A Closer Look (Part 58)

Southwestern Lithuania, about 1912. This is Mr. Irene's Great-Grandmother Agnes.

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A Closer Look (Part 27)

Southwestern Lithuania, Easter 1934. Mr. Irene's Great-Grandmother, Agnes, and a grandson sit near the Margučiai.

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Realted by Marriage: Another View of the Table

Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois, Winter 1958. This time, Mr. Irene's maternal Aunt Martha isn't taking the photo; she's seated at the head of the table. That's a rare expression on Martha's face.

The parish calendar hangs on the dining-room wall.

Related by Marriage: Family Table

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, January 1958. Mr. Irene's family shares one side of the head table at the wedding reception of Mr. Irene's Parents.

Related by Marriage: Escort

Nativity BVM Church, Marquette Park, Chicago, January 1958. A V.F.W. honor guard leads Aunt Agnes and another relative to their seats.

Related by Marriage: Stamp Collection

In the spring and summer of 1949, Lithuanian Displaced Persons began arriving in Chicago. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 had temporarily opened the U.S. to the refugees from the Baltic states and other countries fleeing Soviet occupation of their countries. Between 1949 and 1951, only Polish immigrants outnumbers the Lithuanian DPs arriving in Chicago.

Both family members and charitable organizations hosted the new arrivals. Immigrants frequently relied on local, Lithuanian parishes to provide a social structure. Among the new arrivals were many young, unmarried adults. Organizations like the Catholic Knights of Lithuania provided a year-round calendar of events that introduced first generation Lithuanian-Americans to the DPs in their age groups. (Mr. Irene’s parents celebrated their wedding at the Knights of Lithuania Hall on 47th Street in Brighton Park.) 

 

Mr. Irene’s Mom took part in the Knights' social culture. She recalls that the young bachelors "from the old country" were more charming and interesting than her Chicago-born friends. 

 

Agnes, an aunt of Mr. Irene’s Mom, and her husband sponsored two young bachelors and one family. Mr. Irene’s Mom briefly dated one of the DP bachelors.  She had recently moved with her family from Bridgeport to Marquette Park. The bachelor gave Mr. Irene's Mom a memento from his time in the Würzburg DP camp. It was  a display book that held stamps issued in late 1930s Lithuania, wartime Germany, and the immediate postwar period in the DP camps.

 

 

Würzburg Displaced Persons Camp, Germany, November, 1947. This page shows a variety of German postage stamps issued in 1944.  One series illustrated local festivals, such as a shooting competition in Innsbruck in July, 1944.  Others pictured "Heroes," ranging from stylized military scenes to idyllic images of youth and family.

 

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Würzburg, Displaced Persons Camp, Germany, November, 1947. These stamps feature anniversary illustrations of the Lithuania's 1918 independence and commemoration of the trans-Atlantic flight of pilots Darius and Girenas that opened Lithuania’s international air mail service. The Lithuanian Red Cross issued the Camp Meerbeck stamps in the British Zone of postwar Germany in 1947, observing the 400th anniversary of Lithuanian book printing. Note the British stamps highlighting the 1948 Olympics and 25th anniversary of the King’s reign.

Related by Marriage: A Younger Agnes

Chicago, Illinois, about 1937. Agnes was a cousin of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna.

Belated Anniversary Wishes

Mr. Irene's Parents yesterday celebrated their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary. I had other things swirling through my head, and I didn't even remember the date until Mr. Irene reported that he had congratulated his folks.

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, January 11, 1958. Martha, the older sister of Mr. Irene's Mom, is the bridesmaid on the left. Had I gotten married in 1958, I would have chosen those dresses for my attendants. Beige is my favorite color.

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Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, January 11, 1958. The couple's families stand on their respective sides of the newlyweds.

Related by Marriage: Relax after dinner.

Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois, Winter 1958. Mr. Irene's Parents pay a visit to his Mom's relatives on Lowe Avenue. Mr. Irene's Mom's Cousin, Isa—seated on the right in the black dress—lived her adult life directly next door to "Hizzoner," Mayor Richard J. Daley. Mr. Irene's Mom's Aunt Agnes, sitting on Cousin Isa's right, enjoys the visit. In about six months, Agnes will help Mr. Irene's Parents finance their home in Suburban Chicago. Mr. Irene's Aunt Martha is taking the picture, and Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, sits at the front, still wearing her apron.

Related by Marriage: Colorized

This photo is the only one in our stash that has been colorized. Before color photography came on the scene, it was common to have images of important events hand tinted, or "colorized."

Chicago, Illinois, 1947. This is Aunt Agnes on the occasion of her second marriage. Agnes was the cousin of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna. Agnes played a big role in the lives of Mr. Irene and his Parents because she financed the mortgage for Mr. Irene's childhood home. Agnes was widowed two or three times.

Related by Marriage: The Extended Family

Mr. Irene's Maternal Grandmother, Anna, and her Sister, Petra, emigrated to the United States as young women. They left behind Parents Agnes and Jacob, and Sisters Emily and Marta.

Contact with the family back in Lithuania was sporadic because of the expense of sending letters and the slow delivery of mail. A holiday greeting, like an Easter card, occasionally arrived. Anna and Petra, for example, also got word when Emily became engaged to Adam J.

The family back home also sent wedding photos and snapshots of the extended family, when they got together. Here is one such image:

 
Near Tauragė, Lithuania, about 1915. This may be the wedding celebration of Anna's sister, Emily. She stands, in the light dress, on the far left, next to Adam J., who, like the other men, wears a boutonniere. Emily's sister Marta is next to Adam J. Agnes, the mother of the young women—and the mother of immigrants Anna and Petra—sits in the center of the babushka group, smiling gently.
 
The other folks are Adam J.'s relatives. Agnes's husband, Jacob, does not appear in this photo.

Related by Marriage: Will you hold my hand ...

... even if you're wearing gloves?

Bridgeport, Chicago, 1915. This is the wedding portrait of Domicele and Charles. Domicele was the Aunt of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandfather, Stanley. This couple is important to Mr. Irene's family because Agnes, the daughter of Domicele and Charles, financed the house that Mr. Irene's parents bought, and in which Mr. Irene grew up.

Related by Marriage: Prayers for the Newlyweds

Nativity BVM Church, Marquette Park, Chicago, January 1958. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Stanley and Anna, on the left, pray at the wedding of Mr. Irene's Parents. Aunts Petra and Agnes sit with Anna and Stanley.

Related by Marriage: Old Country Holiday Table

Southwestern Lithuania, 1934. The Mother of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, Agnes, oversees the family holiday table.

Related by Marriage: Greetings from the Old Country

Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, was one of four daughters born to a modest couple who lived in southwestern Lithuania. We don't know the precise location of the homestead, but we believe it was an area on the Lithuanian-Prussian border because the family surname dervied from a German word.

In 1910, Anna and one of her sisters, Petra, emigrated to the United States. We are not sure why they left Lithuania. Anna settled in Philadelphia, where she lived with an upper middle-class family. We assume she worked for the family as a domestic. In 1915, Anna and Petra moved to Chicago, where they settled in Bridgeport, on the South Side. The young women assimilated fluidly into American culture.

Anna married Stanley in 1917, but her sister Petra remained single.

Anna and Petra remained in close touch with their parents and the two sisters, Emily and Marta, who had stayed behind in Lithuania:

Southwestern Lithuania, around 1912. The Parents of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, sit with the two daughters who did not emigrate to the United States. Left to right: Anna's Sister Emily, Anna's Mother Agnes, Anna's Father Jacob, and Anna's Sister Marta.