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Where'd they go? My People left Lithuania and went to Massachusetts
South Boston, Brockton, Cambridge....these were just some of the Lithuanian hotspots in Mass.
City Directories:
The 1925 Boston City Directory.
The Cambridge, MA "Blue Book" (Directory) for 1910.
The Mass. Election Dept. produced directories of residents for the various voting districts. These have been scanned by the Boston Public Library and put on www.archive.org. Roughly speaking, from 1930 onward, South Boston (East side) is ward 7 and South Boston (West side) is ward 6. However, before that, voting districts moved often. I'll be posting links to the directories here, focusing on South Boston addresses. If you click on the book image, you can search for your relatives in the upper right corner by typing in the first few letters of their surname.
1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950
Ward 6 (West side): 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935
1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950
1924: Ward 10
1910: Ward 13, Ward 15
Government Resources:
The Massachusetts State Archives 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125
Phone: (617) 727-2816
E-mail: archives@sec.state.ma.us
Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics
For birth, death certificates, etc.
Local Resources:
Brockton: The USGenWeb page for Brockton, including info on libraries, historical societies, cemeteries, etc.
Lithuanian Catholic Churches/Diocese Information:
The Archives of the Diocese of Boston might be helpful in finding some Catholic marriages and baptisms. Also, here is a list of the closed and merged parishes within the Boston Diocese.
The Diocese of Fall River.
The Diocese of Springfield.
The Diocese of Worcester.
There is no online resource for St. Augustine's Cemetery, South Boston, where I think many Boston area Lithuanians are buried. It's an old cemetery, pre-dating Lithuanian immigration. You'll have to contact the old-fashioned way: St. Augustine Cemetery
Established in 1818
225 Dorchester St, South Boston, MA 02127-2876
Phone: (617)269-9506
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Augustine_Chapel_and_Cemete...
Lithuanian Catholic Parishes:
St. Francis
105 Main Street
Athol, MA 01331
Phone: 978-249-2738
Fax: 978-249-0447
Email: ourladyrectory@hotmail.com
http://www.nqcatholic.org/Information.htm
St. Casimir, South Boston, MA. 1895-1908. Replaced by St. Peter's, founded 1904.
St. Peter's, founded 1904.
50 Orton-Marotta Way
South Boston, MA, 02127-2006
Phone: 617-268-0353
Fax: 617-268-2585
Email: klebonas@me.com
Email: Daiva, Church Secretary donavickas95@hotmail.com
http://www.stpeterlithparish.catholicweb.com/
St. Casimir, founded 1898. CLOSED?
21 Sawtell Avenue
Brockton, MA 02402
Phone: 508-586-2226
Fax: 508-559-2761
Article about history & closure
Records possibly at St. Michael's, 87 N. Main Street, Avon, MA 508-586-7210/fax: 508-586-7211
Immaculate Conception, founded 1910. CLOSED
432 Windsor Street
Cambridge, MA, 02141-1343
Records at:
Sacred Heart Parish Rectory
49 Sixth Street
Cambridge, MA 02141-1594
Phone: 617-547.0399
Fax: 617-441-8648
St. George, Haverhill, MA. Founded 1917. CLOSED
Records at:
All Saints Parish Rectory
120 Bellevue Ave., Haverhill, MA, 01832-4711
Phone: 978-372-7721
Fax: 978-372-2085
Email: sjshav@comcast.net
http://www.sjshav.com/
St. Francis of Assisi, founded 1903. CLOSED
94 Bradford Street
Lawrence, MA
Records at:
Holy Rosary/Corpus Christi Parish Rectory
35 Essex Street
Lawrence, MA 01840
Phone: 978-685-1711
Fax: 978-691-5927
pastor@corpuschristilawrence.org
http://www.corpuschristilawrence.org/
St. Joseph, Founded 1908. MERGED
151 Rogers Street
Lowell, MA, 01852
Records at:
Immaculate Conception
3 Fayette Street, Lowell, MA 01852-1234
Phone 978-458-1474
Fax 978-446-0790
EMail: Immconparish@aol.com
http://world.std.com/~icp/index.html
St. George, founded 1912. CLOSED>
36 St. George Avenue
Norwood, MA
Records at:
Saint Catherine of Siena Parish Rectory
547 Washington Street
Norwood, MA 02062-0547
Phone: 781-762-6080 (8:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m., weekdays and weekends / closed holidays)
Fax: 781-255-9312
Email: parish@stcatherinenorwood.org
http://www.stcatherinenorwood.org
St. Casimir's Church, Westfield, MA. CLOSED.
Records at:
St. Peter's
22 State Street
Westfield, MA 01085-3814
Our Lady of Vilna, Worcester. CLOSED.
St. Casimir, founded 1894. CLOSED 2009.
41 Providence Street
Worcester, MA
http://www.stcasimirworc.org/ --the website is still there with detailed history.
Records at:
St. John's
44 Temple Street
Worcester, MA
(508) 756-7165
Views: 6527
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Richie C. on
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There's a link to all the State Archives in the "Naturalizations" topic on the main page, but I'll add the State Archives website to this Massachusetts Discussion Category. I'll see if I can find the URL for the Bureau of Statistics too...Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Brenda McGrane on
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My family came from Zabiki, Lithuania in 1900 and settle in South Boston, my gg-grandfather was a tailor and worked at Shapria Brothers on 888 Washington Street, Boston all his life, this is where he met my gg-grandmother she was a streamstess at Shapria bros, and she was also from Lithuania..
I had great help locating the St Peter Luthiania Church in South Boston had all my relatives baptismal records, the hardest for me is locating marriage and death records some times -
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Brenda, were you able to ascertain whether your relatives are buried at St. Augustine Cemetery? If so, how? I have on my 'to do' list to try to track two brothers who came to Boston who I think might be cousins of my great-Grandmother (who lived in PA)...family name = Sakatauskas.
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George,
Thank you for this info. I live in Maine but will be traveling south to Mass sometime and will try the Mass State Archives in Dorchester as you suggested. Hopefully, I will be able to locate naturalization papers on my gfather.
Carol Davick Boynton -
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Carol,
Check the section on the front page of the group under "Naturalizations:. Because of the late date of your gfather's filing, you might be able to accomplish it online through the National Archives. Worth a shot, especially in this weather!
-Rich C. -
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Are there any Bay State residents who would like to organize a trip to the Mass. Archives in Dorchester? I've never been, and a group trip just sounds like more fun.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on
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My grandmother's family came to Massachusetts also (Norwood, near Brockton), and I was born in Brockton myself. My problem is still figuring out what part of Lithuania they came from.
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Chirstopher,
That's the #2 headache, I think....right behind not being able to figure out what you're name really is! But some patience and out-of-the-box thinking might help you break down that wall. Have you checked the discussion on figuring out the village?
Have you tried searching the Lithuanian phone directories online? There you can find out how common a name is, if it's centered in certain areas, etc. I did a quick look for you. It does seem you drew the short straw. Closest to Virginski I found were: Virgailis, Virganavicius/Virginavicius/Virgonavicius, Virgilijus, Virginijus, Vergun. For Milnius, I'm positive there's something missing...a vowel, or some other transciption change. Closest I found were: Milius, Miliene, Milenas/Milenis/Milonas <---a version of these last ones would be my guess.
The other thing I do is keep a spreadsheet with every immigration record I can find for anyone with that name (unless it's ridiculously common), and include those who went to UK/Scotland too. Then trace those people, maybe they had naturalization certificates which showed their birthplaces. That's worked well for one of my family names. -
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Thanks, Richie! I'll start keeping track of other Virginskis (and similar names) even if I don't think they're related, and see if I can figure out where the name originated.
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I recently came across another Lithuanian-American family named Virginski who apparently changed it from Wadzinski. Does that sound right? I know my grandmother used to say they spelled the name with a "W" back in the old days.
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Chris,
I don't see Wadzinski translating to Virginski, but who knows. I think there would be several consonant combinations with 'z' in Polish that might equate to the 'g' sound in Virginski. 'The "W" is a good clue for you, though. Polish has "W" and Lithuanian does not, just "V". But of course, they're pronounced the same. And the Germans pronounce a "V" like a "W", so that's why you see Vincentas or Vincenti spelled as Wincentas/Wincenti on passenger manifests out of German ports. So, in your case, the "W" probably means they came from what is now southern Lithuania/Poland border area. -
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