Konstancija Matulyte?

The goal of digging into records of Helen Palas was to see if I could identify Helen’s mother, the third sibiling of Silvestras and Anna. Helen's death record gave me that information - at least the first bit of it. The parents were "Leon" and "Constance". My guess is that Constance's name was probably actually Konstancija. I have no idea what name would Anglicize to "Leon". (On a related note "Anna" Matulyte / Sviatikiene should actually be "Ona").

Knowing that the family used the name "Palas" rather than the actual Povilauskas, made it easier to find them in the census. So far I've found them in the 1930 and 1940 censuses.

Povilauskas / "Palis" family on 1930 census.

Povilauskas / "Palas" family on 1940 census.

In the 1930 census, they're using the name Palis, with an 'i'. But it's clearly them because both Helen and Mildred are with them. Further to that "Leon" appears as "Louis" (name variation chaos!). The 1930 census also tells me some very interesting things. First, it tells me that Constance was born around 1894. That means she's younger than her sister Anna. Secondly, it gives Constance's immigration date as 1915 - a full 6 years after Anna. Those two bits of information counter the theory that the unmarried Anna might have come to the US with her older married sister. In fact it might have been the opposite! Anna's younger unmarried sister might have come to the US to live with her! This, of course, still leaves the mystery about Anna's arrival. Does it mean that there was other Matulis family in the US before her? Or might it mean that Anna was just ahead of her time and emigrated on her own?

The last two bits of information that the 1930 census tells me is that Constance married at the age of 23 (around 1917) and her first two children were born in New Hampshire (around 1918 and 1922). I should be able to use that information to find their birth certificates. And it should also help me find them on the 1920 census, which should have them in New Hampshire (not NYC, where they are on the 1930 and 1940 censuses).

The 1940 census doesn't tell me much that the 1930 didn't already, except that they had bought a house in Queens.