Hello, I am trying to research my grandfather, Antanas/Tony Tverijonas who was either from Skaudville or Kaunas. He came to the U.S. (Chicago) about 1920. He had a sister who also came to the U.S. He was born in 1895 and she was born in 1894.  I have hit so many dead ends I just don't know where else to try. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

My Lithuanian ancestors are Biliunas and Valek and settled  in Eastern Long Island, NY (Riverside, specifically) just before 1900.  I have yet to "cross the pond".  Looks like there are good resources here!

I see the last post here was in January. I hope that people are still actively on here. I have been looking for something like this for a long time.

To Amy Lynn Marchenonis: It helps if you get your parents birth records, marriage records, baptism (if you are Catholic) records and any other related documents and find names and places. Have you tried using other sites like ancestry.com (awesome even though you have to pay for it) and FamilySearch and Ellis Island. Those are good places to start. I have a cousin in New Jersey who has done a lot of work on our Lithuanian ancestry. This place is a good start and get some feed back from time to time.

To Michelle McGee: Thank you for responding to my post! I am in a bit of a tough place there, my parents are not in my life, so getting their birth records is not an option to my knowledge. I was baptized Catholic as a baby, but I do not know how to go about getting that information without their help. I have tried a few of those sites, but when all you can input is your name & info, and your parent's names, it does not give you anything. I get stuck. I cannot even find out who my ancestors are by my last name..

If you have a general location, many churches keep their own records by year and the number of Lithuanian churches will be limited in an area, so the search might not be that time consuming.

I had no contact with my father's family and by knowing the main Lithuanian church in the area where they lived, approx. years of key events, I was able to go to the place where those records were kept (the church closed and transferred records to another church) and by spending time searching through those records, I found my father's birth record, his parent's marriage record, information on his brothers and sisters, and information on his grandparents.  It was a major breakthrough for me. I had tried to my father's relatives...but have had no luck.

I contacted the church where the records were kept and they kindly assisted and was able to find the names of my great grandparents and where they lived in Lithuania, which was a very valuable discovery.

Wendy

Hello!! I am new to this site, and to this page.  I am researching the surnames of Remkus/Rimkis and Tautkus.  I have not been able to find out where in Lithuania my Great Great Grandmother was born.  She put Prussia on everything until a later census record, where she put Lith.  Through DNA, I found a distant cousin who is researching the same name.  She said she was told it was in the Taurage area.  I am not sure where to start!  Any suggestions?? I have her birth date and the fact that she was married twice, first to a Schultz (my ancestor) and then to a Tautkus. 

To Sandy Faust...My second great-grandmother was Agatha Tutkus, who married a man by the name of Peter Anton Jesaitis (or Jasaitis), who we believe may have been from Kovno, Kauanas, Lithuania. They were the parents of __ children, most of whom emigrated to the U.S. in the 1880s, including Anton, Petronella, John, Joseph, Andrew, Frank, Vincent (William), Frances and Agatha. Do any of these names sound familiar? 

I don't know if the following information connects with anyone in this group, or if there is any advice group members can suggest, but here is what I know of my Lithuanian ancestors:

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My grandmother was Petronėlė Juzė Šugždaitė, and she was born in Lauckaimis, Vilkaviškis in November 1901. I have her birth certificate. Her father was Jonas Šugžda and her mother Petronėlė Melninkaitytė. I know Lauckaimis is close to the border with Kaliningrad.

I believe that two brothers and a half-sister were also born in the same village (kaime). The half-sister was Ona Simanavičiūte (b. 10 Feb 1891), daughter of Petronėlė Melninkaitytė and her first husband Francišcus Simanavičiūte. It appears Petronėlė was about four months pregnant with Ona when she married Jonas Šugžda. Presumably, Francišcus died shortly after Ona was conceived.

Later records indicate that Jonas and Petronėlė were married 6 Sep 1890 at Vladislava, Trakai, which is quite a way to the west of Lauckaimis where all the children were born.

The other (full) brothers were Juozas (b. 12 Dec 1894) and Bronislovas (b. 13 Feb 1898) (information from US immigration records). There may also have been 4 or 5 other births that did not survive.

Sometime after my grandmother was born in 1901, the family left for Scotland where they worked in the coal mines in Bellshill and Bothwellhaugh near Glasgow. Two more boys were born there, but all the boys went on to the USA in the 1920s. My great-grandparents, my grandmother and her half-sister lived the rest of their lives in Scotland.

Death records in Scotland give Jonas Šugžda’s parents as "Jurgis Sugzda" and "Agota Klimaitė"; Petronėlė’s parents were recorded as "Vincas Melninkaitis" and Ona “Widrinskiute” – but I suppose this is is more likely to be Vidrinskaitė or Vidrinskiūtė.

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I'd be delighted to hear from anyone who might have a connection with any of these names, and I'm only too happy to share anything I have.

Karl Craig

Brisbane, Australia

Karl,

I can't find any faults or gaps with what you've laid out, so I really have nothing to suggest or add, unfortunately.  Except to say that I too have a Simanavičiute in my tree:  my great-great grandmother Rozės/Rozalija Simanavičiute, b. 1844, d. 21 March 1904 in Radžiūnai, Alytaus savivaldybė, Lithuania.  However, Simanavičius and Simonavičius are very common names.

Richie C in Chelsea, Massachusetts

I have recently had a good deal of success tracing my Lithuanian ancestors using the services of a family researcher in Vilnius. Vilius Vašeikis runs a ‘Lithuanian Visits’ website (http://lithuaniavisits.com/index.php) and has been able to add 3 generations and several siblings to my grandmother’s family from Lauckaimis, Vilkaviškis (Šugžda, Melnikaitytė, Vidrinskaitė, Simonavičiūtė). He also provides English translations for those records which are usually written in Polish or Russian. Although many records were destroyed during the war, there was still quite a bit to be found.

I have found Vilius to be very responsive in answering emails and helpful in providing additional background information for the area of Lithuania my family comes from – the old Suvalki Governate, right on the border of East Prussia (now Kaliningrad). Also, the costs are very reasonable, and there is no additional charge if records are not found.

If you need help researching your Lithuanian ancestors, then Vilnius will certainly be able to give you some idea of what records might exist for your family, and what costs would be involved. You can contact him on vilius@lithuaniavisits.com

I intend to visit Lithuania for the first time in August or September, and I hope to have Vilius organise a ‘family history tour’ to my ancestor’s villages.

thanks for the group! I have been busy but I am back!