Today was the celebration of 120 years of service of St. Joseph's Parish in Waterbury, CT. St. Joseph's is the oldest Lithuanian parish in New England and the second oldest in the United States. At first I decided to go because the menu promised some Lithuanian treats that I had not had in a very, very long time: kugelis, home made sauerkraut and Lithaunian sauage were on the menu! OK, I'm now officially one of those crazy people that takes picture of their food. But I had to send a picture to my half-sister so she would be jealous that I was having kugelis!
A very nice gentleman at our table said they also have it at the annual summer picnic. Both non-Lithuanian spouses at the table didn't look too excited about having it more than once a year :)
Before I went I did some research. First, there had to be family members that attended this church. And it didn't take long to find a list of marriages in the church. I'm sure there were more - but these were the ones that I could easily find in Martha's family history:
Charles Skerstonas & Rose Tamosaitis m. May 30, 1916 (my grandparents)
Della Skerstonas & Isador Sniekus m. July 19, 1952 (my aunt)
Al Skerstonas & Frances Stamm m in 1963 (my uncle)
Barbara Skerstonas & Louis Alexander m January 27, 1914 (my great aunt) (note Alexander is a shortened version of the correct Lithuanian surname, Alexsandravicius. I had already known it had been shortened but a very kind gentleman gave me the proper Lithuanian pronunciation today - I would be unable to say it myself).
Martha Skerstonas & Joseph Vaicekauskas m February 27, 1905 (1st cousin twice removed)
Anna Urban & Karl Dineberg m August 2, 1917 (3rd cousin)
Magdalene Tamosaitis & Peter Palapis m June 14, 1921 (2nd cousin once removed)
Charles Gloudenis & Joan Vitkus m June 24, 1929 (3rd cousin)
Thomas Gloudenis & Mary Kaslauskas m September 4, 1965 (3rd cousin once removed)
I did some other research in advance. There was the location - in a section of Waterbury called Brooklyn. I remember my father going to Brooklyn Bakery at the holiday's to get special treats. It has since moved, but the old location still had the sign up and was right across the street from the church.
Found this article about the history of the Brooklyn area dated January 1995.
http://www.greaterwaterbury.com/waterbury_brooklyn.php. [Note: Silas Bronson is the Waterbury library.]
Like most of Waterbury's neighborhoods, Brooklyn was virtually a self-sustaining
community with its own stores, soda fountains, Silas Bronson branch, YMCA
branch, two churches, taverns, bakeries, movie houses, factories, fine
restaurants and schools.
As early as the 1860s, Irish immigrants began
settling in Brooklyn, followed by the Polish and Lithuanians in the 1890s. It is
home to 114-year-old St. Patrick's Church, the 100-year-old St. Joseph's Church,
90-year-old St. Joseph's School, St. Mary's School of Nursing, Duggan School,
Barnard School, and the historic Riverside Cemetery.
Frank
Perrella, an Italian-American, attends St. Patrick's Church. The church, founded
as Waterbury's second Catholic church on Feb. 1, 1880, is an off-shoot of the
Immaculate Conception Church. It was built in this neighborhood where
Waterbury's new Irish immigrants lived. Perrella grew up on Charles Street, and
his mother, Elida Perrella, still lives in the family homestead. The aroma of
food filtering through the air or music clamoring from the homes gave passersby
a hint who lived in the home.
"You could tell if you were by a
Lithuanian house by the sound of the music coming from the radio," said
Butkevicius, a Bucks Hill resident. "I was the only Italian girl attending St.
Joseph's School." Butkevicius lived next door to the St. Joseph's Orphanage
which closed in July of 1952 after 34 years. It was established in 1918 as a
shelter for children of St. Joseph's parish who were made homeless as a result
of World War I or by the influenza epidemic during that period. Originally
started for children of Lithuanian parentage, it expanded and eventually
provided shelter to any child in need, regardless of national origin or
religion. Supported by the community and run by the Sisters of the Holy Ghost,
the home cared for some 500 children and provided a day nursery for countless
other children.
A center of the neighborhood was the former Begnal
School which closed in the late 1930s. It re-opened after World War II as the
first Waterbury branch of the University of Connecticut. When the college moved
to its present site in the 1950s, the building was taken over by the Park
Department and turned into the Begnal Recreation Center. The center was leveled
during the highway project.
Two years after arriving in Waterbury, the
Lithuanian Club formed in 1892 as immigrants who first stopped off in the
Pennsylvania coal fields found their way to Waterbury. There were 20,000
Lithuanians in Brooklyn in the years between the world wars. They formed their
own parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church and even operated an orphanage. For a
time, the Lithuanians had their own bank, the Kazemekas Bank, that failed during
the Depression. It became the first branch bank office in the state when it was
absorbed into Waterbury Savings Bank.
There was also a short parish history on the Archdiocese of Hartford website:
http://www.archdioceseofhartford.org/cgi-bin/history.pl?textdata=283
St. Joseph Church
Lithuanian
Established 1894
300
households
Lithuanian immigrants in Waterbury usually attended Mass at
St. Patrick Church, but they were also visited by two Brooklyn, New York,
priests, Fathers Antanas Varnagiris and Matthew Juodysius. On March 28, 1894,
Bishop Michael A. Tierney appointed Father Joseph Zebris as pastor of the new
St. Joseph parish in response to local Lithuanian petitions on his behalf.
Father Zebris offered Mass for his new congregation on April 1, 1894, in the
Mitchell block on Bank Street. On December 25, the pastor blessed a new frame
church at the corner of Congress and John Streets. In 1904 a new brick church
was built and dedicated in 1905 on the site of the original one. On January 6,
1906, three refugee French Daughters of the Holy Ghost joined the parish,
learned Lithuanian, and soon staffed the burgeoning parish school, which
operated in the former church building that had been moved to John Street. An
additional school building was constructed in 1912-13. Father Joseph J.
Valantiejus founded an orphanage to care for victims of the 1918 influenza
epidemic and built a new school in 1925. St. Joseph holds the distinction of
being the first Lithuanian worshiping community in Connecticut.
So I bought my two tickets and decided to have a go... The actual dinner was held at St. Patrick's Church hall - which is about two blocks from St. Joseph's. Due to the small size of the parish, the two parishes now share a priest. And I don't think there would be a room large enough for the dinner at St. Joseph's itself. Because we went just for the luncheon/dinner we were unable to go into the church. There had been a mass earlier in the morning with a tour of the church and the community center - we didn't realize that and wouldn't have been able to make it. But everyone was so nice I'm sure if we came by again they would show us around! After lunch and a few quick speakers they had some traditional Lithuanian dances and dessert. They had out pictures of the church throughout the years. So we learned: The altar was very ornate but now it is very simple. They had a fife & drum corp. They had an active CYO basketball team. There is a bowling alley in the community center.
It is a very small parish - it seems no one lives near the church anymore- which means the older parishioners come for mass but families are not returning to bring their children. They were hoping to see everyone again for the 125 anniversary.
You can see in front of the church there is a wooden structure with a cross on top. It is noted this "Lithuanian Wayside Cross was presented to St. Joseph Church by Joseph Ambrozaitis in Memory of his Mother." We were told during lunch that in Lithuania there are many of these crosses across the hills and that, over the years, the Russians would take them down. Lithuanians would put them back up. I found this website that provides more information on the Lithuanian tradition of the Wayside Cross.
They had the Centennial book (1894-1994) book for purchase with a supplement. I bought a copy and tried to find any references to family members. I think I found the following:
"We remember Frank and Ursula Gluodenis. Parents, Grandparents, Great Grandparents. Parishioners 1898 - 1937" I have an Ursula Gluodenis that is my 2nd cousin once removed. They then list many family members of the Gluodenis faimly that I also have listed in our family tree.
It's kind of hard to do the cross-referencing. I'm sure there were more cousins! I know I felt I was among relatives seeing so many folks with those Lithuanian sky blue eyes!!
So it was a nice afternoon. But I have my homework to do. Will need to come back to visit the community center to see if I can take a look through the records. They also recommended that I talk to the president of the Lithuanian Association that runs the Lithuanian Cemetery to see if I can find any family members that may have been buried there. I guess I would start there versus St. Joe's cemetery. So looks like I'll have another field trip out to Waterbury again to do some more family history research!
