Looking Beyond the Indexes

Have you ever looked at an index and thought, "Well, the name looks close but that can't be my ancestor because the (fill in religion, race, sex, etc.) is wrong"? I used to think that too. But I have found errors in indexes on several occasions. So I've learned that it is always a good idea to look beyond the indexes and view the documents themselves. The document above is my latest example of this lesson.

Ancestry.com has posted and indexed the World War II draft registration cards for Illinois. These are the cards from the fourth registration of World War II, known as the "old man's draft." Those required to register were men between the ages of 45 and 64. I searched for grandpa under the most common spelling of his name and found him indexed as follows:

Name Anton W Skrobul
Birthdate 18 Mar 1884
Birth Place Sany, Lithuania
Residence Beckemeyer, Illinois
Race Negro (Black)

Now if grandpa had a common name and lived in a big city, I might have thought, "This can't be grandpa, he wasn't "Negro"." But, let's face it, how many Anton Skrobuls do you know? So I was pretty sure this was him. And in looking at the image, everything else looked correct.



Page 2 of the document contains more information, including 7 categories to indicate race, such as light, dark, freckled and black. (Note to self: See if any of my Irish relatives were freckled.) The page 2 associated with Anton W. Skrobul indicated he was dark, not black. But apparently an indexer made a mistake and decided "dark" meant "black" which was indexed as Negro. I doubt that Anton identified himself as black, and he looks rather fair-skinned in his photos. So if his skin looked dark the day he registered, it may have been due to coal dust from working in the mine, and not his ethnic heritage.


Here is a photo of Anton with his two sons. From left to right, Anthony, Anton and Stan Skrobul.

Miners Deaths on FamilySearch

Records of the death and burial of 5 of the miners who died in the Centralia mine disaster were recorded in the register of the Catholic church which they attended. The funerals of John Placek, Joseph Koch Sr., Antanas Skrabulis, and Roy Alvarez were held on March 31, 1947. John Mazeka's funeral was held on April 1, 1947. The church records include the names and ages of the men, their spouses' names and the cemetery in which they were buried.

Images of these records are posted on the FamilySearch pilot site as part of the collection of Illinois, Diocese of Belleville Catholic Parish Records 1729-1956. The records are for the St. Anthony of Padua Church in Beckemeyer, Clinton County, Illinois, image 45 of 61.

Miners Headstones

These are the headstones of some of the miners who died in the Centralia mining disaster on March 25, 1947.










These headstones are located in St. Anthony's Cemetery, Beckemeyer, Illinois. The photos were taken by me in September, 2004.

Centralia Coal Mine Disaster

This week marks the 62nd anniversary of the Centralia Coal Mine Disaster, in which 111 miners, including my grandfather Anton Skrobul, were killed.

The Skrobuls and Friends

This is a picture of some of my Skrobul relatives from Beckemeyer, Illinois and their friends. I believe the photo was taken in the early 1940s.

In the back row: Grandpa Anton Skrobul (aka Antanas Skrabulis), a friend named Tony McCloskey, my uncle Stan Skrobul.

In the front row: my uncle Anthony Skrobul, an unidentified friend.

If you know the name of the unidentified friend, I'd like to hear from you.

A Lithuanian Immigrant Story

This is photo of Antanas Skrabulis, my immigrant ancestor. The story of my immigrant ancestor is the story of 4 brothers and 3 sisters. As a child, I was told that my grandfather Antanas Skrabulis came to the United States to avoid serving in the Russian army. Antanas arrived in Baltimore on 9 June 1904. He was going to join his brother Josef in Munson Station, PA.

The other 2 brothers, Stanislas and William, and a sister, Antanina, also came to the United States. Their sisters Marie and Ludwiga stayed in Lithuania. Here is a photo of Stanislas.



In 1910 Antanas and Stanislas were living in Clinton County, IL, working as coal miners. My grandfather settled there and worked in the coal mines until he died in 1947. His brother William and sister Antanina both got married and settled in Lake County, IN. My mom said that the other 2 brothers, Stanislas and Josef, returned to Lithuania, where they had left families behind. Mom was told that Josef was killed by robbers on his way home to Lithania. Antanas read in the newspaper that his brother Stanislas was killed by the Russians and his family taken to Siberia. A daughter of Stanislas named Emily came to America and settled in Ohio. My mom had photos of Emily and of her father Stanislas. But the children and grandchildren of Antanas lost touch with their relatives in Europe after World War II.

However, that was not the end of the story. Over 50 years later, a cousin of mine visited Lithuania. Before he went, he gathered information from me and some other cousins. I gave him copies of the photos of Stanislas and his daughter Emily. We looked at the information he gathered, and decided that he should visit the "address bureau" while in Vilnius to see if anyone with our Skrobul surname still lived in Antanas' home town. At the address bureau my cousin was given a phone number of a Skrobul family. He called, and was lucky enough to find someone who spoke English. They arranged to meet. When they met and compared notes, they confirmed that we were related. In fact, our new cousin recognized the photos of Stanislas and Emily, which she had seen copies of too. So, after 50 years and 2 world wars, 2 sides of the Skrabulis family are reconnected.

Wedding Photo

This is a wedding photograph of my grandparents, Antanas Skrabulis and Antanina Norvaisaite. They were married in Gary, Indiana on 21 August 1910. Antanas was 25 years old and Antanina was 19.

My Lithuanian Ancestry

I am dedicating this week to my Lithuanian ancestors--my mom's side of the family. So to begin, here is the coat of arms of the Vaisvila family. I received a copy of this in 1998 from the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, along with copies and translations of documents, including 9 generations of the Vaisvila family.


This is a picture of my maternal grandmother, Antanina Norvaisaite. She was the daughter of Povilas Norvaisa and Juzefa Vaisvila. Antanina was born on 29 September 1891 in the village of Sutkai and was baptized that same day in Pagramantis Roman Catholic church. She married Antanas Skrabulis in Gary, Indiana in 1910. Antanina died in Illinois in 1967.