I searched for the death records of Mykolas and Katerina at the time too, but came up empty handed. The search was slowing-going and laborious, given that the records were mostly un-indexed. Adding to the problem was that I assumed they'd lived much longer than they actually had, so I had started my search in the wrong date range. When I recently found the records, I learned that Katerina only lived to 47, and Mykolas 55. That means my great-grandfather Silvestras lost his mother when he was just 16 and father when he was 22!
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| Katerina Milaševičiute / Matuliene (death 1912, age 47)
Column 1: Тысяча девятъсотъ восемнадцатого года Января двадцать девятаго дня въ Жагуняхъ скончался отъ рака Михаил Кароловъ Матулисъ. Пріоб. Св. Таинств (?)
Column 2: Крестьянинъ ______ волости Пацунельский прихожанинъ пятидесяти пяти лѣтъ оставилъ жену ________ урод (?) Ласианскую, сына Сильвестра и дочерей Анну, Констанцію, Яльзбету, Антонину.
Column 3: Тѣло въ узаконенное время похоронилъ на Пацунельскомъ кладбище Кс. _____ Купчина
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| Mykolas Matulis (death 1918, age 55)
Column 1: Тысяча девятьсотъ двънадцатого года Января двадцать девятаго дня въ Жагуняхъ скончалась Катарина изъ Милашевичей Матолисъ отъ болезъни мизерере Пріобщена Св. Таинъ.
Column 2: Крестьянка Кракиновской волости оставшегося вдовцом Михаила Матолиса жена 47 лѣтъ Пацунельская прихожанка оставила сына Сильвестра и дочерей: Анну, Констанцію, Ельжбѣту и Антонину (?).
Column 3: Тѣло ся сего года Января 31 дня Кс. А. Купчисъ на Пацунельском кладбище похоронилъ.
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Key bits of information here include the names of their other children (Silvestras's siblings) which really helps me to link up the various Matulis records I've been collecting from the parish registers. The children include Silvestras (Сильвестр my great-grandfather of course), Ona (Аннa), Konstancija (Констанцію), Elžbeta (spelled variously as Ельжбѣту and Яльзбету), and Antonina (Антонинa). I didn't know about those last two! There could be others too, as I believe the records only list surviving children -- any that may have predeceased their parents won't appear.
Counting back from his age at death, Mykolas would have been born around 1863, which is the very same year as the ill-fated January Uprising. The Tsar's response to the rebellion was harsh. After mass executions and deportations to Siberia, he implemented strict "Russification" policies aimed at supressing Lithuanian (and Polish) identity and culture. He banned the Lithuanian press, outlawed the Lithuanian alphabet, ended education in the Lithuanian language, and imposed a new administrative region called "Northwestern Krai". This attempt to "Russify" Lithuania, however, ultimately failed. In fact I've always believed that this suppression of culture is precisely why Lithuanians (myself included!) are so emphatic about the preservation of Lithuanian identity. (The more recent Soviet attempt at similar Russification only made resistance more resolute).
It was during the post-Uprising repression that the famed Lithuanian knygnešiai (book smugglers) risked their lives to carry Lithuanian literature and educational material across the border from Prussian Konigsberg. It was, in large part, thanks to them and underground homeschooling that Lithuanian identity was preserved during those difficult years. My great-great-grandfather Mykolas and great-great-grandmother Katerina would have grown up right in the middle of it! Notably, Mykolas died in 1918, just a couple weeks before the Act of Independence and the restoration of Lithuanian statehood. Oh, the changes they must have seen in their lifetimes!
One of my main motivations behind all this genealogy is that it helps to make my interest in history so much more real and relatable. When I'm able to imagine these events through the eyes of my own ancestors - through the eyes of people who bear my own name! - it just makes it all the more vivid.
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