Lithuanian ancestor search bears fruit

A couple of years ago, Carol Bishop Smith Fisher of Brewer shared with us her successful search for the connection between poet Walt Whitman and her great-great-grandfather, Civil War Lt. George Washington Bishop. It turns out that Whitman was George’s uncle.

Her new search, focusing on another part of the world, was for information on her husband’s maternal grandfather, Pranas Kurklietis, from Lithuania.

Kurkleitis had come to Chicago in 1909, Fisher explained, “and died in 1923, leaving a widow and 6-year-old daughter, Lillian, Ken’s mother. My mother-in-law had just given us her only memento of her father, a large sepia drawing of a western Native American in full regalia, done by her father in 1915. What a wonderful subject for a young Lithuanian immigrant to sketch, and from the minute this drawing entered our home, I wanted to know more about the artist.

“We first gathered as much information as we could from here, and the most crucial thing we did was obtain information from the Lithuanian National Cemetery in Chicago, where Pranas was buried. Luckily, Ken’s grandmother gave accurate information to the cemetery, including the name of the village he was from. Lithuania was part of Russia then, so the village name was in Russian. One phone call to the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington, and they sent us maps, names and people to contact.

“We started first by contacting the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago. We were told to contact the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius, Lithuania, but that it would be a long wait. The Balzekas Museum did a surname search for us, including names and addresses of people living today in Lithuania with this last name.

“They gave us a form letter in Lithuanian, and we did the rest and mailed this letter with copies of old photos to five people with this last name. We heard back from every letter, and each and every person had a story to tell and wanted very much to help us. But they, too, did not know their ancestors due to the terrible turmoil of their former Russian occupation.

“We just heard from the Lithuanian State Historical Archives this week, and even though we had to wait two years, it was worth the wait. They did a complete hand search of Roman Catholic Church records, and they traced Ken’s grandfather’s family back four generations – including names of children of each generation.

“My mother-in-law is 84 years old, and she just learned this week the names, births and deaths of her aunts and uncles and grandparents. She also has just learned that she has a first cousin who lives today in the village of her father.”

That paragraph just gives me goose bumps, it’s so wonderful.

Here’s what Fisher really wants to emphasize: “Don’t be deterred by the language barrier. The Lithuanian State Historical Archives wrote back to us in English, and they will translate the records from Russian, Polish and Latin into English for $18 per record.

“We have learned so much from this experience, and our end result is what makes the mission of genealogical research so rewarding,” she concluded.

The address of the Lithuanian State Historical Archives is: Lietuvos Valstybes Istorijos Archyvas, Gerosios Vilties g. 10, LT 2009 Vilnius, Lietuva, Lithuania, Europe.

For a brochure on the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, write them at 6500 South Pulaski Road, Chicago, IL 60629. For other resources, check the Web at www.rootsweb.com/~ilwinneb/lithuani.htm.

Carol Fisher has generously allowed us also to share her mailing address, 9 East Road, Brewer, ME 04412-1205; and telephone number, 989-2035, if you want more information.

The moral of the story, I think, is that genealogists should have patience and persistence. Or, as Carol puts it: “Starting out with nothing doesn’t mean that you can go nowhere.”

The Mid-Coast Genealogy Group will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, at the LDS Church on Old County Road in Rockport.

Cap de Rochemont, a Rockland native, real estate agent and storyteller, will give a slide program, “7:55/All Around Maine,” about the flight he and pilot Ed Sleeper made around the state. For information on the meeting, contact Marlene A. Groves at 594-4293.

I will give a genealogical talk, “All My Cousins,” twice next month. The first will be the evening of April 9 for the Milbridge Historical Society. The second will be during a meeting of the Priscilla Alden Colony, Society of Mayflower Descendants, at noon April 20, at Miller’s Restaurant in Bangor. More details to follow.

A Bartlett Reunion has been scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 18, in the town of Brooklin. Details to follow. For information, write Jim Bartlett at Bartlett Field Farm, HC64, Box 4065-B, Brooklin, ME 04616.

3176. BELL-WERTEMBERGER-LEACH. Seek ancestry of John Bell, called a Loyalist, and wife Elizabeth Wertemberger, who came from Nova Scotia. Settled late 18th century or early 19th century, where? Elizabeth believed to have died March 1842 at nearly 100 years. Children: Robert; David; Alexander; James; Mary, md. a Phipp; Jane, md. a Holland; Catherine, md. a Coffron; Margaret; Betsey. I descend from Henry, b. Oct. 27, 1793, Nova Scotia, d. June 28, 1868, Dover-Foxcroft. He md. Prudence Leach, Feb. 5, 1814, Jay. Their children: Henry, Alexander Mary and Joel Paine Bell, from whom I descend. Joel b. Feb. 18, 1821; md. Susan Robinson, July 23, 1843. There is a record of this family in “A History of Jay, Maine.” Where in Nova Scotia did these families come from? Also seek any information on the family of Elizabeth Wertemberger, wife of John Bell. Patricia Bell Ellis, 230 Heron Bay Circle, Lake Mary, FL 32746; or e-mail pbellellis@aol.com.

Send queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.