Lithuanian Immigrants to Scotland

[ltaylor]

Hello,

I am trying to find information on my late grandfathers family but I have gone so far and have now reached a dead end.

I believe my great grandparents came to Fauldhouse, West Lothian in Scotland from Lithuania between 1901 and 1905.

Their surname is listed on Scotlandspeople as Matiozraitis which was my grandfathers surname and comes from his fathers side of the family. Does anyone have any information on this, what it means, where it is from etc? Someone on ancestry.com suggested this could be Matijosaitis or Matiozaitis.

My great grandmothers maiden name was Dielinizaitis which has been suggested could be Dielininkaitis.

I have got quite alot of information but don't know how to learn more about them before they arrived in Scotland. I know there are ship manifests and naturalisation records available but I don't know where to start with these.

I know some records at Kew are being digitalised but I don't know if their records would be amongst them or not?

If anyone has any information on these names or can offer some advice on how to trace the name, I would be very grateful indeed.

Thank you!

[kaja]

"If anyone has any information on these names or can offer some advice on how to trace the name, I would be very grateful indeed."

Hello,

After reading your other thread I'm sure that your family did come from Lithuania. The problem is that Lithuania's history is mixed with Polish history.

You need to find out which town or village the family came from and then check period maps.

A quick scan of Lithuanian history at Wikipedia will help give an idea of what you are dealing with.

As I said on the other thread, Petronella is an old fashioned Polish name. It is also likely to be Lithuanian because of the Polish influence at the time.

Based on the other thread... and this is just a guess... I would say that your family came from the modern border area of Lithuania/Poland.

Does this fit your notes ?

[ltaylor]

Thank you for replying to both threads.

Well the Ellis Island manuscript is only a possible ancestor. I looked on Ellis Island for 'Matiozraitis' and that was the closest entry there was (Matiozaitis)and is still the closest match I have found to 'Matiozraitis' anywhere.

Unfortunately the only information I know is that my great grandparents did come from Lithuania but I am really struggling to know how to find out where they came from. I've tried the ship manifests available online and can't find anything on there. I've also tried the online National Archives catalogue to no avail.

I did find an entry for the 'Dielininkaitis' name on Ellis Island too. Interestingly these people came from an area named as 'Naumiestis'. As did the entry for Petronella Matiozaitis. It could be sheer coincidence of course or its possible that they are some relation to my great grandparents whose names are listed as 'Matiozraitis' and 'Dielinizaitis'.

If you could offer me any advice or information that would be great and much appreciated.

Thank you again.

[kaja]

Go to JewishGen and do a place name search for Naumiestis

Scroll down the results and you will find a block of similar spelt place names.

Put the mouse over these names and you will get extra information.

It will tell you exactly where Naumiestis .. Naumestis is.

In that block of info you should see Wladyslawow. This is part of the next of kin address on your other thread.  Wladyslawow, Suwalki. This area has been in both Poland and Lithuania. This is why you must check the history of the area.
I'm not saying you are Polish, but some of your family records might be in Poland.

Once again, this is only if the manifest shows the correct family.

[ltaylor]

Thanks Kaja,

I actually registered on that site but didn't have much luck with the surname but I will definitely try again under the place name.

Thank you!

[JustinL]

Hello,

Here's a link to the result for Naumiestis:

http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~shtetm~-2615843

The surnames you have mentioned do not resemble other Lithuanian-Jewish surnames, so I would doubt tha tthese ancestors were Jewish.

Justin

[ltaylor]

Hi Justin,

I'm fairly sure they were Roman Catholics actually but someone suggested looking for the name on Jewishgen anyway.

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Berlin-Bob]

More on this topic, perhaps you can find some tips here

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,62287.0.html
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,8769.0.html
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,279835.0.html

Bob

[ltaylor]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for those links. I think I've tried all those forums though. Do you have any tips yourself for finding any information on Lithuanian ancestors. I saw you were researching that yourself?

Thanks