A Closer Look (Part 23)

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. This is Mr. Irene's Great Aunt Petra. Petra was the older sister of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 14)

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. This is Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, on her wedding day. How young she was!

Here's the original post for this photo.

Babos Receptai (Part 3)

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, was a Russian aristocrat. Her father, Pavel, served as one of Tsar Nicholas II's regional governors (Pavel also was a friend of Tolstoy's, but I'll leave that story for another day). Pavel was working in Omsk when Tatjana was born. Later, he served in Tambov. When the Russian Revolution erupted, the Bolsheviks executed Pavel and (we believe) one of Tatjana's brothers.

Tatjana's aristocratic roots crept through many corners of her life. She was proud of her lineage, and she drew sharp lines about what sort of behavior was appropriate for descendants of the noble class. For instance, before I went on my first "date" (an afternoon, picnic outing to Brookfield Zoo), she observed that only a prostitute would hold hands with a man in public.

Tatjana also, like other Russian aristocrats of her era, admired and monkeyed French culture. She insisted, for example, that I learn the French language, and she fluidly quoted French novels and poetry. Tatjana often spoke of Catherine the Great's mastery of French culture. Many years after Tatjana died, I worked with a fellow whose grandparents (or possibly great-grandparents) had found exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution. His experience made me wonder whether Tatjana wouldn't have been happier living in France.

Tatjana's love of French culture, however, did not influence her cooking. French food was rarely on the menu. The only French item Tatjana sometimes made was Pâte à Choux. When Tatjana made choux pastry, she usually filled the puffs with Jell-O Cook & Serve Vanilla pudding (because instant pudding is for unaccomplished cooks). When she made the filling from scratch, she used this recipe: 

Cooked Cream for "Petit Schout"

                        and for Napoleon

Melt one stick of butter with 2-1/2-3 tablespoons flour. Gradually pout in 1 cup milk and 1 cup half-and-half. Cook, mixing constantly (like you would for a white sauce), until everything is heated through and cooked.

Beat together 3 egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar. Slowly mix this with the cooked cream mixture, and cook again, as you would ice cream, just until the mixture starts to show blisters. Then cool the mixture over ice, mixing well, and then adding vanilla, or orange rind, or almond extract.

[At the bottom of the page—in lighter colored ink—Tatjana added the recipe for the choux pastry:] 

Slowly heat 1 stick of butter and 2 spoonfuls (tablespoons) sour cream with 4-1/2 cups flour. Mix until the dough starts to hold together. Remove from heat and, mixing with your hands, divide the mixture into six pieces. Place in the refrigerator, then back at 400^oF until the pieces are cooked through.

Related by Marriage: Remembering Stanley

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1961. We're remembering Mr. Irene's maternal Grandfather, Stanley, because he died 40 years ago today. Here is is with Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna. They were married for 57 years and four days.

A Conversation about "First Wavers"

Chicago's WBEZ interviews Lithuanian Americans about Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

The Prayer Book

Two years ago, I posted a crumpled photograph my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, had carried with her when she fled the Russian Revolution. She had slipped the snapshot into a Russian-language prayer book. I have the prayer book, and I had planned to post images of it. I forgot about that idea until yesterday, when Althouse linked to the original, "Fresh off the Troika," post. 

That "Troika" post reminded me that I don't usually connect Tatjana with her Russian-religious roots. After Tatjana emigrated to Lithuania, she thoroughly assimilated. Tatjana became a devout Roman Catholic. She grew fluent in the Lithuanian language, worked at a Lithuanian library, and—while a Displaced Person—organized a Lithuanian-culture exhibit.

The only item that occasionally called us back to Tatjana's religious roots was the icon she used to bless family members.

When I looked at the prayer book today, I realized it is a Roman Catholic, not a Russian Orthodox, missal. The text includes the dialogue for a Mass written in Latin and Russian. I read only a few words in Russian, but I was able to make out that the title page states that it is a book for "Russian Catholics" (my Mom, who does read Russian, confirmed my hunch). Why did Tatjana already have a Roman Catholic prayer book when she fled Russia? There's an explanation. Tatjana met and married her Lithuanian husband, Vytautas, in Russia, while he still was serving in the Russian Imperial Army. It's likely she converted to Roman Catholicism before the wedding. The custom in an interfaith marriage—at least at that time, in that part of the world—was that the woman was the party required to convert to the man's religion.* 

The prayer book may have been an item Tatjana received from the Roman Catholic Church when she was studying for the conversion.

*Our family held this belief through the twentieth century. When a male family member married a Protestant, my Parents were miffed that the wedding ceremony took place at the bride's Protestant church. They insisted that a marriage must be consecrated in the man's house of worship. To Americans, this tradition is as peculiar as the custom that parents cannot attend a christening.

The book is in bad condition. The spine is gone. Dad must have created a book cover for it (I assume the cover is modern because it is secured with "invisible" tape).

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Here's the title page. "для русских католиков" means "For Russian Catholics."

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It looks like Polish clerics coordinated publication of the missal.

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These pages show the Latin text alongside the Russian text.

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This is the topper that decorated Tatjana's wedding cake. It's a crown: how interesting, because Orthodox wedding ceremonies use crowns.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making a photo of the cake topper available to us.

Matron

Near Vilnius, Lithuania, about 1917. This is the mother of Suzanne. Suzanne was the wife of my Dad's older cousin, Henry.

Thanks to Suzanne's Granddaughter—my Kaunas Cousin—for making this photo available to us.

Related by Marriage: Anniversary Toast

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. Today is the ninety-sixth wedding anniversary of Mr. Irene' maternal Grandparents, Anna and Stanley.

We've got a bottle of Chandon chilling in the refrigerator; we'll toast the wedding party tonight.

Bouquets

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, poses on her wedding day with her sister, Petra (on the right), and another attendant.

Related by Marriage: Wedding Party

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Anna and Stanley, pose on their wedding day with their attendants. Anna's sister Petra stands on the far left.

Related by Marriage: Bridal Portrait

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. This is Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna. I earlier posted the portrait in which she posed with her new husband, Stanley, here.

Related by Marriage: Relaxed Bridesmaid

Here's another view of Petra, the sister of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Mr. Irene's maternal Granparents.

I find the photos of the bridal party almost more intimate than Anna and Stanley's wedding portrait.

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. Petra rests her hand on the usher's shoulder.

Related by Marriage: The Bridesmaid

This is Petra, the spinster sister of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna. Petra served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Anna and Stanley.

Petra worked throughout her life. When she first emigrated to the United States, Petra sewed in clothing factories. Later she crafted hats in millinery plants. Perhaps that's how Petra had a path to buying some first-rate, fashionable toppers. She was nimble with a needle.

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. Petra lived out her entire life in Anna and Stanley's homes.

Related by Marriage: The Wedding Rings

I mentioned—I think twice before—that Mr. Irene and I exchanged our Grandparents' bands as our wedding rings. I've already introduced my maternal Grandfather, Jake. He's the person whose ring Mr. Irene wears.

These are Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Anna and Stanley, on their wedding day. Anna and Stanley each emigrated from Lithuania as teenagers. They met and married in Chicago. Their wedding took place at the first Lithuanian parish in the city, St. George's.

Lithuanians divide their immigration histories into three waves ("bangos"). Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents emigrated to the United States during the "first wave," that is, during the early part of the twentieth century. The "second wave" rolled in when the Displaced Persons—my Parents and Mr. Irene's Dad—sailed over. The "third wave" arrived after 1991, when Lithuania secured its independence from the Soviet Union, and people again could come and go out of the country unfettered by restrictions.

Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents are the type of folk about whom Upton Sinclair wrote in The Jungle. These were the Lithuanian immigrants who worked in the Chicago stockyards, who owned the butcher shops, who populated the South Side, and whose identity pivoted around the Roman Catholic parishes to which they belonged.

Mr. Irene and I had no idea that we had scheduled our wedding on the same calendar date as the anniversary of his maternal Grandparents. My wedding band therefore has one date—and two different years—inscribed in it.

St. George's Parish, Bridgeport, Chicago, June 1917. Mr. Irene's maternal Grandparents, Anna and Stanley, pose for an elaborate wedding portrait.

Check out the bridal bouquet!