Finding information about ancestors born in Vilnius

Hello,

I don't speak Polish, but I can read it a little. My great-grandfather was born in Vilnius in 1886 and lived there until he went away to medical school in another city. I know the names of both his parents, his wife, her father, his two brothers, and his father's occupation. I also know that his brother served in the Russian Imperial army and died in 1920. As far as I know, my g-grandfather was mostly Polish, maybe part German. His father was either the owner of a water pump or he was the govt. official overseeing it. I was told his family could've belonged to szlachta.

I already contacted one genealogy company in Poland, but they said they need more info. I've searched ancestry.com, but no records are available there. They didn't come to the U.S. Attached is the family photo. My g-grandfather's photo was added. I think it was taken when he was away at school. The family was Catholic.

Also, both my g-grandfather and his parents had patronymics. I think they might have added them because of the Russification policy at that time. Do you think they used their father's names or did they choose a random name? I don't know if I can get more info. Will this be enough? Thank you in advance.

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ZlataYK2

Do you know your great-grandfather surname ? You haven't told this.
Remarkable photo. Handsome men and powerful women. It's easy to ask who was the family head.

Yes, of course I know his last name. Would anyone know if records from that era in Lithuania survived both World Wars?

Probably yes. You have to contact the Lithuanian States Historical Archive (Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas, Gerosios Vilties g. 10, LT - 03134 Vilnius, e-mail istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt, tel. 003705 213 74 82).

See the link below: archyvai.lt/en/archives/historicalarchives.html

or

the genealogy company e.g. link: genealogia.lt Polish from Vilno Czesław Malewski (tel. 00370 68652268, czeslaw.malewski@genealogia.lt.).

Good luck

Do they look Polish? The three sons are 25% German. Also, do you think you can tell their social class from this photo?

It doesn't make much difference really. A lot of people in Germany have some distant Polish roots and vice versa.


Not easily - in those days a photo was a very big thing and poorer people would borrow clothes at the photographers studio.