Thanks Maureen. There is a man in Lithuania who is doing his own research on the name. He is a top cancer specialist so he won't be very hard to find for anyone who wants to contact him. Strangely he has exactly the same name as my Great Grandfather, Juozas Kurtinaitis.
He told me by email in very good English there are about 100 families in Lithuania with that name. Apparently the name derives, in his opinion from the word Kurtinys which means ' Wood grouse'.
(Why do other members of my family in England always laugh when I tell them that)?
Having said that, I dont think 100 families is as many as it sounds. I have an idea that the name may not go back very far. There are already scores in the USA and they mainly stemmed from immigration in the 19th century, I would imagine. I think the origin of the name would be more easily findable if one spoke the language and lived in Lithuania.
One theory in my family was formulated based on the root of the name 'Kurt' which could imply that our forebears may have come from Germany migrating in search of work, possibly mining, but I personally always thought that was a long shot.
Another interesting snippet has been a tale handed down by word of mouth relating to Napoleon's troops retreating through my ancestors' village, finding food (sacks of peas), which the villagers had hidden and throwing them in the river. They were only bits of boys (the exact description)according to our family tradition. This would tie up with Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1815. His army consisted of boys recruited because his previous armies of seasoned troop had been so severely depleted by previous campaigns. On the other hand if they threw these peas in the river surely the river wasn't frozen. Recent excavation of mass graves in Vilnius and the analysis of the bones etc confirms the tender age of most of the French soldiers who froze and starved to death, found there which confirms our folk tale concerning the age of the troops. I am led to speculating that maybe it wasn't the deepest winter with the river not yet frozen in which the peas incident took place. So what time of year was it? and what was the route taken by Napoleon's troops during the retreat? if indeed this incident did happen during the retreat and not during the advance. Why did they throw the sacks of peas in the river instead of eating them? My guess is that they took all they could carry and disposed of the rest to spite the peasants.
Has anyone got any ideas on this story. What was Napoleon's exact route through Lithuania, going AND coming. I believe this story stems from the Kadisius family but who knows it could be from the Kurtinaitis side. So did those troops go anywhere near Smalenai (Smolany), which I now believe we have established as the nearest village to my Great Grandmother (Kadisius). I understand that many French soldiers were taken in and helped by Lithuanian peasants on the retreat and that there are now families with French surnames in the country.
Greetings. I am looking for more information regarding my Great Grandfather, Charles (Kazimiersz) Poches or Poczewicz or Poczius. The multiple listing of names isn't even helping me find clues as I'm finding nothing for any of these. The following is what I know:
b. Sep 12 1876 in Lithuania
d. May 14 1928 in Athens County, Ohio
Father's name was John or a form of John
Charles had a sister named Mary born around 1875 in Lithuania. She married John Derks and resided in Summit County, Ohio.
Charles was known as Charles Poches on all of his work documents and death certificate. The name Kazimiersz Poczewicz was listed on what appears to be a union bank document. I also found a naturalization record that I haven't verified as his, with a name of Casimerz Poczius.
I can help a bit with the names, which might in turn open up more search possibilities (as if you don't have enough already.)
The surname "Poches" appears to be a phonetic spelling, while "Poczewicz" is spelled using Polish (or Slavic) spelling rules because of the "-cz-" and "-wicz" ending. "Poczius" has the Polish "-cz-" and the Lithuanian ending "-ius."
The given name "Kazimiersz" is also Polish. The Lithuanian would be Kazimieras. Neither language would use an initial letter "c" for this name, but would use "k". Casimir is the English version of the name, but in America, Lithuanians very often used Charles rather than Casimir.
The Lithuanian for John is Jonas, the Polish would be Jan. Mary is Marija in Lithuanian and Maria, Marja, or Marya in Polish. Some Lithuanian women named Mary in the U.S. were actually Mary Ann, Marijona.
I did a fair amount of checking name spellings in the online phone book for Lithuania http://www.zebra.lt/lt/suzinok/telefonai) and conclude that the most likely spelling of Charles' surname (excluding endings for women) would be Pos^kus (108 listings) or Pos^kevic^ius (21 listings). The "s^" is the way we type "s" with a little birdie over it on non-Lithuanian keyboards. It is pronounced "sh" as in the English word "shiver." The "c^" is also the "c" with a birdie and it is pronounced "ch" as in the English word "church." "c" without the birdie, however, is pronounced "ts" as in the name "Vince" or the English word "bits." The letter "c" in Lithuanian is never pronounced like the English "Catholic", which is "k" in Lithuanian. The surname "Pos^kus" would be pronounced like POSH-kus and "Pos^kevic^ius" would be posh-KA-vi-choos.
There are over 300 listings for the surname "Pocius", but that name would be pronounced POH-stoos. There is only one "Poc^ius", pronounced like POH-choos, so I don't think this is likely, even though it "looks" close. But the fact that your family name in America became "Poches" does suggest "Poc^ius", so I wouldn't rule it out.
The "sh" sound in Polish is rendered "sz". The "ch" sound which in Lithunaian is "c^" in Polish is "cz". Thus the Polish ending "-wicz" becomes "-vic^ius" in Lithuanian, because Lithuanian does not use "w" but "v" and the "-cz" become "-c^". Almost all Lithuanian surnames (for men) end in "-us", "-as", "-is", or "-ys", occasionally in "-a.".
Women's names have different endings based on their marital status. Let me give you the rules for these endings so you can spot them as you search:
1. The ending for the surnames of all married women is "-iene." So the endings for the surnames Brazaitis, Pos^kus, and Lazdauskas are changed for the women married to these men to become Brazaitiene, Pos^kiene, and Lazdauskiene. Because the ending for the names of married women is always the same regardless of the ending to their husbands names, it is not always possible to derive correctly the masculine form of the surname from the form of the married womans name.
The rules for endings of names for unmarried girls and women in modern times depends on the masculine ending:
1. For masculine names ending in "-ys" and "-is", the ending "-yte" is substituted for the masculine ending. Thus, The daughter of Mr. Brazaitis becomes Miss Brazaityte.
2. For masculine names ending in "-us", the ending is "-ute." Thus, the unmarried daughter of Mr. Pos^kus becomes Miss Pos^kute.
3. For masculine names ending in "-as" or -a, the ending is for unmarried women is "-aite." Thus, The daughter of Mr. Lazdauskas becomes Miss Lazdauskaite.
Because of these rules it is usually possible to derive the masculine form of the surname from the ending of unmarried womans surname. Thus if a person is named Marija Pos^kute, it is almost certain that her father is Mr. Pos^kus. In older times or in some records, I have seen somewhat different or variant endings that do not conform to the "standard" rules but still are recognizable as endings for unmarried women, so that sometimes male names ending in -is or -ys sometimes in fact end in -ute for unmarried daughters.
Kazimieras' use of Polish spellings for his name on some records suggests that he may have been from the area of present day Lithuania bordering Poland, which in 1876 was the whole area south and west of the Nemunas River.
I hope this dissertation is helpful. My own rather cursory searches on ancestry.com using every variant of "poc-" I could think of yielded nothing more than you already have.
I checked the Lithuanian telephone directory and found several hundred listings for the surname POCIUS (male spelling). The married female surname spelling would be POCIENE (IENE ending indicates a married female). The unmarried female spelling is POCIUTE.
The total of the surname variations yields over 600 listings for people with land lines who don't have unlisted telephone numbers.
Thanks Tom. I found several hundred immigration records over the years for Pocius, but none for the other spellings. I'm unsure if I'll ever find anything that verifies the correct spelling.
Most of my Lithuanian ancestors that I am researching had multiple spellings of their surnames on the American documents I found about them.
It may have started out as POCIUS in Lithuania and ended up getting morphed along the way to the U.S.
My grandfather went by STEPONAITIS for most of his life in America. He was STEPANOWITZ on the ship register when he arrived at Ellis Island sailing from Europe. His surname is spelled two different ways on his civil marriage license.
His listing in the SSDI has a surname spelling (STEPONAVICE) that is the only one spelled that way out of 80 million people listed. I was told that it was his "government name" whenever he dealt with Social Security or the VA since that's the way they recorded it in their databases.
After getting his Russian passport translated, I discovered the real family surname was STEPONAVICIUS which is an entirely different surname than STEPONAITIS.
The challenge is determining what the spelling was back in Lithuania.
Looking for Joseph Krutulis (Krotulis).
Joseph married Julia Conditutes.
They had the following children:
Simon Frank (1876-1945)
Martha Julia (1874-1949)
and maybe Michael BD 1858.
Simon was married in Oniskis Poland (Lithuania) in 1898. I have no information on birth place.
Looking for any connections.
Thank you.
On the present day map of Lithuania, there is a village named Anis^kis in the Alytus district, west of the city named Alytus.
As you may know, the area southe and west of the Nemunas River, now in Lithuania which includes Alytus and Anis^kis (pronounced ah-NISH-kis), was once simply part of the Russian Empire, from 1795 to 1917. Anis^kis was located in the Russian province or gubernia called Suwalki, which was named for the largest town in its borders. That town is now in Poland, which lands were also controlled by the Russian Empire. The Suwalki gubernia had a mixed population of ethnic Poles, Lithuanians, and Prussians (Germans). Many Lithuanians from that area were deeply influenced by the Polish language and culture, which had high status among Lithuanians at that time, so even their names often reflected Polish touches, like the ending "-vic^ius" which is simply a Lithuanian version of the Polish "-wicz".
There are also villages named Onus^kis that could also be your "Oniskis", though deeper in ethnic Lithunaian areas. One is in the Trakai district, mid-way between Alytus and Vilnius, east of Alytus, still in an area of Polish influence, but not as heavily populated by ethnic Poles. The other is much to the north in the district of Rokis^kis, near the border with Latvia and Russia.
The surname is most likely spelled Krutulis in Lithuanian because there are nearly 50 listings in the online phone book for Lithuania with that surname, including married and unmarried women, who use different endings for their names. Women married to a man named Krutulis would be called Mrs. Krutuliene and their unmarried daughter would be Miss Krutulyte. 19 of these listings are in the Alytus district. There is only 1 in the Trakai district and none in the Rokis^kis district.
There are no listings for any name beginning "Krutol-" other than the Russian Krutolevic^.
The surname "Conditutes" is apparently a somewhat mangled spelling of a Lithuanian name because the ending "-utes" is very close to the ending used for unmarried women whose father's name ends in "-us". However, the ending would be "-ute". The ending "-utes" (i.e., with the "s") would simply be a grammatical ending for the possessive case. The nominative ending is "-ute" and is what is generally used when speaking in English about Lithuanian names.
Since Lithuanian does not use the letter "c" for the sound "k" as in the English words "continent" or "country" but simply uses "k", this surname would be spelled something like Konditute and her father would be Mr. Konditus (mother = Konditiene). Unfortunately, I was unable to find any name beginning with and vowel combination between "k" and "n" and after "d" in the online phone book.
The given names in Lithuanian would be:
Joseph = Juozas or Juozapas
Julia = Julija
Simon Frank = Simonas Pranas or Prancis^kus
Martha Julia = Morta Julija
Michael = Mykolas
The odds are very high that in 1898 the place of marriage would be very close to the place where the bride and groom lived, usually within 10km at most (about 6 miles) because of the difficulty of getting around in the countryside, opportunities for meeting, competing demands for working in the rural area, etc. So once you have settled on the marriage location, it is probably enough, with the dates of birth you have, to contact the Historical Archives in Lithuania to request birth records. Here is their web site which includes their email:
http://www.archyvai.lt/archyvai/selectPage.do?docLocator=043703D96DD711D8AA1D746164617373&pathId=20
You can send an email to them in English, but will likely get a response in Lithuanian, so you may have to request help from members of this or other online group.
By the way, you didn't mention whether or not any of the individuals mentioned emigrated to the U.K. or the U.S. If they did, there is a chance that records might be found online that would clarify the name of the place they were from.
Hi Tom,
You gave a link to a highly detailed map of part of Lithuania. I have to scroll around on my screen to navigate though. It is so detailed it is showing individual houses.
I notice from a key at the foot of the map that there are others in the series. Do you have the URL for Kalvaria, Sejny and the other one which makes up a block of four?
I think in the light of subsequent information regarding Smalenai that I should be looking on those maps for it rather than Vilkaviskis. It would be interesting to look at them anyway regardless.
Thanks, Pete.
Changes to number of results on Ellis Island search?
by
When I do a search on Ellis Island data base, using the Steve Morse web site, I only get 25 results showing, with no option to view more of the results found. It looks like something has changed, limiting how many records one is allowed to view? Does anyone know why that is?
I just tried the Morse "Gold Form" and got 444 "hits" in the search list so I can't explain the problem you encountered. Does it happen with various search criteria, and all the times? Which form did you use? What number is in the "Hits/page" section? Morse limits the number of "hits" to 200 maximum per page, but that would still produce more than the 25 you encountered unless that is all the hits that the search found.
If you are still having that problem, I'd suggest that the first thing you do is to clear the cache of your browser because a problem there could "lock" your Morse searches on a limit of 25 (or any other number).
In Firefox, click on "Tools", "Clear recent history" (or the equivalent), then make sure only the box next to "Cache" is checked" and click on "Clear now." Exit Firefox and open it up again. Then try your search again.
In Internet Explorer, click on "Tools", "Internet options", and under the "General" tab, click on "Browsing history", then make sure you check only "Preserve favorites web site data" and "Delete temporary internet files". Click on "Delete", exit IE, and re-open it and try your search again.
If clearing the cache does not fix the problem, send Morse an email detailing all the circumstances of the problem. He is extremely responsive to problems on his site. Just click on his name in "blue" at the top of the main page or anywhere it appears in "blue". You may have to delete the words "mailto".
If you still have problems, let me know offlist and I'll try to help.
Thanks for checking this for me. I noticed this some days ago. I can get hundreds of hits, but only 25 results will show on the viewing page, with no option to click on the Next 50. I have tried altering the results per page option, which I have never done before, but still get only the first 25. Because I have never before altered the results per page number, I don't know why it would have changed all by itself now. I assumed this was a glitch everyone was experiencing, and hoped it was going to be corrected. This happens on both the White and Gold form. It seems I can view the next 25 hits by entering the number 26 in the option of where to start the views, but how tedious is that?
Maybe I have worn out my welcome?
For reasons known only to the gods, sometimes a browser's cache gets a problem in it that may adversley affect the way a web page loads in your browser.
Most people never clear this area of the computer so the cache can get very large and sometimes messed up. The cache consists of copies of visited web pages that the browser uses to speed up the loading of pages. So instead of starting from scratch when you go to web page you've been to, your computer checks to see if it already has that page stored (hence, "cache") to use instead of the one you got to directly. The problem with this is that if there is some flaw in the cached page, it will show up endlessly when you go to that page, no matter what you do in searching. The reason is that the browser insists on using the cached page (with the flaw) when it loads, say, Morse's search page. If that flaw has a 25 hit limit on it, it won't matter what you enter on the page, the browser will follow the instructions in the cached page. So when you clear the cache, you essentially delete all these stored web pages and force the browser to create new copies of web pages in your cache, preferably without the flaw.
It is probably a good idea to clear your cache every once in a while, both to save space on your computer and to get rid of any errors that may have crept in.
If this does not cure the problem, then I think you'll have to contact Morse. I used to do much volunteer work for him, so I've had many email exchanges with him and know how he welcomes it when someone encounters a problem with his pages -- even though now his searches are technically located on the Jewishgen servers rather than his own server (a very long story about that, involving lawsuits from Ellis Island, etc.) You see how easy he makes to contact him. He is an engineer by training, was involved in the early development of personal computers and is extremely knowledgeable about technical computer related matters as well as genealogical research.
Thanks for the advice. But it seems it still won't give me more than 25 passengers in spite of clearing my browsing history. I even did the periodic maintainance, deleting temp files, and recycle files, rebooted, etc. If I'm the only one this is happening to, it must be my PC, Thanks for the help.
I get the same problem when I use the White Form but not the Gold. My test was to search only for surnames starting with "petr-", 200 hits per page, and 1908 through 1924. On the Gold Form I got over 22,400 hits in 200 per page. But on the White Form, I got exactly the same problem you note.
So I've written a note to Steve about it. Let's see what he says. In the meantime, you might use the Gold Form and see if the problem persists. I know that Steve prefers that people use the Gold Form, but kept the old one for those who were accustomed to it.
Great! The gold form is indeed working as you said. I thought I had tried it before and it did the same as the white form, but I guess I was wrong. I am sorry to hear that Steve Morse had hassles about his wonderful Ellis island search site. It has been a blessing for so many trying to pinpoint family, not to mention it no doubt has provided more sales for the Ellis Island business. I know I wouldn't have purchased the historical documents and other keepsakes if not for Steve's web site. It's a crazy world at times.
Marie and all those who have been using the Steve Morse "White Form" for searching the Ellis Island data base:
I received the following message from Steve about this problem:
John,
Thanks for alerting me to this. It really was a problem, but just on the white form. There never was such a problem on the gold form. And that's why nobody else reported it -- almost everyone is using the gold form since it is by far superior to the white form.
It appears that ellisisland.org made a change to the format of their display, and that is what was causing the problem. I have no idea how long ago this change occurred, but it might have been quite a while ago since I haven't tested the white form in a while. The gold form is tested constantly, both by users and by automated nightly scripts that I run.
I just fixed the problem. Please alert the poster (and the rest of the group) to this fact. You have my permission to quote this email in its entirety and post it to the group.
-- Steve
Presumably, this will mark the end of this problem and concerns that it might be one's own computer that was at fault.
I am searching for family history connected to Charles (Kazimeriez) Kaminskas born around 1888 with an unknown named brother that had two sons named Melvin and Ernie. I would love to get ahold of his parents history. They resided in IL, USA but came from Lithuania. I am also searching for Sophie Jankauskas family history. In Lithuanian it should sound Sofija. She was born about 1888 in Lithuania, iauliai city. Thank you if you can respond with any assistance of how I can find more information. -Anna Kaminskas
There are many more resources for Cook county in IL than the other counties. Which county did they live in, and do you have any other info, such as approximate years of death? I see on the social security death index, Melvin Kaminskas, b. 4/26/25 d. 7/29/2008 Morris, Grundy co, IL.
I could not find them on the census for certain.
On Ellis Island I find a Sofie Jankowski, arrived 2/10/1907, 20, sgl, going to her sister in Chicago, Mrs. A Gazauskas at 542 W 46 ST, from town Radziviksky, born Schawly (Siaulai?).
I found this obit on a John Kaminskas, but it does not mention his wife's name. It does give sons, Ernie and Melvin, and a brother Anthony. Perhaps it's a coincidence?
Chicago Tribune (IL) - September 11, 1963
Deceased Name: Kaminskas
John J. Kaminskas, Sept. 9, 1963, late of 1614 S. 49th avenue, Cicero, fond father of Ernie [Elizabeth] and Melvin [Dorothy]; grandfather of five; brother of Anthony [Irene]. Funeral Thursday, Sept. 12, at 8:30 a.m., from Petkus & Son Funeral Home, 1410 S. 50th avenue, Cicero, to St. Anthony's church. Interment St. Casimir's cemetery. TO 3-2108.
Edition: Chicago Tribune
Copyright 1963, Chicago Tribune. For permission to reprint, contact Chicago Tribune.
Anecestry.com has the likely WWII draft record for John Joseph Kaminskas. He was born on June 05, 1883 in Lithuania (which didn't exist then, but after the independent Republic of Lithuania was established in 1918, many immigrants happily changed their place of birth from the despised Russia to the newly minted Lithuania.) The draft record was created on April 27, 1942.
John lived at 1529 S. 49th "C" in Cicero, Illinois. The name of the person most likely to know whereabouts at all times was Ernest Kaminiskas at the same address. John was working at the Giant Theater in Cicero. He was 5' 10.5" tall, weighed 170 pounds, and wore glasses. Since John does not mention his wife as the "person most likely", it is possible that she had already passed away or that they had separated or divorced. Ernest would have been around 19 years old at this time and Melvin, 17.
Since John died in 1963, he must have been around 80 years old at that time.
In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census for Cicero, Illinois (Cook County), living on a street listed as "49 Court", but whose house number is listed as "1432" (perhaps an apartment building or complex?), I found the following entry as indexed on ancestry.com:
Name: John Kaminskas (arrived in the U.S. in 1913)
Age: 80
Estimated birth year: abt 1850
Birthplace: Lithuania
Spouse's name: Mary (arrived in the U.S. in 1913)
Age: 71
Estimated birth year: 1859
Birthplace: Lithuania
Race: White
Others in the household:
Name Age
Ernest Kaminskas, age 7, grandchild (born Illinois around 1923)
Melvin Kaminskas, age 5, grandchild (born Illinois around 1925)
Roomer:
Stella Danbarss (or, Daubaras), age 19
John and Mary were married around 1880 in what was then the Russian Empire (Lithuania was simply an area within that Empire from 1795 to WWI).
It cannot be determined from the Census alone, whether Melvin and Ernest were simply visiting their grandparents at the time of the Census (Mary 30, 1930) or were living with them. The names of their parents are not given.
According to the Social Security Death Index, Melvin died on July 29, 2008 in Grundy, Illinois. You might be able to obtain his obituary from the local library or newspaper there. You could also obtain his application for Social Security which may have the names of his parents.
As Marie pointed out, you can obtain the birth records online for a fee of $15 each for both Melvin and Ernest, which will assuredly note the names and perhaps birthplaces of his parents. Ernest's marriage record is also available, all at the online Cook County Clerk's Office athttp://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/Search.aspx. You'll first have to register (for free). Ernest was born on April 18, 1923 and Melvin on April 26, 1925.
I think perhaps I had misundertstood your message, and that the unknown brother of Charles had sons Melvin and Ernest? So that would make John the brother of Charles. You may want to look at this site
http://198.173.15.34/NR/default.aspx
and search the last name of Kaminskas. Note 3 names, of John J., Charles, and Vincas, all tailors. In an obit on William Vincent Kaminskas (Kamm), died 11/28/1955, it names 3 brothers, Charles, John and Anthony, as well as a son Albert Kamm.
Marie's excellent find leads to the naturalization record of John J. Kaminskas, born on June 06, 1883. The fact that this date is just one day off from the birth date on his WWII draft record lends credence the likelihood that both records are for the same person.
His date of arrival in the U.S. is given as May 19, 1907, but my experience indicates that such dates ought to be considered approximations even though they may be very specific like this. The reason is that many immigrants did not remember exactly when the day or even year of their arrival, so they gave their best recollection. So I always search using a range of years, usually 2 or 3 years on either side of the "known" year.
His place of birth is listed as "Vielkowski" in "Russia/Lithuania." Lithuanian does not use the letter "w" as Polish does and the ending "-ski" is Polish also. But Lithuanian uses "v" instead of "w" and "-skis" or "-skai" instead of "-ski" for place name endings. So the spelling of this place name in Lithuanian would be something like "Vilkovskis" or "Vilkoviskai".
This may well be the town of Vilkavis^kis in the district of the same name. This town was very near the borders of present day Kaliningrad (formerly East Prussia) and Poland. It is spelled Wylkowyszki in Polish, Vilkovishki in Russian, and Wilkowischken in German. The "s^" is the letter "s" with a little birdie over it (typed "s^" on non-Lithuanian keyboards). It is pronounced "sh" as in the English word "shout." So the town name is pronounced vil-kah-VISH-kis.
You can email them in English but their replies may well be in Lithuanian. They need to have the given and surnames of the person (give them all known variant spellings), their year of birth, and the name of the town or village they were born in. Any additional information would be very useful to them and make their searching easier and faster. Some records have been destroyed, so not every birth, marriage or death record is available, but there are very many of them.
I also found a Canada-U.S. border crossing record for Joseph Kaminski in Nov. 1906, who was 25 years old, married, a carpenter, going to his brother, Anthoni at 4512 Polan (Paulina?) St. in Chicago. He arrived in Halifax, Canada, on March 06, 1906. This may or may not be your John J., but since he had a brother in Cook County named Anthony and his arrival date is close to that of John J., I thought it worthwhile to make note of him.
Per Family Search Records: Birth Certficate: Tony Diksrai 14 Sep 1912, Chicago Illinois. Mother: ZOFIJA JANKAUSKAS 22 yrs (b. abt 1890) father Kazimieras Diksrai 27 yrs (b. abt 1885). May be the person you are researching. I am not related to this Jankauskas. Carl J
Per Family Search records: Birth Certficate: Anna Diktis born 18 Aug 1914, Chicago, Ill. Father: Kazimer Diktis 28 yrs Mother: Sophie Jankowska 25 yrs residence 149 46th Ave< Chicago, Ill. This appears to be another child of the Zofija Jankauskas cited in my previous message. Hope this helps. Could not find this family in any census records. Carl J
I have discovered some more facts about Elsbieta. Her daughter Julia was asked, before she died, the names of the towns and villages she had heard her parents and family from Lithuania refer to in their conversationswhen she was a child. They are as follows:
VIRBALIS
ALVITAS
KYBARTAI ( J)
PAJEVONYS
KATURVALAKIAI (Keturvalakiai)
VILKAVISKIS (Wolves)
VISTYTIS (Little chicken) (Where Elsbietas husband Juozas came from
VYZAINIS
SESUPE (pronounced Sheshoope) (River going through Marijampole)
PAVYSTITIS
PILVISKAI (pronounced Pilvishkay) (A town on the river Sesupe)
SMALENAI
REKETIJA (pronounced Rakatiay) ( Right on the border)
Also we understand that their local church was in Smalenai which was about 12 miles away from where they lived, and that on special occasions they used to walk or go to Seinei (Sejny) to Mass.
I have been to Lithuania and deduced that my great grandmother couldn't have lived in Kalvaria itself as they could never have travelled to Seinei as it is simply too far away.
The language here is a massive problem. It might as well be in Cuneiform. This was the problem we found in Kalvaria. There was no communication possible other than sign language.
I was intrigued by your mention of the villages of Alvitas, Virbalis, and Kybartai. My grandfather was born in Alvitas,his mother was born in Virbalis, and I have cousins living in Kybartai.
The Sesupe River is a long and meandering river in southwest Lithuania. It also runs through Kalvarija which is south of Marijampole.
I've been to Kalvarija and found sound other cousins who live there now. fortunately, I have some Lithuanian fluency and was able to converse with the relatives i found there.
Where is Smalenai and is that the current spelling? I couldn't find it in my map index.
I dont know where Smalenai is unfortunately. My daughter discoverd that Elsbieta Kadisius lived there by talking to my great aunt Julie (who died about 15 years ago).
It cropped up amongst the other place names which Julie quoted me. She was a very erudite woman and I would imagine that her spelling was correct. We went all through the names and I asked at the time for her to spell them out. She had a sort of photographic memory. she herself was born in London in about 1902 and never went to Lithuania.She also volunteered some of the translations of those names. She was really the torchbearer of the family for our Lithuanian heritage.
If I knew where Smalenai was I would almost be home and dry. Perhaps it was just a hamlet of a couple of houses.
I really appreciate all your help. You have a fantastic website. Up until discovering it I thought that the only comprehensive 'roots' type websites were Jewish. Obviously that is not the case. Nevertheless I have learned a lot from some of those websites. Those people certainly believe in keeping their traditions alive.
I'm confident someone will know where Smalenai is, or was.
Here are some candidates for "Smalenai", all in the old Suwalki gubernia:
Smalininkai in the Kalvarija district, just south of the town of Kalvarija
Smalinyc^ia in the Marijampole and the Vilkavis^kis districts
Smalis^ke in the Lazdijai district
Smalnyc^enai in the Kalvarija district
Smarliunai in the Lazdijai district
I checked the index for some old maps (1900 - 1939) of the area and find nothing other than archaic or Polish spellings of the above.
On a 2002 road map of Lithuania I find in present day Poland a town Smolany shown also as Smalenai (Lithuanian), on the same road as Sejny (Polish) also listed as Seinai (Lithuanian). these are very near Poland's border to Lithuania. You had mentioned these 2 towns as places where your relative had gone to church, so I think they are good candidates for the towns you seek.
I do recall the names of Ballau and Mary Streets. I also recall many of the names of siblings/half siblings. I have a very, very old photo that my deceased Mom told me was a photo of my Dad's parents, but no names on the back of the photo. Now that you mention it I do believe that Josephine was my Dad's mon and she died. Dad father remarried. You have shed light on this for me and I am so very grateful. Do you know if I can find out if any of my relatives are alive either in US or Lithuania? I have no living family and would love to find a distant relative.
Again, thank you for all the information. It's pieces of a puzzle that I want to put together.
The surname "Dapsis" is probably spelled "Daps^ys" and pronounced dahp-SHEES. The emphasis could easily shift back among non-Lithuanians because so few English words are accented on the final syllable. The "s^" with a little birdie over it is pronounced "sh" as in the English word "sheep." It is typed "s^" on non-Lithuanian keyboards. It is unlikely that it was shortened from "Donavich" or anything beginning "don-", which indicates a different name entirely, perhaps someone's maiden name.
In the current online phone book for Lithuania http://www.zebra.lt/lt/suzinok/telefonai) which is unfortunately only in Lithuanian, there are these listings for the surname Daps^ys (there are only a few listings for Daps^as):
Alfonsas Daps^ys
J. Janonio g. 12-11
Tels^iu miesto sen.
Tels^iu m.
844432286
Antanas Daps^ys
Z^irmunu g. 40-30
Vilniaus m.
852797265
Bronius Daps^ys
Mindaugo g. 13-1
Anyks^iu sen.
Anyks^c^iu m.
838151916
Dalius Daps^ys
P. Mas^ioto g. 43-6
Pakruojo sen.
Pakruojo m.
842151566
Danielius Daps^ys
Gelez^inkelio g. 1-10
Vilniaus m.
852611640
Gediminas Daps^ys
Statybininku g. 11 - 15
Panevez^io m.
845440553
Henrikas Daps^ys
Rudes g. 8-86
S^iauliu m.
841435482
Jonas Daps^ys
Aus^ros g. 3
Kretingos miesto sen.
Kretingos m.
844554513
Juozas Daps^ys
Kairis^kiu k.
Papiles sen.
Naujosios Akmenes raj.
842550052
Jurgis Daps^ys
J. Matulaic^io a. 5-3
Vilniaus m.
852301793
Kastytis Daps^ys
Parko g. 61-1
Vilniaus m.
852679713
Kstutis Daps^ys
S^iaures pr. 3-15
Kauno m.
837712211
Pranas Daps^ys
Sodo g. 49c
S^iauliu m.
841544485
Vaclovas Daps^ys
Klaipedos g. 10
Tels^iu miesto sen.
Tels^iu m.
844474964
Plus the following for unmarried women whose father was named Daps^ys:
Apolonija Daps^yte
Ramygalos g. 82-33
Panevez^io m.
845432945
Birute Daps^yte
Z^aliuju Ez^eru g. 11-54
Vilniaus m.
852701439
Danute Daps^yte
Ramuc^iu g. 39-16
Naujosios Akmenes miesto sen.
Naujosios Akmenes m.
842556095
Danute Daps^yte
Dainu g. 49-20
S^iauliu m.
841417450
Elena Daps^yte
L. Vaineikio g. 23
Palangos m.
846053368
Regina Daps^yte
Rygos g. 25-14
Vilniaus m.
852443264
Plus another 37 listings for women married to a man named Daps^ys or Daps^sas (the ending for married women's names is the same regardless of the ending of her husband's name).
The abbreviations are:
g. = gatve, street
m. = miestas, town or city
sen. = seniunija, elderate or eldership (a kind of administrative division larger than a town, but smaller than a city or district, perhaps like an American township or borough or an area of a city)
miesto sen. = miesto seniunija, elderate of the town
k. = kaimas, village
raj. = rajonas, district (compare to the English "region")
The endings "-o", "-u", "-aus", "-os" all indicate the possessive case, meaning "of or belonging to" as in the phrase "city of Vilnius" = "Vilniaus miestas".
This is a fairly long list of possible relatives, but it is a good bet that some of them, at least, are related, however distantly, to your family. Once you find out where the Daps^ys family was from, you might be able to narrow the above list down significantly.
The given name Casimir in Lithuanian is Kazimieras, but in America it was very commonly changed to Charles -- for reasons no one can explain exactly, just as the Lithuanian Vincentas often became William in America, even though it means Vincent.
I found some old papers with the name Portsianko, or something very close to that. I also found Donovich (sp) (not Dapsis) on an old Will so I do belive the name was changed. My father Charles was also known as Casmir or Casimir in the Will document. Those that you mentioned were some of his sibilings.
Lorraine. Per Ancestry.com: World War I Draft Card (1918) Kazimer Dopszis dob: 31 May 1876 in Lithuania. wife: Josephine residence: 520 Mary St, Scranton, Pa. Employed: Scranton Coal Co. May connect to the family you are researching. Carl J
I am looking for information on my deceased father's family. Their name was Dapsis, they grew up in North Scranton, went to St. Josephs Church, burried from Noreika Funeral Home. He had 12 sibilings total. Stella Kabillus was his step sister, Mary Zygmont was a sister as was Mary Zigmont (Zygmont) and Ann Dority who married and moved to CT. Michael (Micky)Dapsis was one of his brothers who passed awayed serveral years ago in Florida. He was Lithuanian and I really don't know much about his family because so many had passed when I was very young.
I would love to hear from anyone with information.
A fair amount of searching ancestry.com produced limited results.
The 1930 U.S. Census for Scranton, Pa, shows the following at 2209 Baullen Ave:
Name: Peter Partsianka [I read it as Portsianko]
Home in 1930: Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania
Age: 49
Estimated birth year: abt 1881
Birthplace: Poland
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's name: Josephine
Race: White
Name Age
Peter Partsianka, 49
Josephine Partsianka, 42 [born in Russia/Lithuania around 1888]
Domicella Dapsis, 16, stepdaughter [born around 1914 in Pennsylvania, as were all the children)
Eva Dapsis 15, stepdaughter [born around 1915]
Charles Dapsis 13, stepson [born around 1917]
Helen Dapsis 11, stepdaughter [born around 1919]
Stelle Dapsis 10, stepdaughter [born around 1920]
Adella Dapsis 8, stepdaughter [born around 1922]
Michael Dapsis 6, stepson [born around 1924]
The Social Security Death Index shows a Michael Dapsis, born Sept. 12, 1923, died Jan. 07, 1994 in Lake Placid, Florida - SS card issued in Pennsylvania. Also, Charles Dapsis, 18411 Clarks Summit, PA, born 12/05/1916, died May, 1984, and his wife, Martha, born July 29, 1918.
The following entries were in City Directories for Scranton. These are the earliest other than those in the late 1800's. City Directories often had inaccuracies:
1936 (listed by name)
Dapsis, Charles, 2209 Ballau Ave [note 1930 address, the same]
Dapsis, Dorothy, domestic, same address
Dapsis, Eva, same address
Dapsis, Helen, same address
Dapsis, Joseph (wife Andora F), 2424 Heermans St
Dapsis, Stephen (wife Agnes), laborer, 2424 Heermans St
1937 (listed by name)
Dapsis, Charles, 2325 Brighton Ave
Dapsis, Jos (wife Andor), 2325 Brighton Ave
Dapsis, Jos A, same address
Dapsis, Stella, 659 Mary
Dapsis, Steph (wife Agnes), 2424 Heermans St
1938 (listed by street)
2325 Brighton St - no one named Dapsis
2209 Ballau Ave - no one named Dapsis, but Fedor Portsianko lived there
2424 Heermans St - Dapsis [no given name]
1939 (listed by name)
Dapsis, Adella, student, 2209 Ballau Ave [she would be around 17 years old]
Dapsis, Joseph (wife Andora F), miner, 423 Charles St
Dapsis, Michael, student, 2209 Ballau Ave [half brother of Adella?]
Portsianko, Fedor, laborer, 2209 Ballau Ave [but no wife listed]
1940 (listed by name)
Dapsis, Adella, 2209 Ballau
Dapsis, Joseph (wife Andora F), laborer, 426 Charless
Portsianko, Fedor, 2209 Ballau
1942/43 (listed by name)
Dapsis, Jos (wife Andora F), laborer, 423 Charles
Portsianko, Fedor, 2209 Ballau
I did not do a thorough search of variant spellings, other streets, etc., nor of the other surnames you mentioned. Strangely, I could find no earlier records in the Census, etc., for any of the above named people. I wonder if the surname Dapsis was a short form of some longer name.
I find a family in Scranton 1920, indexed on HeritageQuest as Dapses:
Charles 40 Poland/Russia arrived 1901
Josephine 34 Poland/Russia arrived 1910
Annie 14 PA
Mary 10 PA
Anthony 8 PA
Domitcella 7 PA
Eva 5 PA
Charles 3yrs 1 mo PA
Helen 2 yrs 1 mo PA
Stella 6 months PA
1905 Vol 73
Charley Dapies wed Katy Pazakene
(note that her name-ending indicates she was married before)
1910 Vol 95
Charles Dopsek wed Terphalia Mathulskie
it notes that his previous marriage ended by death
I don't know if these 2 marriages are your relative, but they were the closest match that I could find to his name.
Are you certain that Stella was a step-sister to your father? From the census data it looks like Annie could of been the daughter of Charles's first wife, perhaps the Katy Pazakene.
Thanks Marie and Carl. Your information was brilliant. In fact its pretty well the total of the information we have got. Although we do have a list of brothers and sisters of Elsbieta in the 1890's handed down by word of mouth. Its like looking for a needle in a haystack especially as none of us now speaks Lithuanian. The last surviving Lithuanian speaker in our family died 15 years ago. How do I Go about gaining access to Lithuanian records etc. Could there still be branches of our family in Lithuania - there must be I suppose. Their family was large and I doubt they all emigrated. My great grandmother Elsbieta died in 1957 aged 84 in London. The name itself intrigues me as internet searches only seem to reveal a Jewish connection to the name. (the Kadish is a Jewish prayer for the dead) the whole family have always been Catholics so we have speculated on the origins of the name putting two and two together and maybe wrongly concluding that there was some intermarriage, but we may be completely wide of the mark. My great grandfather Juozas Kurtinaitis died at the age of 41 in 1911. He also had a brother called Juozas (can you believe that? - the people responsible for the name of the baby at the christening got it wrong so they ended up with two brothers with the same name) How confusing is that? His was the first funeral to be held at the new Lithuanian church in Hackney, London. The service was conducted by a young priest, Fr Mantvila who then sailed for New York on the Titanic.
If anyone has any other information please email me at: Peter.kurton@virgin.net
If you have the given and surnames of your ancestors, reasonably reliable birth years, and the name of the village(s) they lived in, you are well positioned to request translations of birth records held for them in the Lithuanian Historical Archives. Your request can be emailed in English, but the responses will likely be in Lithuanian. The latter problem is easily solved by posting the response to one of the Lithuanian genealogy web sites, like this one, or its larger Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LithuanianGenealogy/).
If you can afford it, you could alternatively hire a private genealogy researching in Lithuania, who will do an exhaustive search and likely find records for many ancestors. The fee will be much higher than the Archives' staff searching for single records at a pop, but the result will likely be much more extensive and faster.
Judging by my own experience, I think it is likely that there are descendants of your ancestors who are still living in Lithuania, though their connection may be at a farther remove than you would hope for. It is also likely that they will not know as much of their genealogical history as you. Their knowledge of their ancestors may go back at most three generations, and thus may not be easily linked with your ancestors.
I did a search of the online phone book for Lithuania http://www.zebra.lt/lt/suzinok/telefonai) for the two surnames you present here. I found 77 listings for people with the surname beginning "kurtinait-", including of course the masculine singular, Kurtinaitis, and the form of the name for married women, Kurtinaitiene, as well as that for unmarried daughters of men named Kurtinaitis, Kurtinaityte. A good number of these live in the areas you have mentioned near the border with the former East Prussia (now Kaliningrad) and south towards the Polish border.
There are also perhaps 20 or 30 listings for the surname Kadis^ius (pronounced kah-DIH-shoos) and the female forms, Kadis^iute and Kadis^iene, with a couple from the Marijampole area.
The area that your ancestors were from was in the Suwalki gubernia or governate (a kind of province) of the Russian Empire from 1795 to WWI, an area with a mixed ethnic population of Lithuanians, Poles, Old (or Baltic) Prussians, and Germans -- many of whom lived on both sides of the present day borders between Lithuania and Kalinigrad and Poland.
I think it is very difficult to determine whether there had been intermarriage between ethnic Lithuanians, traditionally Roman Catholic with a few Protestants, mostly Lutherand, with Jews in Lithuania, but it seems unlikely. I checked the extensive website jewishgen.org with its extensive information about Jews in Lithuania (among other places) and found only this surname, Kedeshes, in the Ukmerge area well to the east of the Suwalki gubernia. These folks might have some connection in the distant past to your Kadis^ius ancestors, but it seems unlikely.
Also, Czar Alexander III promulgated a series of laws against the Jews in the 1880's. These laws were called the May Laws and they included such prohibitions as:
1. "It is henceforth forbidden for Jews to settle outside the cities and townships."
2. "The registration of property and mortgages in the names of Jews is to be halted temporarily. Jews are also prohibited from administering such properties."
3. "It is forbidden for Jews to engage in commerce on Sundays and Christian holidays."
Because of these strictures (among other things, like state sanctioned pogroms against the Jews), they lived predominantly in the towns and cities rather than the villages and country-side, where by far the majority of ethnic Lithuanians lived. Around 1900, only 2% of Lithuanians lived in towns or cities. These folks were deeply agricultural while the Jews were forced into trade, teaching, medicine, craftsmen, etc. During the early 20th century, the Lithuanian-speaking population of Vilnius constituted only a small minority -- with Polish, Yiddish, and Belarusian speakers comprising the majority of the city's population.
So all things considered, my betting is that while there may have been some Jewish roots in your Lithuanian family tree, they would be probably be in the early 19th century or earlier.
This information from Scotlandęs people shows that one Kadish family was Jewish and a Kurtinaitis family was Catholic.
There is the following marriage record 1903 KADISH ABRAHAM MANSON FANNY GORBALS GLASGOW/LANARK
They were married at the Oxford Street synagogue in Glasgow. His parents were Myer Kadish and Mindel Kadish (Zuchavitski). Her parents were Morris Manson and Fanny Manson (Dubrovitch).
There is the following birth record 1912 KURTINAITIS JUOZAS M BELLSHILL /LANARK and he died in the following year. His parents were Juozas Kurtinaitis and Katra Kurtinaitis (Dobitskutie)
There is an Australian lady called Louise Albitis (Albaitis) who is researching the name Kurtinaitis. I think that she is a member of this site and is listed in the section of this site that people list the names they are researching.
The family settled in Middlesbrough and some moved to Australia.
I research the name Albaitis and that is how I know Louise. The Albaitis family came from the same area as your family so there is a possibility that you are connected.
Just as a matter of interest there are some alien records in the Archives for a part of London. Very few of these exist so it may be worth looking at.
Thanks Maureen. There is a man in Lithuania who is doing his own research on the name. He is a top cancer specialist so he won't be very hard to find for anyone who wants to contact him. Strangely he has exactly the same name as my Great Grandfather, Juozas Kurtinaitis.
He told me by email in very good English there are about 100 families in Lithuania with that name. Apparently the name derives, in his opinion from the word Kurtinys which means ' Wood grouse'.
(Why do other members of my family in England always laugh when I tell them that)?
Having said that, I dont think 100 families is as many as it sounds. I have an idea that the name may not go back very far. There are already scores in the USA and they mainly stemmed from immigration in the 19th century, I would imagine. I think the origin of the name would be more easily findable if one spoke the language and lived in Lithuania.
One theory in my family was formulated based on the root of the name 'Kurt' which could imply that our forebears may have come from Germany migrating in search of work, possibly mining, but I personally always thought that was a long shot.
Another interesting snippet has been a tale handed down by word of mouth relating to Napoleon's troops retreating through my ancestors' village, finding food (sacks of peas), which the villagers had hidden and throwing them in the river. They were only bits of boys (the exact description)according to our family tradition. This would tie up with Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1815. His army consisted of boys recruited because his previous armies of seasoned troop had been so severely depleted by previous campaigns. On the other hand if they threw these peas in the river surely the river wasn't frozen. Recent excavation of mass graves in Vilnius and the analysis of the bones etc confirms the tender age of most of the French soldiers who froze and starved to death, found there which confirms our folk tale concerning the age of the troops. I am led to speculating that maybe it wasn't the deepest winter with the river not yet frozen in which the peas incident took place. So what time of year was it? and what was the route taken by Napoleon's troops during the retreat? if indeed this incident did happen during the retreat and not during the advance. Why did they throw the sacks of peas in the river instead of eating them? My guess is that they took all they could carry and disposed of the rest to spite the peasants.
Has anyone got any ideas on this story. What was Napoleon's exact route through Lithuania, going AND coming. I believe this story stems from the Kadisius family but who knows it could be from the Kurtinaitis side. So did those troops go anywhere near Smalenai (Smolany), which I now believe we have established as the nearest village to my Great Grandmother (Kadisius). I understand that many French soldiers were taken in and helped by Lithuanian peasants on the retreat and that there are now families with French surnames in the country.
I found it extremely difficult to find detailed maps of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812. A simple and not detailed, but clear, map showing the retreat route is athttp://www.napoleonguide.com/maps_russret_konig.htm
The most detailed narrative (but not so much as to lose the main threads) that I found about the invasion and retreat, which basically followed the same route both ways, was on a Google book by a Lt. Col. R.G. Burton:
http://www.archive.org/stream/napoleonsinvasi01burtgoog#page/n237/mode/1up
The table of contents says there are 6 maps, but apparently Google did not scan them.
The description of the invasion of Lithuania starts on page 68. Unfortunately, the village names are given in Russian or German (and maybe Polish sometimes), so sometimes it is difficult to determine where some locations are in today's Lithuania (some were easy; Alexoten = Aleksotas, just across the river from the city of Kaunas; Nieman River = Nemunas; Vilkovishki = Vilkavis^kis).
The description of the beginning of the retreat starts at page 237.
It seems that the invading forces were divided up and entered Russia at different places, to the north towards Riga, from the south through Belarus, and the main force led by Napoleon himself through Vilkavis^kis, Kaunas, and Vilnius into Russia proper. The largest force crossed the Nemunas into Kaunas at a place selected by Napoleon himself. It appears that they took a pretty straight route to Vilnius, both going and coming. The retreat took place in late November and December, so I doubt that any peas were around, plus the countryside had been either pillaged by French forces or destroyed by Russian troops, to the point that there was extremely little food for the retreating remnant of Napoleon's army to seize.
From what I can tell, it is possible some of the invading force did go through the area around Smolany. I'd suggest a Google search about Napoleon in Poland, which might reveal more details about that part of the invasion. Most sites I found start the story at Aleksotas or Kaunas.
I always imagined that the peas were dried. I would have thought that they were harvested about mid summer and then dried and stored in sacks to tide them over the winter. I know Lithuania is extremely cold and their summer is shorter than in England as they do not get the benefit of the Gulf stream as we do, but do the rivers freeze up? and if so, when? Also when do they thaw? Those peas were definitely chucked in the river.
I went there in about the end of march one year and as we flew in I was surprised to see snow still on the ground and many small lakes frozen solid. And it was bitterly cold there although the large rivers I saw from the ground were free flowing.
Nicholas "Mike" Gailius, b. 1885 in Skaudvile, Lithuania, and Cazimiera Zukaskas (b. 1888)were married about 1906 in Lithuania. Nicholas came to Illinois, USA about 1909, and Cazimiera followed in 1913. It's assumed all other family members stayed in Lithuania (Bolandis, Poplauskas). Anyone searching these lines?
I'm not related but looked at the Ellis Island data base. Not sure if you already saw this, but there is a Micolai Gailus arrived 6/4/1909, from wife Kazimiera Gailus in Berdzie (also given as town of birth), going to his brother in law Anton Mozeris in Glen Carbon IL, (which is in Madison county, near St Clair county IL).
I was just curious if anyone's had experience with them. I plan to order gifts for my family, and will let you know how it works out. I see they offer a couple of free weekly newspapers too, if anyone is interested.
In case anyone is thinking about ordering from the web site I posted in my previous message, I discovered over this past weekend that their web site is having some problems. You can view it OK, but their "checkout" option was not working. They had me place my order by email, and now I will call them with the charge card info (don't think it's a good idea to email those details). They had most everything I wanted in stock, with one substitution, so I am happy about that.
They hope that their web site glitch will be corrected later today.
Can anyone throw any light on further details of my great grandmother Elsbieta Kadisius or Kadish, who came to London from Kalvaria in abut 1890. She was born in 1874. She came with her sister Josephine? She married Juozas Kurtinaitis whom she met in London. Her mother was Polish Whose maiden name was Damansks or Demensky. Does anyone know which precise village or homestead they came from. They had many brothers and sisters some of whom emigrated to the US we think, and one brother went to Brazil.
I can't say if this family is related, but in a book about victims of Soviet terror, WW2 era, there was an entry on Antanas Kadisius, born 1891, son of Vincas, lived in Liubavas, Marijampoles, district and region, arrested 1940 for illegally crossing the border, imprisoned and released. Liubavas is very near Kalvarija
One other entry shows:
Kadysas (Kadisius?), Petras son of Juozas, born 1924, resides Vilkakarcemes village, Lazdiju region.
I could not find this village on a map. I also could not find anything for certain in other USA data bases that could connect to your Kadisius family.
The name of this village is obviously misspelled. Go tohttp://www.maps.lt/, click on EN (English) and type in Liubavas. This should reveal three listings: Marijampoles, Vilkaviskis and Vilnius. There is a Liubavas in the Diocese of Vilkaviskis close to Kalvarija in the Deanery of Marijampole. At that time, it was under Polish control and I suspect the Vikakarcemes Village name was misspelled and is probably the village of Vilkaviskis. For physical locations, you can check Google Maps. Hope this helps in some small way. With kind regards, Jonas Tomas Gerulis
Just to clarify, if you reread my first response, there is a letter L in the town spelling. This spelling comes from the book Lietuvos Gyventoju Genocidas, and I have rechecked the spelling they listed and it is Vilkakarcemes, with the accent over the c.
It's funny how I forget sometimes the most obvious place to look -- in our own backyard, the LGGS databases. Well done on a nice catch.
I have looked high and low for this place including Jewishgen, the old Polish and German maps (1918 - 1940's), but have not been able to find it. In fact, a Google search yields only the posting originally made here in this thread.
The closest I could come was on the Polish Genelogical Society of America's site where there was this village name: Wielka Cerkwica and this translations from the Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego - Warsaw 1893, Translated by Gerald R. Schmidt, Pittsburgh, PA, gshmit@PeoplePC.com (Feb 2003):
"In i"Obodowo. A noble village. Its size is 951.14 morgs. There are 52 buildings, 17 dwelling houses, and 131 inhabitants, of whom 97 are Lutheran, and 34 Catholic. In the 15th century the village belonged to the Komierowski s, later to the owner of Sosno. parish of Waldowo."
I mention this because it is a place name of two words that correspond somewhat closely with Vilka Karc^emes (Wielka Cerkwica). It turns out that "Wielka" means "great", whereas "vilka-" is the root for the Lithuanian word "wolf." Furthermore, it is located well to the west, deep inside Poland, and hardly a location where many ethnic Lithuanians lived.
So in a significant way, the question remains: where is or was Vilkakarc^emes?
I also could not find the town on a map. Wish there was access to the 1939 map referenced. It could well be outside the Lithuanian border today. I looked in my dictionary and found the word Karc^iama, meaning pub, inn or tavern. So maybe this was a tiny place that did not survive.
Likely the village in question was destroyed by the Soviets during thier farm collectivization efforts during the 1950s.
I have a copy of the Lithuanian map set that was reproduced by the Lithuanian Scouts in Chicago that I could check for our missing village.
I used www.maps.lt to look for Vilkakarc^emes but didn't find it. On the other hand, I discovered that when I switched to the aerial view, the www.maps.lt site had images with better resolution than Google.earth has for Lietuva.
I was able to zoom in on family farms as well as church graveyards that are not visible with Google.earth.
The problem I have with your theory of Soviet destruction is that I cannot find this place on maps dating well before the Soviet era, even before WWII and WWI. Seehttp://igrek.amzp.pl/index.php, which uses the maps athttp://english.mapywig.org/news.php, which include both Polish and German maps, some of which are nicely detailed and with names spelled using Polish and/or German (sometimes even Lithuanian) village and dvarai names. This is one of my main resources for finding places not found on today's maps. The references posted so far are from the time of Lithuanian independence, 1924 and 1930, I think.
This one is a real puzzler. Maybe if we looked at the original records that use this name....? I tried a search of the Ellis Island data base using only the "sounds like" town name and Jewish, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian ethnicity and 1909 - 1924. I got a lot of Polish names, none of which lined up tightly with the one in question, especiall the "-karc-" part. I tried a similar search using only "town name" starts with "vilkak-" and got only one "hit" in the entire data base from 1892 to 1924: Vilkakarceni (from 1922). So it does seem that such place existed, but it must have been mighty small and maybe didn't warrant a map name.
I too thought the village spelling was garbled until Marie found it in the 1939 Lithuanian gazetteer here on LGGS with that spelling.
So that means there was such a place name in Lithuania in 1939. My father's village had four houses in it and it's on www.maps.lt but not in the 1939 gazetteer (or at least the portion of the index list we have on-line).
The maps put out by the Lithuanian Scouts in 1998 are xerox copies and hard to read. I use to have a CD with copies of the original maps but have misplaced it which would make this whole effort much easier.
Per the Family Record Search site: Death cerificate for Paul Kadis: died on 11 June 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio. Paul was born on 18 Sep 1879 in Panevezys (sic) Lithuania. His father was Mathew Kadisius, mother Rozalia. In the 1930 census Paul Kadis his wife Marcella and 3 children are living in Cleveland, Ohio. The census indicates that Paul came to the US in 1904. An unusual surname so it may be a connection to the family you are seeking. Good luck! Carl J
I'm suprised to find his name (my grandfather, Paul Kadis) listed here. He passed away before I was born, so I never met him. My Father never spoke about him, or any of his family, (other than, he was once arrested for throwing a brick thru a window of a Cleveland streetcar, on a winter day, because no streetcar would stop to pick him up!)
That's ALL I know of him! Too bad. Being named after him, I wish my father told me more!
Your grandfather seems all right to me. Just demonstrating his humanity by throwing the brick. Who knows what pressure he was under. And why on earth were they not stopping for him? I have had that, buses going straight past just because they are late and want to make up time and get back on schedule. When you have somewhere to get in a hurry and they are doing that it can be a tad frustrating.
Well, it appears that we cannot find the exact place, Vilkakarc^emes, where your ancestors from the Kalvarija area originated. Let me try to summarize.
It may have been a very small settlement and abandoned early on (e.g., certainly by WWII). That it existed is beyond question, but it does not show up even on old (i.e., pre-WWI) maps.
But members of this group have found some evidence that it did exist in the 1920's and 1930's. It was most likely not far from the present day village of Randis^ke in the Lazdijai district, just north and a little east of the town of Lazdizjai. It appears to be west of a very large lake, called "Dus" in Polish and Dusia in Lithuanian. It was in an old area not far from Seinai (Sejny in Polish). All of it was in the province or gubernia of the Russian Empire called Suwalki, an area inter-populated with ethnic Lithuanians and Poles.
Thanks to John Peters narrowing down the village location, I was able to find it on the vintage (1920-1923) topographical map set that was copied and put out by the Lithuanian Scouts and published in 1998.
On www.maps.lt, it is about where Bulotiske is shown to be located now. My 1920 map set shows Bulotiske being where Dainavele is shown to be. Vilkakarc^emes was 3 kilometers SW of Rudamina (both are NW of Lazdijai).
The location of Vilkakarc^emes is where the Trakis^kes miskas (forest) is located on www.maps.lt.
I checked the detailed Polish topographical map and found the Polish village spelling for the village of Vilkarc^emes. It appears to be called Wilcza on the map sheet.
Ursule Pavilonaite - Mykolas Valincius / Name Help Please
by Lucas
Hello I'm researching about my genealogy. I know that my great-grand parents went from Lithuania to Latino America around 1930s. I have found their arrival certificates.
I'm trying to find out what kind of changes their names and their parents names may have suffered during the emigration. If something is out of place, could you tell me what might be the correct spelling?
Great-grand mother: Ursule Pavilonaite => Parents: Antonio Pavilone and Ursule Paskauchaite
Great-grand father: Mykolas Valincius => Parents: Mykolas Valincius and Ursule Ckianochaite
Ursule Pavilonaite - Mykolas Valincius / Name Help Please
by
Lucas,
Here is how these names would be spelled and pronounced in Lithuanian today:
Great-grand mother: Ursule Pavilonaite
The given name is spelled Urs^ule and pronounced OOR-shoo-leh. The letter "s" has a little birdie over it (typed on non-Baltic keyboards as "s^") and is pronounced "sh" as in the English word "ship." The other "s" is pronounced as in the English word "stop."
The surname Pavilonaite indicates that it is a maiden name, i.e., the name used by an unmarried woman or girl whose father's surname was Pavilonas. Her mother's name would be Mrs. Paviloniene.
Parents: Antonio Pavilone and Ursule Paskauchaite
The English given name Anthony is written Antanas in Lithuanian. The ending "-e" on Antanas' surname is not the ending used in Lithuanian. It is more likely "-as" (judging by his daughter's name) or "-is" (judging by phone book listings). So it would be either Pavilonas or Pavilonis. Either way, the surname is called a patronmymic, i.e., a name formed from the name of a father or ancestor, in this case, from an ancestor named Povilas, Paul. The rules for spelling were not standardized in Lithuanian until after WWI, so there are more variants found on the endings for men and women prior to that time. The ending "-e", however, would likely be limited to women rather than men.
The surname Paskauchaite is a phontetic spelling (i.e., spelled the way it sounds) of probably Pas^kauskas, pronounced pahsh-KAUS-kahs for an unmarried girl or woman whose father's name would be Pas^kauskas. Again, the 1st letter "s" has the birdie so it sounds like "sh" rather than plain "s". Lithuanian does not use the letter combination "ch" as English does in the word "chrystal". That "ch" sound is only represented by "c^", i.e., "c" with a birdie. The English sound of hard "c" in "catholic" is represented by the letter "k" in Lithuanian. If the surname is indeed pronounced pahsh-KAU-chai-teh, then it would have to be written Pas^kauc^aite in Lithuanian. If that is the correct spelling then, her father's surname would be written Pas^kauc^as, or, less likely, Pas^kauc^is.
Great-grand father: Mykolas Valincius
The given name Mykolas is Michael in English. The surname Valincius is almost certainly spelled Valinc^ius and pronounced va-LIN-choos. The unmarried daughter of Mr. Valinc^ius would be Miss Valinc^iute. The wife of Mr. Valinc^ius would be Mrs. Valinc^iene.
The surname "Ckianochaite" is the most difficult. Clearly it has the ending "-aite" used for unmarried women and girls whose father's name ends in "-as. But the beginning of it is definitely not Lithuanian; in fact, one has to wonder how "Ck-" would be pronouned! More likely, it was written "Chianochaite" as a phonetic version of either:
1. C^ianauc^aite or, less likely, C^ianoc^aite, although the combination "C^ian-" looks unlikely to me and the "-o-" may well be the Lithuanian "-au-" (the masculine form would end in "-as" and the married women's ending as usual is "-iene"; or,
2. In the "Paskauchaite" spelling, the "ch" might actually be the Lithuanian "k". If this is so here as well, the name would be spelled Kanokaite or Konaukaite and the man's version would be Kanokas or Kanaukas.
There is the surname Kanauka (Kanaukaite/Kanaukiene) in the Lithuanian phone book with a few listings. The ending "-a" is untypical in men's names though it does appear. Most men's names end in "-as", "-is", "-ys" or "-us."
But I cannot find any phone listing for any surname beginning "c^an-" or "c^on-" or "c^ian-" or "c^ion-". I have a hunch that this spelling was taken from a record written by a non-Lithuanian and that the spelling has been a bit mangled. The letter "n" is often mistaken for the letter "u" in handwritten documents, so it is even possible the name was written as "Chiauchaite", which would probably be C^iauc^aite (difficult to pronounce and thus not likely), or perhaps Kaukaite or Kauc^aite.
Well, there my best shot at letting you know what the likely Lithuanian spellings (and pronunciations) of these names would be. Perhaps someone else on this forum could chime in and be helpful.
Hello John, I am incredibly grateful for your help. I'll look into the different variants and I'll send a couple of requests to the LCVA for my great-grandparents to see if they have any more info on them.
I am looking for Algirdas Lukosevicius, son of Jonas Lukosevicius, arrested in 1941 in Zarasai.
Deported to the lumber camps in Vavilovka in 1943 and moved to Prokopyevsk in 1948.
Released from coal mines in Prokopyevsk in 1956.
He married Marija Romanova Saigasheva, a Russian from Siberia.
Jonas, his father was executed by firing squad for being a member of the Sauliai. His mother and sister died in the lumber camps. He had an older sister who was not deported.
Any advice on how to find out if he returned to Lithuania would be most welcome.
Is the LGGS dead due to lack of leadership or other reasons? I ask this question for various reasons: Membership renewal has been suspended, the Vice-President has resigned as well as some board members. Obviously, the website will continue until funds are exhausted and the LithGen Forum will continue through Yahoo because it is free. I ask this question because the President of the LGGS is not responding to any e-mail messages concerning the subject matter. With kind regards,
Jonas Tomas Gerulis
In terms of LGGS, the ongoing operations are currently at a stalemate in terms of how to move forward. This arises from several issues. The biggest issue is related to our newsletter Proteviai. Over the recent years, building the newsletter has become increasing difficult due to the lack of interest and submission of articles for the newsletter. This left us and the editor (Bless you Fred!), trying to come up with relevant and informative articles to put into the newsletter. This required a significant amount of time and effort on everyone's part and often came up short. This required us to then find previously published articles from other genealogical journals and groups that was relevant to our group. However, this did not allow us to keep the content "fresh" and as interesting for the readers as we would have liked. Additionally, the cost of printing the newsletters have significantly increased. Unfortunately, we are not the only society running into the same difficulties. Based on the number of long time members that renewed, along with new members each year, the income from membership would not continue to support the cost of editing, publishing and printing without a MAJOR increase in the membership fees at all levels. Due to the lack of content, and increasing costs of publishing, the newsletter has been currently suspended. Therefore, without the newsletter, it makes the justification for charging a membership fee extremely difficult, and thus membership has been currently suspended until we can find an alternate format that would allow us to move forward. As everyone knows, we are a completely volunteer society, and as such, we do lose members of the board from time to time due to changes in their personal/family/everyday lives and while we do our best to bring in new and interested volunteers, we just do not have the user base to draw from like some of the larger societies.
I am currently evaluating other societies and organizations to determine if there is a scheme that would support the efforts of LGGS. However, we may have to move to a donation based approach in order to support our activities. In the meantime, we will continue to support the Yahoo Group and the website, which has always been our goal and remain so until resources dictate otherwise.
As always, if you or any other member of our groups has any suggestions, we are all ears!
Warmest regards,
Richard Gostautas, President
Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society
Concerning the subject matter, I have this to say as follows:
1. Publication of the LGGS News Letter has become a problem because of cost and lack of stories to publish which I understand and am sure the other LGGS members also understand this situation.
2. If stories for the LGGS News Letter and new information is not available, just simply delete this option for current members of the LGGS as you have stated and I am sure they will understand.
3.Because of 2. above, suspension of membership renewal and new membership is like shooting yourself in the foot for lack of a better solution to the situation which may not exist.
4. I for one agree that publication of the LGGS News Letter should be deleted as a part of the LGGS membership for current members. Just simply post a message to the other members and get on with the mission of the LGGS and let by gones be by gones. God Bless "Fred Hoffman".
With kind regards,
Jonas Tomas Gerulis
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your response concerning the subject matter which I appreciate. PDF file format is the way to go according to the industry standard which is no cost to the LGGS. On a monthly basis, this would put a terrible burden on the person publishing a file which may not exist for lack of a story for publication. This seems to be the problem in terms of cost and lack of material for publication. In terms of the post from Richard Gostautas concerning my original post on the LGGS, I have this to say as follows: Richard inherited the LGGS with some problems. Since then, due to problems beyond his control, the LGGS is having problems. In view of all of the problems: lack of volunteers and board members leaving, Richard has tried to do an impossible task by himself. I have the utmost respect for him aside from some differences in the past. In view of this, I think it is high time that the membership rally around Richard expressing their thoughts and support for his efforts and go on with business as usual.
With kind regards,
Jonas Tomas Gerulis
1. New board members should be recruited as burn out is inevitable. I know
2. Jonas has some new databases to post on the web,but can't get the information onto the site. I think more than one person should have access to uploading information onto the website.
3.The current website has had nothing new for about one year. The homepage still has "Events" listed as "new" yet no event has ever been listed. "All things Lithuanian" is also listed as "new" but has never contained one item.
4. I think the hard magazine format should be abandoned in favor of more information placed on the website. I am not sure how much money is necessary to sustain the website and perhaps pay for some research, but maybe donations could cover the costs.
Thanks Jonas for bringing the problem to the surface for an open discussion, and thanks Richard for the work you have done.
Jay Zane
First, thanks to Richard and Fred for all they've done to date. Although it took sometime and nagging, I ordered and received a copy of every back issue of Proteviai last year, when I joined. I've found them invaluable to my research.
That said, I concur with the idea of trying to have the LGGS go completely digital. I'm a Software Engineer by day, and am certainly willing to roll up my sleeves and help, in any way that I can. I would love to see an eProteviai, and of course, want to see the Databases up and running on the web, too.
One thing that did occur to me - Perhaps we could open up communication with the people that publish Lituanis or Lithuanian Heritage Magazines, and see if anything can be pooled or shared between the organizations, and the LGGS.
First, major kudos to Richard, Fred, Diane, Liuda, and all of the folks who have kept the LGGS going! Your efforts are genuinely appreciated. We have benefitted greatly from the guidance and information provided for our individual family tree quests. In terms of the fate of Proteviai, I agree that if material is that hard to find and continuing to publish it is taking that much effort and resources, an alternateive should be considered. This could involve simply placing articles as they are available on a section of the LGGS or Yahoo sites entitled "Proteviai", like what has been done for the database section. In terms of funding, whether it comes via membership dues or donations, I would support either option, and hope others who use the information and resources of the LGGS would as well. Would it be worth re-posting and/or continuing this discussion on the Yahoo site?
Thanks to Richard for doing the work needed to keep up this great website, I must agree with everyone's suggestions to let go of the
hard print publication, at least for now, and just keep up the communications shared here.If the NEED to have a "Protieve", perhaps
we could share stories of our experiences about personal travel to Lithuania each month. I traveled with my family just a few months
ago and would be happy to share my story if Fred or Richard is willing to edit for use. Just an idea for articles.
So many of you are so very helpful to offer encouragement and suggestions for those searching their roots. This is a wonderful group
of people keeping up on their Lithuanian heritage and sharing with others. I would be happy to continue to pay membership dues if
only to be able to come to this site to ask for help on occasion and to share information.
PLEASE, let's continue! warmest regards to all and a big ACIU!! Janina
What is the best way to look for long lost relatives in Lithuania? All I have is an old letter from the mid 1970's. It has a few names and an address in Ukmerge but I'm not sure they would still be living there.
Hi Tom, his address is 234120 Ukmerge
Maironio 13-2
The surname is Dziautas. The father may no longer be alive his name is Pranas, The son is Rimantas.
I checked the on-line Lithuanian telephone directory and found the following listing:
Pranas Džiauta
Maironio g. 13-2
Ukmergės miesto sen.
Ukmergės m.
To telephone him in Lithuania, use the following number:
011 370 3406 5316
011 - International Operator
370 - Lithuania Country Code
3406 5316 - Phone number when calling from outside Lithuania
So at least there is still a phone number for that person listed. He is the only listing for DZIAUTA in the entire directory. However, there is a listing for a Rimantas DZIAUTAS (slightly different surname spelling).
I just have to ask: Has anyone tried the Kugelis receipe that I am seeing on-line that uses frozen hash brown potatoes instead of grated? It looks pretty but I can't imagine that it would be anywhere near the same. Just curious.
Just wondering if we are going to get the New Bulletin board back on-line? I'm surfing the net looking for Lithuanian receipes and recall there was a topic for that on the New board.
If you are talking about the one moderated by Liuda Balcyte, she has been ill for some weeks now, too ill to moderate it, and I'm not sure who, if anyone, is doing that now.
The New Board I'm referring to is the one on LGGS that's been down for many months. When I try to access it, a message comes up saying it is down for 2 weeks. Is that the same one you're referring to?
Ummm, I think not. Sorry. But the message I get at the LGGS "new bulletin board" is that the service provider is upgrading and so unavailable for a couple of weeks. Richard Gostautas is the president of the LGGS. You could try emailing him about it at gostautas@gmail.com.
I am working to get the new bulletin board on the LithGen website back online. There were some bugs in the old one that allowed spammers to bypass some of the security options and waiting for the new upgrade. Once that happens, I plan to get it back online. Right now, looking like the end of December but if I can get it back up sooner, I will do that!
Thank you for the information and all your efforts to keep these important lines of communciation going. I appreciate it. I don't think I would of had much success with my family searching without this web site and message boards. I have learned so much and been inspired greatly from many kind people here. Aciu labai.
I have found a new name in my family search and need help with spelling variations and or any realitives still in Lithuania............ Naujunaite?
Other names in my search are Keturakis/ Keturakyte
Zilinskas/Zlinskas
Alkonis
My Greatgrandfather Matausez Keturakis and Wife Marijona Zlinskas were married in Garliava and lived in Grabava Lithuania, any help on any churches in that area would be a great help. I am unsure of the exact year but it should have been around 1885-1890 as they had kids in 1890's.
Marijonas last name was Zinliskas her mothers maiden name was Naujunaite.
Thank you for any and all help you may be able to give me feel free to email me @ reiser.sandy@yahoo.com
The surname "Naujunaite" would be used only for an unmarried woman or girl whose father's name was Naujunas. The girl's mother would be Mrs. Naujuniene. Here are the listings in the current online phone book for this surname (not including the far more prevalent cell phone listings):
Ramute Naujunaite
Naujakuriu g. 70-12
Kauno m.
837241697
Julius Naujunas
Savanoriu g. 22-32
Varenos sen.
Varenos m.
831054289
Irena Naujuniene
Parko g. 43-31
Panevez^io m.
845442454
Irena Naujuniene
Mokyklos g. 3-5
Senosios Varenos k.
Varenos sen.
Varenos raj.
831030253
Judita Naujuniene
Laisves g. 18
Varenos sen.
Varenos m.
831031365
Ona Naujuniene
J. Basanavic^iaus g. 49
Kazlu Rudos m.
834326962
Prane Naujuniene
M. Riomerio g. 16-25
Kauno m.
837352926
Regina Naujuniene
J. Ambrazevic^iaus-Brazaic^io g. 21-22
Marijampoles m.
834357193
Vanda Naujuniene
Taikos pr. 63-110
Kauno m.
837353851
Vilma Naujuniene
Pievu g. 10
Senosios Varenos k.
Varenos sen.
Varenos raj.
831030422
The nearest of these to Garliava or Grabava would be those in the city of Kaunas (Kauno miestas or m.)
The coupling of the letters "zl-" is not one used in Lithuanian, so the name would not be spelled "Zlinskas". However, Z^ilinskas is fairly common and it would be pronounced zhih-LIHN-skahs because the "z" has a little birdie over it. As in Naujunas, the name becomes Z^ilinskaite for unmarried daughters of Mr. Z^ilinskas and Z^ilinskiene for women married to Mr. Z^ilinskas.
There are no listings in the phone book for any name spelled "Alkon-" but there are 5 listings for Alkinas (Alkinaite, Alkiniene).
The given name for Matthew in Lithuanian would be Motiejus, or a short form Matas (just as Juozas is really a short form of Juozapas). It could also be spelled Mateus^as, Mataus^as, Matijos^ius, Mataus^is, Matysas, Macas, Macys, or even Mocys. Formal Lithuanian names never end in "-z", though some very informal nicknames might.
I forgot to give the information about the churches nearest to Grabava. The odds are quite good that these parishes have existed for at least 100 years or more. The distances are from Grabava:
4 miles
Holy Mary, Help of Christians 68687254
Address: 23 Zveju St., Islauzas LT 59304 LT
5 miles
Holy Trinity
Address: 3b Baznycios St. Garliava LT 53259 LT
5 miles
Saint Ludvic
Address: 1 Minties takas Veiveriai LT 59295 LT
It's been a while since I was last on here as I decided to take a break from researching as I was feeling I wasn't getting anywhere, that was until tonight.... Finally I managed to download my grandfather Jonas Polockus' Army Papers from Ancestry and for once it states where in Lithuania he came from. Mega excitement. lol It states that he was born in Suwalki, unfortunately It doesn't state where in Suwalki. Also, for many years I've been searching for anything on him and his parents Juozas and Ona Polockus, that is the names on his marriage certificate but, on his Army papers it states the names of his parents as Joseph and Maggie???. Now I know that Joseph would be Juozas, but what would Maggie be in Lithuanian. Would I also be able to contact the archives in Vilnius stating my grandfathers D.O.B. and Suwalki or would I still have to find out where in Suwalki he was born? That would be my stumbling block.
It is also possible that her name was a compound of one of these with Ona, as Marijona is a compound of "Marija" and "Ona." My father's sister was baptized as Marijona but none of her children or her husband knew her by any other name but Marie.
To me, it seems unlikely that they were from the city of Suwalki since the preponderance of Lithuanian emigrants were agriculturally based, i.e., lived in or near small, rural settlements -- except for the Jews who were forced away from the land and into non-agricultural pursuits. Also, the town itself is and was pretty well in an area dominated by much more by ethnic Poles than ethnic Lithuanians.
While possible, I think it not as likely as that they lived in the gubernia or province of that name. As you probably know it was fairly common for emigrants to give the name of the governate or gubernia when asked where they were from. So all in all it seems more likely that they were from some yet unknown village or town east of the city of Suwalki -- but that's a lot of territory.
It's anyone's guess what you'd get from the Archives with only "Suwalki" as a place of birth or marriage. If I were you, I'd assemble every scrap of information you have on them, including all variant spellings and variant dates that you know of, and send a request. The worst that would happen is that they'd tell you that it wasn't enough. My guess is that there were way too may parishes they might have belonged to.
If you can afford it, you could also contact a private researcher in Lithuania with the same information, to inquire what he or she thinks might be found and at what cost. This wouldn't cost you anything, I wouldn't think.
Wishing you the best and good luck in your search.
Hi,
I'm trying to find out about my heritage on my dad's side of the family. My grandpa was baylys grebliunas and grandma was maria grebliunas, but her maiden name was baroniuas or something along those lines. She was a national folk dancer and has a hall named after her in Vilnius. If anyone can help me out that would be great.
thanks
Your grandpa's given name would be spelled Balys (and pronounced bah-LEES). Grandma's maiden name would have been Baroniunaite and her given name would be spelled Marija. Her father's surname would have been Baroniunas. Her mother's name would have been Mrs. Baroniuniene. This surname would sound something like bah-roh-YOO-nas (bah-roh-yoo-NYE-neh and bah-roh-yoo-NAI-teh).
The ending "-iaus" on a name would indicate either a mis-reading, a mis-transcription or the name Baroniunas. Or else it was used in a sentence where it was not the subject but was in the possessive case of a name that ends in "-us", like Baronius, meaning "of or belonging to Mr. Baronius" as in the phrase, "the son of Mr. Baronius" = "P. Baroniaus sunus." However, I was unable to find any listings for this spelling, Baronius, in the online phone book for Lithuania, so I conclude that the spelling is most likely Baroniunas (Baroniunaite, Baroniuniene).
Hello I was wondering if anyone could help me out on some names. I am trying to research my Lithuanian Family Tree and just seem to come up against a brick wall. My grandfather was Francis Mathieson (Mathieson being the name that was given when the family moved to Bellshill in Scotland). His parents names were Wincas Matasunas and Matilda Spader although Spader does not sound like a Lithuanian name. My grandmother was called Nellie Carwich (real name Anelia Kartawiczius (Kartawiczius changed to Carwich). Her parents were Jonas Kartawiczius and Rosalia Watulervicz. Any information on the names would be gratefully received.
Names: Mathieson, Matasunas, Spader, Carwich, etc.
by
Anne,
Without some additional information about the approximate years of birth or arrivals/departures, children, etc., it is difficult to be certain about search "hits" because the surname Mathieson (or variant spellings) is so common. But here is a passenger manifest listing for a Francis Mathieson from Scotland to the U.S. in 1923. Those traveling with him were:
Wife, Annie, age 30, and children: William, Robert, Francis, and Stanley.
New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
Name: Francis Mathieson
Arrival Date: 9 Aug 1923
Estimated birth year: abt 1892
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Glasgow, Scotland
Ethnicity/Race-
/Nationality: Scottish (Scotish)
Ship Name: Cameronia
Search Ship Database: View the Cameronia in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
NATIVITY: Scotland
Line: 1
Microfilm Serial: T715
Microfilm Roll: T715_3346
Birth Location: Scotland
Birth Location Other: aberdeen
Page Number: 197
A few words on the names and their Lithuanian spelling.
"Wincas" is a half-Polish, half-Lithuanian spelling. Lithuanian does not use the letter "w" but rather "v" but Polish does. The ending "-as" is typically Lithuanian. So the correct Lithuanian spelling would be Vincas, a short form of Vincentas. In Lithuanian, the "c" sound (without any mark over it) is pronounced "ts" as in the English name "Vince." But with a mark, a little birdie over it (typed "c^") it is pronounced "tch" as in the English word "church."
The surname "Matasunas" would most likely be spelled "Matasiunas" but the difference in pronunciation would likely only be spotted by a native Lithuanian. You are correct that "Spader" by itself does not have a Lithuanian ending, but it might be a shortened, modified version of some Lithuanian name.
Anele, rather than Anelia, is a common given name in Lithuania and in America was often converted to Nellie, Nan, or even Nanette. It would sound like "ah-NE-leh".
The surname "Kartawiczius" is also a mixed Polish-Lithuanian spelling. Besides the Polish "w", there is the Polish "cz" which in Lithuanian is "c^". The surname in Lithuania would be Kartavic^ius (pronounced kar-TA-vi-choos). "Rosalia" would be spelled "Rozalija", sometimes shortened to Roze (pronounced RO-zeh).
The surname, "Watulervicz", is difficult. Of course, the initial letter would be "v" in Lithuanian and the ending "-vicz" would be "-vic^ius" and the "-erv-" is untypical. But a search of the online phone book for Lithuania shows only these names that begin with "vat-":
Fiodor Vataginas
Valentina Vatc^enko
Leonardas Vatenas
Romualdas Vatenas
Vladislovas Vatenas
Irena Vateniene
Ella Vathauer (definitely a German name)
Edita Vatiekeniene
Izolda Vatina
Zita Vatkevic^iene
Gytis Vatkevic^ius
Z^ivile Vatkis
Jelena Vatnik (probably Russian)
Robertas Vatrala
Pavel Vatrus^kin (probably Prussian)
C^eslava Vatrus^kina
Kestutis Vatukaitis
Valdemaras Vatukauskas
Alfredas Vatulionis
Valentina Vatutina
So it appears that the spelling is a bit messed up in other ways. A good guess might be that the name is spelled Vaitulevic^ius. A Polish spelling might be this: Woitulowicz.]
Finally, a word about Lithuanian surnames for men versus women. Masculine endings for surnames are almost always "-as" (occasionally "-a"), "-us", "-is" or "-ys." But the surnames of women use a different ending that depends on whether they are married or not. Here are the rules:
The ending for names of married women always replaces the masculine ending with: "-iene." Thus, the endings for the surnames Brazaitis, Vaitulevic^ius and Matsiunas are changed for the women married to these men to become Brazaitiene, Vaitulevic^iene, and Matsiuniene. Because the ending for the names of married women is always the same regardless of the ending to their husbands names, it is not always possible to derive correctly the masculine form of the surname from the form of the married womans name.
The rules for endings of names for unmarried girls and women in modern times depends on the masculine ending:
1. For masculine names ending in "-ys" and "-is", the ending "-yte" is substituted for the masculine ending. Thus, The daughter of Mr. Brazaitis becomes Miss Brazaityte.
2. For masculine names ending in "-us", the ending is "-ute." Thus, the unmarried daughter of Mr. Vaitulevic^ius becomes Miss Vaitulevic^iute.
3. For masculine names ending in "-as" or -a, the ending is for unmarried women is "-aite." Thus, The daughter of Mr. Matsiunas becomes Miss Matsiunaite.
Because of these rules it is usually possible to derive the masculine form of a surname from the ending of the unmarried womans surname. Thus if a person is named Rozalija Vaitulevic^iute, it is almost certain that her father is Mr. Vaitulevic^ius. In older times or in some records, I have seen somewhat different or variant endings that do not conform to the "standard" rules but still are recognizable as endings for unmarried women, so that sometimes male names ending in -is or -ys result in -ute for their unmarried daughters.
Lithuanian emigrants to countries that do not use various endings to names usually disregarded the above rules when dealing with non-Lithuanian and simply used the masculine ending for their names. But when dealing with other Lithuanians they would use these rules.
Thank you for your info on Francis Mathieson but this is not my grandfather. He lived in Bellshill Scotland after coming from Lithuania when he was 14. He died in Bellshill on 30 April 1985 aged 86. All the names and spellings I have I obtained are from my grandparents death certificates.
I have been looking through this website for the last week and you are amazing with your knowledge.
I signed up today with Scotlands People to see if I can find out anything there. I am a real novice at this so if you happen to discover any more info I would be really grateful.
These are my family lines from Lithuania and I am stuck - ANY information about the origins of these names, especially towns or locations within Lithuania would be so helpful.
This is the tree:
Raymond Bush (my grandfather)
Joseph Bush (b 1900 d 1988) father
Married
Julia Jones (b 1904 d 1991) mother
Joseph's parents : Anthony Bushauskas or Busauskas b 1870 immigrated 1888 to US and Frances Geishciunas (no info)
Julia's parents: Julia Visnauskas (or Vishnauskas) b 1874 immigrated 1889 to US and Joseph Jones b 1873 immigrated 1889
Is the "h" in Visnauskas and Busauskas just a sound or is it actually the correct spelling?
Is the name "Jones" possibly short for a different name?
It looks like you have done really well pinpointing the name spellings. Likely the letters SH in the names refers to the letter S with an accent over it, that looks like an inverted ^, which gives the S an SH sound. But this creates havoc in spellings on records, and can be recorded as SZ, SCH. Trying to determine a town of origin will be hard because their arrival to the USA was before Ellis Island records. You may want to scour for marriage records, or military draft cards and hope they offer some clues to place of birth. Have you been able to find them on the census records? Sometimes you will get lucky and find a relative living with them who arrived later and can be found on ship's manifests.
Thanks for responding! I have had zero luck on any census records or otherwise - they always just state the country = (
Do you have any idea what the name "Jones" might have been? They were from Lithuania as well but I am pretty sure that wasn't the real Lithuanian name!
It's hard to guess at what the original name could be, especially because Jones is such a common name. Also, you may already know that the letter J is pronounced like Y. There is a name Jonis, Jonys, but it could easily be any name beginning with Jon, Jun, Yon, Yun, or just selected as an easier name than something more complicated.
What state/town do you know that they settled or lived in?
I easily found a Joseph Jones in the 1920 census, Schuylkill county, Gilberton PA, 47 arrived 1889 from LT as did his wife Julia 48, children Pete 22 PA, Julie 15, Joseph 12, John 18.
If this sounds like your family, then you might want to look at this, a few pages down on the census:
Anthony Buskus 49 LT arrived 1885
Annie 38 LT arrived 1902
Joseph 19 PA
Albert 16
Della 14
William 11
In 1910 this same family is in the same county,name BUSHKUS
Anthony 39 Russia
Annie 27
Joseph 10
Anthony 9
Albert 5
Adela 4
William 1
If I read the census right, Anthony and Annie say they are wed 6 yrs, and she says she had 4 kids, 3 survived, so this could be Anthony's second wife.
There is a marriage record for Anthony Bushkus to Annie Litikutie in that same county 1885-1910 index.
If none of this sounds relevant then just disregard.
Hello,
I am trying to find information on the towns of :
Oniski or Aniski listed on a birth register as being in Poland.
I would like to find the marriage record for Simon (Szimas ?) Krutulis
and Victoria Cziziaukaute. According to son's birth record they
married May 29, 1898 in Aniszki? Poland. Both Simon and Victoria are
Lithuanians.
Hello,
I am trying to find information on the towns of :
Oniski or Aniski listed on a birth register as being in Poland.
I would like to find the marriage record for Simon (Szimas ?) Krutulis and Victoria Cziziaukaute. According to son's birth record they married May 29, 1898 in Aniszki? Poland. Both Simon and Victoria are Lithuanians.
The village is very likely Anis^kis in the Alytus district, just west of the city of Alytus in the south of Lithuania.
Prior to WWI (from 1795 to 1917), all of land we know as Lithuania and Poland did not exist as individual countries. These lands were part of the Russian Empire, which was divided not into sub-countries but into provinces ruled by the Czar of Russia that did not adhere closely to the dominant ethnic populations in them.
All of the land of Lithuania was within three such provinces, called gubernias or governates of Russia. The entire northern part of present day Lithuania, north of the Nemunas River was in the Kaunas gubernia. The east and south was in the Vilnius gubernia, which included parts of present day Belarus. The area west of the Nemunas River was in the Suwalki gubernia and included the eastern part of present day Poland as well. So emigrants from these lands prior to WWI rightly told people that they were subjects of (one hesitates to use the word "citizen" of) Russia -- whatever their ethnic background. Many of them later would say proudly that they were from the Republic of Lithuania, which was formed in the years after WWI and recognized by the rest of the world as an independent country.
Anis^kis was in the Suwalki gubernia of the Russian Empire until 1917 and the Bolshevik revolution. This gubernia included a mixed ethnic population, mostly Poles, Lithuanians, and Germans or East Prussians. I'm sure that ethnic Poles would have considered Anis^kis and the rest of the Suwalki gubernia as "their" land. In fact, after WWI, the independent Polish nation invaded and occupied much of the Vilnius gubernia and that city as well from 1924 to 1939 -- claiming that it really "belonged" to Poland.
To add to the confusion, during the autocratic reign of the Czar the lands now called Poland had a puppet government called the Kingdom of Poland, but its policies and leaders were subject entirely to the Czar's control.
In any event, people from these areas who identified themselves as ethnic Lithuanians or Poles or Germans did not lose or change their identities with these shifting political landscape, any more than these groups lose their identities when they emigrated to the U.S., Great Britain, Brazil or Australia.
On this web site are a few photos of the area around Anis^kis (pronounced ah-NISH-kis because the "s" has a little birdie over it). Here is another such site: http://www.alytus-tourism.lt/index.php?id=210
In my grandfather's case as in most of Lithuania during his time, he had no education and could not read or write. How did the children learn about the Catholic Sacraments? I know they could have been told about them by their parents, but surely they must have had some other form of instruction. Since they lived on farms, it would be very difficult to get to the church for formal instruction for their First Communion. Or did they even make their First Communion? Maybe there was no ceremony like there is here. Do the church records show evidence of First Communions or Confirmations?
I am looking for my cousins Vilmantis Juozapavicius. My father his uncle was Henrikas Juozapavicius. My brother Henri and I live in Adelaide South Australia.
The last we heard he was married with a little girl.
Any information would be great.
Hi Paul,
Responding to your answer to my posting:
"Let me know you email address and I can send you the birth register for Anthony Krutulis.
It shows that his parents were married in Oniski or Aniski in Poland on 29 May 1898. This means Lithuania as all Lithuanians were regarded as Poles in Scotland. I am not sure about Victoria's maiden name as it seems to be different to Petrusky. The handwriting is difficult to interpret.
regards Paul".
BRAINES / BRAYNES / BREINES - my father family name
by
Hi,
Looking for any clue or conection to my fathers' family - BRAINES OR BRAYNES/BREINES from RAMYGALA / RAMIGOLA (Panevezys, kaunas).
His parents + sisters lived in RAMYGALA until WWII began.
My father, JOKHEL / JECHIEL (born 1913), left to learn in high school ("ort" - carpentry)in PANEVEZYS. He got married there & bore 3 children.
During war he lost All his family & after the war he started a new life with my mother.
I'm looking for any trace of him, his family from RAMIGALA AND/OR his wife and childern.
Thank you, nati.
Re: BRAINES / BRAYNES / BREINES - my father family name
by
Nati,
The spelling of the surname is quite atypical because of the ending, "-es". All Lithuanian nouns including names have certain endings corresponding to different meanings that, in English, use propositions. The ending "-es" is only found in the second declension, nominative plural, possessive case singular or accusative/objective case plural. If the ending is correct to the surname, it would have to mean one of the following:
Braines, nom. pl., as in the phrases "the Braine family" or "the Braines" as in the "the Smiths" or "the Johnsons". The nominative singular ending would be "-e".
Braines, possessive singular, as in the phrase "the son of Jonas Braine", "Jono Braines sunus".
Braines, accusative plural, as in the phrase "there is a book about the Braine [family]", "apie Braines yra knyga".
except for the nominative plural, the ending, "-es", would only be found in a sentence or phrase whereas most of the time when we are speaking of a name spelled according to Lithuanian spelling rules we use the nominative singular. In this case, it would be Braine.
So I think that either the name has been modified from something else or it has been mis-read or mis-transcribed from some other spelling, or it is from a non-Lithuanian original.
In a search of the current online phone book for Lithuania using the initial letters "brain-", there is one, Brainskas; using "brein-", there is also only one, Breiner. No listings for any surname beginning "Brien-" or "Brayn-". Now it is possible that the surname was originally German or Yiddish in origin and thus the "-es" ending. The given name JOKHEL or JECHIEL is definitely not a typical Lithuania ending and the letter combinations "-kh-" and "-ch-" are simply not used in LIthuanian.
hi i am tring to help my partner look for his birth mom his last name was lucasavitch and was born may 16,1962 in kindersley or north battleford saskatchewan his birth name was darrall
hi i am tring to help my partner look for his birth mom his last name was lucasavitch and was born may 16,1962 in kindersley or north battleford saskatchewan his birth name was darrall
My ex's maiden name is Radzevicius; Parents lived in Marquette Park area, Campbell near 67th. Her Dad's first name was was Izidor (deceased). They came the U.S. several years after WW2. Wife and daughters are all well and good. By the way, the girls names aren't Eva or Vera.
Have identified some family members with Brazukas as surname. A son is listed as "Jenrs". Is this a translation or abbreviation for a different name. Any assistance would be appreciated
The surname is most likely spelled as "Braz^ukas" and pronounced brah-ZHOO-kahs. The ending for a married woman with this surname would be Mrs. Braz^ukiene and her unmarried daughter would be Miss Braz^ukaite.
There is no Lithuanian given name I know of that even comes close to "Jenrs", so my guess is that it is a mis-transcription or a misreading of perhaps "Jonas" -- mainly because it has the same number of letters and begins with "j". But also, "e" is often mis-read as "a", "i" or "o" and "r" is often mis-read as "a", "v" or "e". "J" in Lithuanian is always pronounced like the "y" in the English word, "young" while "y" is always pronouned "ee" as in "week."
Anyone with this surname who had relatives who lived in Detroit, went from Lithuania in 1910.
His first name was Frank and married a lady called Anna, whom my Auntie went to live with in 1930.
Thank you
Caroline.
I was very thrilled to see your message. My grandmother's maiden name was Rackauskas- sometimes spelled Raczkowski. She disappeared after 1910. At least I can find no account of her after that. Where was this family from in Lithuania?
Iam following a lead i got from my Aunts shipping manifest,the name Anna Raskauskas is who my Aunt stated she was staying with. Also declaring this was her cousin, which must also be a relative of mine.
This Anna Raskauskas was 26years old, had a sister and brothers younger than herself.
Her mother was Ersila,who was born in 1880 in Lithuania, have no name for her husband yet. They left Lithuania with two children.
A cencsus of 1920, declares that a Frank Rascauskas and his wife Anna were in the usa,they dated 1910 was thier arrival year. However cant find them on the 1930 cencus, so have decided this isnt the "one" we are looking for.
Both the families came from Lithuania, but have no idea where. One family arrived in usa with two children.
Hope this has been maybe of some help to you, in my research this is the first time the name of Raskauskas has appeared conected to my family.
Wishing you all the Best
Caroline
Just because you couldn't immediately find them on the 1930 census doen't mean they aren't there. Names were frequently misspelled for one reason or another. Good luck to you. Thanks for your info.
Reese
Yes ! i agree with you Reese, they also could have moved to another state in the usa, i only looked at the Detroit census because that is where my relative went. They also could have changed thier names.
You dont mention if you know where your Grandmother went, which makes it even harder for you, but dont give up. If i find out any thing that might be of intreast to you i will post it on the site.
Thanks for your wishes
Caroline
I've been trying to work with my local embassy to reclaim my Lithuanian citizenship by proving descent from my Lithuanian grandparents. The problem I've run into is that somewhere around 1940 and their subsequent flight out of Lithuania after the Russian occupation their name ceased to be written as Diczun and was altered to Ditschun (which I'm guessing was a phonetic German spelling). Does anyone have any thoughts on this change? Was this common? And if so, would the change have been documented? From what I'm told as far as the Lithuanian government is concerned, if the name is spelled differently then it's not the same person.
The problem with both spellings is that they are not Lithuanian. No name in Lithuanian ends in "-un". However, German names often do, so I suspect that the Lithuanian name has been "Germanized", just as S^iauliai is Schaulen in German. Most surnames in Lithuanian have the following endings: "-as" or "-a", "-is" or "-ys", and "-us". Some Russian or other Slavic names can be found today in Lithuania that do not comport with the typical endings, even though the folks are citizens of Lithuania. It is also possible that they were ethnic Germans who lived in Lithuania.
Also, the spelling "Diczun" has that Polish "-cz-" in the middle of it. Lithuanian has only two letters "c", one with a little birdie over it (typed "c^" on non-Baltic keyboards), and one without. The "c" with the birdie is pronounced "ch" as in the English word "church." The other "c" is pronounced "ts" as in the English word "hats." The sound of "c" in English in the word "center" is represented by the letter "s" in Lithuanian. The sound of "ch" in the word "cloud" is represented by the letter "k" in Lithuanian.
So assuming the root or stem of the name is correctly spelled "Dicz-" it would have to be pronounced "ditsz-". If it is spelled "Dic^z-" then it would sound like "dichz-".
My hunch is that it was originally something like Diksas (pronounced DIK-sahs), Diks^as (pronounced DIK-shahs) or even Diksa (pronounced DIK-sah). It could also be Dikc^ius (pronounced DIK-choos). But presumably, you've heard the name pronounced and thus, with the above information, you can probably re-construct its original spelling, at least the root of the name. There are other possible spellings as well, so if you could find an early record of some kind with the name as originally written and spoken, such as their birth or marriage certificate (you'd have to know the year of their birth and the village name), your problem would come much closer to being solved.
Perhaps your grandfather served in the U.S. Army during WWII. If so, his military record would likely be helpful. Likewise if he became a citizen, his naturalization records would help. Have you tried any of these?
I have a few Lithuanian documents and a number of German documents. All of the LT documents are dated around 1940 and all have German translations. All of the German documents are things such as work records, army records, and displaced person records. I can only surmise that they had all the LT documents translated to German because at that time the war was going better for Germany so they felt they needed to leave Lithuania and become German. Either that or they were being forced to leave. But I know for a fact that their citizenship changed to German in the 1940s because I have documents for that too.
The LT documents I have show my grandfathers surname and my great-grandfathers surname both as Diczun. All of the German documents have Ditschun. You're probably right in that it has German or Polish ties but I know for a fact that both grandparents and their parents were born in Lithuania. Beyond that many generations I'm not sure but perhaps my great-great-grandparents were German.
The problem I have is that it's spelled differently from the LT docs to the German ones. And there's no evidence as to why this may have happened. And it's a pretty drastic change too. It's not like any letters needed to be changed because it wasn't in the German alphabet.
If they were displaced persons (DPs) in Germany, they would likely have records at the International Tracing Service (ITS) archives located in Bad Arolsen, Germany.
You can go on-line at the ITS website and request they research their files for your family. The documents should list their Lithuanian birthplaces and supporting documents to prove they were really from Lithuania.
Just Google ITS and Bad Arolsen and you should find the URL.
You didn't say what country they ended up in? If it's the USA, you can send for copies of their immigration papers, which may help.
I know this is a lot earlier, but on Ellis Island data base, there is one Diczun, Anton, arrived 4/11/1910, from a Pjoter, town looks like Paldez, Polsdoz, or Poladsz, in the Kowno district. I think the town is actually Palaidziai in the Birzai region, which would of been part of the larger area known as Kowno or Kovno.
As John Peters indicated in his earlier email, Lithuanian custom is to modify the ending of the family surname for females. Married female surnames all end in IENE.
Unmarried female surname spellings can end in UTE (IUTE in older versions), AITE, or YTE depending upon the surname ending.
Your INTE and UTI surname ending indicate an unmarried female spelling of the surname.
The surname is probably spelled S^maliukas (pronounced shmah-LOO-kas because the "s" has a little birdie over it).
In the online phone book for Lithuania (which does not include the much more prevalent cell phone), there are 44 listings for this surname. Of these, there are 14 in the town of Druskininkai and the village of S^vendubre, south of Druskininkai, very near the border with present day Belarus and in an area that was once heavily populated with ethnic Poles. So it is a good bet that your ancestors came from this area, just as my own maternal ancestors did. There are no listings for the spelling "Smalukas".
The most likely religion of people from this rural area was Roman Catholic, since most rural, agricultural Lithuanians prior to WWI were of that religion and since Jews had been prohibited from owning land and doing farm work (hence, mostly lives in towns, cities and villages rather than on farms). There are some Protestant Lithuanians scattered mostly along the border with the former East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
You can see this area on the online map of Lithuania at:http://www.maps.lt/en/map. Just type "svendub" without the quotes in the area marked "e.g: pagiriai, pagir" and hit "Search". On the left will appear a little plus sign next to "Cities and villages". Click on it and you'll see S^vendubre. Click on it and the map will zoom in to it. You can zoom in and out yourself by clicking on the vertical "ruler" to the top right of the map.
Lithuanian surnames change endings for men and women. If a man's name ends in "-as", then his wife's name ends in "-iene" and their unmarried daughter's name ends in "-aite." So the wife of Mr. S^maliukas would be Mrs. S^maliukiene and their unmarried daughter would be Miss S^maliukaite.
My grandparents emigrated to scotland approximately 1900 from marijampole. Grandfathers name Vincas Burdzilauskas married to Juzana maiauskas i 1899 in a church in marijampole. Have received marriage certificate from archives in Vilnius and now hope to find any family members. I have no family I can ask. Is there anyone who can help?
My grandparents came from LIthuania their surname is Paplauskas and I would appreciate it if you cold give me the contact details of the Archives Dept in Vilnius please as my search is now going to take me there
Included there is the email address. You can write to them in English, but the reply is likely to be in Lithuanian. As you will discover and may already know, the Archives must have the given and surname of the person you are researching, their birthdate (or at least the year of birth), and the name of the village or town where he or she was born or married or died. This is the minimum information they need in order to begin searching for records -- if they exist.
I am looking for family of David Paplauskas.His family orginally came from Lithuania.I was his account officer at a bank where he was a customer until his death in 2008.
I need to contact his family as matter of urgency.
Please,it is so very very important.
Rogerio Callegari
rogeriocallegari@walla.com
It appears that if you are looking for more ancestors, you have what you need to either make another request from the Archives or to hire a private researcher to look for records there. If you are looking for descendants of Vincas and his wife, be prepared for disappointment because it is over 100 years since their siblings had their children, etc. In the meantime, there are been two World War invasions by Germany and Russia, a Soviet occupation, and massive industrialization that lead to great mobility there as it did in the U.S. and the U.K. The descendants are very likely to have moved at least to the towns and cities of Lithuania and since the European Union may well have moved to other parts of Europe as well.
That said, the online phone book for Lithuania shows two listing for people with the surname Burdzilauskas who live in or near Marijampole:
Vincas Burdzilauskas
S^unsku sen.
Obs^rutliu k.
834329113
Lina Burdzilauskiene
Algimanto g. 16a
Marijampoles m.
834353253
(The abbreviations are: sen. = seniunija, elderate or township; k. = kaimas, village, m. = miestas, city; g. = gatve, street.)
There are 16 listings in the phone book for the surname Majauskas (Majauskiene for married women, and Majauskaite for unmarried women) in the Marijampole municipality. The web page for the phone book is:http://www.zebra.lt/lt/suzinok/telefonai. Enter "majausk" without the quotes, click on the down arrow next to "Bet kuri", click on "Marijampoles r.", and click "Ies^koti" (Search). The list of names will be all those with this surname in the Marijampole district (rajonas).
You could write to these folks and see if they can link to your ancestor. Suns^kai is just north of the town of Marijampole.
hi everyone. Just a warning, I received an e-mail from someone with the name of :Favour - address of: favour_net53@yahoo.co.nz who says:Hello
Good day my dear.How are you doing over there.Hope fine.in a short way, my name is Favour.I am a member of these( www.lithuanian.net)site.i saw your profile here and i have very important thing to tell you.Please write me back through this my mail contact at(favour_net61@yahoo.com) so that i will give you full explanation of myself.Here Waiting to see your quick reply in my mailbox.thanks from,FavourI have no intention of responding and warn others about this here!
I am looking for relatives of Antonas Monkevic(Mankevic) born 15 Jan 1889 in Vilinuis,
I am also looking for Magdalena Gloziris (Glozeris) Born Feb 2 1894 in Kulu Lithuania
She was the daughter of Eduardo Gloziris she returned in lithuania in 1930 to Kretingos
Looking for the family of Josephine Godanis. Know to live in Tamaque, Pa. in 1919
Mother was Agnes Klewinsky living in Newburg, WVa during the same period. Father John was dead as was bother Eddie.
Not sure if you already have this, 1910 census in Schuykill county PA shows a Peter Godanis 28 Russ/LT, wife Josephine 19 Russ/LT, living with Frank Widel 36, Mary 26, Edward 4 PA, and Franks cousin August Widel 35. Peter and Mary are noted as brother in law and sister in law to Frank. Near them is listed a Thomas Godanis 63 and his wife Ellen 50, with children Jennie 16, William 14, and Mary 12. In the 1900 census I think this family is listed as Gauitinas.
In WV, Preston county 1910 is John Klewinski 53 Russ/LT, Aggie 40 Russ/LT, Joseph 15 WV, Eddie 9 WV. They live near a James Klewnskin 47 Russ/LT, Maggie 43. Edith, James and Mary.
The Schuykill county marriage index shows a John Klewinski wed Agata Sawitckute 1885-1910, also Peter Godenis wed Susie Klewinskey 1885-1910.
Thanks for the info. I had some of it, but you added to that. Regarding Susan, I had a hand written note that my Dad's sister was named Susan Godanis. But we also had a legal document signed by Josephine Godanis. At this time I do not know whether they are the same person,
This is to correct my previous post. Josephine was shown as born in PA in the 1910 census. That same census in PA shows 2 Peter Godanis, in the same town in the same county, the same age, 28, but one shows born in PA, and that one is married to Susan 18, and have a son Joseph 1 month. Seeing as how the marriage record shows Peter Godenis wed to Susie Klewinskey, it makes things quite confusing.
The 1900 census in Shenandoah, Schuykill county PA has a John Kelvensky 45 Poland, Agness 35, Tillie 11 b. Oct 1889 PA, Susie 9 b. Mar 1891 PA, Joseph 3 b. Dec 1897 PA, and several boarders in the home.
1920 census in Schuykill county PA has a Peter Godenis 39 PA, divorced, with son Joseph 10 PA.
Do you think that the person you seek is really Susie? Or maybe Josephine also went by Susie and the census recorded them twice with different info?
As regular posters may have seen, I have been tracing my great-uncle's family who returned to Lithuania in 1917 from Scotland.
They were exiled to the Siberian gulag and the records indicated that the family died in the gulag.
One of my brothers was in Vilnius and he asked for a copy of our great-uncle's KGB file. He received a copy of this AND a copy of the file of his son, Algirdas.
Algirdas survived the gulag, working in the coal mines, and was released in 1955.
Now we have the challenge of tracing Algirdas which is most welcome of course. We hope he returned to Lithuania but he may have stayed in Siberia.
Does anyone have any suggestion as to how we can start to search for him ?
The Lukosevicius surname has more than 700 listings in the Lithuanian Telephone Directory. Below are five listings for "Algirdas lukosevicius".
I'd suggest writing a letter or calling them to see if they might be the correct Algirdas. However, he may be living in Lithuania with his home phone listed under his wife's name.
Algirdas Lukoševičius
Perlojos g. 17, Alytaus m. 831553449
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Algirdas Lukoševičius
Dariaus ir Girėno g. 3a, Kalvarijos sen. , Kalvarijos m. 834321692
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Algirdas Lukoševičius
Gvazdikų g. 28, Kauno m. 837440490
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Algirdas Lukoševičius
Pramonės pr. 47-52, Kauno m. 837410747
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Algirdas Lukoševičius
Nevėžio g. 40a-77, Panevėžio m. 845462429
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Were in Lithuania were they from. If he returned to Lietuva, he could have resettled in the area that his father was originally from.
The family were originally from around Vilkasviskis, however my great-uncle, Jonas, settled in Kupiskis after he returned from Scotland. He was a member of the Lithuanian border police which explained why he was exiled by the Soviet KGB.
Algirdas would be aged in his late 80s now. I will follow up the telephone numbers and addresses. I was wondering of there was another organisation that I could contact other than the Archives.
You may want to try a letter to the local church of Kupiskis. It couldn't hurt to ask them.
If you followed my postings about my search for my half-brother, I tried letters, the Red Cross, the Archives, and even posted an ad in the newspaper of my dad's hometown, but my success came from a plucky, kind-hearted lady, who made inquiries in my dad's hometown, and she would not even accept any payment even though she drove from Plunge to Klaipeda and spent untold hours of her time to visit with my relatives. I found Adele on this message board when she posted a message looking for family in the Chicago area, and she took up my cause.
I guess my point is that it is worthwhile to reach out to all and any resources. I know that the details from the Archives helped Adele to track down the married females, so she couldn't have done it without that information.
Good luck with your search, and hopefully you will post any progress you make.
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