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