For the Love of Ireland

I was invited by Small-leaved Shamrock to participate in the 10th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture. The theme is "For the love of Ireland." She asked people to share what they most love about Ireland and the Irish people. For me, that is an easy question. What I love most about Ireland is the music—-all kinds of Irish music.

I didn’t really discover Irish music until I was in my 30s. Before then, the only Irish music I knew was "Danny Boy." Now, my favorite type of music is Irish folk music by Schooner Fare, Tommy Makem, the Dave Rowe Trio, Leahy's Luck, and others. I also love Irish rock music (especially Gaelic Storm)and traditional instrumental music, including anything by The Chieftans, and Joemy Wilson playing O'Carolan music on hammered dulcimer.

The best way to enjoy Irish music is at a live performance. And the best place I know of to do that is at Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. If you love Irish music, then Irish Fest is a chance to visit heaven every August. There are more than 10 stages featuring performances of all types of Irish music, Irish dance, and theatre. There are also areas devoted to Irish sports, language, history and culture. I like to visit the genealogy tent every year. This summer it included representatives of the Irish Genealogical Society of Wisconsin, the Irish Family History Foundation and Ancestry.com. Irish music plus genealogy, all at one location! Definitely heaven for me.

If you love Irish music, I hope you get the chance to attend Milwaukee's Irish Fest next August. I know I'll be there.

A Lithuanian Sense of Humor

That's my mom, Ann Skrobul Brady, in the front row to the left. (The one with the largest mustache.) I believe this was probably a party for employees of the Veterans Administration office in Chicago, but I'm not certain of that.

This photo reminds me of one of my mom's best traits--her sense of humor. I know it may not be a characteristic of all Lithuanians, but it is of the Lithuanian half of my family. They are great fun! I have alot of silly photos of my mom and her siblings.

Some ethnic groups have stereotypes of having a temper, being serious, organized, thrifty, etc. For me, when I think of Lithuanians I think of their sense of humor.

The Mysterious Skrabulis Family

One day my cousin and I were extracting information from the records of St. Anthony's church in Beckemeyer, IL. According to the person who was helping us, the records were in German, and for privacy reasons we could not view the records. So we were having the entries read to us. We were verifying baptism dates of our moms and their siblings, and gathering names of godparents and information about some marriages.

And then, we learned of a previously unknown family. The entry was extracted as: Joannas Skrabulis son of Joannas and Rosa Mazeijka, born 26 Oct 1910, bapt 13 Nov 1910, sponsors Guiehelmus Skimodus and Maria nee Skrabulis. (In Latin, Joannis=John.)

This entry was fascinating to me because I knew nothing about this family. No one had every mentioned them before. John and Maria were not siblings of my grandfather Antanas Skrabulis. We knew of all his siblings, both in America and in Europe. There was no brother named John, and Antanas' sister Maria stayed in Lithuania. The name Skrabulis is not a common one, even in Lithuania. And Beckemeyer was a rural town, not a large city with a large Lithuanian population. So it doesn't seem likely that this is an unrelated Skrabulis family who happened to end up attending the same church as Antanas' family.

I think John and Maria were cousins of my grandfather, but I have not been able to prove or disprove that theory. In fact, so far I have been unable to find this family in any other record. But my search continues! I hope someday I will be able to correctly attach John and Maria to our Skrabulis family tree, and maybe even find some long lost cousins--their descendants.

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.

More Lithuanian Surnames

This is a list of surnames associated with my family, but not related by blood or marriage (at least as far as I know right now.) These are mainly baptism sponsors and witnesses at weddings. If you see a name you recognize, please contact me. I'll be happy to share the informaiton that I have.

Blinstrutas, Bukavicius, Goleniauskas, Golniauskas, Kielsiauskas, Slabasevicius, Caplinskas, Fliadrzinskis, Jakutis, Jankauskas, Laucevicius, Monkevicius, Muzauskas
Sliapovicius, Kaminskis, Kelciauskas, Kelciouskes, Monkevicius
Vaisvila, ubavicius

My Lithuanian Surnames

Here is a list of the Lithuanian surnames found in my family tree, and the villages those names were associated with.

Liaudginai village: Blinstrutas, Bukavicius, Goleniauskas, Blinstrutas
Bukavicius, Goleniauskas, Golniauskas, Kielsiauskas, Slabasevicius, Golniauskas, Kielsiauskas, Slabasevicius

Sutkai village: Caplinskas, Fliadrzinskis, Jakutis, Jankauskas, Laucevicius, Monkevicius, Muzauskas, Sliapovicius


Uznugariai village: Kaminskis, Kelciauskas, Kelciouskes, Monkevicius, Vaisvila, Zubavicius

If you find one of your surnames on my list, please contact me. I'd be happy to share information with you.