Where Did All the "Skerstonas' " Go (or Girls Rule Which Stinks for Geneaology!)

In my on-line family tree the count is currently at 368 family members.   I'll take a rough guess that about 300 of these are the descendants of Joseph and Peter Skerstonas.  The majority are descendants within the United States.   But if you Google "Skerstonas" in the US you'll likely get me, my half-brother and his daughter.  And, that's about it....   Where did all the Skerstonas' go?   Thought it might be interesting to try to map out what happened to the surname once these brother's children starting coming stateside.

Couple of notes:  I do not include names of any living relatives as I'm unsure if I have their permission.   And this is based on information I have at this time so - apologize in advance if I am missing any family members or have any errors.   If you have any information to add - please feel free to contact me & let me know)

Joseph Skerstonas

• Daughter: Barbara (b 1891 in Lithuania, d. 1979 Thomaston, CT) married Louis Alexander
• Daughter: Patrione married Joseph Sanda
• Daughter: Anna married George Westone
• Daughter: Alice married Unknown Voselis
• Son: Unknown Skerstonas - Died in train/work accident in CT.  Don't know if he was married at the time.
• Son: Charles Skerstonas (b 1888 in Lithuania, d. 1956 Thomaston, CT) married Rose Tamosaitis
• Daughter: Della (b 1917 in Waterbury, CT, d ? Thomaston CT) married Isadore Snieckus
• Daughter: Married
• Daughter: Mildred (b 1923 in Thomaston, CT, d 2010 Thomaston CT) married George Chepulis
• Son: Albert Skerstonas (b 1920 in Thomaston CT, d ? Thomaston CT) - married and had no children
• Son: George Skerstonas (b 1930 in Thomaston, CT, d 1999 in Thomaston CT)
• Daughter - Married
• Daughter - Married
• Daughter - Deb Skerstonas Lagana - Married (me)
• Son - Skerstonas
• Daughter - Skerstonas - Married kept her maiden name

Peter Skerstonas

• Daughter: Lucy Skerstonas (b 1870 in Lithuania, d ? in Lithuania) - never married
• Daughter: Magdalene (b 1873 in Lithuania, d 1948 in Nebraska) married Isadore Tamosaitis
• Daughter: Martha (b 1875, d 1944) married Joseph Vaicekauskas
• Daughter: Mary married Unknown Kidulas
• Daughter: Anna married Unknown Lisdanis
• Daughter: Frances married Frances Barnauskas
• Daughter: Barbara married Unknown Chernauskas
• Son: Anthony Skerstonas married a teacher in Lithuania
• Son: Jonas Skerstonas

So, the Skerstonas name dwindled fairly quickly with all these daughters.   Interestingly there was a similar trend on my mother's side of the family tree as well - her grandmother was one of 12 children - 10 girls and 2 boys....  This all can make it very difficult to trace ancestors - but I keep plugging along!

Waterbury - The Brass City

As I was researching something completely different tonight, I came across some very interesting information on the history of Scovill Manufacturing and Waterbury known in it's prime as "Brass City."   It would seem many Lithuanian families who immigrated to Connecticut may have worked here.   I am told that my grandfather, Charles Skerstonas, worked here for a few years after coming to the US, where he saved money to buy the farm in Thomaston.  Although the family history Martha prepared doesn't specifically mention it, I wonder if others in the family worked there as well?

The piece I found is called "Scovill Brass Works - Written Historical and Descriptive Data.  Historic American Engineering Record.  National Park Service. (HAER No. CT-153)"

memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/ct/.../ct0598data.pdf

It seems the firm that became Scovill Manufacturing was started by four partners in 1802.  They made tin and pewter alloy buttons, cast and stamped brass and copper buttons, and gold finished buttons made from all metals.  At that time there was a high demand for these buttons, which traditionally had been imported from Birmingham, England for military uniforms. 

As years passed the owners formed various subsidiaries throughout the Waterbury area and opened new product lines.   A new photographic process invented in 1839 used silver on copper "daguerreotypes" which were produced by the Scovills.  Between 1850 and 1874 the photography division made as much in profits as the brass business.  They also began rolling "German Silver" and making decorative objects through the mid to late 1800s.  

By 1909, Connecticut manufactured 44.6% of America's output of brass, bronze and their products.  Waterbury alone accounted for 21.3% of America's brass and bronze products.  The early ethnic neighborhoods grew and new ones came into being to house a diversity of immigrants.  Lithuanians first began arriving in Waterbury in the 1890s, as many left their homeland to avoid service in the Russian army as well as to improve their economic circumstances.  Emigration from Lithuania to the United States increased further following the start of the Russo-Japanese war in 1904.

 Lithuanian and Russian Population in Waterbury based on Country of Birth (In 1890, 1900, and 1910 Lithuanians were enumerated as Russians):

1890     Russia:  123
1900:    Russia: 1,265
1910:    Russia: 5,600
1920:    Russia: 3,209     Lithuania: 3,674

(By 1920 the largest ethnic populations:  Italy: 9,232  Ireland 4,507 then Lithuania 3,674)

 

You can also check out this "Scovill Bulletin" from January 1930.   It is fairly amazing just how big and far reaching this company is by 1930.   If you read all the way to the last few pages they lists the branch offices and divisions - which are located in CT, other parts of the US and even in Holland. 

http://www.scovillbulletin.com/30s/Scovill%201930/01%20Jan-1930.pdf

Part of Thomaston's History

As my half-brother pointed out to me, our grandparents home was included in a book on the history of Thomaston, CT that was published back in the mid-1970's.   Just checked, and I do remember right, that the book was published around the time of the town's centennial celebration.  Thomaston's website notes that:

  On July 6,1875 Thomas Town became Thomaston in memory of Seth Thomas and the separation from Plymouth was confirmed by the State Legislature.

So, it was in the summer of 1975 that Miss Rosa Gangloff's extensive book "Thomaston - It's Origin and Development" was published.  I think everyone in town at the time remembers seeing this book and poring through it to see if you could find anyone you knew in the many pictures included throughout the book.   I found a used copy for sale today on Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/Thomaston-Development-Rosa-F-Gangloff/dp/B004440AH6

If you're from town, and the link still works, take a peek at the cover - I'm sure it will bring back memories.

Well anyhow, on Bob's advice, I figured I'd stop by and see if the town library had a copy.    So one Saturday afternoon last month, about 5 minutes before they closed I rushed into the library.  Tried to get over my flashbacks of how it looks exactly the same as when I was a kid!   The librarian knew exactly what I was talking about and went in the back to get me their copy.   So, as both Bob and I remembered, there was a picture of our grandparent's house right there on page 70!



Here is the description included of the house:

Two houses above the Lundberg's property is the Andrew Goldsmith house.  Andrew Goldsmith was the father of Samuel, who with his son built several houses on Walnut Hill.  The Goldsmiths preferred houses with an ell.  They also built a multipurpose room upstairs for weaving, sewing or quilting and spinning.  Here looms or quilting frames could remain until completed without disturbance.

Otherwise their houses followed the pattern of large granite blocks "set in the dry," chestnut timbers and wide planked floors.  The windows were six over six.  In the Andrew Goldsmith house the wide boards around the bottom of the kitchen walls are original.  The fireplace has a Dutch oven and a cupboard above the mantel.  There is a butler's door to the pantry. All of the hardware on the doors is original.  There are six rooms downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs plus the multipurpose room.  The bathroom and electric wiring are modern additions as is the closed-in porch and carriage house.  The barns were built across the road from the house near an excellent spring of water.  A wooden trough allowed the cattle to drink at the spring which ran constantly.  In dry weather neighbors were allowed to take the water needed.

We lived in the house for just a bit when I was in kindergarten.   I do remember playing jacks at Easter in the closed-in porch and liking the old farmhouse.  It had a lot of character.  As the story was told to Bob, Charles Skerstonas purchased this farmhouse and the sixty acre farm for cash after working as a crane operator upon arriving in the US from Lithuania. 

Mrs. Gangloff's book doesn't note when the house was built nor when it became the "Chas Skerstonas House" but I thought it was every exciting that we got our place in the history book of our town!

  

1930 Federal Census - Thomaston CT

The Federal census gives us some interesting information about our relatives – insights we may not have known or tidbits of information that might help us in our genealogical search.   I hope to post census information from time to time on various family members.   This time I’ll start with a census that includes my Dad! 

So the genealogy/family tie-in:

·         Joseph and Peter Skerstonas were brothers.  

·         Joseph Skerstonas was my great-grandfather. 

·         His son was Charles Skerstonas (b. 1888 Lithuania, d. August 1956 Thomaston, CT).  

·         And his son (my Dad) was George Skerstonas (b. April 1930 Thomaston, CT d. Feb 1930 Thomaston, CT).   

The 1930 Census – the Fifteenth Census of the United States

State: Connecticut                                      County: Litchfield

Township: Thomaston town                         Enumerated on: April 21, 1930

Street: Walnut Hill – Farming District           Number of Dwelling: 443


Name of each person whose place of abode on April 1, 1930 was in this family (omit children born since April 1^st):

Skerstonas, Charles
     Relation: Head
     Home Owned or Rented: Owned 
     Does Family Own a Farm?: Yes
     Sex: Male
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: 39
     Marital Condition: Married
     Age at first marriage: 25
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: No
     Able to read or write: Yes
     Place of birth: Lithuania
     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania
     Language spoke in home before coming to the US: Lithuanian
     Year of Immigration to the US: 1906
     Able to Speak English: Yes
     Occupation: Farmer
     Industry: Dairy Farmer
     Actually at work yesterday: Yes
     Veteran of US Military or Naval Forces: No

Skerstonas, Rosa
     Relation: Wife
     Sex: Female
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: 35
     Marital Condition: Married
     Age at first marriage: 21
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: No
     Able to read or write: No
     Place of birth: Lithuania
     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania
     Language spoke in home before coming to the US: Lithuanian
     Year of Immigration to the US: 1914
     Able to Speak English: No

Skerstonas, Della
     Relation: Daughter
     Sex: Female
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: 12
     Marital Condition: Single
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: Yes
     Able to read or write: Yes
     Place of birth: Connecticut
     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania
     Able to Speak English: Yes

Skerstonas, Albert
     Relation: Son
     Sex: Male
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: 9
     Marital Condition: Single
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: Yes
     Place of birth: Connecticut
     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania
     Able to Speak English: Yes


Skerstonas, Isabel
     Relation: Daughter
     Sex: Female
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: 9
     Marital Condition: Single
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: Yes
     Place of birth: Connecticut
     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania
     Able to Speak English: No

 Skerstonas, Mildred
     Relation: Daughter
     Sex: Female
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: 6
     Marital Condition: Single
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: Yes
     Place of birth: Connecticut
     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania
     Able to Speak English: No

 Skerstonas, George
     Relation: Son
     Sex: Male
     Color or Race: White
     Age at last birthday: (1/12th is crossed out) 0
     Marital Condition: Single
     School or college at any time since 9/1/1929: No
     Place of birth: Connecticut     Father’s place of birth: Lithuania
     Mother’s Place of birth: Lithuania

So, some interesting facts we can get from this census are

• The years of immigration for Charles and Rose.  This should help in later research in trying to find details on their immigration.
• If we didn’t know that Albert and Isabel were twins – we would know this now.  Interestingly in all of the other family information from Martha I have not yet found another set of twins.  Also, it seems odd that Albert would speak English by 9, but not Isabel since it indicates they are both going to school.  Was this really this case or an error in the part of the census taker?
• I personally love that this census was done on April 21^st 1930 – my Dad would have only been 3 days old.  Per the instructions he really wasn’t supposed to be included – but there is little George – Age 0 – listed on the census for perpetuity!
• The age when Charles & Rosa were first married is also great genealogy data – assuming their first marriage was to each other J  We’ll save that piece of information for further research too… 

Not sure if you can see the details for yourself (still learning how this blog works)

Famous Athletes in the Family

My last post discussed one of the children of Magdalene Skerstonas Tamosaitis.   Magdelene had seven children.   This focuses on family members of one of Magdalene’s other children, her daughter, Marcella Tamosaitis Howard (b. Jul 1909, Watertown, CT d. Feb 1997 Elizabeth City, NC). Marcella and her husband, Claud Howard, are the parents of Bruce Howard.

NOTE:   Now there are unwritten rules about genealogical blogging about living relatives.  But I feel exceptions can be made for those relatives that have their own Wikipedia pages – since I would consider those among use with their own Wikepedia pages part of the public domain and I am only including the information on their Wikipedia pages….  So with that disclaimer….

We have a couple of baseball players in the family!  Here is Bruce’s official Major League Baseball information from his Wikipedia page:

 

Bruce Ernest Howard (born March 23, 1943) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1963 to 1968 for the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Senators. Listed at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 180 lb., Howard was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. A native of Salisbury, Maryland, he attended Villanova University. His son, David Howard, also played in the majors.

In a six-season career, Howard posted a 26–31 record with 349 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA in 120 appearances, including seven complete games, four shutouts, one save, and 528 ⅔ innings of work.

Bruce’s son, David Howard, was also a Major League Baseball player and has his own Wikipedia page as well:

David Wayne Howard (born February 26, 1967 in Sarasota, Florida), is field coordinator of minor league instruction for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball, and a former utility player in MLB who played from 1991 through 1999 for the Kansas City Royals (1991–97) and St. Louis Cardinals (1998–99). Listed at 6 feet (1.8 m) and 175 lb. (80 kg), he was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. His father, pitcher Bruce Howard, also played in the majors.

 Howard was a solid utilityman, being able to play all infield and outfield positions, and also had the ability to serve as emergency pitcher. His most productive season came in 1996, when he posted career-numbers in games (143), runs (51), hits (92), extrabases (23) and RBI (48), while hitting a .243 batting average. In a nine-season career, Howard was a .229 hitter (362-for-1583) with 11 home runs and 148 RBI in 645 games, including 169 runs, 57 doubles, 14 triples, and 23 stolen bases.

 In 2004, he joined the Red Sox as a minor league coach in the Boston farm system before becoming a scout. He moved into their front office at the close of the 2007 season, spending 2008–09 as special assistant to Boston general manager Theo Epstein. He succeeded Rob Leary as field coordinator in 2010.

We'll see if I uncover any other family members with athletic skill as I continue to research the family   I can tell you - I have none although my 5'9" and growing 14 year old son seems to be a pretty good golfer...  

Remember if you think you are a Skerstonas relative and would like access to the Geni.com family tree please just e-mail me.  You can also send along any ideas for family stories to include as I continue to blog...   I have a list of ideas - but would love to add yours....

A Link to the Lithuanian Presidency...

I’ll lead in this post with the tie in to my great grand-father Joseph Skerstonas.   As previously noted he had a brother, Peter Skerstonas (both brothers were born circa mid 1800’s in Lithuania)

• Peter had a daughter: Magdalene Skerstonas Tamosaitis (b. Jan 1873 (Lithuania) d. Dec 1948 (Nebraska, US)
• Magdalene had a daughter: Marian Tamosaitis (b. Feb 1905 (Waterbury, CT, US) d. March 1953 (Pennsylvania, US)

Marian married Bruce Stulginskis (b. Feb 1903 d. Sep 1955).  Mr. Stulginskis was the nephew of the second president of Lithuania, as noted in this August 29, 1923 Carbondale Daily Free Press Article:

YOUTH STUDIES HERE FOR LIFE WORK IN LITHUANIA(By Associated Press)DANVILLE, ILL—In the little village of Westville, near here, lives Bruce Stulginskis who appears destined some day to sit in the government councils of Lithuania one of the new nations of Europe. Stulginskis is the nephew of Aleksandros Stulginskis, who was elected president of the far away Baltic republic in June.  He lives in the Lithuanian colony of Danville, is studying at the University of Illinois, and is preparing himself for a public career when he is graduated from college. Bruce Stulginskis is the son of a Westville merchant, and since his father’s death the Lithuanian president has been directing the boy's education. According to the plan, Bruce will go from the University of Illinois to the University of Berlin for a graduate course.

I was able to find this press release reprinted in various papers including The Morning Sun of Yuma AZ, The Ada Evening News of Ada, OK and the Evening Independent of Massillon, OH all published between August and September 1923. 

It seems, however, this public career did not come to pass.   According to Martha Palapis’ family history Bruce became an electrical engineer and he and his wife Marian made their home in Pennsylvania. 

A history of his uncle, Aleksandros Stulginskis, found on Litanus.org (http://www.lituanus.org/1995_4/95_4_02.htm) describes:

Stulginskis (b. 1885 d. 1969) was one of the founding fathers and restorers of Lithuanian independence, a member of the Lithuanian Council (Lietuvos Taryba), a signer of the Declaration of Independence of February 16, 1918, the acting prime minister of the Provisional Government in 1919, President of the Constituent Assembly (Steigiamasis Seimas) in 1920 and first constitutional President of Lithuania from 1923 -1926. He was one the most outstanding leaders of the Christian Democratic Party of Lithuania (LKDP) and served as a representative in all sessions of the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament). He however  experienced all of the calamities of modem Lithuanian history - World War I and the German occupation, the Soviet occupation later during the period of World War II, exile in the camps of Siberia and imprisonment from 1941 until 1954.

                                                             Alexsandros Stulginskis

Joseph Skerstonas was my great-grandfather and Peter Skerstonas was his brother.   A third cousin of mine, Martha Palapis, had done a significant amount of research on the Skerstonas family while she was alive.   She had typed (on a typewriter - not a computer) all of the information she had gathered and distributed the results to those family members that attended a family reunion in 1992.   Although I did not attend the reunion I managed to get a copy of her work.  It is very extensive and I have been able to put all of the data on-line into Geni.com.   So now I have an on-line version of a family tree.   But I want to see if I can turn this data into a story.   I am hoping to take the information that Martha so diligently put together and see if I can find pictures, stories, source documents, etc to help it become a true family story.   Today I went to Martha's memorial service, which gave me the inspiration to actually sit and start this blog.   I will try to regularly update with bits of information and hope to hear from members of our family so that we can grow our story together. 

I'll start with this great picture that I recently received from my mother.   When they last visited, my aunt, Izzy Schwarze, gave my mom some pictures of my Dad, George.   This one is dated 1937 - could be the year my Dad started school.   He was the youngest of the 5 children - 7 years younger than his closest sibling.  From oldest to youngest, by birth year, they were:   Della (Dee) 1917,  Al & Isabelle (Izzy) (twins) 1920, Mildred (Milly) 1923 and George (1930).   They lived on Walnut Hill in Thomaston, CT.   Through the power of Facebook I was able to identify the two other boys as the neighbor's boys and even the name of the bus driver!   That all the Skerstonas kids are smiling except for George is kind of telling - there would be some family feuds of epic proportions in their future!