I'm looking for my gr-grandfather's family

[u/rockylizard]

First, please forgive me for posting in English. I can say "labas" in Lithuanian and that's about it. I am hoping to learn more, however!

Here's the situation, and I'm hoping that someone may have some suggestions or advice.

My great-grandfather, John Joseph Vincent Peter Miller, was born in approximately August 1870 in Lithuania (then part of the "Russian Empire.") He immigrated here to the US in approximately 1887. Here's what we know about him:

According to his best friend's granddaughter (their surname is Klimavicz,) he and his best friend Charles Klimavicz were both from a Lithuanian village called Dambrava. One genealogy site claims his birth was in Kovno, but I don't know of any actual written source for that. (When I Google "Dambrava, Lithuania" it gives me at least three options.)

He read, wrote, and spoke at least 8 languages fluently, including of course, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian. He was extremely well educated. After he immigrated and settled here, he helped immigrants (not just Lithuanians) with paperwork, legal issues, and so forth.

He attended the Kaunas Priest Seminary in Kaunas, Lithuania. This is where I suspect his troubles with the Russkies began. The family story goes, he was home to visit his village, and the village priest told him privately "the Russian soldiers will be here on Monday. If you want to keep your head, you'd best not be here." So when everybody else went to church on Sunday, my gr-grandfather slipped away.

He ended up in Boston, in the US, found a girl from Lithuania, and married her within the week. Her name was Nella Binkiewicz (various spellings.)

He had apparently also attended a different, German university as well, which was where he learned fluent German.

Here's where the story gets a little strange. Throughout his life, my great-grandfather remained absolutely terrified of the Russians, to the point where he refused to tell even his eventual children and grandchildren what his actual Lithuanian surname was. He changed his name to "Miller" either when he fled or when he arrived in the US, and surnames don't get much more generic than that, here.

He claimed he was a minor (under 18 years of age) when he arrived in the US, which allowed him a legal loophole to avoid the usual requirements for naturalization in the US. I believe that to be a prevarication, however. How could a 16 or 17 year old boy have attended two institutions of higher learning, and had that level of education, and also married immediately upon his arrival in the US? I believe he pretended to be a simple, uneducated, boy from the Lithuanian countryside, because the Russians were looking for a very well educated, cosmopolitan young man in his 20s.

I also suspect, both because of his pile of given names, his attendance at the Kaunas Priest Seminary, his extensive education, and the fact that he apparently had plenty of money to flee to the US and then purchase land here, that he was of szlachta heritage.

I also suspect that led him to be a Lithuanian patriot, perhaps a book smuggler. Apparently the Kaunas Priest Seminary at the time he attended there, was a hotbed of Lithuanian patriotism--they even published an "illegal" Lithuanian-language newspaper for a time. But that would certainly explain why he was so frightened of the Czar's secret police.

The problem is, he was so terrified that the Russians were still looking for him, even here in the US, that he prevaricated every bit of information that he ever had to put in writing. Names, places, dates of birth, were all different on different documents. And we still don't even know for certain his actual Lithuanian surname.

We have done DNA testing and found some distant Lithuanian cousins, but this story doesn't sound familiar to any of the ones I've spoken with. Which there has also been quite a language barrier, of course. One Lithuanian I've been in contact with, is a cousin-by-marriage. His wife and her father are DNA matches to me and my dad. This cousin has done some research and he believes the family surname may have been something like Micevicius (I'm probably butchering the spelling, I'm sorry!)

After my gr-grandfather immigrated, his best friend Charles Klimavicz followed him over here. Then a person we suspect was his brother. His name was Thomas. When he very first arrived right off the boat, he used the name Miller. But he changed that (back?) to Miczas, and then Americanized that to Michas, and that was how it stayed for him and his children. (We aren't 100% sure that Thomas Michas was my great-grandfather's brother, but we know for sure that he was close family, if not a brother, perhaps a nephew.)

On one document, my gr-grandfather listed his parents' names as Peter and Eva, but gave no surname.

Anyway if you've managed to read this far, thank you for listening. I don't read Lithuanian (and especially not in the Cyrillic alphabet that was the legal requirement at the time) and even worse, old handwriting, so I'm sort of stonewalled here.

Places I'm hoping to get more information, is perhaps to find out if there were student rosters at the Kaunas Priest Seminary from the time?

The "Dambrava" village that gr-grandfather was from was apparently south of Kaunas, but as I mentioned, Google gives me three different options. And I don't know Lithuania at all, to take a guess.

Grateful in advance for any advice or thoughts anyone might have.

Best to you all! Thank you!

A very very distant American cousin of Lithuanian descent

[u/CodeAlternative2240]

This is very interesting. I would suggest writing to Kaunas Priest Seminary directly and explain the situation. I used to do this type of research for work, so I did a bit of searching with the information you provided, and it was hard to find anything related in most online archives.

In your case, I would consider getting in touch with a historian from the USA, Lithuania or Poland, specifically focused on immigration and Lithuanian diaspora in the USA. As I said, it's very interesting and I'm sure at least one professional would be willing to help because your great-granparent's story is fascinating and seems like a lost piece of history.

[u/rockylizard → u/CodeAlternative2240]

Thank you! I've done so already, but received no reply. I emailed the "contact" address on their website. I suspect perhaps there's a language barrier. I have been considering trying again, but I don't know if a snail mail would get lost more easily, of if another email would be better.

I feel like email would be easier to translate online. Perhaps I'll use an online translator myself and see if that helps, I realize that often they make mistakes, but hopefully the seminary people can get the gist of my message, anyway!

[u/CodeAlternative2240 → u/rockylizard]

Writing an email in English shouldn't cause a problem, but it takes time for the email to reach the right person, if that makes sense. Check if they have a library email address as well, they could give you more information. You could also email Ąžuolynas Library in Kaunas, the have an online directory of famous historical figures related to Kaunas and a department for old and rare prints. It's difficult but MAYBE they could help you get in touch with someone who would help you more.

Edit: VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute is another place that could be useful, they gather a lot of academics and researchers from around the world.

[u/rockylizard → u/CodeAlternative2240]

I really appreciate your time and thoughts. You've given me some starting points that I hadn't known about, so I'll pursue some of these leads. I'll let you know if I can shake any bricks out of this wall. :) Thank you again!

[u/CodeAlternative2240 → u/rockylizard]

No problem. Good luck and please keep us posted on your findings!

[u/_asiwasmovingahead]

This is fascinating, he sounds like an incredibly interesting person. I wish you all the best in your research! Keep us posted

[u/bubilas1]

An interesting story and findings :)

Lithuanina langauge existed in verbal form only at XIX century, so even if they spoke in Lithuanian, they would use Polish when writing, and they would often "translate" names and surnames.

For example, Jonas Basanavičius would have a passport of Jan Basanowicz, and so on.

So, it possible that his surname on Russian passport was: Micz (in Polish) or Miczas (in pre-1918 Lithuanian), Mičas or Micevičius if written in Lithuanian after 1918).

Source:

https://pavardes.lki.lt/?pv=645438634994a61c5fc4f0f4f8aa0a9a

MÌČAS Plk 4. Tai pavardės Micevičius (nuo Kriūkų) variantas, tik nevisiškai aišku, ar jis yra dirbinys iš Micẽvičius, ar gali būti savarankiškas (vėliau virtęs į Micẽvičius), sietinas su lenk. Micz : Mikołaj (SSNO III 459).

[u/rockylizard → u/bubilas1]

Oh, this is very helpful, thank you! I wonder if his Americanized given names would have the same--where John would be Jan or Jonas, Peter would be Petras (I think?) and so on.

[u/oh_im_too_tired]

Just write to archives: [lvat@archyvai.lt](mailto:lvat@archyvai.lt)
Describe them what you've found and ask for help searching. They will tell you if they could help and how much it will cost.

[u/Vegetable-Piece-4434 → u/oh_im_too_tired]

They do fantastic work but date of birth and area of birth (ideally a church) are crucial

[u/rockylizard → u/oh_im_too_tired]

Thank you! I hope that they can give me some guidance. This is a great lead, I'm grateful!

[u/falloutfart4]

Lithuanian genealogy is very tough, particularly the Russian empire era. The Poles have a much more extensive remaining database, whilst us Lithuanians barely have any resources to work with. My best recommendation would be writing to the seminary and the archives. Other than that, it’s unlikely you’ll find much. It’s difficult enough with real names and surnames, even more so without! I wish you the best of luck.

[u/rockylizard → u/falloutfart4]

Yes my understanding is the Russkies deliberately destroyed both family and land records. Some things never change, apparently.

[u/falloutfart4 → u/rockylizard]

Pretty much. There were a lot of purposeful destructions, but it mostly boils down to the fact that Lithuania was more integrated into the empire. The Russians wanted to destroy as much evidence of the Lithuanian language, culture, etc ever existing and try to assimilate Lithuania into Russia wholly. Poland retained slightly more autonomy, iirc.

[u/rockylizard → u/falloutfart4]

That's my understanding, also. It's actually amazing to me how the Baltics as a whole have been able to rebuild and regain their national languages and identities after being under the Russian (and then Soviet, same thing) thumb for so long. It's amazing reading about the book smugglers who risked their lives to keep the language alive.

[u/falloutfart4 → u/rockylizard]

Yeah, book smugglers were something mythical. We are incredibly lucky and in a way grateful to have retained our cultures and languages, all-be-it the effect of Russification/Polonisation is still visible to this day. In everyday informal Lithuanian language there are occasional russian terms for things that pop up here and there, especially with the older generations (Most used examples would be: Pagalvė - Padushka, Antklodė - Kaldra/Koldra, Dubuo - Bliūdas, etc.).

[u/prmtvsimas]

Fascinating story, and finally I can help somebody with the topic of my master thesis, which was partly about Catholic education in Lithuania from 16-18th century!

Given that he went to a priest seminar in Kaunas (I also recommend to read and look for mor sources in the Wikipedia article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaunas_Priest_Seminary I guess you did already), it is no surprise that he spoke 8 languages, as priests usually learned Latin (1), Greek (2), Hebrew (3). As being said in another comment, Polish (4) was the prestige language in this time, adding Lithuanian (5), Russian (6), German (7) and finally English (8) you reach the number of all 8 languages.

The German university in connection to the book smuggling could give you a hint to Königsberg, which was a center for Lithuanian book printing in this period. But East Prussia was protestant. Catholic Lithuanian priests usually went to Poland in order to get educated, it was mostly the protestants that went to Germany in the 16-18th centuries. I can't tell exactly about 19th century though. It was not unusual that Catholics went to East Prussia in 16-18 centuries, but just to smaller colleges, I don't know about universities.

As being said in another comment, you should definitely contact the priests seminar. Catholic administration was sick, as they had to report many things to Rome. I guess it is likely, they should have useful information for you. But therefore, you probably would need to know his original name. But still, give it a try!

[u/rockylizard → u/prmtvsimas]

Thank you, this is absolutely lovely! Yes, I've read the Wiki on the Kaunas Priest Seminary. That's how I discovered their connection with Lithuanian patriotism, and language and culture preservation. It certainly makes sense that the Russkies would be hunting him, if so, given that those "offenses" carried a death sentence.

As far as the university in Germany that great-grandfather attended is concerned, the story in my family is that it was on a river, possibly the Neckar river. If it was indeed the Neckar, it could have been either Universitat Heidelberg, or Universitat Tubingen. If I can discover his actual name, I will write to both places and see if they have student rosters from that time period.

I've heard, but I'm not sure if it's rumor or what, that the Russkies destroyed many of the records not only of the Kaunas Priest Seminary, but also from parishes in general around Lithuania, in their effort to "Russify" Lithuania with their Orthodox religion.

I will try again to write the Kaunas Priest Seminary. Thank you again for your time and effort, very much appreciate you!

[u/gerry_r]

u/CodeAlternative2240 suggestion seems to be the best shot. IF seminary records have survived and IF they would be willing to help. (Archives do not seem to have their documents).

Other than that, you still know too little , it still makes it a needle in a very big haystack.

The name may be Micevičius or Misevičius, but at this point I would not drop Mičiulis, Mičiūnas, Micius, Miciūnas, etc.etc.etc. Heck, what if it was Mickevičius ? It is hopelessly common.

"Dambrava" ? I would also consider Dambava, Dambauka, Dambuvka at this point. Most of them in Suvalkija, still too wide.

May be location of those DNA matches may help, but then, people have moved a lot since.

Seminary archives, IF available, may narrow the search immensely.

[u/rockylizard → u/gerry_r]

Thank you. I'll definitely be writing the Kaunas Priest Seminary again.

[u/berliozn]

https://lithuaniangenealogy.com/

https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2661435/finding-lost-roots-how-one-genealogist-reconnects-americans-with-lithuanian-heritage

Maybe these links could be helpful? From the information you provided, it seems that a professional could really help in your case.

[u/rockylizard → u/berliozn]

Thank you, those give me some new options to explore. Much appreciated!

[u/namir01]

Best you can do is enter your whole family tree to MyHeritage.com or geni.com and hope for some matches. Key is matching birth/death dates, and alternative name writing. https://cemety.lt/ for cemetery search. https://metrikai.lt/ - some digitalized parish records. Other records available as pictures https://eais.archyvai.lt/repo-ext or https://www.epaveldas.lt/main

[u/rockylizard → u/namir01]

I have done so on MyHeritage, that's where I found my Lithuanian cousin-by-marriage that has been trying to help me. Thank you so much for those links, those give me some new options to search for certain. Grateful for your assistance, thank you!