While digging on ancestry, I found this the picture above on his American SS documents. He lists his birthplace as Sventa Auzur. As far as I can tell, this isn’t a real place. The closest I’ve come to find is the name: Šventežeris.

Can someone with more knowledgeable of Lithuanian culture and history help me out? He was born in 1877/1878 and he emigrated to America in 1891. Please help!

by stardustdaydreams

2 comments

  1. Šventežeris is close in pronunciation, yes. That’s what it could sound to an immigration agent trying their best at least. It’s a small town, has been there since the 1500s or so, so plausible.

  2. Either from Šventežeris or from Šventežeris valsčius (meaning it might as well be smaller village without proper name in russian empire), year of immigration would fit first immigration wave from russian empire, which mainly consisted of Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Poles and Jews. This theory, which you deduced correctly, is based on some US official messing up -ežeris part, as Auzur is not a word in any of languages that were used in what was russian empire. Name, or family name, would be your next clue as old churches kept list of people living in towns.

Comments are closed.