Poor Relief

I have my first bit of hard evidence that my great-grandfather Kazimiras Kisielius was, in fact, sent away under the Anglo-Russian Military Convention. I've suspected this for some time now, but I haven't been able to find anything documenting it. Over the weekend, I found it in an entry for my great-grandmother in the "poor books" held at the Glasgow City Archive.

D-HEW17/804 (186675)

It states that Kazimiras "went to join the Russian army" on 29 September 1917 and "left her unprovided for", suggesting that is was his choice and that he didn't bother making arrangements for her in advance. Quite the contrary, he was sent away without a choice and with little advance notice.

Another thing in the file is her signature (in her own hand!), which confirms another mystery. She signs her name "Jessie Kisielius", meaning she definitely did use that name, and she had a child out of wedlock at the age of 16!

In her hand.

There's lots more information in the document, but it'll take me some time before I can get it posted here (particularly because the copies are poor and the writing is difficult). I also collected some other documents, including poor relief records for Kazimiras' sister Marijona and three other Kisielius women (who could possibly be wives of brothers). Further to that I made copies of military tribunal records of service exemption hearings. There could be something very interesting in there.

The full record of Sofija's poor relief application is here.