(CLOSED--Please see State-specific forums) Where'd they go? My people left Lithuania and went to: USA

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on October 7, 2009 at 3:12pm

My great-grandparents were Joseph Virginski (b. 1868, immigrated 1880)) and Annie Milnius (b. 1870, immigrated 1895). I have no information about their parents whatsoever, so if anyone has any information, I would appreciate it.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 7, 2009 at 3:22pm

Christopher,
Do you know where they lived in the USA? I was thinking maybe their last name would have been Virginskas, but didn't see any listings for that name in the Lithuanian Internet phone directory. But there are several names with the Virgin-root.

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on October 7, 2009 at 3:27pm

They lived in Norwood, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. The name is sometimes spelled Verginski (like in the U.S. Census of 1910 and 1930) or Verginsky, and my dad says my grandmother used to spell it Wirginski.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 7, 2009 at 3:39pm

Virganavičius, Virginija, Virginijus, Vargonas, are the closest I see in the Lith phone directory. Wirginski is definately Polonized, because there is no "W" in Lithuanian, but a "V" would be changed to a "W" by the Poles, and probably the Germans as well. Usually the "-ski" ending of a Polish name would be "-skas" in Lithuanian, but perhaps the name was SO Polonized, that they added a 'ski' to the end anyway.

Do you have their marriage certificate? Were they married in Norwood? Were they Catholic? If so they almost certainly worshiped at:

St. George Lithuanian Catholic Church (closed in 2004)
St. James Avenue
Norwood, MA 02062

The first Lithuanian immigrants settled in Norwood in the late 1890s. By 1913, Catholic Lithuanians fostered the idea of creating a Lithuanian Catholic Parish. Parishioners attended Mass in Columbia Hall until 1915, when the St. George Lithuanian Catholic Church on St. James Avenue (pictured above) was dedicated. A convent to house the Sisters of Jesus Crucified was built later on church grounds. The church was closed by the Archdiocese of Boston in August 2004.

Records

Inclusive dates: 1900 - present

The records pertain to the parish priests, the church building, the St. George's convent, marriage records, church anniversary celebrations, and several organizations of the parish. Record types include minutes, registers, annual reports, ledgers, photographs, bulletins, newspaper articles. According to Rev. Wolkovich, some records of the Church are in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston including baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals. The fate of the remaining records is uncertain.

Permalink Reply by Max Gerald Heffler on October 8, 2009 at 6:36pm

My people left Lithuania and ended up here in the US (Houston, TX) after a stay in Jo-berg, South Africa. Numerous ended up in South Africa and a number in Israel. My wife's people left Lithuania and ended up in the US (Indianapolis, IN, then NYC, NY and later Philadelphia, PA) after a stay in Riga, Latvia.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 8, 2009 at 7:23pm

Max,
Those are some pretty wild routes! Never heard of Lith--> S. Africa --> USA before!

Permalink Reply by Max Gerald Heffler on October 8, 2009 at 7:52pm

Lithuania to South Africa was quite common before and during WWII. I think it had something to do with the shipping ports. Not sure how common South Africa to US was then.

Permalink Reply by Linda Johnson on October 9, 2009 at 3:36pm

My family started out in Lake County, IN, then went to Allen County, OH, and ended up in Cook County, IL. I think they must have moved to find work, but I don't know for sure. Their surnames were Yurgell (Jurgelevicius) and Stancik (Stancikas).

Permalink Reply by Tom S. on October 10, 2009 at 9:58pm

Linda,

My grandfather emigrated from Lithuania in 1911 and ended up working in Gary, IN for a while. His sister was married to another Lithuanian immigrant and her family lived in South Chicago, IL.

So far, I have not been able to find any documents verifying his time in Gary, just family lore.

Tom S.

Permalink Reply by Richie C. on October 10, 2009 at 8:14pm

I have a thought....scary, yes...thank you for that.

The Liths who came to America went to certain places: Chicago, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachustts....at least that's what I know. Should I sub-divide the USA part according to those locales?

Permalink Reply by Sandy Abramovich on October 11, 2009 at 7:59am

I was surprised at the concentration of Lithuanians that went to the areas you've mentioned. My grandfather (Bartasius) went to MA and then to CT. I still haven't located my grandmother's manifest (Kaslauckas) but her brother went to MA, to CT for a few years and then back to MA. My husband's grandfather went to PA (Abramowicz) for a couple of years and then to CT. I haven't been able to locate his wife's manifest (Glebus) but they married at St. Joseph's in Waterbury, CT in 1903. His maternal grandfather (Veprauskas) went to CT, and his maternal grandmother (Sinkiewicz) went to PA for a few years, eventually marrying in CT.

I've done lots of reading of ship's lists looking for individual manifests and the places I see reported most as destinations seem to be Cambridge MA, Somerville MA, Luzerne County PA towns, and Chicago.