I have struggled with untangling this knot for quite some time. Perhaps someone may be able to give me a clue where to tug and get some useful results.

I have a grandmother, Friederike/Frieda/Freda Hirsch who supposedly was born in 1860 in Hungary. She had a daughter out of wedlock. Married Lewie/Louis/Ludwig/Leiv Reinert/Rinehart around 1888. I don't know where. He wanted nothing to do with Freda's daughter and the girl went to Germany and lived with her grandparents. There she married and stayed.

Freda and Louis had 8 children: supposedly all in Alitus/Alytus, Lithuania. They were born between 1880 and 1908. Sometime before 1913, Louis died. I have two stories regarding how: one of cancer and the other of poisoning.

The oldest brother Louis came to America in 1910 and settled in Braddock PA. Frederick came sometime before 1913 as his mother, two sisters and youngest brother came to be with him in 1913. Two brothers Adolph and Charles and a child who died in infancy has disappeared into time with only their names written in family documents, no other information is given.

On the ship's manifesto that Freda and the three children arrived on, it says that they came from Jurgischke, Hungary. Yet, all the stories from the family say that they were living on a farm on the Nemel River in Alitus, Lithuania.

I am and have been struggling with how to obtain records verifying any of this information and the birthdates/years that I have. I tried the Lithuanian State Archives and am certain that the records that were sent to me are incorrect and cannot read one of the records as the handwriting is difficult to decipher.

I have the youngest son's Pertition for Naturalization and his Declaration of Intent, I have the ship manifesto copy for the mother and three children, I have WWI enlistement information for the oldest son, and I have where Freda is buried but have not been able to get the cemetery to give me further information. That is all.

Does anyone have ideas how I can obtain further information? Thanks

The Nemunas/Nieman River runs through Alytus.

For the children born in Lithuania(?) and married in the U.S., get copies of the church marriage register (not extracts). They likely list where they were baptized in Lithuania.

Tom S.

If you know the name of the parish owning or associated with the cemetery where Freda is buried (assuming she was Christian and not Jewish or Russian Orthodox), then that information coupled with her approximate year of birth should be enough for the Historical Archives to do a search of that parish's records (assuming they still exist). The following are the names of the RC churches in Alytus:

ALYTUS. S^v. Angelu Sargu [Church of Holy Guardian Angels or Guardian Angels]
Savanoriu g. 14 [g.=gatve, street – the dwelling number follow the street name]
LT-62142 Alytus [this is the postal code]
tel. (315) 5 22 38

ALYTUS. S^v. Brunono Kverfurtiec^io [Church of Saint Bruno of Querfurt, or of Saint Boniface]
Putinu g. 20
LT-62324 Alytus
tel. (315) 2 79 87

ALYTUS. S^v. Kazimiero [Church of Saint Casimir]
Varenos g. 24a
LT-62168 Alytus
tel. (315) 5 10 19

ALYTUS. S^vc^. M. Marijos Kriks^c^ioniu Pagalbos [Church of the Virgin Mary, Help of Christians]
Jurgis^kiu g. 4
LT-63131 Alytus
Tel. (315) 2 55 52

Sacramental records (baptism/birth, marriage, and burial/death) are now centrally held by the Historical Archives of Lithuania, not the Central State Archives. The web page for these Archives is in English here:
http://www.archyvai.lt/en/accessandservice.html
It includes the email address. You can write them with an inquiry to provide you with a translated (into English) copy of Freda's birth, marriage and/or burial record (if these still exist and are not held by the Polish Archives.)
If you have not given them enough information to do a search, they'll tell you. If the records no longer exist or cannot be found, they'll tell you that. If they find one of these records, they'll tell you that and tell you how much it will cost to do the search and translation and how to send the fee to them. Alytus is one of the larger towns in Lithuania (about 60,000 today and around 3445 in 1897). If the Archives sent you the wrong records, I would let them know that fact and ask for a new search with a translation into English.

Most cemeteries in Lithuania do not have any records of burials nor do local churches since the Soviet period when such records were centralized into the Historical Archives. Local grave diggers also do not know where individuals are buried except randomly. Most older graves (e.g, pre-1900) are unmarked though some local people may know where some individual graves are located. Most local priests do not speak or understand English.

If I were you, I'd try getting the naturalization papers of all the children you know of, plus any Social Security applications they may have filed -- both of which documents often have the name of the village where the person was born.

John Peters