Monument in Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania

Right about in the middle of Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania, there is a monument beside the road, erected in 1999 in memory of the inhabitants of Gikoniai in 1945, many of whom were exiled to Siberia by the Soviets.  There is a wood sculpture of Mary, Mother of God, resting on a cube with inscriptions on all four sides. The base has 32 stones on its exterior, many of which are inscribed with names of residents. According to my third cousin Osvaldas Guokas, the monument is called "Stone Wreaths."

Above:  Monument in Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania, photo by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Below:  Gikonys- Paminklas 32 kaimo šeimoms - Monument with the names of 32 families in Gikoniai village - by Silvestras Gaižiūnas, 28 September 2010.

The front of the cube has this inscription in Lithuanian:
"Gikonių kaimo/ gyventojų / atminimui/ 1945 m./ Kaime buvo 32 sodybos"

which roughly translates to:
"In memory of the inhabitants of the village of Gikoniai in 1945. There were 32 homesteads in the village"

This side also includes a drawing of the Savickas windmill and a double cross.

The next side (visible in the photo and in the link just above) reads as follows in Lithuanian:
"Gikoniai/ poeto/ Henriko / Radausko / tėviškė/ 1910-1970 /O žmonės gimė, sėjo, pjovė, / juos kirto laikas H.R."

which roughly translates to:

"Gikoniai/ poet/ Henrikas/ Radauskas/ fatherland/ 1910-1970 / And people were born, sowed, reaped, / they were cut time H.R.''
The last two lines are apparently from a poem from the famous Lithuanian poet Henrikas Radauskas, who was from Gikoniai.

The third side of the cube (pictured below) says this in Lithuanian:
"1948.05.22. Sibiran/ ištremtos 4 šeimos/ (Penkiolika žmonių)/ Tremtyje mirė/ Pranas Jasilionis"

which translates roughly to:

"1948.05.22 4 families (15 persons) were exiled to Siberia.  Pranas Jasilionis died in exile."

There's also an image of a broken tree, which may be a symbol for Pranas' death.

I have been able to count 15 people from the Pakruojos region who were exiled to Siberia between 1945 and 1949, with the Jasilionis, Urlakis, and Guokas surnames.  Twelve of them were from the Jasilionis family (Osvaldas' great-grandmother was a Jasilionis, as was my Guokas great-grandfather's first wife).  Fulgentas Jasilionis (1892-AFT 1948), who I wrote about in an earlier post, also died in exile.

Above and below:  photos of two of the sides of the monument in Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania, by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

The last side of the cube (pictured above) reads in Lithuanian:
"Viešpatie laimink/ jų palikuonis / 1999"

which roughly translates to:

"Lord bless their descendants 1999"
There's a stylized cross on this side.  The monument was built in 1999.

The sculptor of the statue of Mary is Elvyra Radauskaitė (1923-2020), who was born in Gikoniai.  In a memoir, she says, "In the village cemetery, there were two very beautiful chapel pillars by Jonas Danauskas, a folk craftsman from Rozalimas. I really liked them. Saint Martin rode a white horse, cutting a piece of his red cloak with his sword to wrap around the frozen beggar's shoulders. Holy Mary, standing on the serpent and the Moon. I also dreamed of making such sculptures. Although ungirly, this was my dream. When I was maybe 12 years old, I carved a similar Mary from a small piece of birch and painted it with watercolor paints. After 63 years, I restored the statue, building a monument in memory of the people of Gikoniai village."

Osvaldas said, "This monument is a mix of Lithuanian pagan and Catholic symbols. We can see the Moon near Marija's feet.  The Moon is the god of night light, a warrior in Lithuanian pagan religion.  The Moon is responsible for the growing of plants. We can see a grass-snake near her feet. It is a holy animal in Lithuanian pagan religion.

A žaltys (literally: grass snake) is a household spirit in the Lithuanian mythology. As a sacred animal of the sun goddess Saulė (the Sun), it is a guardian of the home and a symbol of fertility. People used to keep it as a pet by the stove or other special area of the house, believing that it would bring good harvest and wealth. Killing a žaltys was said to bring great misfortunes upon the household. If a žaltys was found in the field, people gave it milk attempting to befriend the creature and make it a sacred household pet.

We can see the Savickas windmill, and a double cross (Lithuanian-style cross). There was a big wooden Lithuanian double cross in the old Gikoniai cemetery. [On the base,] we can see stones with all families that lived here in those times."

The photos below correspond with the sides of the statue's base described above.

Some of the names on the first side (photo below) - I can't read them all:

-Juozas ir Ona Savickai - this may be Juozapas Savickas (born c1900), my fourth cousin twice removed, and his wife Ona Krikštanavičiūtė Savickienė (born c1895), my second cousin twice removed.

-Tremteniai Fulgentas ir Felagėja Jasilioniai - Exiles Fulgentas (1892-AFT 1948) and his wife Felagėja Ramanauskaitė Jasilionienė who were sent to Krasnojarsko (Krasnoyarsk) krai in Siberia in the Soviet Union in 1948.  Fulgentas died in exile; Felagėja and three of their children who were exiled with them returned in 1958.  Fulgentas operated the milk collection point I wrote about earlier.  

-Justo Radausko seima - Justinas Radauskas family.

-Razgaičiai Stanislovas Elena ? ? ? - Stanislovas Razgaitis and his wife Elena Giedrikaitė Razgaitienė (born 1911), who is my third cousin twice removed.  The other three names that I can't read are probably their children.

-Uržos Jonas-Paulina - Jonas and Paulina Urža.

Above:  close-up of one side of the base of the monument in Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania, cropped from a photo by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Below:  close-up of one side of the base of the Gikoniai monument, cropped from a photo by Silvestras Gaižiūnas, 28 September 2010.

On the second side (photo above):

-Igno Radausko šeima - Ignas (nickname for Ignacijus) Radauskas family - this probably refers to the Ignacijus Radauskas (born 1894) who was my first cousin twice removed.

-Urlakiai Apolinara Valerija Aldona Valerija, Petras - Urlakis family - Apolinaras (born 1889), probably his wife Valerija, and probably their children Aldona, Valerija, and Petras.

-Ušinskai - Ušinskas family.

-Jasilioniai - Jasilionis family. 

On the third side (photo below):

-Bronislava ir Jonas Razgaičiai - Bronislova Vilkūnaitė Razgaitienė (born 1912), and her husband Jonas Razgaitis, my fifth cousin once removed.

-(the next one is hard to read, but I think it says) Radauskai Justas Salomeja (can't read the rest) - Justinas and Salomeja Radauskas.

Above and below:  close-ups of the last two sides of the base of the monument in Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania, cropped from photos by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

And finally, on the fourth side (photo above):

-Ona, Stanislovas Razgaičiai - Ona Ivanauskaitė Razgaitienė and her husband, my fifth cousin once removed Stanislovas Razgaitis (born 1902).

-Keturakis Vladas - Vladas Keturakis.

-Vinco Radausko šeima - Vincas (Vincentas) Radauskas family.

-Mykolas ir Agota Savickai - Mykolas Savickas (born c1900), my fourth cousin twice removed and his wife Agota Žukauskaitė Savickienė (born c1910).  The Savickas cross in Gikoniai was built in their honor.

-Domo ir Viktorija Radausko šeima - probably Dominykas (Domas) and Viktorija Radauskas family.

-Savicko Jono šeima 1888-1955? - Jonas Savickas (born 1888) family.

Osvaldas noted that there were "a lot of persons in Gikoniai who have the same surnames. They used nicknames for daily communication. There were 8 houses of Radauskas, 5 Urlakis houses, 4 Savickas houses and others.

Nicknames:

Agota Guokaitė Radauskienė [1861-1942] they called ''Ignienė" -  wife of Ignas (Ignacijus) [this is the sister of my great-grandfather Kazimieras "Charles" Guokas];

Justinas Radauskas [1888-1977], (sculptor Elvyra's father) was "Martyniukas" [his father's name was Martynas];

Justinas Radauskas was "Baukas" - he might be the son [born 1888] of Agota Guokaitė Radauskienė [and this my first cousin twice removed];

Jonas Radauskas [born 1878] - "Pranejons" like Jonas [son] of Pranas;

Alfonsas Urlakis [born 1886] - "Bismarkas";

Dominykas Radauskas - "Pūkis" [which translates to "Fluffy"];

Stanislovas Razgaitis [born 1902] - "Ponadievs" like "LordGod" because he was a marshal in the church."

The monument is on the property originally owned by sculptor Elvyra Radauskaitė's father Justinas Radauskas, which is about halfway down the road that runs north from the Savickas cross to the Radauskas cross.  This cross is at the junction of the road that leads to the "Bridge of Love," crossing the Daugyvelė river over to Plaučiškiai.  You can see the land at the left center on the Gikoniai maps in this post.  In this 2017 virtual tour of Gikoniai, the monument appears on the left at the 28-second mark, and the Radauskas cross can be seen quite well on the right at the one-minute mark:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wleR-Eifrn4.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Bridges on the Daugyvenė River, Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania

According to my third cousin Osvaldas Guokas, near the Savickas windmill and the Jasilonis building (discussed in my last post) near Gikoniai (in Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania) was an old bridge across the Daugyvenė river.  Osvaldas said, 

"It is a good place for swimming and my uncle and other children from Čelkiai went here in summer time in childhood."  He found the place where the old bridge was located, on an old road from Gikoniai to Šeduva.  In the photos below, you can see where the bridge once was, with some of its stone supports in the water and the wooden supports to the side.

Above and below:  Site of the old bridge over the Daugyvenė river, south of Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania.  Photos by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Near the home of Steponas Radauskas (1899-1944), my first cousin twice removed, at the north end of Gikoniai, there is another bridge over the Daugyvenė river.  According to Osvaldas, it was constructed during the Soviet era.  On the other side of the river is the village of Plaučiškiai.  

The daughter of Steponas, Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė (1934-2018), married Alfonsas Zigmantavičius (1929-2004), who was from Plaučiškiai, and after their marriage they lived in that village.  His workplace was apparently closer to the Radauskas home in Gikoniai, so Osvaldas thought he organized a group to build the bridge to shorten their commute over the old bridge.

However, Osvaldas later learned, from talking with older ladies in Plaučiškiai, that it was constructed earlier than that.  When he told the ladies his theory, they "just smiled and said, 'Oh no! He did it directly from Plaučiškiai to the Radauskas yard, for easier visits with Aldona Radauskaitė. It is a Bridge of Love!'"

Above:  bridge over the Daugyvenė river, leaving Gikoniai and heading towards Plaučiškiai in Šiauliai county, Lithuania.

Below:  map of memories of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė of the Gikoniai area, annotated by Osvaldas Guokas to mark the old bridge and the "Bridge of Love" over the Daugyvenė river.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Savickas Cross and Jasilionis Building, Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania

Not far from the Savickas windmill, near the village of Gikoniai in Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania, is the Savickas cross:

Above:  Savickas cross, photo by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Below:  southeast segment of map of Gikoniai in 1940 from the 1995 memories of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė, highlighting the Savickas cross (at the top of the red box) and sites of properties owned by Fulgentas Jasilionis, marked Pulgio Jasilionio (at the bottom of the red box).

In the map of circa-1940 Gikoniai above (see my earlier post), the mill is shown near the top of the red square, where two roads intersect to form an upside-down Y.  There's also an arrow pointing to it, and the words, "pilišavas kryzius," which roughly translates to "citizens cross."  Here is a close-up of the words carved into the lower part of the cross: 

Above:  Savickas cross, photo by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Here is a transcription of the Lithuanian words on the cross:

"Gikonių kaimo žmonės, šioje vietoje 1901 m. pastatė kryžių‘"

"Šis atminimo kryžius skirtas Gikonių kaimui, Agotos ir Mykolo Savickų šeimai atminti."

This roughly translates to:

"People of the village of Gikoniai, in this place in 1901 erected a cross''

"This memorial cross is dedicated to the village of Gikoniai, in memory of the Agota and Mykolas Savickas family.''  

This Mykolas (born c.1900) is the son of the Mykolas Savickas who built the windmill I wrote about in my previous post, and is my fourth cousin twice  removed.  His wife was Agota Žukauskaitė Savickienė (born c.1910).  This is not the original cross, but rather a new one placed here in 2013.

Nearby are the remnants of a building owned by Fulgentas Jasilionis (1892-AFT 1948), who I am related to by marriage.  My great-grandfather's first wife was a Jasilionis; his second wife was a Banaitis - as was the mother of Fulgentas.  Fulgentas and his family were exiled to Siberia by the Soviets (more on that in a future post), and Fulgentas died in exile.

Fulgentas operated a milk collection point.  The remnants of that and his home are indicated on the map above respectively by a triangle with a dot inside it, and a circle with an X inside it (meaning the house was destroyed), and the name "Pulgio Jasilionio."

Below:  outline of the stone foundation of a building owned by Fulgentas Jasilionis, photo by Osvaldas Guokas, June 2, 2017.

My third cousin Osvaldas Guokas, who took all these photos, said this building appeared to have had two doors.  He also said, "I found an undergound entrance. But it is dangerous to go in. I did not enter inside the undergound area.  Fulgentas Jasilionis had a milk purchasing base.  I think he used the undergound area as a milk warehouse."

Above and below:  a cornerstone of the stone foundation of a building owned by Fulgentas Jasilionis, where there appears to be an entrance to an underground area.  Photo by Osvaldas Guokas, June 2, 2017.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Savickas Windmill near Gikoniai, Pakruojo, Šiauliai, Lithuania

There's an old stone tower windmill in Gikoniai, called the Savickas mill.  It was built in the late 19th century (it appears on an 1896 map) by Mykolas Savickas (c1859-1919), who is my third cousin thrice removed.

Above:  Savickas mill, by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Below:  southeast segment of map of Gikoniai in 1940 from the 1995 memories of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė, highlighting the Savickas mill (center of the red box).

In the map of circa-1940 Gikoniai above (see my previous post), the mill is shown in the center of the red square, near the name "Juozo Savicka."  Mykolas Savickas had four sons; at least two of them (Juozapas and Mykolas Jr.) survived to adulthood and married.  The present-day location of the mill can be better seen on a satellite image.

The image below is of the mill in the 1960s, when it appears to have still been in operation.  The mill took about 10 years to build, with about a meter of masonry added each year.  The stones were plastered over, and the cap is made of wood.

Above:  Savickas mill in the 1960s

Below:  Savickas mill, by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017.

Above:  Savickas mill, by Osvaldas Guokas, 2 June 2017,

More information about the windmill, including additional pictures, inside and out, is available here:  https://malunai.lt/malunas.php?malunas_id=172.

A 3D model of the windmill is available here:  https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/gikoniai-windmill-eda74d6e555043feb554567c3dcd4af3.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Gikoniai, Pakruojo district municipality, Šiauliai county, Lithuania - Maps for 1924 and 1940

Some years ago, my third cousin Osvaldas Guokas sent me some maps of the Lithuanian villages where our ancestors and kinfolk were from.  One of those was Gikoniai, a village on the east bank of the Daugyvenė river, seven kilometers south of the town of Rozalimas.  Just east of Gikoniai is Čelkiai village, the birthplace of my great-grandfather Charles (Kazimieras) Guokas, 1863-1939, and many of my Guokas relatives

The 1923 census recorded 30 homes in the area with a population of 148.  Below is a 1924 map of the area (click on the image to view a larger version), showing landowners (surname first) and the amount of land they owned (in hectares, abbreviated ha.).  I am related (albeit distantly, and usually not by blood) to almost everyone on this map.

The map below (click on the image to make it larger) was drawn in 1995, of Gikoniai in 1940, based on the memories of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė (1934-2018), who is my second cousin once removed.  Aldona shared many photographs and other information with Osvaldas and me before her death in April 2018.

Aldona was the daughter of Steponas Radauskas (1899-1944), whose land was in the upper left hand corner of the maps (shown as Radausko Stepano in 1924 and Stepano Radausko in 1940).  He was the son of my great-grandfather's sister,  Agota Guokaitė Radauskienė (1861-1942), and inherited the property from his mother after her death.  Aldona lived on this property for some time during her childhood.  It is near the Daugyvenė river and a forest with, according to Osvaldas, "the wonderful name Mėlynbalos miškas - Blue swamp forest."

The map has a legend (sutartiniai ženklai) in the lower right corner.  It shows surviving homesteads (išlikusios sodybos), homesteads destroyed by the Soviets (panoikintos sodybos), and new homesteads (naujos sodybos), such as the one with the note "perkettos ir perstatytas Bernardo Radausko nemas," which indicates Bernardas Radauskas' house was moved and rebuilt there.  Bernardas Radauskas (born 1861 in Gikoniai), is the father of the famous Lithuanian poet Henrikas Radauskas (1910-1970).  That fact is noted on the 1940 map on Bernardas' original property ("Bernardo Radausko poeto Henriko Radausko tevo").  The house on the original property was not completely destroyed; it was in good enough condition to be moved and rebuilt.

Osvaldas also tells me that, because there were so many people with the same surnames (and sometimes the same given names), the villagers used nicknames for daily communications.  A couple examples are on the 1940 map.  Justinas Radauskas (1896-1977, Justo Radausko on the map), the father of sculptor Elvyra Radauskaitė (more on her in a future post), was called "Martyniuko" or "Martyniukas" (his father's name was Martynas).  Another Justinas Radauskas (Justino Radausko on the map, perhaps the son of Agota and Steponas' brother) was called "Bauko" or "Baukas."

There are a number of crosses indicated on the 1940 map.  Many are gone now, but one that has been added since can be seen in Google Maps Street View on Radauskas property near the intersection with the road that crosses the river and goes into the village of Plaučiškiai.  There will be more about crosses and bridges in future posts.

Other places identified in the legend are roads (keliai, keleliai), chapels (kapeliai), a milk skimming [or collection] point (pieno nugriebmo puntkas), and a [wind]mill (malūnas).  The latter two will be the subjects of future posts.

It is amazing how the Soviet regime changed the village. Today there are only a few houses in Gikoniai.

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Utėnai, Smilgiai parish, Panevėžys district municipality, Lithuania

My daughter will be leaving soon on a trip to the Baltic countries, so I wanted to post these previously-unshared photos from Lithuania taken by my third cousin Osvaldas Guokas (her third cousin once removed), of our ancestral village of Utėnai, two kilometers southeast of Smilgiai and in Smilgiai parish, and part of Panevėžys district municipality.  

Some of our Guokas ancestors were from Utėnai, with marriages in the late 1700s, births particularly between 1807 and 1819, and deaths in the 1820-1853 range (including my third great-grandfather, Antanas Guokas, in 1820).  By 1852, our ancestor Jonas Guokas (my second great-grandfather) had moved to Čelkiai, about nine kilometers northwest of Smilgiai, where his 12th (of 18!) child, my great-grandfather Kazimieras (later Charles) Guokas, was born in 1863.

Osvaldas visited in early June, 2017, and took the following pictures.  Of the first four, he wrote that he found "old wooden houses....19th century.  It's like my grandparents' house; memories from childhood. Flowers like near the house of my grandma, white windows, doors with a strange mechanism that was very difficult to use in childhood....[you] can see an outhouse near the house [to the right in the background in the first photo]....no toilets inside the house in those times.  An old woman, that I met in this house, let me take some photos. She says that one old Guokas is still living in an old house in the Utėnai area."

Osvaldas also visited a cemetery in Utėnai.  He wrote, "It is very old, with only two crosses we can see in the cemetery. It is small...we can see stones around the cemetery territory."

"One [above]- Narakas (surname), 1901.  Another [below] -  Dominykas, I can read it only with my fingers. It is some surname but it was impossible to understand."

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!

Memories for Father's Day

This isn't specifically a memory about Father's Day, but it is a memory of my dad.  The photo below is from a visit my parents made to our home in Redmond, Washington, in October 1990.  My father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017), is reading to his first two grandchildren, my son Eric (who's a little over age four in this photo) and my daughter Diane (who is about 19 months old here).  

© Amanda Pape - 2024 - e-mail me!