So, thanks to Ancestry.com and the genealogy efforts of 2nd cousin Patricia Tift of Fresno, CA,  I have immigration documents for two of the four of mom’s grandparents (surnames Mardosa and Kupčinskaitė) that list Lithuanian home towns.  I don’t, however, have as much information on her mother’s people, Anthony Repinskas and Mary Kriaučeliūnaitė (I think that must have been the Lithuanian name — it was never written even close to correctly on U.S. census forms).

[Yes, both sets of grandparents are Anthony and Mary, and they named many other women in the family Mary, too.  Peter Mardosa’s mother, sister, and wife were all Mary, and the last two went by “May” just to keep things extra confusing.  Mom’s middle name was Mary before she changed it, something I only recently learned.]

Mom doesn’t think that Anthony and Mary Repinskas ever became U.S. citizens, so there’s unlikely to be immigration forms available.  They came to Brooklyn for a while (all the Lithuanians appear to have landed there) before decamping to Herrin, Illinois for several years.  Curiously, they lived just a town or two over from my dad’s people, also in southern Illinois, but these two families were not to meet until the late 1960s.  The Repinsky clan moved to New Jersey around 1930, which is where they were when my grandmother and her sister, Mildred, both got married and moved to their respective households in Queens, NY.

Somewhere in Lithuania there are probably Repinskas and Kriaučeliūnas cousins, but I’m not sure we’ll ever find them.  If you’re reading this, cousins, drop me a line!