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.

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