Letukas Story

What would it have been like to have known my great grandparents? Would they tell me about their journey to America from Lithuania? I would listen to their stories.  I wonder, how long the ship from Germany sailed or about the conditions on the ship or how they got to the ship. Did they take a train or walk or wagon? Did they save for a long time to purchase the ship ticket? Why did they want to come to America? Was it to escape transcription into the Russian Army? Was it the promise of a better life? Better jobs? Were they sad to leave family behind? Were they expecting to return to Lithuania someday? What did they think of the US once they got here? Did they know each other in Lithuania? When did they meet? Was it love at first sight? Were their dreams realized? I never got to ask any of these questions and there are very few family stories. There are no diaries to read, no letters to peruse, no family bibles to page through. There are no histories. All of the stories have died with my great grandparents and their children, my grandparents.

I have been able to piece together my great grandparents' story from surviving legal documents and pictures. Dry and sterile documents, but nonetheless they form a picture of a family struggling to survive in a new country despite an onslaught of untimely deaths.

The Letukas family originated in Lithuania. My great grandfather Joseph gave Retowe as his town of birth on a number of documents. Retowe or Rietavas (Retavas) is approximately 152 miles WNW of Vilnius in the Telsiai district. There were approximately eight children in the Letukas family headed by Joseph and Ludvika Letukas. The children were Joseph, Petras, Pranas, Barbara, Jonas, Kazimieras, Antanas and Amilie. Of the eight, four came to the US.

Joseph Letukas came to the US in 1907. He was twenty years old when he boarded the ship SS Badenia. The Badenia left Hamburg on 23 March 1907 and arrived in New York at Ellis Island on 8 April. On the transcript, his occupation was listed as a farmer and while he was able to read he could not write. He was a citizen of Russia, but his people were Lithuanian. He had $10 in his pocket, had never been to America before and was first traveling to Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Joseph was 5'8", had a fair complexion with blue eyes and was not deformed or crippled.

From Pennsylvania, Joseph eventually made his way to Chicago. In the 1910 Census, he is enumerated with his wife Johanna and her brother Thomas Petrokas. Their address is 4614 South Wood Street, in the Holy Cross Church parish in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. He lists his language as English which is interesting. Many neighboring Lithuanians are still listing their language as Lithuanian. Is that important? Maybe. Perhaps Joseph was eager to learn the ways of his new country and learned English quickly. Joseph's occupation is cigar maker working in a cigar factory. He has applied for naturalization. Joseph's wife, Johanna, is 24 and also came to the US in 1907. Curiously, they traveled and arrived on the same ship, but I do not know if they knew each other.

Johanna Petrokaite (Petrokas) was also on the SS Badenia having just started her 19th year. The manifest mentions no family traveling with her and once in America she intends to make her way to Chicago to live with a cousin. She too is Lithuanian, her ticket was paid by her brother, and she was a farmhand in Russia. She is 5'4", has a fair complexion with grey eyes and light brown hair. She is not deformed or crippled and her last permanent residence in Russia was Kroze; her birthplace was Pasriny. (The place names and other details are difficult to decipher as the manifest was handwritten. I have done my best to decipher what details are there and so place names are most certainly misspelled.)

A young woman traveling on her own in the early 1900's must have been unusual, particularly across the ocean. Of course, her brother, Thomas Petrokas, was already living in Chicago and had probably sent for her so that may have eased any doubts she had. Still, she was leaving her home and her family, perhaps thinking she might never see them again. Did she worry about her family? Did she worry about her safety on the ship? Did she meet her future husband Joseph Letukas on the ship or did they travel together having already met in Lithuania?

How Joseph Letukas and Johanna actually met is unknown. But on 16 January 1910 Johanna Petrokaite married Joseph Letukas in Holy Cross Church in Chicago, Illinois. Children soon followed with their firstborn son arriving in November of 1910. Baby Joseph did not survive his first month dying in December. The death of their firstborn son must have been heartbreaking. But, the eager couple were young and would have more children. In 1912, Johanna (Jane) was born followed by Franciska (Frances) in 1913. Antanina came in 1916 and Zofija (Sophia) in 1919. The last child, Stefanija (Stephanie), arrives in 1922. Death, sadly, has not finished with the new family. Death will return and take two more children: Antanina and Sophia.

In 1911 Joseph's youngest brother Antanas "Toney" arrived from Lithuania. He sailed on the SS Cleveland on 26 May 1911 when he was just 18 years old. No occupation was listed, and his passage has been paid for by his brother Joseph. He has $25 in his pocket and will stay with his brother Joseph. He is 5'4", has blond hair and grey eyes and is not deformed or crippled. Antanas does not stay in Chicago but heads to Rockford for work finding a job starting on 5 July 1916. His new life in America is cut short when he is fatally injured in a factory accident on 26 July 1916. He is only 22 years old.

Newspaper articles describe a tragic and fatal accident at the Mechanics Machine company. It is said that a piece of metal flew from a metal grinding wheel Toney was working striking him over his left eye. His skull was fractured and he was not expected to live. Tragically, a day later the young man died without regaining consciousness. According to the Rockford Register Gazette published on 27 July 1916, Toney was "... suffering intense agony every moment of the passing hour, ....".

Antanina Letukas was born to Johanna and Joseph in the August heat of summer 1916. She succumbed a year later after suffering whooping cough for 30 days in November of 1917 according to the death certificate. Croup and whooping cough are nasty coughs. Some say the croup cough sounds like a seal or a dog bark. Croup is a viral infection and these days most kids recover from it within a few days. Whooping cough is caused by bacteria that irritate the airways. Some kids cough so hard that they vomit afterwards. Nowadays, infants are given the pertussis vaccine which protects against whooping cough. Antibiotics can also be given to patients who have caught the illness early enough and who have not had the vaccine. This also helps prevent the spread of the disease to others.

Antanina, being only one year old, was unlikely to live through pertussis without a vaccine or antibiotics, both unavailable in 1917. The toddler would have endured a cough pattern consisting of a cough, a gasp, more coughing and gagging every day, all day long. Whooping cough does not take a break. Once the cough settled in her tiny lungs, it would have sounded like a severe hacking sound followed by a high-pitched intake of breath that sounds like "whoop." The sickly baby didn't stand a chance. After thirty days of endless coughing it stopped on 6 November 1917. The house was silent for a moment before the weeping began.

Joseph's sister, Barbara Letukaite, married Joseph Noreika on 23 January 1909 in Calumet, Michigan. According to the 1910 census, her husband Joseph came to the US in 1897 while she arrived in 1898.

In 1920 Joseph and Barbara Noreika are residing on their farm in Irons, Michigan with three children: Adam, Agnes and Eva. Adam is ten years old, Agnes nearly 3 1/2 and Eva nearly 2 1/2. Joseph's occupation is farming.

The 1920 census shows Joseph, Johanna and their three children living in an apartment in Chicago at 4524 South Wood Street. Joseph was 33 years old and his occupation is listed as bartender in a saloon. This may have been the first building Joseph owned which was an achievement for a Lithuanian immigrant in the US for only 13 years. His brother, Kazmieras "Charley" lived a few blocks away at 4343 South Hermitage. Charley is working as a laborer in the stockyards and is not married. He's 27 years old and was naturalized in perhaps 1916. (The numbers on the census are difficult to decipher.) Their sister Barbara Noreika is now residing in Irons, Michigan, on the Noreika family farm with her husband Joseph and their three children Adam, Agnes and Eva.

Joseph's daughter Sophia Letukas was three years old when she contracted viral gastroenteritis, or the stomach flu. She was a beautiful child. She wore her blondish brown hair in a bob style. She endured acute symptoms like abdominal cramps, nausea or vomiting, and perhaps watery diarrhea. One might think that stomach flu is one of those simple diseases but for a three year old child with a developing immune system any disease can be deadly. Sophia may have contracted the stomach flu by coming into contact with an infected person or because she ate contaminated food or water. On 17 July 1922 Sophia died after suffering from stomach flu for only four days.

In just a few short years, the hopeful Joseph Letukas family was reduced to three children: Jane, Frances and Stephanie, who was only a tiny infant when Sophia died. Their parents, Joseph and Johanna, were undoubtedly filled with grief from losing three young daughters including their firstborn son. The death of Joseph's youngest brother Toney was also painful.

Despite the devastation of deaths, which it must have been, the Letukas family persisted and Joseph continued buying real estate. In 1914, Joseph's petition for naturalization is approved and he becomes a citizen of the United States of America. Then, in 1921, he received a letter from his mother Ludvika Letukas asking for his help. She was destitute and hoping for his help.

Sometime in early August, Joseph makes the ocean journey back to Lithuania to collect his mother. On 13 August 1921 Joseph travels on the SS Drottningholm with his mother from Gothenburg back to Chicago. The ship leaves on 13 August and arrives on 24 August. Ludvika is 60, is married, and says that her people are Slovak. She leaves behind Jonas (another son) who may be in the army stationed at Kauno Komendatura. She has $25 in her pocket and she is going to live with her son at 4437 South Wood Street in Chicago. She is 5'1", has a fair complexion, brown hair and grey eyes. Her place of birth is Rotewe, she is not deformed or crippled and she does not plan to return to Lithuania at any time.

On the transcript, Joseph's occupation is listed as a merchant. He claims US citizenship and has a passport. He has $100 in his pocket, quite a large sum of money in 1921.

In January of 1923, Joseph felt sick, but he thought he would be okay. He saw his doctor at the end of January when he started feeling more congested and started coughing. First, his sputum was red, then grey. A fever set in and breathing was difficult. Joseph breathed his last at 3.40 p.m. on 6 February 1923. He died of lobar pneumonia at the Frances Willard Hospital in just one week. He was 36 years old.

Johanna and her children must have been shocked, distressed and overcome with emotion. Then, other pressing questions would haunt Johanna. How would she care for her children? Joseph had no life insurance. How could she go on without her beloved Joseph? Johanna was plagued with thoughts of loss. Her firstborn son, two daughters and now her husband. Their children now 11, 10 and 4 were inundated with worry. Their beloved father would be buried at St. Casimir's Cemetery beside his younger brother Toney.

Between 1921 and 1930 I don't know where Ludvika lived. I know that she visited her daughter Barbara Noreika in Michigan at the Noreika family farm in Irons. Ludvika's granddaughter Elizabeth recalled kissing her grandmother's hand on one of these visits. In the 1930 census, I found Ludvika working as a servant. In January of 1940 she died from a tumor of the intestines. For the three years prior to her death she lived at 1814 West 46th Street and even though she was in her eighties her occupation on the death certificate was housework. Surely when she arrived in 1921 she could have never thought that she would be working as a servant when she died. Was her heart also heavy from the loss of three of her sons? Did she wonder at the irony of a better life in the US? Ludvika's children Jonas, Petras, Pranas and Amelie remained in Lithuania. Pranas lived to be 100 years old.

Death followed the Letukas family and death was tenacious. Death did not relent until he took one more family member. In 1929, Johanna and her daughters were struggling but managing to live. They bought a new home at 4458 South Honore. The girls did well in school but in February their mother was feeling unwell. She had shortness of breath and her voice was hoarse. She lost weight and she started coughing. She traveled to the Noreika farm where her husband's sister tried to heal her holistically. The treatment helped somewhat and Johanna returned to Chicago to her daughters. Her doctor diagnosed laryngeal tuberculosis. Johanna felt better over the next month or so, but then she contracted stomach flu. She did not survive and died 11 June 1929 at 41 years old.

My grandmother never once talked about her parents. Ever. She never talked about her years growing up or living through the war and depression. She never spoke of her three siblings who died when she was a child. I never knew my great grandparents came from Lithuania. My grandfather was the same. As children, we would ask my grandparents about their families and they both would answer, "What do you want to know about that for? That's in the past." My grandfather took it to the extreme. He never told me his mother's name because she was dead. It's inconceivable. The families had nothing to hide, in fact, they had much to be proud of. My grandmother's father during his short time in the US was a successful businessman. He worked in the meatpacking industry on his arrival but not for long. He saved his money and bought real estate. Had he lived I believe he would have been an extremely successful businessman.

Was my grandparents' reticence to discuss their lives due to the pain of grief? Perhaps. My grandmother was only 10 when her father died and 13 when her mother died. Two baby sisters died when she herself was a small child.

I know, had my own mother lived, that she would have been able to fill in some of the gaps on my grandmother's story, but as it is I only have legal documents and paperwork to try and form a history. My mother's brother is still alive and we email each other, but like me, he knows little of my grandmother's parents. It would appear that my grandparents never talked about their parents to anyone.