Vilnius Travel Forum

Planning a genealogical research trip and trying to identify the current name of a town between Kovno and Vilnius, that an 1899 letter refers to as 'Krivssun' or Krivsonin, which was an agricultural colony on the River Vilia / Neris. Perhaps it wasn't too far from Vievis ("Eveye"). Other clues I have were that they worked for a poish nobel by the name of Romer and also another polish noble named Aginski / Oginski who had distilleries. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Kindly, Michelle

I think the Oginski surname is correct go have a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=oginski&ns0=1&fulltext=Search



STEVE

Think I may have found it for you

Kernavė is the town you want I think

go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernav%C4%97\

down the page under the heading "Architecture" is the following

"The brick chapel from the 19th century houses the mausoleum of the Romer family. It was built in 1851-1856 by the landowner Stanisław Romer"

The dates seem to fit as well.

Best of luck.

hehe sorry about the strange cutting and [pasting, they are hex configurations as there are strange accents in the names

sorry :(

Thank you so much! I believe that you may be correct that Krivonys or Kernavė may be the town mentioned in the letters. Especially promising is the mention of Romer, timeframe, and that 'it is possible to travel to Kernavė from Vilnius by the river Neris.' I truly appreciate your time and efforts! Kind regards, Michelle

Hi. Krivonys village is on the other side of the river and few tens kilometres from it. But there are few small villages around Kernave itself, sort of suburbs of the modern town's municipality: for example Kirveikiškis, it's even closer to the river than Kernave. Or Kernavele ("Little Kernave") few km south of the "main" Kernave. Yet there is Karmazinai village, quite near Vievis, but on the same side as Kernave, it's also next to the water, in the valley.
And Vievis itself is situated in the place of former count Oginski's estate, all that area have links with Oginski family.

Correction: just checked the other map, found Krivonys village, it's not that far from Neris river indeed, about 8 km. Not far from Vievis either. And on the same river bank as Vievis.
Kernave spelt in Polish would be Kiernów; don't know about Krivonys. The Krivonys church is marked on the map.

Thank you so much for your details about these towns and their proximity to the river. If you don't mind, please let me know which map(s) you used for your research. Appreciatively, Michelle

I use maps for tourists "lithuanian regions" by Briedis Publishings, they improved their website so I can't give a direct link, but let's try: http://www.briedis.lt//products/maps
, on the right: put a tick on "pažintiniai", then choose Formatas -> "Lankstyti", Regionas -> "Lietuvos regionu", then click "ieškoti". Now you should see them all, available at any mall, bookstore, perhaps in the kiosks too. In LT, I mean. You need 2 maps, because that place is between Vilnius and Kaunas: "Vilniaus apylinkes" and "Kauno apylinkes". And don't mistake: at the top you can see series of 4 maps "Vilniaus apylinkes I....IV", you can also buy one of them, i.e. No "I", it covers Kernave, Karmazinai, part of Vievis and the area up to Vilnius, and it is very detailed, with contour lines, so it may be helpful too. But it covers smaller area. Cost about 13 - 14 Lt each (now we pay ~2.25 Lt for 1 USD).
Yet there is a company in Vilnius called "GIS centras": http://www.gis-centras.lt/gisweb/index.php?pageid=232
, scroll down - there is an address of the "Map Shop" (i.e. "Žemelapiu parduotuve") in Vilnius. They have topographic sheets too.