Avigdor Feivelson;  R. Yisrael-Benjamin-Bendt Feivelson;  and the last rabbi, R. Yosef-Feivel Feivelson.

Natives:  Baruch-Moshe Feivelson;  Nahum bar Uziel Kaplan (R. Nahum of Grodno);  Meir Atlas;  Eliezer Atlas (writer);  Dr. Eliahu-Yosef Gordon;  Raphael Grushkin (writer);  Moshe Mirlis (one of the first of Hovevei-Zion in the U.S.);  R. Moshe-Haim Mirvish (a rabbi in Capetown).  (Source:  Lithuanian Jewish Communities).

BAISOGALA -- The Holocaust Period.  After the outbreak of World War II (September 1, 1939) and the conquest of Poland by the Germans, Lithuania came under Soviet rule and at the end of summer 1940, was annexed by the Soviet Union.

A few days after the German attack on the Soviet Union (June 22, 1940), the German army occupied the town.  At the end of August, beginning of September, 1941, all the Jews of the small town were taken by armed Lithuanians to the town of Krakes, and on September 9, they, together with the Jews of Krakes, were murdered and buried in a mass grave there.  (Source:  Beit HaT'futzot, The Nachum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora).

BAISOGALA, a town near the Kaunas-Siauliai railroad line and the Kedainiai-Seduva highway, 22 km south of Radviliskis.  The population in 1897 was 1,205; in 1967, about 900.  Formerly part of the estate of the wealthy Komaras family, Baisogala has a large and richly decorated manor house, built in the classic style in 1857.  Together with the other well-planned and tastefully balanced buildings on the grounds, it forms an architectural unit of some significance.  The surrounding park enhances the beauty of the place.  One of the buildings on the estate is a four-story baroque windmill dating from the 18th century.  The land of the estate was left undistributed after the land reform law of 1922 was passed.  It served as a model farm, producing high quality seed grains;  it was managed by the owner and comprised 1,200 ha of land.  After World War II it was appropriated by the state, which turned it into an institute for cattle breeding.