Leonas and Konstancija

Here is the 1917 marriage record of Leon and Constance Palas (Leonas and Konstancija Polivlauskas), the mother and father of Mildred and Helen.

Marriage of Leonas Povilauskas and Konstancija Matulis
March 6, 1917

I searched for it mainly to confirm that Konstancija is indeed the sister of my great-grandfather, along with Anna. She is. Her parents are listed as Mikolas Matolis and Kotrina Miloszis, which are a couple of the spelling variants I've seen. Miloszis would be written as "Milošis" in Lithuanian, and this a shortened variant of the longer Milaševičius I've seen more frequently.

These spelling variations can seem quite haphazard, and even raise some doubts as to whether or not the records match up, but I'm careful to cross reference many records. These variations are the result of many external influences, such as Polish and Russian language influences, multiple alphabets, strong accents, and even sometimes low literacy. The -evič bit in the middle of Milaševičius, for example, comes from the Polish influence and many of the other spelling variations are a result of the name being recorded in multiple charcter sets over generations. The (imposition of!) the Russian cyrillic alphabet, for example, introduced many corruptions of names within families - my name Matulis, for example, has appeared as Matolis, Matuolis, Matolisov, and others within my own family.

At the time the marriage record above was produced, 1917, Lithuania was still under the control of the Tsar, hence why the document says they're Russian. I always feel compelled to say, they were NOT RUSSIAN!! You can only say they were insofar as Lithuania was momentarily occupied by the Russian Empire.

This document also tells me the parents of Leonas. I have been trying to figure out the circumstances of Anna and Konstancija's arrival in the United States. Anna appears to have emigrated as an unmarried woman in 1909, and the unmarried Konstancija joined her in 1915. I suspect that their husbands may have come from the same village, but will only be able to confirm this if I can find records of their husbands (Joseph and Leonas) in Pociuneliai, where Anna and Konstancija (and the rest of the Matulis family) comes from. The names of their parents Jurgis Sviatikis / Agnieszka Stakauskyte and Augustinas Povilauskas / Magdalena Antanaite, notwithstanding spelling corruptions, might help as I search the Lithuanian records.

Unknown Wife of Mildred's Son

Scrolling back through some of my earlier posts, I discovered a couple of comments on a post about Konstancija Matulyte. They were posted months ago, back in the beginning of January, but for some reason, the system never notified me!

It's a shame that I wasn't notified, because I'd very much like to share information. The person commenting identifies herself as the wife of Mildred's son. Sadly, she only appears as "Unknown" in the comment box, so I have no way to get back in contact (without some serious genealogical sleuthing!).

The Mildred she refers to was Konstancija's younger daughter, which means her husband is my "second cousin, once removed". The other information in her comment is interesting in itself:

Lidmilla Auelija Pavilauskas was born 14 April 1921 in Manchester NH.
Mother Kostance Matutiuke Pavilauskas, age 28
Father Leonas Pavilauskas, age 31.

I'm not sure where that information comes from, but it matches the information I know (bar a few spelling peculiarities). I suspect that the real spelling is Liudmila Aurelija Povilauskas, based on my knowledge of Lithuanian names. But it is helpful to know the "Mildred" was actually "Liudmila". The other main thing is Konstancija's maiden name, "Matutiuke", is a corruption of Matulyte (the female version of my own name, Matulis). I've seen mispellings like this all over the place, including Mildred's sister's marriage record, where it appears as "Matulinkie". On that same record, the unmarried "Mildred Palas" appears as a witness, and signs in her own hand (and the address she includes, 109-48 118th Street, Queens, NY, still exists today!).

Mildred's married name was apparently Crabtree, according to her sister's obituary. So with some effort, I might be able to track down the person who posted these comments.

There's a lot I'd like to know about this distant branch of the family, particularly how Konstancija and her older sister Anna arrived in the United States. What brought them here? Was there other family? These are questions I'll continue to explore through genealogical records myself, but sometimes there can be clues buried in living memory, family photos, or old letters.

So please contact me, Unknown Wife of Mildred's Son! I can offer quite a lot of information about your family's Lithuanian ancestry. I'm fairly easy to find if you google me.

Povilauskas / Hebenstreit

Last week I found Helen Povilauskas in the New York City marriage record index. I just happened to be in NY over the weekend, so I stopped in to the Municipal Archive to search their microfilm records. Since I had the index number, it only took a few minutes.

They keep a copy of the affidavit, the license, and the certificate -- which mostly all have the same information on them. The records didn't show me anything I didn't know already, since I had already identified Helen's parents on the census. I was hoping the marriage record might have their actual names, but unfortunately it still only listed the Anglicized forms - "Constance" and "Leo" - as well as a corrupted version of her mother's maiden name, "Matulinkie". Anyway, it was interesting to see signatures written in their own hands, including Helen's younger sister, who signed as Mildred "Palas".

Affidavit

License

Certificate

NYC Homes

One interesting bit of information is that every building in the five boroughs of New York City was photographed between 1939 and 1940 for property tax assessment purposes. These photos are held in the NYC Municipal Archive and were recently digitized.

Since I noticed that the Povilauskas family was living in Queens on the 1940 census, I decided to have a look. What I found looks pretty similar to what's still there on Google Streetview.

They lived at 109-48 118th Street in Queens ("Block 11598", "Lot 30") http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/s/v9unk2

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.

Helen "Palas"

After my discovery of the Povilauskas / Hebenstreit marriage record last night, I decided to go back to the library this evening and have a look at the actual file. My hope was that this marriage certificate would identify Helen's parents. Helen's mother is the third sibling of Silvestras and Anna Sviatek. All I knew from my grandfather (Vacys) was that this sister had married somebody with the name Povilauskas -- he couldn't even remember her given name.

To my slight disappointment, the record turned out to be just an index. It doesn't have all the details of the record itself. There is a license number though, so it will eventually give get me to the record I'm looking for. In fact, I just happen to be going to New York City this weekend, so I should be able to get the record while I'm there.

Helen Povilauskas
NYC Marriage License #6987, 29 August 1940

In addition to this record though, I was also able to find a grave image and obituary for Helen: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175691496/helen-hebenstreit. She only just recently died in 2017 at the age of 98! Here's what was written in her obituary:

Helen Palas Hebenstreit

Birth: 2 Mar 1918 New Hampshire, USA

Death: 10 Jan 2017 (aged 98)

Burial: South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, Florida, USA

Memorial #: 175691496

Bio: Helen Hebenstreit, a North Palm Beach resident and former resident of North Caldwell, NJ, died January 10, 2017 at the age of 98. She was born March 2, 1918 in New Hampshire to the late Constance and Leon Palas. Helen was a past member of the Columbiette’s and volunteered at the Veteran’s Hospital in Florida. She loved children, flowers and animals. She is predeceased by her husband George, whom she was married to for over 70 years. She is survived by her children Debra Connors and her husband Timothy and Carolyn Hebenstreit. Also surviving are her grandchildren; Reece, Connor, Payton, Graham, Brennan, Timmy and Georgia. Helen is predeceased by her sister Mildred Crabtree. Interment Information - South Florida National Cemetery, 6501 S. State Road 7, Lake Worth, Florida.

Spouse: George A Hebenstreit 1917-2010

From www.findagrave.com

There's a lot of information there, and it should be helpful in finding more records. The main things that stand out are that Povilauskas was shortened to "Palas". Sara had actually told me yesterday that her aunt Jayne remembered them being called "Palace", phonetically the same. Knowing that they used "Palas" will definitely help me find them. The other thing is that her parents used the names Leon and Constance - that's them! Those are the two I'm looking for!! Constance is the sister of Anna and Silvestras. I'm quite sure those are both Anglicised - Leon and Constance aren't Lithuanian names - but "Leon and Constance Palas" might turn up on a census record. Finding those will be the next step.