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Alas...what a difference a day makes!  A kind soul via one of the ancestry.com posts I left on a message board appears to have found the manifest for the individual we knew as Anna Trakimas.  She is listed as Ona Trakimaviciute, arrived 11/23/1924, going to uncle Joseph Kazlaukas in Connerton PA, from dad Motejus (last name same as hers, incorrect as a maiden name) in Buktiniku LT. She was born in Stoneburn Scotland, but the family may have moved to LT at some point.

The similarities between the information we had obtained and the information that is offered in the manifest are many! So now my question is...where is Buktiniku (sp?)

Secondarily...the manifest reports that her cousin in Pennsylvania paid for passage ( a Joseph Kazlawkas) and Connerton, PA was her final destination.  Was it common for people NOT to travel to where they had reported?  Do to limited funds?  Is it possible that she was taken in by other Lithuanians in NY or CT (which is where she eventually resided and raised her family) and just stayed?

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Buktininkai (not Buktinikai) is in the Alytus district, east-north-east of Simnas, an area that prior to WWI would have been in the Suwalki gubernia or province of the Russian Empire. The area borders Poland thus has a mixed population of ethnic Lithuanians and Poles.

The ending "-u" on the village name indicates that it is in the possessive case and means "of or belonging to", as for example in the phrase "the village of Buktininkai" = "Buktininku kaimas". This ending "-u" is used for all nouns which in the nominative end in "-ai", as many villages and town names are.

If her father's surname was Trakimas, then her maiden name would be Trakimaite; if her surname was Trakimavic^iute, then her father's name was Trakimavic^ius. My maternal grandmother's surname was Demantaite (father, Demantas), but her great grandfather was Antanas Demantavic^ius. These names reflect changing preferences in how "Polish" influences play a part in adjusting names. The ending "-vic^ius" is a Lithuanian version of the Polish ending, "-wicz" (often corrupted to "-wich", "-vich", "-vitz", "-witz", etc.) and it simply means "descendant of" someone name Demantas or Trakimas.

She may well have traveled to Connerton, stayed a few days, and then traveled to another area to settle down in. This was common enough. My maternal grandfather first went to Shenandoah, PA, then shortly moved to Cleveland, then to Dubois, PA. He went where the money was thought to be better. It also could happen that an immigrant, upon arrival, had a change of plans for some reason, and went somewhere else, just as some immigrants are listed on a manifest but their names are crossed out indicating that they were not on that ship's departure -- change of plans for some reason.

John Peters
John:

Thank you kindly for the explanation of the endings. I would have never been able to find the manifest based upon my limited knowledge. This is not my family line but that of a friend, and so I am unfamiliar with the Lithuanian traditions.

I appreciate your assistance!
Julie

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