Richie, thanks for the invite in respect of the Oliphants. Mine come from Fife and Perth in Scotland.

I have a group, too, litvakpoli@yahoogroups.com but not much activity of late. I'll keep your group in mind. Thanks!

Hi Richie,
Thanks for the invite.
I do not have much information on my Lithuanian ancestry...but I keep searching.
Sue

Hi Ritchie - thank you for inviting me to your group. My adopted maternal grandmother's ancestry was Lithuanian. I don't know much family history and she has passed away, although I continue to get to know her family. Her father immigrated in 1885 from Kupiszki and his wife (nee Stephan) in 1886 from Ritine. Always looking to flesh out more details!

Oh great! All I had was the spelling for my sources: NY passenger list and US passport application. I will make a note of your spelling. Do you know anything about these areas? Oh and his last name was Kulis.

thanks! It is good to know.

Thank you for the invitation. My Lithuanian ancestors were Jewish, so that may not mesh with other Lithuanian research. They were from an area that was near Kovno/Kaunas.

Best Wishes!

Jan

Well, Ritchie, I believe I am in the same boat as Jan below, coincidentally. However, thanks for the invite. I'll check it out.
Good luck with your site.

Kitty

sorry didn't see your reply to Jan. Am looking forward even more to seeing your site. For now, I need to get some sleep.

Will keep in touch.

Kitty

Richie,

Great! How do I join?

A comment re: Max's suggestion. I have also found the website, www.jewishgen.org to be most helpful. I, too, highly recommend it.

Jan

Hi Richie,
i joined this website at a suggestion of a friend, but to be honest, I haven't spent anytime reviewing it.
thanks for your invitation,
mb

Thanks for the invitation. I,too, am interested in Jewish
Lithuanian background (although I've barely started
research). Does your research overlap here?

Reena Ribalow

Hi Richie,

I am working on a Harris Family that is in South Africa. The progenator of the family came from Vilna in Lithuania in 1877, via London. Some where along the way, he changed the surname to Harris. We have no idea what the original name is, but are trying to find it. There are several possibilities which are being investigated at this time. His given name was Isaaic, and he was Jewish.

Hi Richie, Thanks for the invitation. I have just begun putting all my genealogy files into storage. Many years of work and no one to pass them on to. My Lithuanian portion was for my husband whose mother was Lithuanian born in Scotland in 1910 but then the family returned. She immigrated to US when she turned 20. I was lucky enough to find and trace many arms of the family.
I wish you success in your searches and don't forget the wonderful Lithuanian groups that have been around for years.
Judy Smith Steffen (Lithuanian:Kvedras,Kwederas,Sesnauskas, etc)

Thank you, I am excited to check it out. I am working on a Shilkis or Shilaikis line i believe from Soloki, Lithuania. I have naturalization papers and ship records but everything is so vague. We have always know it as Shilkis but I believe that the name was changed or at least the spelling somewhere along the way.

Thanks Richie, This is great - It will really help me.

Linda

Yes, I am a member. I think you have helped me in the past - if you are Rich C.

I think I missed his post. Can you fill me in?

My DELANEYs joined many francophone Acadians on the Havre-aux-Maisons island in Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada. They came from Ireland. Some DELANEYs were in the lobster industry.

I thought that is where I was, on the Lithuanian part of the site. I haven't spent any time really investigating where everything is yet.

Thanks Richie. I work on my genealogy in spurts. Right now I'm in a lull, but I keep tabs on all the different boards, which is how I got to this site,thanks to you. I have my tree posted on the My Heritage site. I have over 500 people in the tree, but a lot of them are from my husband's side of the family. And I was lucky enough to have a Reynolds family book which take his mother's family back to England.

My family is 100% Lithuanian and I have very few relatives here in the US. I correspond on aregular basis with one cousin and sporadically with a couple of others

I went to Lithuania 5 years ago looking for myfather's family, because when my younger brother dies, so will that particular branch of the tree because neither of my brothers married and had families. I have found a few people with my surname here in the US, but they have not answered my inquiries as to relationship.

thanks again for your help

I'll take a look at the group.
Thanks,
Quan

I have read where many researchers are having a problem with the archives in Vilnius. They must remember that everything is done by hand--one page at a time. And only the archive staff can work the books. That is why the long waiting time. The paying is done to an account at a bank. When I was in Vilnius this year I had to pay at their bank before getting my document. If there are many members of your family to research I suggest a private researcher. I did this for my Father's side of the family. And am very glad to have gone this route. If anyone wishes her info I'd be glad to share it. And you will not be dissapointed in her efforts.
Jurgis
I

Hello Richie,
from yopur list of surnames I understand you have both Lithuanian and Scottish roots. This is of my utmost interest, but probably for the reasons of deep ancestry, which cannot be traced back on paper, but which is written in our genome. With regard to my paper trail, my paternal line started in 1455 when a certain Piotrasz Nieswicki was granted with the estate of Pobikrowy in Podlasie Province by the Grand-Duke of Lithuania, Kazimierz. Pobikrowy is now Pobikry close to Drohiczyn on Bug River, Belarus frontier. I am interested by the origins of Piotrasz and of Nieswicki family. They came probably from Volhynia, which is in the present territory of the Western Ukraine (towns of Luck, Kowel). As there's no certain record of Nieswicki prior to the 15th c., I made a y-DNA test and the results have been rather surprising. My haplogroup is I1* and my closest matches go to Anglo-Norman families like Harris, Hamilton, Frame, Warren, Whitehead etc. Only recently, I had a rather close match with Kann from Estonia. Should you feel that this can fit to your quest, I go for it.

All the best
and a verry happy New Year.

Lech Konrad

Hi John, My people are from Lithuania or Latvia or Russia. Sometimes records were kept in different places. How can I find out when they were kept where in order to check them? My family names are Blumberg, Jacobson and Jacobs.
Thank you.

Thank you Richie C. My family was from Kraysk/Kraisk, Vileika/Vilna, now part of Belarus. I'm not sure if there would be any information in Lithuanian records.
What are your thoughts about that?
Liz Ruderman Miller

Thanks for inviting me to join.

Im digging around for info so no doubt ill have questions soon and then youll wish you never invited me to join.

thanks again

linda

Could be as far as I know my great grandfather left Lithuania with 2 brothers when they arrived in I believe to be Hull England my great grandfather came up to the North East of England where I still live , one of his brothers travelled down to the South of England and the other boarded a ship to America. This must have been around 1900 as my great grandfather married an English girl Maria Swinnerton in 1905. Unfortunately I don t know the names of his brothers. I may know a little more about where they originated for when I receive a copy of their marriage certificate, registry offices here are usually pretty quick.

The Rose family Max, Bernard, Anne, Joseph, came from Lithuania . Max, Bernard went to S. Africa and went into the ostrich business
Joseph and Anne went to the US. Joseph open a furniture store in Long Island City.

Hi Richie, Thanks for providing such a great service. I've already benefited from your advice by using the Lithuanian town names spreadsheet to find alternate names for my ancestors' birthplaces. Hoping to spend a little time doing more research while I'm snowed in this weekend.

Hi, sorry I called you John! I'm wanting to know if there is a record that tells the boundaries as they changed during the 1800's. My people are from St. Petersburg, but we have record of them also being in Latvia. As I'm sure you know, as borders fluctuated so did where the info need to be recorded. Thank you ~ Rene'

Aciu labai for the birthday greetings!

Sandy

Hi Ritchie:

Thank you for the welcoming note. I appreciate it.

It's a good feeling to join a group that allows me to learn more about my heritage.

Have a good day.

Best and aciu,
Gerry

Wow...Rich, I had no idea about your networking site until tonight! What a fabulous social forum/genealogy tool you created! Ačiū labai!

Thanks for any info, I have various spellings Komicius, Komiczius, Chomicius, I did find a US Naturalization record and the name on it was Adomas Simon Komiczius with place of birth Pristawonir, Lithuania, Russia Dec 15 1882 with date of admission of Oct 3 1910. i know this is the right person. He also was in Boston in 1907 as I have record of first child being born in Boston that year. He changed his name to Adam Komich and his wife's name was Agnes Sanda. Can you tell me anything about the name Sanda. I have hit a dead end in any more on her. I could not find any ship records either but am pretty sure they came to Boston directly, but there may more than one port of entry.
Dead end there so far.
Thanks, Jenny

I joined the Lithuainian group... TY for contacting me and letting me know it existd.

Hello,
My father's maternal family originated in Lithuania. My great grandfather, Thomas Goldfarb, born and died in Lithuania, had five children including my grandmother Celia Goldfarb, born 1881 in Keidan, Lithuania, died Feb 1953 in New York, NY. My great great grandfather was Yankel Goldfarb born in Lithuania.

Thankyou for the greeting. It means so much!

I started a search for my granfather recently, He asked me to try to find out more about our realtives. My great granfather was Pranas/pranscus Rusinskas. Born in or very close to Vilkaviskis Lithuania in Sept 1902. Pranas married my great grandmother, Domicele Elena Jocius. She was also born in or very near to Vilkaviskis on 12/25/1903. They had 2 children, one is my grandfather. Domicele left and went to London Ontario in 1927-28 and Pranas left to go to London in 1926. They met in Ontario and were married in 1930. Both of their children are Grazina Rusinskas Grieve of London Ontario and Clifford Rusinskas ( my granfather) He asked me to try to find a relative of his in Alytus ... please let me know if you can give me any tips as to how to find her. Her name is Janina Norusavisius but she is married and may have iene at the end of her surname, He has lost contact with her in the past few years and would like to go to Lithuania to reconect with his relatives.
Thanks
Stephanie Alden

Thanks for the information. I'm new to the internet searching and research. It's very possible that he may be remembering the spelling wrong. I'll definately give that a try.

Stephanie

Richie:

Thank you for the information.

I do not have an origin for the Trakimas family. Anna was born in Scotland and I have been unable to locate a ship's manifest showing her family settled in Canada or the US.

As for Juozas Petrauskas' origin in Vilkininkai...I see that it is sparsely populated now and had less than 1,250 inhabitants in 1919, just a few years after Juozas departed.

I am working on this project for a friend who is a direct descendant of these individuals.

Hi Richie
Thanks for the information about the surnames. I am not sure if they were over here in 1901 but they got married in Dalziel in Lanarkshire and I know they lived in Motherwell in 1914 and my gran died in 1949 in Bellshill also I found a Vincus Alisauckas who came from Canada giving the same address as my grandparents but it says he was from Russia which seems strange now you have given me few more ways to spell there names I will look into it deeper Many Thanks Ian

Alas...what a difference a day makes! A kind soul via one of the ancestry.com posts I left on a message board appears to have found the manifest for the individual we knew as Anna Trakimas. She is listed as Ona Trakimaviciute, arrived 11/23/1924, going to uncle Joseph Kazlaukas in Connerton PA, from dad Motejus (last name same as hers, incorrect as a maiden name) in Buktiniku LT. She was born in Stoneburn Scotland, but the family may have moved to LT at some point.

So now my question is...where is Buktiniku (sp?)

The name was listed in the manifest as Trakimavicuite. 

She immigrated in November 1924 and was married around 1926/1927 with first KNOWN child born in Connecticut in 1927. Not certain if she ever made it to Pennsylvania. 

The name was listed in the manifest as Trakimavicuite. 

She immigrated in November 1924 and was married around 1926/1927 with first KNOWN child born in Connecticut in 1927. Not certain if she ever made it to Pennsylvania. 

Thanks - happy to be here. Both my parents were born in Lithuania so I'm finding it difficult doing research here in the states. I do have a great grandfather who came to the states where he and his wife bore 3 children, and then went back to Lithuania. I have found my grandfathers' birth certificate, however there is absolutely no other record of his family being in the US - they're not listed on any of the census' [1900, 1910, 1920 or 1930], no immigration records. I'm at my wits end on how to continue - not sure if anyone can help with any ideas.

I hope you're ready for this one :-) I have a lot of information:
ggrandfather - Jonas Gintautas was born in Rokiskis, Abeliu Km., Lithuania in 1874. He married Viktorija Petrulyte in Pandėlys, Rokiškio raj., Lithuania in 1898. They would have come to the US between 1898 and 1900 because my grandfather, John [Jonas] Gintoff [Gintautas] was born in 6/30/1900 in Somverville, MA, along with his two siblings - Emilija [Amelia] Gintoff [Gintautas] 1902 or 1904 depending on which document you're looking at, and Povilas Gintoff [Gintautas] who was born in 1905 in Somverville according to my families history, but there is no birth record of a Povilas Gintoff [Gintautas] in Somverville. There is a Joseph Gintoff who, according to the MA Archives, was born to my ggranfather and ggmother. Not sure yet if Povilas and Joseph are the same person or if Joseph was another child who did not survive. My ggrandfather died in 1924 in Rokiskis, Abeliu Km., Lithuania of a heart attack. I have a letter from a great aunt describing the incident. Therefore, the family would have had to have moved back to Lithuania before 1924.

One new anomolie that I just found when I requested a few birth records from the MA archives is that the maiden name of my ggrandmother on my grandfathers' and his sister's birth records is not Petrulis, instead it is Berteroniz, while the maiden name on Joseph Gintoff's [the yet to be determined sibling] is closer to her real maiden name Petronis.

My main goal right now is to figure out when my ggrandfather and ggrandmother arrived in the US and when they returned to Lietuva.

I have checked all of the available resources for immigrants into the US through eastern ports, starting from 1885 through 1900, but I can't find a clue.

Success! I found my g-grandfather and g-grandmother in the 1900 Census for Somerville, MA. They were incorrectly listed as Tinton and Tintorn - looks as though the auditor was writing in script and the person transcribing the form mis-named them! However, this has now brought on more questions as their marriage date is different from what i have as are their birth dates. I guess it's back to Lithuania to validate that info.

by the way - i am able to both read and speak lithuanian if there's ever anything that I can do for anyone in this group.

These 2 photos are my only clues actually from Lithuania.  I was hoping that the dress of the women might give an indication of the region that they are from.  Ona's dress is particularly interesting as she has a stripped blouse and a dark damask apron and dark flowered head piece.  I hoped they might provide a clue.  They don't seem like farm women to me in this photo.  Also she is holding a white envelope of some sort right in front on her lap.  It would almost seem like this had an importance or significance to have such a family photo made and I wondered if anyone might guess as to why such a photo was taken.  ??  In the photo of the girl in the dark heavy dress with the white scarf, it strikes me that she is standing in front of a fence but otherwise it looks like she in almost in a wide open field.  The land is quite flat and open behind her as though she is really out in the country side.  The fence seems too low or not sturdy enough to hold in livestock, however.  Is such countryside typical in Lithuania or in a certain region in Lithuania?  Her dress is quite different from the 5 women in the other photo.  Does her dress style indicate a specific region?  Would a farm woman dress this way?

I should tell you, I guess, a bit about this family that I am researching.  People always tell me that Melsbach is not a Lithuanian name.  True!  They were from Altweid and Irlich Germany and about 1750, they answered a call to go to Ostpruessa to 're-populate' an area that had been hit by the plague.  They lived there for over 100 years and may have changed their names slightly to Melsbakas - - at least I've seen that name in the Zebra.  About 1860, Mekie Melsbach had a son, Joseph George.  In 1872, there was another son born in Lithuania, William Joseph.  About 1888 - 89, Joseph left and came to Meriden Connecticut.  A year or so later, his wife, Elizabeth Broziene, and thier daughter, Mary Margaret, came to Connecticut also.  About 1895, his brother, William came and married Annie Zemaitis in Meriden.  Elizabeth's 3 brothers and maybe a sister also came but they changed their names completely.  We have these 2 photos of the Anskaitiene family in the old photo album, but we don't know yet how they 'fit'.  Probably sister, mother or grandmother of either Joseph or Elizabeth as the photo was in their album.  I, like everyone else, am trying to find where in Lithuania the family lived.  I know the men did blacksmith work here after they came and that Anna's father was a blacksmith in Lithuania.  Not much to go on, huh?