Ethnic Lithuanian lands 1876

**Peterski** · 11-15-2018, 02:26 PM

Adam Mickiewicz associated dark hair in Lithuania with ethnic Polish ancestry:

https://archive.org/stream/pantadeus...ch/Dobrzynskis

Originally Posted by Peterski

Appearance of the Dobrzynskis, a Polish clan in Lithuania, which originated from Dobrzyń Land:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobrzyń_Land

"The Dobrzynskis were distinguished among their Lithuanian brethren by their language and likewise by their stature and their appearance. They were of pure Polish blood, and all had black hair, high foreheads, dark eyes, and aquiline noses. From the land of Dobrzyn they derived their ancient family, and, though they had been settled in Lithuania for four hundred years, they preserved their Masovian speech and customs."

Source: Adam Mickiewicz, "Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Foray in Lithuania" (link):

https://archive.org/stream/pantadeus...ch/Dobrzynskis

https://archive.org/stream/pantadeus...kuoft_djvu.txt

^^^ So Barbara is probably a "long lost" Polka:

^^^
There were many Poles in Lauda (Kaunas region), who later became Lithuanized:

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauda_(region)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanization

Ethnic Lithuanians were only 2/5 of population of Lauda (Kaunas Uyezd) in 1897:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kovensky_Uyezd

Demographics
At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Kovensky Uyezd had a population of 227,431. Of these, 41.4% spoke Lithuanian, 23.2% Polish, 19.8% Yiddish, 11.6% Russian, 2.3% German, 0.5% Tatar, 0.4% Belarusian, 0.1% Chuvash, 0.1% Ukrainian, 0.1% Karelian and 0.1% Udmurt as their native language.[1]

Map showing percentage of ethnic Lithuanians by county (uyezd) in early 1900s:

http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/belso.php?nev=8

**Dandelion** · 11-15-2018, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by Peterski

^^^
There were many Poles in Lauda (Kaunas region), who later became Lithuanized:

A Lithuanian who loves Poles. Many Lithuanian don't like their Polish minority.

As a Pole you probably want to visit Vilnius and its surroundings and speak Polish to the locals expecting to be understood and answered to in Polish.

**Peterski** · 11-15-2018, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by Danielion

A Lithuanian who loves Poles.

Yeah! This + dark hair = she is probably "genetically Polish", but Lithuanized.

Poles in Lithuania are both descendants of immigrants from Poland (such as the Dobrzynskis described by Mickiewicz - and Lauda / Kaunas region was especially full of such Polish clans) as well as culturally Polonized locals, as well as mixes of both (probably most cases).