Here in Scotland right now there's only approx 3hours and 30 minutes until the beginning of 2011.

I wish you all Good Luck,Good Health and Happiness for 2011.

Love
God Bless
Emmy

We did it 1 1/2 hours ago. I'm still wandering around looking for the alarm clock. Happy New Year Emmy... and all the Gente folks. My maternal grandmother was married in Edinburgh! BTW, what is the Firth of Forth?

Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year to all of you!!!!

Happy New Year!!

Joe the Firth if Forth is a stretch (inlet) of water on the East Coast of Scotland. Edinburgh is on the south side of this and the World famous Forth Railway Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge stretches over the Firth of Forth and links Edinburgh with Fife etc which are on the northside of the bridges.

Have crossed these bridges often , long ago it was the custom when the steam trains were crossing the bridge it was supposed to bring you luck if you tossed a coin out of the window from the train into the water below. (Have done that too-still waiting for the result )

This is the Firth of Forth showing the two bridges

postimage.org/image/8ehlk3j8/

Just a few years ago you had to pay a toll to cross the road bridge but that has been withdrawn. At the moment there is talk about having to build another road bridge because of the amount of traffic using the bridge and it sems its causing some strian on some of the cables that hold it.

On the other side of Fife is The Firth of Tay. If you google The Tay Bridge Disaster you will probably be able to read about what happened tp the fisrt rail bridge that was build to cross the Tay. There is a road bridge too, This links Fife to Dundee etc.
Emmy

Thanks Emmy. Very interesting. I will check it out more closely since I'm addicted to reading maps, any kind of map. It's an inexpensive way of seeing the world.

Much better to save your pennies/dimes? and see it properly. Looks good too from the sky, when the 'plane is coming in to land at the Edinburgh airport.

Do you know when and where in Edinburgh your maternal Grandmother married ?

Emmy

No idea. Her and my grandfather were escaping his being drafted into the Russian army in Lithuania as the story goes. I have an Uncle since passed that was born in Scotland in 1905, Edinburgh the story goes, but I have no record of his birth. I think they were making their way to the U.S. during this period. He was a coal miner. They eventually settled in southern Illinos, a big coal mining area. Now I wish that I had asked more questions of them while they were still here. Grow old too fast, smart too slow.

Joe if you want to give me their names, (if you know them), I could try to help you find some information.
Emmy

Thanks for the offer but I hate to dump my genealogy responsibilities to other kind folks like you. I'll keep plugging along.
Thanks again though...

If at anytime you change your mind, dont forget, I will always be willing to help.

Emmy

Emmy, you are too kind. Soooo, I have copy/pasted what data I have on my maternel G-Parents from my Family Tree database. It's not much, but your knowledge of the local area may help. I would be willing to pay for any inquiry's you might make or for your time spent. JoeB

Register Report for John COMINSKY

Generation 1

1.John COMINSKY-1[1, 2, 3]. He was born on 26 Jul 1878 in Kaunas, Lithuania. Residence 1930 in Taylorville, Christian County, Illinois. He died on 18 May 1966 in Jacksonville, IL. Burial on 21 May 1966 in Oak Hill Cemetery, Taylorville, IL. He was also known as John Kaminskas or Kominsky.

Notes for John COMINSKY:
This from historical records:

From 1864 to 1905 Lithuania belonged to the Russian Empire and was subject to extensive "Russification" with great consequences for national publishing and the press. The prohibitive regulations (1864-1904) imposed by the tsar administration, made printing in the Latin alphabet forbidden. All Lithuanian books were ordered to be published in Cyrillic. However, Lithuanian books using the Latin alphabet were being printed abroad during this period. Altogether 1740 titles of books in a total of 7.8 million copies were published. About half a million copies (8-10 %) were confiscated by the Russian administration. (Source: Vobra R. in "Lietuviskos spaudos draudimas, 1864-1904 metais" - Vilnius, 1996 (The prohibition of Lithuanian press 1984- 1904).)

John Cominsky changed his name from John Kaminskas after arriving in the USA. He settled in Pana, Illinois, a small mining town, around 1900 and worked for the Peabody Coal Company as a miner until his retirement in the 1950's.
Social Security Records: U.S., SS Death Benefit Records, Surnames Beginning with C, Date of Import: Mar 28, 1996, Internal Ref. #1.111.3.43755.98]



Individual: Cominsky, John Birth date: Jul 26, 1878
Death date: May 18, 1966
First Name JOHN
Last Name Cominsky
Kominsky
Kominskas
Date of Death 5/18/1966

Date of Funeral 5/21/1966 Block 23

--------------------------------


This is the response from the Lithuanian archives.



-----Original Message-----

From: Vitalija Gircyte [mailto:v.gircyte@turbodsl.lt] Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 4:53 AM To: Joe Blackwell

Subject: From Kaunas Archives re:Lithuanian Ancestors







Dear Mr. Blackwell,



I am sorry I cannot help you in your genealogical research - in the holdings of our archives there are no vital records, as in Lithuania all the remaining birth, marriage and death registers are kept in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives (Gerosios Vilties 10, 03134, Vilnius, Lithuania, istorijos.archyvas @ lvia.lt ). The records we have for the towns of Kaunas and other towns of the former Kaunas gubernia(province) that contain genealogical information are specific for the Jewish population .



I'd also like to pay your attention that Kaunas is the name of the city, but it also was the center of a large province(gubernia) . When it is indicated as the place of origin, in most cases it is not correct and for further genealogical research it is necessary to find out the name of the village or at least parish the family came from.



Sincerely,



Vitalija Gircyte

Chief Archivist
________________________________________________________________

John Cominsky’s first wife:

Margaret STEPPY (or Magdalena Storpirtis). She was born Abt. 1885 in Lithuania. She died on 19 Jun 1957 in Chicago, IL. Arrival Unknown.

Notes for Margaret STEPPY: General Notes: Changed name from Magdalena Storpirtis after arriving in USA.

John COMINSKY and Margaret STEPPY. They were married on 15 Aug 1901 in Glasgow, Scotland. Divorced 1917 in Chicago, IL. They had 5 children.

Isabelle COMINSKY. She died 1903 in Scotland. She was born 1903 in Scotland.

Joseph COMINSKY. He was born on 05 Oct 1905 in Scotland. He married Caroline KOVAC. They were married 1932 in Chicago, IL.

Emmy, Sorry not much info. They apparently went to the U.S. after Joseph was born. Although I’m not even sure about that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gravestone photo shows wife # 2.

Joe Blackwell