Izidorus Greivis and Izabella Szetvitaite Affidate for License to Marry in New York State

In the past few years, I have not had many discoveries on the Lithuanian half of my family tree.  Recently, I learned of a new resource, an index to the NYC Municipal Archives records on Marriage Applications from 1908-1929.  I knew that my great-grandparents had married in 1915 in Manhattan and I was able to locate their names on the index, and order the actual three-page record from the NYC Municipal Archives.

These particular records contain a lot of information that is not on the actual marriage certificate.  They have the physical address for the bridce and groom, their full names, country of biurthm age, occupation, names of the parents of the bride and groom, the signatures of the bride, groom and witnesses.

The archive charges a fee of $15 and a self-addressed stamped envelope to mail you a copy of the record.

The index is in alphabetical order, and each letter of last name is organized by month. In the below image - you can see Greivs, Izidorus under Groom.  His record is listed in Volume 12, number 28120, Nov 10, 1915. This is not the date of the wedding, but the date that the bride and groom appeared with their application for license to marry. The actual wedding date was Nov 14, 1915.

Below is the State of New York Affidavit for License to Marry. No: 28120. Date of Marriage: Nov 14, 1915. Church: Lithuanian. Location: Broome St. Clergyman: Shestakas.
Izidorus Greivis (Groom) and Izabella Szetvitaite (Bride) applicants for a license for marriage, being severally sworn, depose and say, that to the best of their knowledge and belief the following statement respectively signed by them is true, and that no legal impediment exists as to the right of the applicants to enter into the marriage state.

From the Groom:
Full Name: Izidorus Greivis
Color: White
Place of Residence: 323 Spring St
Age: 22 (Jan 1915)
Occupation: Laborer
Place of Birth: Kovno Gub, Russia (Modern Day Kaunas, Lithuania)
Name of father: Antony
Country of birth: Russia
Maiden name of mother: Mary Stirbaite
Country of Birth: Russia
Number of Marriage: first
Former wife or wives living or dead: single\
If applicant is a divorced person: No

From the Bride:
Full Name: Izabella Szetvitaite
Color: White
Place of residence: 323 Spring St
Age: 22
Occupation: Labor
Place of Birth: Kovno, Gub Russia (Modern Day Kaunas, Lithuania)
Name of father: Joseph
Country of birth: Russia
Maiden name of mother: Petronela Kasparaviesete
Country of Birth: Russia
Number of Marriage: First
Former husband or husbands living or dead: Single
If applicant is a divorced person: No

Izidorus Greivis and Izabella Szetvitaite Subscirbed and Sworn to me this 11 day of Nov 1915 (Signature of Clerk)

Affidavit for License to Marry

New York State Department of Health Certificate and Record of Marriage. Registered No 28120. Place of Registry: State of New York, County of New York, City of New York. 

Know all Men by this Certificate, that any person authorized by law to perform marriage ceremonies within the state of New York to whom this may come, he, not knowing any lawful impediment thereto, is hereby authorized and empowered to solemnize the rites of matrimony between Izidorus Greivis, of City of New York in the County of New York and State of New York and Izabella Szetvitaite, of City of New York in the county of New York and State of New York and to certify the same to be said parties or either of them under this hand and seal in his ministerial or official capacity and thereupon he is required to return his certificate in the form hereto annexed. The statements endorsed hereon or annexed hereto, by me subscribed, contain a full and true abstract of all the facts concerning such parties disclosed by their affidavits or verified statements presented to me upon the application for this license. 

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said city at the Municipal Building this 10th Day of November nineteen hundred and fifteen. 

Signature of City Clerk. 

The following is a full and true abstract of all the facts disclosed by the above-named applicants in their verified statements presented to me upon their applications for the above license:

From the Groom: 

Full Name: Izidorus Greivis

Color: White

Place of Residence: 323 Spring St

Age: 22

Occupation: Laborer

Place of Birth: Kovno, Russia (Kaunas, Lithuania)

Name of Father: Antony

Country of Birth: Russia

Maiden Name of Mother: Mary Stirbaite

Country of Birth: Russia

Number of Marriage: First

From the Bride: 

Full Name: Izabella Szetvitaite

Color: white

Place of Residence: 323 Spring St

Age: 22

Place of Birth: Kovno, Russia

Name of father: Joseph

Country of Birth: Russia

Maiden Name of Mother: Petronela Kasparoviesite

Country of Birth: Russia

Number of Marriage: First

Certificate of Marriage

The written consent of the Parents, guardians or Person under whose care and government the Minor or Minors may be has been filed in the City Clerk's office in the Borough of Manhattan as provided by Section 15 of Article 3 of the Domestic Relations Law.

TO CLERGYMEN AND MAGISTRATES

The license and certificate duly signed by the person who shall have solemnized the marriage therein authorized shall be returned by him to the office of the town or city clerk who issued the same on or before the tenth day of the month next succeeding the date of the solemnizing of the marriage therein authorized and any person or persons who shall willfully neglect to make such return within the time above required shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars or more than fifty dollars for each and every offense.  

I, Joseph Shastasas (Could have been Father Joseph Sestokas) a Priest residing at 32 Dominck St in the county of New York and State of New York do hereby certify that I did on this 14 day of Nov in the year A.D. 1915 at Our Lady of Vilna in the county of New York and State of New York solemnize the rites of matrimony between Izidor Greivis of NY in the county of New York and State of New York and Izabella Szetvitaite of NY in the county of New York and State of New York in the presence of Dominior Budveutis (Not sure of Spelling) and Ignae Kasparavedica (Not sure of spelling) as witness and license therefor is hereto annexed.

Witness my hand at Our Lady of Vilna in the county of New York this 14 day of November A.D. 1915. 

In the presence of 

Signatures of Witnesses and Person performing ceremony.

License and Certificate

Our Lady of Vilnius was a Lithuanian Catholic Congregation in Manhattan located right next to where the entrance to Holland Tunnel now is.  The street address where Izidorus and Izabella lived was also very close to the Holland Tunnel - although the Holland Tunnel was not started until 1920 and completed in 1927. I would be curious to see what the neighborhood looked like before the tunnel.  

Email, Facebook and Scrapbooks

Well, since my last post a lot has happened! My cousin from Lithuania has emailed us and given a short history of our family. She will be picking my parents up at the airport when they arrive in Lithuania and driving them to meet my mom's aunt and uncle. My mom has found a translator to accompany them to the reunion and will also be hiring a driver to take them around to do some sightseeing.

My mom has been diligently working on beautiful scrapbooks to bring to her Aunt and Uncle with photos and letters from the 1930's through the present. When she returns we will be compiling scrapbooks for each of the grandchildren (me, Jennifer, Kerry and Stephen).

I invited my Lithuanian cousin to join facebook and we have been able to share photos with one another - it is really cool to see what my newly discovered family looks like. I am looking forward to one day meeting them in person.

Initial Contact with Lithuanian Family

Amazingly, we located my mother's Aunt Isabele who is about 85 years old and living with her son. We learned that Uncle Antanas is also living and is around 90 years of age. Aunt Juozefa died about 3 years ago. She had been sent to Siberia during the mass exiles of Lithuanians. My mother had thought that Uncle Antanas had also been sent to Siberia. Hopefully we will learn more soon.

A very kind woman on the Lithuanian Genealogy Yahoo Group located Aunt Isabele by calling people in the towns listed on the letters that we have and located her phone number and spoke with her son. They were happy that we were trying to find them. My mother is overjoyed and has written a letter to her Aunt Isabele to try to arrange a time to meet in August when my mother and father will travel to Lithuania.

We are all trying to learn as much as we can about Lithuania. I just read a heart wrenching memoir from a woman who survived Siberian deportation. I learned that only 1 in 8 of those deported to Siberia survived. I find it miraculous that my great aunt and uncle both survived and perhaps my mother will be able to meet her uncle in august. We are thanking God for guiding our search for family and will continue to post updates as we continue on our journey in connecting with our long lost family.

Viewing of Izabella Greivys

This photo was taken in August 1967 at the funeral of Izabella Greivys, maiden name Setvita. She was my grandfather's mother.

Isabelei Stankienei

Here is a photo of my grandfather's sister, Isabele. I believe she was born sometime after 1921 - after Izidorius and Izabella Greivys moved back to Lithuania because she was not pictured in the family passport (see first blog post). I have a letter from her to my grandfather from 1986 and I am sending it to someone to translate in hopes that we can learn more about the family. I know she was married to a Stankus and that they lived in the Silutes region.

I searched facebook for all users with last name Stankus located in Lithuania and sent a message to all 16 results and one may be promising. He said he had some family in the Silutes region and was going to call his grandfather to see if he knew Isabele.

I have hope that the letters from Isabele may be the most promising lead we have to connecting with family.

Interactive Map of Lithuania

I made a route on an interactive map of Lithuania that connects some of the towns that my grandpa's family is from. His youngest sister Isabella lived in a town called Labatmedis and also a town called Virkytai. My grandpa lived in Aisenai and I found two towns by that name so I linked both of them which are not too far apart. They all lived very close to the Baltic Sea near the port town of Klaipeda and right near the border of the Kaliningrad Oblast.

Lithuanian surnames

Since I do not know much about the Lithuanian language - finding the correct spellings of names was a bit of a mystery - I was fortunate to find a Lithuanian Genealogy Yahoo group and the members have been extremely helpful! It is much easier to begin the search for family with an online group of likeminded individuals. I found the group through the Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society which is also an excellent resource.

Surnames in Lithuanian are subject to numerous suffixes which tell something about the person like male or female, married or unmarried. I noticed that several letters from my grandfathers sister Isabella had different endings like Stankus, Stankai and Stankiene. I sent a message to the yahoo group and received some excellent clarification.
"for married who's husband is STANKUS - would be Izabele Stankiene.
if you say my family is Stankus, in Lithuania we say: my family is STANKAI.
Juozas Greivys, married - Greiviene, maden Greivyte"

I also found an entry in Wikipedia on Lithuanian names and and excellent article from Lituanis journal if you would like to read more about it.