This map (above) shows the north-western part of the Old Suvalki Governate of Lithuania where our family lived before migrating to Scotland in about 1903. Today, this region is part of the County of Marijampolė. My great-great-grandfather, Simonas Melnikaitis, was born around 1830 in Katromyslė, which at that time was in the Kalvarija District, but had moved to the Sakalupis Estate (Sakalupėnai palivarkas) where he married Ona Vidrinskaitė in 1864. Ona had been born at Sakalupis around 1842.
My great-grandmother, Petronėlė Melnikaitytė, was also born on that farm (delivered in the fields where her mother was working according to family legend). Petronėlė first married Pranciškus Simanavičius at Vladislavov in 1886. Pranciškus had been born nearby at Kataučizna, but was working on the Slibinai Estate when they married. They had three children, but only one survived (my half-grand-aunt Annie). When Pranciškus died about five years later, Petronėlė married my great-grandfather, Jonas Šugžda, a plot holder at Lauckaimis. It was here my grandmother and all but two of her siblings were born. All the marriages and baptisms were carried out at the Catholic Church in Vladislavov (now Kudirkos Naumiestis). The map below shows the area around Lauckaimis in more detail:
Hi Alan,
I’m currently researching my great-grandfather, Gregorius (Ziskind) Judin(as), and came across a handwritten and typed address in Antwerp immigration records in 1927, which lists a street in Kaunas—likely dating to the early 1920s or before.
The street is written as “Chadowska” (spelling uncertain), and I’m trying to figure out what modern street name this might correspond to. I understand that the name may have changed over time, or could be a transliteration/misspelling from another language, possibly Yiddish, Polish, or Russian.
I’d be happy to share images from these documents as I’m not sure if I’m reading it correctly.
Would you be willing to take a quick look and let me know if anything comes to mind? I’d be so grateful for any clues or ideas you might have.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon,
Cecilia
Hi Cecilia,
“Chadowska” looks Polish to me, and all the old maps were in Polish or Russian.
I’m happy to look for you, but sometimes it can be very difficult to get from Polish into Lithuanian.
Maybe something like: Čadovska ?
I’ll send you an email directly. :-))
I have been trying for well over 50 years to find my great grandfathers birth place along with my great grandmothers.
I have Joseph Slizauskas, spelt in various ways, but his birth place is Naumiestis Vilkaviskis in 1877.
I had promised i would find the family to my mother and grandmother, but alas that has passed.
Joseph apparently go to England and worked in Middlesbrough in an Iron works. His marriage in 1901 at the Catholic church there.His wife was born in Alytus.They met in Middlesbrough. she was born in 1882. Her name is even worse to work out
Ubyesus Or Ubicente, there are more versions.
If anyone could help me that would be wonderful. I still have Antosas bible and some jewellery which means such a lot to me. I would just love to find out if there is any family left. Not being Jewish, I hope the finding them might be higher.
look forward to hearing from you.
I live in Victoria now Australia
Hi Anne,
Yes finding Lithuanian places can be very hard, as English-speaking officials/registrars had no idea how the spell the names they heard. Kudirkos Naumiestis is the new name for a town that used to be called Vladislavov, and you will find that on my map on the Old East Prussian border, which is now the Russian exclave called Kaliningrad (currently in the news!). Vladislavov (Kudirkos Naumiestis) is the main city in the Vilkaviškis District.
Altyus is about 100 km further west of Kudirkos Naumiestis, lying directly south of Kaunas.
Surnames are even more difficult, especially given that married women and daughters used variations of the family name (e.g. in my family, the male name ‘Šugžda’ becomes Mrs ‘Šugždiene’, and Miss ‘Šugždaitė’). ‘Ubyesus’ could be ‘Ubavicius’, which is recorded in a list of known Lithuanian names at this link:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/53134621/10-000-Lithuanian-Last-Names-and-Surnames
I hope some of this helps.
:-)
Alan