Lithuanian Days - August 14, 2021

What a day! An hour+ drive to the Schuylkill County Coal Regions for a Lithuanian cousins reunion on one of the hottest days this August. Still, that did not deter our chatter around the open firepit, sans fire, on the grounds of Catalpa Grove at Lakewood Park  for most of the day. The link will drop you on their homepage to view several pictures of this modern rustic venue tucked neatly in the woods, including "our spot".

This day also represented an important date in my history...my birthday!  Though I didn't have a cake, I did enjoy a rendition of Happy Birthday sung to me in Lithuanian by Ken's friend who met up with us at the event; a treat equal to a cake! Since Ron and I were born in the same year, three days apart, he would be celebrating his birthday a few days later. 

Tony, Ken, Ron
Christina, Robin, Kristine

I arrived at noon, as did Ron & Ken, who were in from Michigan the day before. Christina, her mother Robin, and her Uncle Tony, in from Harrisburg PA, had arrived earlier along with her son and brother.  Today was the first time I met Christina and her family in person, another treat!  And that led to the next treat ahead...lunch.  

The event menu, sponsored by the Knights of Lithuania Council #144 Amber District, was true to our recollection of foods our families made during our childhood and beyond. So, during our lunch-around-the-firepit we discussed our grandmothers' recipes and how many we still make.  Missing from the menu, for me, was the potato pancake known as bleenies  (blynai), a favorite of mine that my grandmother made and thankfully taught my mother. I never heard of Bandukes, but was happy to find out they were meatballs... that went very well with my order of Pierogies!  For recipes of these goodies and more, click on                  A Coalcracker in the Kitchen. 

As festival events go, this one was pleasantly low-key on beautiful walkable grounds, complete with vendors of Amber handmade jewelry, souvenirs and crafts, ethnic displays and a local historical society. We also enjoyed ethnic music, roaming men and women in historic costumes and outdoor plays depicting lives of Lithuanians and historical stories told for generations. On a side note, Lithuanians are the great source of information about all things Amber, a fossil resin thousands of years old discovered in the Baltic area in the 1850s.  

My interest in genealogy drew me to the Mahanoy City Historical Society table, where I purchased a book, Lithuanians of Schuylkill County and spoke to Paul, one of the society's knowledgeable volunteers for many years. Paul helped me a few years ago trying to track down an address in Mahanoy City, listed on a ship manifest as a destination for my great grandmother Anna (Ambrazaviciute) Jamitis traveling to America as a single girl from Lithuania. Unfortunately, we could not confirm the address was located in Mahanoy City as stated on the document. Ahh, a day in the life of a family genealogist. 

Our day of family comradery ended with dinner at a favorite local restaurant that Christina and her family frequented when they lived in the area. During our meal, we vowed to meet again next year for as long as we can travel.  The day renewed my desire to jump back into my genealogy records, looking for missed clues or new information since my last research spurt. Using online archive sites, I can say with certainty I found several gems to share with my cousins and a few more to help confirm research questions stagnant on my family tree for a few years.

Fun stuff if you're me 😁!

Family Reunion (of a sort)

Since my last post, I'm confirmed to attend Lithuanian Days at Lakewood Park with my two cousins from Michigan, one from Harrisburg PA and my friend from bowling league who visited Lithuania several years ago looking for her family's Lithuanian village.  My Michigan cousin, Ken, is still trying to contact a few other family tree members to make the trip in August.  

I am hoping I hear the Lithuanian language at the August 2021 festival. It will remind me of my grandmother's conversations with her sisters when they came to visit her in the summer from Schuylkill and Columbia counties. It all sounded like gibberish back then, but there are great memories attached to those summer days when my brother and I would stay for a whole week without mom's supervision. 

My brother and I knew that meant all things good and plentiful, like fresh fruits and veggies from her garden, chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, staying up late, "camping out" overnight on the enclosed back porch and swimming in the above ground pool  everyday the weather permitted. From the looks of it, no one lost their breathe blowing up the pool, it was just a cage and a liner.  Wasn't I cute?

Kristine, 1957

Nanny, Charlie, Mom and me 1957
(neighbor's house in background)

For a few years, before we moved from Muhlenberg Township to Oakbrook section of Reading (also known as the 18th ward), we lived 3 houses away (called the Cherokee Ranch development) from Nanny and PopPop Goodman during preschool age, pre-1959. So it was great to spend a summer week between school years with them and see friends we grew up with. 

Russell & Edith Goodman (Nanny & PopPop)
in their tile-walled kitchen, circa 1959

I have been focused on my paternal side of my family tree, but I haven't forgotten about my maternal side. In my next post, I'll share some kid stories about the German/Irish grandparents. Hint, they ran a mom & pop grocery store in Pottsville PA.  Until then...

Hello Again & The Garden

After a long hiatus from blogging and genealogy in general, it seems time to get back to swinging among the family tree branches again. ⸙ ⸙ ⸙ ⸙ ⸙

During my absence, I pursued genealogy blogs and caught up on newsletters not read. I'm getting the itch to plan a research trip again, but the Lithuanian brick wall gives me pause as does wearing a mask in those facilities still requiring one to enter.  It would also be more fun traveling with a friend or meeting up with family for a common tree branch dive once again. Still on my to-do list, though.

This August there is an event called Lithuanian Days at Lakewood Park in eastern Pennsylvania. The link here Lithuanian Days will take you to Facebook event page with more info. It's just over an hour from my location and during my birthday weekend! Attending is on my list, perhaps with a friend and/or family from Michigan. Maybe there's a polka or two in my future. 🎶♬♫🎝

This past year I met a new friend at the bowling lanes. We are both in the summer Senior League and by happenstance began talking about family history. When I found we both had Lithuanian heritage and she already traveled to the motherland, I wanted to hear more. After a summer lunch served in my friend's cozy townhome, we spent an afternoon sharing memories and family histories. Maybe there's a polka in her future too. 

And I want to mention that my gardener, aka my husband Carl, is successfully tending to the plot located in the SE corner of our backyard. His green thumb gives us a chance to enjoy fresh vegetables all summer and to share the fruits of his labor with friends and neighbors. In abundance now are cucumbers and peppers. Soon we will have eggplant and tomatoes. Lastly, and new to the garden, is cantaloupe. One plant has taken over the garden, competing with the single cucumber plant for half the space! 

In fact, a current third picture would show almost no back fence from all the trails of vines from these two plants, much like a FAMILY TREE !

I'm personally looking forward to the tomato harvest to make as much pasta sauce as I can. Perhaps I should research recipes my Lithuanian "Nanny" Edith Jamitis Goodman made from her garden harvest in the 50s and 60s.  Like tomato jelly, cold tomato salad and pickles. Her entire pantry was full of many varieties of canned vegetables at summer's end each year. I can picture her garden and the pantry as clear as day.

Well, I've made myself hungry talking about the garden, so off to make lunch. If you got this far, thanks so much for hanging out with me. Talk to you soon!

Researching the "Little Redheaded Girl"

The plan to researching the newest photo found by my cousin Ken is this: We have to date the photo by the dress of the woman, estimate her age and search for information about the photographer's studio shown in the lower left corner.  That's a long shot, but worth it to find an archived record of the sitting. No stone left unturned.  

To date the photo, I used Google Images , uploaded it by clicking on the camera icon, then searched for similar images and checked the details of those I found. I also googled a broader search for the period of time I believe the person in the photo sat for the portrait and click on the "images" link below the search box. Other factors I considered was the photo's finish, black/white or color, and the style of the dress using clues like the collar style. Of course the dress may not be new. That means the woman may be wearing her "Sunday Best" purchased several years before the sitting.  I'm satisfied this photo was taken in the 1940s. What I'm not certain of is if it was before or after WWII. 

So far, my search for a studio named "Foto Liko" in Lithuania was unsuccessful.  At least that is the name I interpreted for the studio.  Fast forward...our cousin in Lithuania notes the studio name as "Foto Zilio".  This studio name produced nothing in English either. I reached out to Lithuanian Genealogy, a Facebook group I'm a member of in hopes someone has a better way to search a business from the past and/or can read Lithuanian on the handful of sites produced from googling the names.

FOTO LIKO or FOTO ZILIO ?

This studio logo is on another identified photo we received last year from our cousin connection in Lithuania. Remember, this unnamed woman's original photo is in my cousin Ken's possession, so we have two photos from the same studio; one in Michigan with Ken and one in Lithuania.  That fact alone has Ken and I hopeful we can make a family connection of our unnamed woman in this photo to be that "little redheaded girl" from family lore (who did not travel to the USA) to the other photos from Foto Zilio.

A Positive Spin on Self-Isolation

Many weeks have passed since my last post. No excuse, only a reason. With the new norm of self isolation during the COVID-19 scare, I find I'm indulging in deep research on several branches, well, because I can.  That deep dive kept me from coming up for air to post a tidbit or two during March 2020.

I wondered how my other family genealogists were spending their time, other than learning how to wash their hands and find the elusive TP in the stores. It could be they had too much time on their hands and lost the drive to get it done, or, like me, each record that solved one question begat another, a challenge I could not ignore. In Michigan, my 2nd cousin Ken's project was digitizing old family pictures.

Shortly after I sent birthday wishes via social media, he reached out to me with a catch-up email to tell me about his picture project and a new find. A black and white portrait of a woman between 50-60 years of age, no one he recognized, was tucked behind another picture in the album.  On the back was a short note written in cursive Lithuanian. The obvious first step is to translate the back.

There are a few ways to do that. Ken reached out to a Lithuanian distant cousin of ours and I posted the picture of the photo on a social media group page for Lithuanian genealogists hoping to get a speedier answer. As it turned out, my post was still warm when I got a reply and Ken's email to Lithuania came back soon after. And now unraveling the mystery of the Lithuanian woman begins. 

Unknown Lithuanian Woman

Translation below

The translation is:
"For a long remembrance. this photo (shows me) of the current age. Your sister Julia (Julija, Julė)"

A Jamitis family story about a "little redheaded girl" told to Ken in part suggests our great grandmother, Anna (Ambrazevičiūte) Jamitis, left a sister behind in Lithuania. There's also a possibility Anna left behind a daughter, perhaps conceived by mistreatment from a soldier occupying Lithuania during the regime struggles in the late 19th century. Both the story and the picture are about a female; we are assuming these items are connected. 

In my next post, I will lay out the thought process of researching the photo and story. Stay tuned...

Archive Research Day

First let me say this trip was more fun than I anticipated!  Meeting my 3rd cousins from Michigan after being research partners for a year was the highlight.  We all had the same drive to learn as much as we could and hopefully find some missing links. Researching with family on the same project is refreshing.

The Schuylkill County courthouse archive department is in the basement, not surprisingly, with a designated area for researchers...two large tables with comfortable chairs surrounded by shelves of index binders, first by category, then alphabetically by date and sometimes gender. Those books hold the information needed to find the records in the record room.  The department was small and cozy, nothing like the industrial, high-ceiling, uninviting room I envisioned.

Ken and Ron ran a smooth tag-team. Ken announced the ancestor and what records were needed as Ron scoured the indexes for the ancestor's name. Sound simple? Not with 8 to 10 different Lithuanian surname spellings and given names repeated through the generations. Josephs, Peters, Annas, Marys over and over. This made Ron pause and recall what our god-fearing grandparents vocalized when something was "unbelievable" ....
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

So there they were with open index binders and post-it notes keeping the research under control. The post-it notes were handed to our helpful assistant Abby, sending her into the depths of the record room to return with whatever we required.  The record books were huge and would fit right in the "Alice in Wonderland" world.

Ron, Kris and Ken

I assisted the guys using my prepared research on our shared family branch.  I jumped in where needed and took phone pics of what we found. Some records needed to be discussed to determine we had the correct family member. A few made us pause when we realized we were looking at our ancestor's own handwriting.

As my cousins "branched off" to another area of their family research, I had time to run down several records for my German branch before they locked the doors. The three of us were the only researches in-house and we made a day of it from open to close!

Fast forward to the aftermath...Our archive dive did not expose new information for our Mystery Man, Peter Jamitis, however, that's not to say there aren't hints to be found in the many new record images we have to reread and analyze. I'm ready to dig in!

Today's the Day

Heading off to Schuylkill County shortly in search of my Lithuanian ancestors' story.  I'm rarely late for any event and this is no exception. It's a curse sometimes because I'm too early and have to fill the time until I leave the house. So, here I am!

My Surface Pro tablet, paper tablets, phone, chargers, extra glasses (you never know, I could drop my only pair in excitement of a find!) and several pens...check, check, check.

My cousin called ahead and found the courthouse staff very helpful, digging out a few items for us to get a head start. I have several indexes to pull in case the staff cannot locate anything for us by surname. I already told you about the Lithuanian surname debacle, so this will be no surprise. The indexes will keep this trip from becoming a bust.

Once I get the hang of archive research, I'm quite sure this trip will be one of many.  The Lithuanians are my main concern, but I want to know more about my German, Irish and English branch, too.

Stay tuned...

Anticipation

After years of researching my family tree, I'm finally going to take the next step in the process. My first trip to a repository to search government archives is a week away.  My anticipation is ramping up for two reasons. Excitement for learning more about the Lithuanian branch of my tree is one.

The other is meeting my 2nd cousin for the first time.  Ken is making the trip from Michigan with his brother (who is my grandmother's godson) to meet me at the Schuylkill County Courthouse.  I have an hour drive, he has much more, but our drive to find facts about our family tree branch is equal.

Our immediate search is for family of Anna Jamitis, Peter's wife. Anna is our mutual great grandmother.  Our grandmothers were sisters Helen and Edith.  Though we know more about Anna than Peter, the mystery man, there are some leads Ken has exposed from a connection in Lithuania that we want to prove or disprove about Anna's family and the stories told to us. It's an important direction to pursue on our first trip to the archives.

Above is a picture Ken and I believe is Anna and Peter. We received it from a Lithuanian contact. I hesitate adding photos without a solid fact to accompany them. I personally think this couple is my great grandparents. Findings from this trip may help confirm this scenario.

I'm taking my tablet filled with facts and assumptions from my years of research. But, I've narrowed down and summarized the points of interest for this trip using Evernote, my favorite note-taking organizer software program.  It holds copies of census records, maps, death certs and obituaries from the newspapers plus docket information to look up marriage applications, wills and tax records.  The assumptions are at the ready to pursue the trail should we find collaborating evidence.

A new adventure in the new year...stay tuned....