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Deborah,
In 2004-2005, I hired a researcher in Lithuania named Aleksandras Pleskac^iauskas to find records of ancestors in three different areas of Lithuania. He was spectacularly successful, way beyond my expectations, finding a couple of hundred ancestral records of birth, marriage and death. From the time I paid him his initial fee or retainer of $150 until he concluded research on each ancestral line with translated records (and a few copies of originals), it took him about 6 weeks. I had to pay the initial fee for each of grandparents' ancestral research (it turns out two of my grandparents were illegitimate, so that made finding many more ancestors impossible). The total I paid was around $4,000 for records found. I understand that the fees have increased since then.
Here is an example of what I got for the initial fee for my paternal grandmother, the list of records found:
1. Antanas Demantas and Magdalena Grajauskaite marriage
Antanas Demantas and Magdalena Grajauskaite children:
2. Juozapas Demantas, the son of Antanas Demantas and Magdalena Grajauskaite d.
3. Juozapas wife Elzbieta Dainauskaite d.
Juozapas and Elzbieta Dainauskaite children:
0. Jokubas
4. Petras b.
5. Petras and Elena Petrauskaite marriage
6. Petras d.
7. Petras wife Elena Petrauskaite d.
Petras and Elena Petrauskaite children:
8. Ona b.
9. Ona and Andrius Lengvenis marriage
10. Juozapas b.
11. Juozapas d.
12. Marijona b.
13. Marijona d.
14. Marcijona b.
15. Pranciskus b.
16. Pranciskus and Ursule Petraityte marriage
17. Magdalena b.
18. Magdalena d.
19. Jonas b.
20. Simonas Demantas, the son of Antanas Demantas and Magdalena Grajauskaite b.
21. Simonas and Ona Velickaite marriage
22. Simonas wife Ona Velickaite d.
Simonas and Ona Velickaite children:
23. Anele b.
24. Pranciskus b.
25. Marcijona b.
26. Kotryna d.
27. Simonas b.
28. Simonas d.
29. Teofilija b.
30. Teofilija illegitimate daughter Pranciska b.
31. Antanina b.
32. Antanina d.
33. Sofija b.
34. Pranciska d.
35. Povilas b.
36. Povilas d.
Simonas wife Ona Velickaite brothers:
37. Motiejus b.
38. Jurgis b.
Simonas wife Ona Velickaite sister:
39. Elena b.
40. Simonas and Tekle Velickaite marriage(second)
41. Simonas wife Tekle Velickaite d.
Simonas and Tekle Velickaite children:
42. Konstancija b.
43. Konstancija and Juozapas Grajauskas marriage
44. Juozapas b.
45. Juozapas and Aleksandra Pilsudskyte marriage
Juozapas and Aleksandra Pilsudskyte children:
46. Pranciskus b.
47. Ona b.
48. Ona d.
49. Benediktas b.
50. Antanas b.
51. Antanas d.
52. Anele b.
53. Anele and Vincentas Rickevicius marriage
54. Ignotas b.
55. Ignotas d.
56. Simonas wife Tekle Velickaite parents Adomas Velicka and Rozalija Janusauskaite marriage
57. Simonas wife Tekle Velickaite brother Petras Velicka and Pranciska Volotkeviciute marriage
58. Petras d.
Petras Velicka and Pranciska Volotkeviciute children:
59. Vincentas and Ursule Skliaudyte marriage
60. Juozapas d.
01. Ignotas
61. Simonas Demantas, the son of Antanas Demantas and Magdalena Grajauskaite d.
From this list, I then told Alius (his nickname) which records I wanted translations of and which I wanted copies of. I ordered copies only of records of direct ancestors and found that to be relatively "useless" since they were mostly in Russian, handwritten, and almost impossible to decipher. I send my order by email and then a personal check. Within a few weeks I received my translated records by email and a couple of weeks later the copies by snail mail.
Here is a sample of the translated record for my great-great grandfather:
Simonas, the son of peasants Antanas Demantavic^ius and his wife Magdalena (maiden name Grajauskaite), was born in Padauguva village on 19 of November 1823 and was baptized in Vilkija Roman catholic church on 21 of November 1823 by priest Augustinas Petrulionis. The godparents were Jonas S^alniskis and Pranc^iska Dombrovska. All from Padauguva territory Vilkija parish. F.669. Ap.1. b.154. l.281
The numbers at the end are the "catalog" numbers so that in future anyone can easily find this record.
Some records had information about the employment of the subject and his or her relatives, and other information; other records had less information, such as no godparents' names.
It was from the extensive list of these ancestors and from the names of their villages that I created the itinerary for my visit to Lithuania in 2005 to these villages and the churches they were affiliated with -- all of which were still standing, though Vilkija had a "new" church built around the time of my grandmother's living there.
I understand that now the Archives have placed a 100 year restriction on records, so no records can be published after 1908 without a clear and close line of descendancy established, such a child and maybe grandchild. Also, the Archives staff themselves no longer conduct genealogical research only individual records searches. Also, I've heard that Alius may not always be as responsive as he was when I used his services, but you can probably learn this by posting a question about it on a few of the Lithaunian forums and groups. Finally, there were a few records Alius could not find, most notably anything pertaining to my maternal grandfather. I have records of his parents and his siblings but not of him. They may have been misfiled, destroyed, not recorded, not sent to the Archives -- whatever -- but his and a couple of others were not found.
This enterprise has proved to be one of the best things I've done in life with my time and money. I now know more about my ancestors than any of my grandparents ever did and I would encourage your doing likewise.
John Peters
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