This United Nations map of Belarus reflects national boundaries established in 1945. The area that is now western Belarus was for centuries home to an ethnic mix of Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Jews, and Tartars. During the partitions of Poland, this area fell within the boundaries of the Russian Empire's Wilno gubernia (province). All my grandparents identified themselves as coming "from Wilno." My paternal grandparents, Julian Prokopowicz and Anna Blaszko, came from villages northwest of Lida. My maternal grandparents, Aleksandr Prokopowicz and Stefania Ruscik, grew up in villages located midway between Lida and Grodno (today called Hrodna). Lida is about 60 miles from Vilnius, Lithuania (Wilno) to the north and Hrodna (Grodno) to the west.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Map of Belarus
This United Nations map of Belarus reflects national boundaries established in 1945. The area that is now western Belarus was for centuries home to an ethnic mix of Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Jews, and Tartars. During the partitions of Poland, this area fell within the boundaries of the Russian Empire's Wilno gubernia (province). All my grandparents identified themselves as coming "from Wilno." My paternal grandparents, Julian Prokopowicz and Anna Blaszko, came from villages northwest of Lida. My maternal grandparents, Aleksandr Prokopowicz and Stefania Ruscik, grew up in villages located midway between Lida and Grodno (today called Hrodna). Lida is about 60 miles from Vilnius, Lithuania (Wilno) to the north and Hrodna (Grodno) to the west.
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Thank you for all this information. I'm going to start tracing my mother's family in Grodno. She and her sister lived in Worchester Mass. and Lowell Mass. Their maiden names were Loyko or Lojko. My mother moved to Milwaukee,WI and died at the age of 98 in 1996.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Lojko surname from St. Mary's High School in Worcester. Did your grandmother have a brother or other male relative who stayed in Worcester?
ReplyDeleteMother's maiden name was Worsowicz (her mother's name was Loyko) Mother did not have any brothers but talked about uncles and cousins in Worchester or Lowell MA.
ReplyDeleteHave you traveled to Belarus lately? My brother and I (in our 70's) are somewhat afraid to go because of U.S. warnings.
Janina, thanks for writing! I was in western Belarus in fall 2001 and very much want to make another trip there within the next year or two. Back then, everyone cautioned me about traveling there as if Belarus were the most dangerous place on the planet—some attitudes never change! There is certainly more bureaucracy (visa, document-type red tape) involved in traveling to Belarus than to Poland or Lithuania, for example. And in 2001, the vestiges of Soviet domination could still be felt in some ways. But the people are warm and friendly (let's not forget, they are our family!), and the country is beautiful. Spending time in Belarus was one of the best experiences of my life. If you have an opportunity to visit there, I would encourage you to go. There is nothing, nothing like standing on the same ground your ancestors walked for hundreds of years. It's a very profound and emotional experience.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI was to Minsk and Lida this past July. I felt perfectly safe. One must use commonsense even at home (US or Canada). Lida was going through a revitalization in preparation for a festival. Lovely modern town. The villages were beautiful.
Lora K
I have been researching my genealogy and Came across a record of my Polish relatives as coming from "Lido". There aren't any close towns or cities in Poland or Lithuania and I was curious if Lido could be the Polish language variant of Lida. Anyone have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteHi Andy, "Lida" is the correct Polish spelling of the name of this city, whose history dates back to the 1300s. It's not unusual to find family names and location names misspelled in records. And sometimes handwriting can be challenging to read or interpret. That is a classic difficulty with ship manifests and census listings, for example. Your "Lido" is probably Lida. Do you have other records that indicate the family lived in this area?
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous: My Mother's maiden name is Loyko (Lojko). She had many brothers, no sisters. We lived in Worcester, Ma. Maybe we're realtives?
ReplyDeleteHi Basia, I've just found this site while searching for my mum's home village which was in Wilno Province (Wilenszynie), have you found any trace of a place called Klonowej Ostrow. This was her home until being exiled to Siberia by the Soviets. She was called Szyszko. I have tried combinations of the place name + Poland, Lithuania,Bielorus. Hope you can help.
ReplyDeleteWieslaw Musial