Lithuanians/Polish in Widnes 1890 on

[aelfleda]

Have you had any further luck in finding your relatives names? I think that they may be called Valinskas.

[Janboo]

Many thanks for that.  They were actually called Valincius (pronounced Valinshus) but it got so mangled that each of the children had different names on birth certs - Walinjus, Walinczius, Valinski, Wellinsky and more!  I have also discovered that there was nother family with the same name who must have been related.  Also found that the maiden name was Berterska (pronounced Bertershka).  It has taken hours and hours of trawling through Censuses, Birth registers, birth, death and marriage registers. Also found 3 children we didn't know about.
So yes, some of them were Valinskas.  Have you any further info?  How did you find the name?
Janice

[jangeo]

Had a quick look at the book Into The Crucible.

There is a  Ant Valinski D.o.B 03/10/1882 living in Cromwell Street attending St Patricks School 1889/1890.

[aelfleda]

Ancestry has free 1911 census today and I was googling around and came up with your post. Looked at the 1911 census and found the family under Williams.

Did a BMD search with just Isabella's first name, DOB and Prescot and it came up with Wellinsky. Then input Vellinsky as a soundex search and it bought up the other names so is was definitely something like Valinskas as W would sound as V and sky is the wrong ending for a Lithuanian name.

Have you found out where they came from in Lithuania yet? Most of the Widnes Lithuanians came from the South West area called Suvalkija.

[Janboo]

Hi - yes Isabella was indeed one of them - she died age 24 of TB.  So sad. 3 died before the age of 5 and 3 died in their early 20's.   Thanks for taking an interest.
Yes we do think it was the Suwalki/Suvalki area possibly near to Kalvarija.  Unfortunately most of the registers in that area were destroyed during WW2 so it looks as if we will never know any more.  We found some of the graves in Widnes cemetery and there was a wooden cross on one of them - it looked recent and we have no idea who put it there.  Another mystery.
One story is that the father (john Williams or Jonas Valincius) went back to Lithuania to claim back some land - 1919 and maybe died there.   We can find no death registered in England nor any grave for him - so maybe it's true?
Janice

[aelfleda]

Some of them did go back.

Have you found their entry into the UK? Sometimes you can be lucky with this. It depends whether they came via Hamburg or another European port. If they came via Hamburg then there may be a record on Ancestry under Hamburg lists. I have found some but not all I am looking for.

You may also find that some have emigrated to the US and are on a passenger list or naturalised in the US. Try the Stephen Morse site. The other name looks something like Bartuskas.

[Janboo]

No - I've never managed to find out about their entry - I know that UK didn't keep records of European entrants and most of the ships manifests were destroyed after 5 years for Eurpeans.  I keep hearing about the Steve Morse site - I must have a look.
Are you researching the Lithuanian migration?  I have even had my DNA done and have found a very distant conection in USA - her mother's name was Valincius!  No paper trail though and any connection is quite a way back.  Fascinating though.  Which family are you looking for?
Janice

[aelfleda]

I done quite a lot of research on the Lithuanian families in Widnes for a friend. The main names I research are Derench (Derencius) and Klusaitis. There are other associated names and I have helped others who are looking for information about their relatives.

Some of the Klusaitis family (Ambukevicius) left Widnes for the US and I managed to obtain their naturalisation papers which gave the place of birth as Virbalis which is very close to the border with Kaliningrad.

The Derencius family came from Pajevonys and Bartninkai.

A number of the families in Widnes were related to each other as I guess that there was an element of chain migration.

There were also a number of families including some of the ones I research that came to Widnes from Bellshill in Scotland.

 If I can be of any further help let me know.

[aelfleda]

The Hamburg Lists are on Ancestry.com. They are the only ones that exist and if your relatives came from another European port then there are no records unless they were on a Trans-Atlantic liner.

The entries I have found on the Hamburg lists don't say very much. Usually their place of residence is just the area such as Suvalkija or it is a place name that is difficult to decipher. They don't have the information on passenger lists that the Trans-Atlantic liners do especially from say 1910 onwards.
 
I noticed this entry on the 1911. He is living with the Vasilauskas family.

Anthony Berthaski  abt 1881 Poland Boarder Widnes, Lancashire

I think that the name is more likely to start with Bart than Bert.