A Discovery!

I'm not certain how I didn't realize this until just now, but Lithuania's birth, marriage, and death records are available online! They are on the ePaveldas or "eHeritage" site, http://www.epaveldas.lt/. They're not indexed or searchable, but a lot of books are there. Judging by what is available for Počiuneliai, it doesn't look like it's the same inventory as what I found in Vilnius, but at least I'll be able to do some searching of my Matulis and Kemešys roots without having to wait to go back to the archive in Vilnius. Actually, what is on ePaveldas appears to be even more comprehensive than what I found in Vilnius. I'm working on downloading and printing the books already (since they're not searchable, they're much easier to browse in print).

The only thing that will hold me back now is the language. Many are in script Russian, which is about as easy to decipher as ancient runes. Others are in Lithuanian, Polish, and even Latin! Looks like my four years of Latin in high school may bear some fruit after all.

There are 25 Počiuneliai books available on the site:

Births [1782-1901]

• 1782-1801 in Latin
• 1796-1819 in Latin
• 1820-1828 in Latin
• 1828-1834 in Polish
• 1835-1848 in Polish
• 1849-1860 in Russian
• 1860-1870 in Russian
• 1870-1878 in Russian
• 1878-1890 in Russian
• 1891-1901 in Russian

Marriages [1909-1940]

• 1909-1920 in Russian
• 1921-1926 in Lithuanian
• 1927-1933 in Lithuanian
• 1934-1940 in Lithuanian

Deaths [1782-1940]

• 1782-1801 in Latin
• 1800-1828 in Latin
• 1828-1834 in Polish
• 1835-1848 in Polish
• 1849-1866 in Russian
• 1886-1880 in Russian [actually 1866-1880, typo on website]
• 1880-1897 in Russian
• 1898-1914 in Russian
• 1915-1920 in Russian
• 1921-1928 in Lithuanian
• 1928-1933 in Lithuanian
• 1933-1940 in Lithuanian

After only a quick flip through one of the books, I've already found a match. It's for Antonina Kemešiene, the wife of Konstantinas Kemešys (my 2x-great-grandfather). Antonina is who Phyllis identified as her great-grandmother and my great-grandmother's step-mother. I haven't yet been able to translate all the Lithuanian, but I can clearly see Ona and Petronele listed. I'm not clear yet if they are both full daughters or if Ona is a step-daughter, as Phyllis indicated. From their ages, which are listed, I should be able to find their birth records without too much trouble and then be certain.

Počiuneliai Deaths 1926
Antonina Kemešiene

Other siblings are listed there as well, so I should be able to reconstruct the family tree quite quickly and spread out from there. I've really uncovered a gold mine here!