10 January 2015
Serfdom
An interesting piece of information that I gleaned from the Exeter, NH Historical Society website is that it is unlikely that many (any?) ordinary Lithuanians emigrated before 1861. The reason is that common people were enserfed under the Russian Imperial system, and were not permitted to move from their local area (except for military service). Women moved to join their husbands' families when they married, but men were bound to their landlords. This means that I can be pretty sure of my family's origins going back quite far, if I can document them back to 1861.
06 January 2015
About Konstantas
Last August when visiting Adolis Matulis, one of my grandfather's brothers in Lithuania, I asked what he could tell me about his mother's father, Konstantas Kemešys. He couldn't tell me much, but I took some brief notes that I'm only just now getting around to posting. Jesse filmed the conversation, but it was entirely in Lithuania and translated through Elena.
He told us the same that I had heard previously from Phyllis, Konstantas was married three times. The first two wives died young. In fact, I believe the photo below, which is from Phyllis, is the funeral of his second wife, Antonina (Phyllis's grandmother's mother, my great-grandmother's step-mother or mother). The inscription on the back is apparently from Konstantas to his daughter Petronele (Phyllis's grandmother), who was already living in the US at the time (read translation here). In a second photo he is pictured with another (much younger) woman, and the inscription reads something along the lines of: please accept that [person's name] has come here with her family to stay and be a friend.
Adolis also told us that Konstantas had about 12 children with his three wives: 3 with the first, 4 or 5 with the second, and 4 with the last. I believe Ona (my great-grandmother) was from the first wife and Petronele (Phyllis's grandmother) was from the second.
The last piece of information that I wrote down was that a son of the first wife died in a mine in the United States. Adolis didn't know where or what had happened (but I wonder if it was in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, where many Lithuanian emigrants settled). All he knew was that the family in Lithuania received compensation payments after the accident.
Here we are visiting with Adolis and his wife Kristina in Pakiršinys:
He told us the same that I had heard previously from Phyllis, Konstantas was married three times. The first two wives died young. In fact, I believe the photo below, which is from Phyllis, is the funeral of his second wife, Antonina (Phyllis's grandmother's mother, my great-grandmother's step-mother or mother). The inscription on the back is apparently from Konstantas to his daughter Petronele (Phyllis's grandmother), who was already living in the US at the time (read translation here). In a second photo he is pictured with another (much younger) woman, and the inscription reads something along the lines of: please accept that [person's name] has come here with her family to stay and be a friend.
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| I believe Konstantas is to the right of the casket. |
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| Reverse of photo above. Sylvester is Phyllis's uncle, Sylvester Žukauskas. |
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| Konstantas with third wife? |
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| Reverse of photo above. |
Adolis also told us that Konstantas had about 12 children with his three wives: 3 with the first, 4 or 5 with the second, and 4 with the last. I believe Ona (my great-grandmother) was from the first wife and Petronele (Phyllis's grandmother) was from the second.
The last piece of information that I wrote down was that a son of the first wife died in a mine in the United States. Adolis didn't know where or what had happened (but I wonder if it was in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, where many Lithuanian emigrants settled). All he knew was that the family in Lithuania received compensation payments after the accident.
Here we are visiting with Adolis and his wife Kristina in Pakiršinys:
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| August 2014 |
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