Searching for Ancestry Information for my Grandparents Born in Modern-Day Lithuania
I am hoping to find information about my ancestors on my mother's side. Her parents immigrated to the US in the early 1900s from what was part of the Russian Empire and is now part of Lithuania. Much of the details I have about my grandparents are located on my grandmother's declaration of intention for naturalization from 1943 (https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/117006584?p=23358077).
My grandmother's name was Emily Homoczkowska (Family Search ID G9LL-XS6). She was born on 15 August 1896 in Žiežmariai, Russian Empire (now Žiežmariai, Kauno Apskritis, Lithuania). Her parents names were Ignatz Homoczkowski (1870 - 1942; Family Search ID G9LL-RGR) and Emma (last name unknown; 1875 - 1940; Family Search ID G9LL-DLT). She immigrated to the US on 29 September 1912 aboard the SS Kursk sailing from Libau, Russia, accompanied by her father who returned to Russia sometime after that. Her naturalization record, as well as the ship's manifest, state they went by the name Chomjaczofsky.
My grandfather's name was John J. Hajczewski (Family Search ID G9LL-WN5). His World War II Draft Record states his birth date as 22 February 1882. My grandmother's naturalization record shows his birthplace as Dogerdziski, Russia. While I do not know exactly where this is, I was able to learn that one possibility for this location is Daugerdiškiai, Lithuania, in Marijampolė county; another possibility for this location is Daugirdiškės, Lithuania, in Trakai district. I do not know if he had a Russian/Lithuanian name. His parents were Michael Hajczewski (1853 - 1918; Family Search ID G9LL-K5X) and Anne Olezewska (1960 - 1925; Family Search ID G9LL-TPF). He immigrated to the US in the early 1900s, but I have no other information around when and where he sailed from.
While they came from Russia, they were ethnic Polish. My mother and her siblings grew up as Catholics, so I am assuming her parents and grandparents were as well.
DNA testing helped me locate a 2nd - 4th cousin named Vida Simkeviciute who lives in Lithuania. The following information was provided by her daughter, Vaida: "My maternal grandparents were Juozapas Šimkevičius and Janina Narauskaitė. Juozapas died when my mom was 2 y.o. and my mom only knows her father had 2 brothers Vladas (possibly Vladislavas), Vincas (possibly Vincentas) and sister Ieva. We heard through the grapevine that Vladas, Vincas and Ieva emigrated to Canada, USA or Italy. As far as we know Šimkevičius family was from a village/town Svilė located in Kelmė district. Šimkevičius can also be spelt as Simkus, Shimkus, Szimkus, Szymkus, Schimkus, Simkeviciux, Shimkevicz, Shimkewicz, Simkewicz, Simkiewicz etc. My maternal grandmother's parents were Juozas Narauskas and Stefanija Mankauskaitė. My grandmother Janina grew up in Karmelėva, Kaunas district."
She also told me the following in a separate email: "... my mother remembers her grandmother often visiting her relatives in Trakai district ..."
It would be much appreciated if anyone has information around my grandparents' and great-grandparents' ancestors. Hopefully the information from Vaida will provide some clues and ideally will allow us to locate our common ancestors.
答え
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Hello Christopher - thanks for all of the links and background information! It was all very helpful. Daugerdiškiai, Lithuania and Daugirdiškės, Lithuania are good possiblities for Dogerdziski, Russia. You may want to check for records in both locations.
Many Lithuanian Catholic records are actually available online through a site called Epaveldas. Here's a "How to" Guide that walks you through how to use the site. This link is a list of all available parish records available through Epaveldas. The parish was often located in a nearby town. This map is a really good one for locating nearby parishes. I also recommend checking out this blog on Lithuanian genealogy for research help, as well as the FamilySearch Wiki page for Lithuania.
I would start by looking for birth records of Emily and John, and then work forwards and backwards in time to locate any siblings. When you can't find any more siblings born before your ancestor, that will give you a pretty good idea of when to start looking for marriage records. From there, you should find information about the bride and groom and be able to locate their birth records.
The records themselves will likely be written in Russian (could also possibly be in Polish depending upon the time/area). For help, see Russian Alphabet, Deciphering the Handwriting, the Russian Genealogical Word List, and Russia Handwriting.
I hope these links will be helpful in your research! Please let us know if you have any questions or need help using the various sites above.
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I think, Gaičauskas, Gaičiauskas in Modern Lithuanian. It is an area around Trakai, Semeliškės, Lentvaris.
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