Peasants of the Krekenava District

An interesting side note to these birth records I've been digging through, relates to the heading of one of the columns on the forms.

It reads: "To which parents and which estate or society [class?] do they belong, when and where, i.e. in which parish, was the baptised person born?"

To which estate does the person belong?! This appears to be a reference to the system of feudalism that the Russian Empire imposed on its territories. When the Russians took over in the late 1700s, they formalised a strict set of social rules and hierarchies. Common people were made into serfs who had few rights, including no freedom of movement. The practice formally ended in 1861 when Tsar Alexander II made the "Emancipation Edict". He was no progressive visionary though. In breaking the news to the nobility, Alexander gave his reasoning:  "It is better to abolish serfdom from above, than to wait for that time when it starts to abolish itself from below." Even after this edict, though, most serfs continued a meager existence.

The birth records I've been looking at were made some 35 years after the serfs were emancipated. It just seems nobody bothered updating the forms. Regardless, they still make a person's place in society clear. My ancestors are identified as крестьянь Кракиновской волости, "peasants of the Krekenava district".

Namesake

In addition to Anna's baptism record, I also managed to find my great-grandfather Silvestras's and send it off for transcription. In the meantime I've become quite good at discerning "Матулисов" in the handwritten documents, so I'm working my through a heap of them in an attempt to build out the tree more fully.

Literally, "Matulisov", a Russified version of my name.
(One of the more notable peculiarities of handwritten Russian
is that what looks like a lower case 'm', is actually a т!)

Silvestras Matulis, born 27 January 1896

Here's the transcription and my best attempt at translation:

	№	B i r t h d a y	B a p t i s m d a y	When, where, who and by whom, whether with water or with all rites of the sacrament christened?	To which parents and which estate or society [class?] do they belong, when and where, i.e. in which parish, was the baptized person born?	Who were the godparents at holy baptism, and who was present?
T r a n s c r i p t i o n	11	27	29	Тысяча восемьсот девяносто шестого года января двадцатьдевятаго дней, вь Пацунельскиь Р. Кот. филіяльномъ костель Кс: И. Мартин_ус_ окрещено дите именемъ: Сильвестрь, совечми обреядами таинства.	крестьянь кракиновской волости Михаила и Екатерины изъ Милашевачевь Матулисовь законногов супруговь сынь родившийся 1896 года 27 января вь Кургула_ Кракиновск__ прихода.	Восприемниками были: Сильвестрь Милашевичь, Барбара Милашевичов__
T r a n s l a t i o n	11	27	29	One thousand eight hundred and ninety sixth year, twenty-ninth day of January, in Pociuneliai R. Cat. filial church [??]: I. Martin?us? baptised a child named: Sylvester, with all rites of the sacrament.	Peasants of the Krekenava district Mikhial and Ekaterin of Milashevachev Matulisov [Mykolas Matulis and Katarina Milaševičiute], legal spouses, son born 27th January, 1896 in Kurgulai, Krekenava parish.	Witnesses were: Sylvester Milashevich, Barbara Milashevichov[??]

I initially searched through the records for 1895 looking for this document because that's the date that is on Silvestras's gravestone. But it turns out that he was actually born in 1896 and his gravestone is wrong!

Photo taken in 2013.
Shows incorrect birth year for Silvestras.

The spelling variants are getting a little crazy now. Of course the endings of names change in Lithuanian, but now with the Cyrillic character set and the Russian endings and conventions, it's getting downright disorderly. On this document, my 2x-great-grandparents are listed as Mikhail and Ekaterin, but on Anna's document, they are Mikhail and Katerina. On one they appear as "Matulisov", and on the other it's "Matolisov". Sometime Katerina's maiden name is "Milashevich" and sometimes "Milashevichov__" (with an extended ending that I can't quite make out). There are too many commonalities between the documents (and the village is much too small) for these to be just two very similarly named families, so I'm sure that's not the issue though. Besides, everything is corroborated by things my great-uncles in Lithuania have told me -- for example, that some of our relatives use "Matuolis" to this day.

The thing struck me the most on this document was the name of Silvestras's godfather: Сильвестрь Милашевичь. Sylvester Milashevich!! Or, in Lithuanian, probably Silvestras Milaševičius. The name I share with my great-grandfather (Brett Sylvester Matulis), goes back even further than I thought. I'm not sure yet if Silvestras Milaševičius is Katerina's father, or maybe her brother, but I immediately felt a connection to him. The "Sylvester" name is really extensive in my family. In addition to Silvestras Milaševičius, there is Silvestras Matulis (my great-grandfather), Silvestras Kemešys (my great-grandmother's brother), and Sylvester Žukauskas (my grandfather's first-cousin). All that in addition to it being my, my dad's, and my brother's middle name. I will definitely be searching for records of the Silvestras and Barbara listed as godparents here.

Besides what's transcribed about, there's an additional note in the margin, dated 22nd of April 1918. It's very hard to read but apparently relates to his marriage to "Anna Kemeš___". Of course that's Ona Kemešyte!, who I know he married in Krekenava. Perhaps the Pociuneliai priest just noted it here in the margin of the Pociuneliai book because the wedding took place at a different church. There's a second note dated 1965 (five years after his death, according to his gravestone), but it's just letters and numbers, so I don't know what it refers to.

Written in the margin.

Second note

Squiggles on a Page

The exciting find of the birth record for Anna, my great-grandfather's older sister, was frustrated by my inability to read handwritten Russian script -- "squiggles on a page", I called it. A Russian speaking friend helped a little, but also struggled. So I sent the document off to an online Russian transcription service (and crossed my fingers that I hadn't just volunteered my credit card for fraud). The result came back, and I'm happy to say, so far so good.

Here's what I found out:

	№	Р о ж д е н и я	К р е щ е н и я	Когда, где, кто и кемъ, одною - ли водою или со всеми обрядами таинства окрещенъ?	Какихъ родителей и къ какому сословию или обществу они принадлежатъ, когда и где, т.е. въ какомъ приходе родился крещаемьй?	Кто были по имени прозванию восприемниками при св. крещении и кто присутствовалъ?
T r a n s c r i p t i o n	17	18	19	Тысяча восемьсотъ девяносто первого года января девятнадцатого дня. Въ Посцунель???ъ Р.К. филіяльномъ костёле [??]: И. Мартыи[усол??]ъ окрещено дитя именемъ: Анна, съ всъими обрядами таинства.	Крестьянъ Кракиновской волости Михаила и Катержины изъ Милашевичевъ Матолисовъ, законныхъ супруговъ дочъ, родившаяся 1901 года 18 января въ Жиборт[???]ъ Кракиновского прихода.	Воспріемниками были: Константинъ Матолисъ Елеонорою Милашевичевою.

And this is my attempt at translating (with heavy reliance on Google and input from friends):

	№	B i r t h d a y	B a p t i s m d a y	When, where, who and by whom, whether with water or with all rites of the sacrament christened?	To which parents and which estate or society [class?] do they belong, when and where, i.e. in which parish, was the baptized person born?	Who were the godparents at holy baptism, and who was present?
T r a n s l a t i o n	17	18	19	One thousand eight hundred and ninety-first year January, nineteenth day. In Pociuneliai R.C. church of [??]: I. Marti[usol??] baptised the child: Anna, with all the rites of the sacrament.	Peasants of Krekenava district Mikhail and Katerina of Milashevichev Matolisov [i.e. Mykolas Matolis and Katerina Milaševičiute], lawful spouses, born 1901 year, 18 January in Žibartoniai of the Krekenava district.	Witnesses were: Konstantin Matolis, Yeleonora [Elenora] Milashevicheva.

Most of the information is what I already knew, but the right hand column is significant. It says who the godparents were. It's not something I've seen on a birth record before -- actually this is a record of baptism, so it makes sense -- but it could really help me to build the family tree. Since it is common for aunts and uncles to be godparents, it could provide me with some hints beyond the direct lineage of parents. Of course people who are completely unrelated can also be godparents, so I'll need to verify everything with other records.

The document also says Anna was born in Žibartoniai, which is the first I have seen that the family was there. It's very close to Kurgulai, where the family later lived and where my grandfather was born.