The photograph above is of Agota Radauskaitė Phillips Zakar (1902-1980) and her sister-in-law, Ona Tamošiūnaite Radauskas Marcinkus (1907-1988). It was taken by Walter J. Stankunas, popular Lithuanian photographer in Chicago from at least 1916 to at least 1942. His studio was located at 3315 South Halsted Street. Ona's husband and Agota's older brother, Leo Radauskas (1889-1973), was living just two blocks away at 3548 South Halsted from at least 1926 to at least 1928. Ona (more about her in a future post) did not arrive in the United States (in New York City) until December 10, 1928, so it's likely the photo was not taken until 1929 at the earliest.
Agota's first husband was fellow Lithuanian Jonas Pilipavičius (born 1889), who changed his name to John Phillips. They married in June 1927 and had a son, Albert, in May 1928. On the 1930 Census, Agota, John, and Albert are living at 3313 S. Union Avenue (in the heavily-Lithuanian Bridgeport area) in Chicago, and John works for a punch press company. They have a boarder named Jim Konsurevitch, a Lithuanian immigrant about the same age as John, who works as a salesman for an automobile company.
Sadly, Agota and John were divorced on July 27, 1938, due to his cruelty. Agota got custody of their son, and John was required to pay $7 a week in support, according to his 1941 petition for naturalization. Below is a photograph of John from his August 1938 Declaration of Intention:
On the 1940 Census, Agota and Albert are living with Leo and Ona at 3258 S. Union in Chicago, still in the Bridgeport district. Agota, like Ona, works as an upholsterer for a wholesale furniture company.
On September 26, 1942, Agota married another Lithuanian immigrant machinist, widower Konstantinas "Tony" Zaker (1893–1976). He was born August 25, 1893 (or 1894 or 1895, all three years are given on various documents), in Upytė, Panevėžys, Lithuania. He entered the United States at New York City on April 28, 1913, on the SS Kleist, under the name Konstantas Zakarauskas. He married Helen Tamolevich Norkavic, also a Lithuanian immigrant who was a widow with three daughters, on April 25, 1920, in Chicago. Helen died on May 18, 1942. Here is a picture of Konstantinas from his March 1931 Declaration of Intention:
More about Agota (and Konstantinas) in future posts.
The photograph at the top of this post came from the private album of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė, the daughter of Steponas Radauskas, a brother of Agota and Leo. Thank you Aldona! Thanks also to my third cousin Osvaldas Guokas in Lithuania, who has been sharing all these photographs and information with me!
© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.
My great grandfather was Walter Stankunus, I’m happy to see his works will live forever in Chicago history.
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