There are a few last remaining things that I made notes of while in Lithuania. I'll just list them here with comments without any real organization. First, Juozas Matulis gave me the following notes. I'm not entirely clear about everything he was saying because everything was being translated, but I'm pretty sure he was telling me that Konstantinas Kemešis and Ona (Kemešite?) were both originally from Žemaitiškių. His note suggests that this is a neighborhood in Panevežys or a town in Panevėžio county, but I can't find it on google maps. The only thing that comes up is Žemaitiškės in the Dzūkija region (southeast of Vilnius), and I'm pretty sure that's not right. It might be that Žemaitiškių was a small village that no longer exists. That was the fate, Raimundas explained, of the other town that Juozas identified, Kurgulai.
 |
Notes made by Juozas Matulis
(the question mark could be because he wasn't certain which county
Kurgulai was in, it is right near the boundary between two) |
Kurgulai, Juozas said, is where his grandfather (my 2x-great-grandfather), Mykolas Matulis was born. Raimundas explained that Kurgulai is also where Tevuk was born, but that the house and village don't exist anymore. It was replaced by Mitriunai, where the Soviets built the collective farm. Mitriunai is where the Matulis family was moved to when Kurgulai was demolished. Indeed, Valiukas (Tevuk's brother) still lives there. Raimundas believes all of the records for people that were living in Kurgulai should be in the Počiuneliai book, since that was the closest church. But he said Krekenava is also not far and there could be records there too (particularly marriage records since it is a bigger church).
When I met Valiukas, he was saying that Ona Matuliene/Kemešite, his mother, had 6 sisters. I know one of them was Peturnelia Žukauskiene/Kemešite
from Phyllis in New Hampshire. Another, I think, was Veronika ?iene/Kemešite because of what I gathered
from photos that were in Phyllis's possession. The others I know nothing about. Some or all of the sisters were actually half-sisters, though, because Konstantinas Kemešis was married three times.
Regina Matulyte, daughter of Vincas, told me that Veronika Kemešite was married to somebody with the name Romeika, which would have made her Veronika Romeikiene. He might have been Latvian because the inscriptions on the back of the photos from Phyllis say they were living in Riga. Regina drew the following tree.
 |
| From Regina Matulyte |
Another thing I was told by several people was that one of the Matulis brothers (Adolis, I believe) actually spells his name Matuolis. Nobody seemed to know why, exactly, but they all emphasized that he is blood related. Perhaps it was simply because literacy wasn't always what it is today. It could have just been a mistake that ended up sticking. Or maybe it got recorded that way on an official document somewhere along the way and just propagated through. Who knows.
Finally, when I visited the Museum of Genocide, I brought a copy of the photo that Chute has of her brother, and asked if they could help me find information. They explained that they will conduct research on a person, but they need proof of identity. For me that would require documents from me, my dad, Chute, and her brother. But if Chute makes the request directly, there is far less that needs to be submitted. She only needs to write a letter requesting the information and include a copy of her passport, her marriage certificate showing her maiden name, and a birth certificate. Since her birth certificate doesn't exist (as I've mentioned, the Vilkaviškis are incomplete) they said it should be okay without it. The letter she sends them, though, must be notarized - they're taking privacy really seriously. All of it should be sent to:
Lietuvos Ypatingasis Archyvas
LT-01110 Vilnius, Gedeminio prospektas 40/1
Lietuva
