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Klaipeda county, on the Baltic Sea, is made up of two cities, Klaipeda and Palanga, and five municipalities: Klaipeda m., Kretinga m., Neringa, Skuodas m., and Silute m. If your families come from this region, or you just have questions about this area, please discuss here.

Wikipedia page for Klaipeda County.
Wikipedia page for Klaipeda City.
The modest webpage for Klaipeda Public Library (in English).
Database of more than 115,000 names in Memelland (including present day Klaipeda).
Memel and Memelland, in German (but you can translate the site using Google Translator). Rich with history, villages, newspapers, etc.
A free, downloadable Travel Guide 2009-2010 for Klaipeda from In Your Pocket.

2001 Census
Klaipeda County's rural settlements and their inhabitants.

Lithuanian Army Records for the Wars for Independence (1919-1920)
This site is in Lithuanian, but it is a valuable resource in finding
ancestors who stayed behind in Lithuania, or emigrated later.  It lists
volunteers for the Lithuanian Army during the Wars for Independence. 
The link below will take you to the names beginning with "A".   Just
click on the first letter of the surname for which are searching.

Fulfillment of military service earned the soldier free land.  The descriptions
generally give a certificate number, and where the land was granted. 
Birthdays and relative information may also be listed.

http://www.versme.lt/sav_a.htm

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Replies to This Discussion

My mother in law was born in Memel, now Klaipeda. Just spent much of the last week with her and my father-in-law in Philly.
My 3rd cousin lives in Klaipeda. He's a musician there. That's the only one of my Lithuanian families that I've been able to trace out of the USA.
My father's side of the family is from Kretinga & Kaunas...family name Anuzis. I'm just starting to put together what I have "on paper" from immigration records and my folks papers.

I look forward to sharing information and hopefully helping others in the group.
Saul,
Kretinga appears to still be a hotbed for this name, with about 1/4 of all listings in Lithuania from the phone directory. Have you tried writing to any of them?

Hi, my grandfather Hans John August Gerull was born in Memel back in 1895 when it was Prussia.  He left the country around the time he was 14 when his father sent him to work on ships, he never returned and ended up in Boston.  During WWI a Friedrich Gerull was interred in Canada and later sent back.  I have a copy of a post card that was in my grandfathers papers that was sent to Friedrich by his (Friedrich's) brother Heinz who is pictured on the front.  I believe both Friedrich and Heinz were my grandfathers brothers because there is no reason why he'd have it otherwise.  My grandfather corresponded with one of the brothers,(my mother believes it was Friedrich and that he may have had 2 daughters) up until WWII after which no correspondence ever came.   Is there any way to get birth records?  I know it is probably next to impossible to find out what happened to his brothers but I did come across two brothers Heinz and Jurgen Gerull who were democratic socialists and imprisoned by the Russians  who I'm wondering if possible they could be related.    I don't know if anyone on here is from Germany and might know a little about these two and who their parents were and where they were from.  I'm wondering if it's possible my grandfather's brother Heinz was their father.  

Janice,

I looked at the big list of Memelland names (above).  Gerull and it's variances seems to have been a very common name in those parts.  I'd suggest combing through and seeing if you can make any connections.  Nothing obvious popped out to me.  With a name like Hans John August, your grandfather could be listed any number of ways.

http://www.ortsfamilienbuecher.de/namelist.php?nachname=GERUL&o...

-Richie C in Chelsea, MA

Thanks, I had seen that.  In the meantime written to the Social Security office to get a copy of the exact application my grandfather made out and hopefully it will state his parents exact names.  We only *think* it was Friedrich and Marie based on my mothers recollections but she's 83 and they could be wrong.

I've finally tracked down my gg grandfather to Memel (seated in pic) but when I tried to find Raus on a historical surname database, there was none. I realize its a German or Germanized name but now given the amount of Kraus's on there...hhmm it could be that or possibly Raustys? 

 Raus as a place name fits, given its right across the Baltic in South Sweden. I'm grasping so if anyone can throw me a tip, I'd love it!

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