Civil War era Lithuanian-American cemetery! | Lynn Highley

Jonischkies Lithuanian Cemetery in Yorktown - America’s oldest Lithuanian cemetery! The first burials took place in the 1860s. By the mid-20th century, the cemetery was forgotten and overgrown. However, local Lithuanians who rediscovered their roots cleaned this cemetery and marked it as Lithuanian with a new sign that declares that Kerlick and Jonischkies families are buried there (among others). Cheryl Lynn Highley studied her Lithuanian family history so well that she wrote a bigger book about it than any other genealogy books we saw during “Destination Lithuanian America” expeditions. She also researched the stories behind all the people buried in Yorktown (Texas) Lithuanian cemetery and shared the most interesting ones with us, also telling the story of the cemetery. As these families immigrated in the 1850s, that meant Texas (Yorktown) Lithuanian-American community was even older than the Pennsylvania coal miner one, widely held to be the first one. The interview is illustrated by videos taken by Augustinas Žemaitis and Aistė Žemaitienė during their creative work of the encyclopedia article on the encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide: http://gobal.truelithuania.com Follow us on Facebook at   / truelithuania