[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] "Lithuanian Germans" in Marijampole, Congress Poland (now Lithuania)

[Sandie]

Alan:

My grandparents lived in this area, Kovno, Virbalis/Wirballen etc. My 
grandmother was baptized in Virbalis and confirmed in Kovno. My 
grandfather and his parents were also members of the church at Virbalis. 
They came to Wisconsin in 1903. My grandmother is a descendant of the 
Salzburgers back to 1732.
There is no doubt that there were many ethnic Germans in these areas 
including Mariampole. About eight years ago I was lucky enough to meet a 
cousin who is the daughter of my great grandfather. She lived in these 
areas until the 1950's when her family came to Detroit where her 
grandparents were already residing. She is a walking, talking history 
book and was a teacher of the German language.
She went through church records page by page and it is very tedious, but 
most of the records are there, at the LDS and can be ordered for viewing 
on microfilm. I have to warn you that these records are in more than one 
language: Lithuanian, German, French, Russian or Polish, depending on 
who was in control at the time. It was then called East Prussia. These 
Salzburgers left that area due to religious persecution as they were 
Protestants. The Catholic bishop at that time ordered them out if they 
did not revert to the Catholic church. Little did he know how many 
thousands would leave. At one point they were not allowed to take their 
children, the bishop making orphans out of them so they would be raised 
in the Catholic faith. Of course, we realize that 300 years ago things 
were different among the faiths.
I have found a wonderful website with pictures, etc. about the 
Salzburgers. I will look it up and forward the address to you.
One group went to East Prussia going first to Konisburg, one group to 
Holland and another group to what is today Ebenezer, George. You can do 
a search on Ebenezer and read about them. The descendants are still very 
active.
I was also fortunate enough to locate a distant cousin who lives in 
Vilnius. Our name was Heidrich and married to Holl. Today, in Lithuania, 
Heidrich is Geidrichus. The reason, there is no H in the Russian alphabet.
I also have been in touch with the pastor of the church at Virbalis for 
a few years. He is a most pleasant person but very busy. I know he is 
the pastor to three churches and I think one of them is Mariampole. I 
have a picture of the church at Virbalis which is just beginning to be 
restored after the bombings of WWII. In fact I have pictures of what it 
looked like before the remodeling started to be done. They have been 
having services in the basement, with curtains on the wall as part of 
the altar area - very poor.
I also have a book about the Salzburgers which was very hard to locate 
and was only published in Austria. My problem is that it is all written 
in German and I cannot read it, but I want to have it in my family 
library. The pictures are unique.
Sandie in Wisconsin



On 4/13/2011 8:39 PM, Alan Schlosser wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> My questions have to do with Germans who settled in what is now Lithuania, specifically around Marijampole which was in the Sulwalki Governorate of Congress Poland.
>
>
>
> I have seen a lot about the Vistula Germans, Volga Germans, Baltic Germans and those that went to Volhynia but not much about this area.  Can someone tell me more about the history of this area?  Were there a lot of Germans?  Did they settle here in 1730's because of Salzburg Expulsion or in the 1760's due to Russian invite or was there a continual immigration from East Prussia or other areas?
>
>
>
> To be more specific I am currently back to my gr-gr-grandfather August Schlosser (b: 1867) who was confirmed at the Evangelical Lutheran church in Marijampole in 1881.  I am waiting to view more LDS films to learn about his parents, August&  Pauline (Ulrich) Schlosser and his possible grandparents Johann Friedrich&  Henriette (Wallbat) Schlösser.  The family of August&  Pauline left by 1891 and settled in Waterbury, CT.  Although I believe other family members stayed in the area.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any help,
>
> Alan Schlosser
>
> Buffalo, NY
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