The Lithuanian Villages of Butrymonys and Likiskiai
My Chmielewski ancestors were from the Lithuanian villages of Butrymonys and Likiskiai. I’m not sure if the Chmielewskis were Polish or Lithuanian, but given the surnames, it’s likely they were Poles who settled in Lithuania during the time when the two countries were united.
These two villages are listed in the Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavonic Countries) as Butrymańce and Likiszki.
Slownik Entry for Butrymonys
Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Słownik entry for Butrymonys. The entry, translated from the Polish, states:
Butrymańce, 1.) a little town in the Troki Powiat [District], on the Pinsówek River, 54 versts [1 verst = 1.0668 kilometers] from Troki, 115 versts distant from Wilno [Vilnius]. There is a wooden Catholic church under the name of the Redeemer, erected by the Reverend Jezierski, a sister parish to Punia: 1834 souls. Butrymańce is famous for its fair and for the manufacture of gingerbread. There are 2400 inhabitants. It is the property of Count Józef Tyszkiewicz; in the year 1850 it was the property of the Bogateks, the Wnorowskis, and the Morawskis. The township of Butrymańce totals 521 houses, 6798 peasants under wages, the local government is in Butrymańce. The township consists of 7 rural districts and 73 villages. The districts are: 1) Butrymańce, 2) Ajciuny, 3) Punie, 4) Girejkańce, 5) Krążnńce, 6) Skrejciany, 7) Piwoszuny. The circumference of the village of Butrymańce totals in its area the little village of Butrymańce, the villages of Gryszkańce, Pieskuńce, Płasowniki, Kasperzyszki, Trokieniki, Mażuńce; the area of Rejż. Butrymańce has a post office on the Koszendary-Hanuszyszki road.
2.) Butrymańce, a village in the Lidzki Powiat, the Catholic church of Saint Michael is there, erected of wood by the Baron Schrotter, a chapel of Bieniakoski.
F.O.
SOURCE: Sulimierski, Filip, Bronisław Chlebowski, and Władysław Walewski, eds., Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) – Warsaw 1880, Volume I, page 484. Text in Polish, translated by Stephen J. Danko.
Słownik Entry for Likiskiai
Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Słownik entry for Likiskiai. The entry, translated from the Polish, states:
Likiszki, a village in the township of Butrymańce, Trocki Powiat [District], the 4th administrative circuit, 48 versts [1 verst = 1.0668 kilometers] from Troki, 5 homes, 42 inhabitants of which 41 are Catholic, and 1 is Orthodox.
SOURCE: Sulimierski, Filip, Bronisław Chlebowski, and Władysław Walewski, eds., Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) – Warsaw 1884, Volume V, page 230. Text in Polish, translated by Stephen J. Danko.
The Słownik generally indicates the location of the parish church, and for Butrymonys (Butrymańce), it appears that the parish is located in Butrymonys itself, although there is a reference to a sister parish in Punia. Oddly enough, there is no reference to the location of the parish church for Likiskiai (Likiszki).
Finally, the reason there are two spellings for the names of these villages is simply that the current locations are spelled in Lithuanian, but the Słownik spellings are Polish.
Hi Steve! Finally catching up a bit … it seems our families are connected to two distinct villages named Butrymonys, yours from Troki powiat and mine from Lida powiat. That must have been a bit confusing for those families, once they were in Worcester.
[...] A case in point is the Lithuanian village of Butrimonys that I visited in October. Butrymonys is the location of the parish church that my maternal grandmother’s family attended. [...]