This is my maternal great grandmother. My mothers father was killed in the mines shortly after she was born. Consequently, my grandmother had to go out and work. This left my mother - her brother and 3 sisters - to be raised at home by Marcele. All the info I have regarding Marcele was obtained verbally from my mother during her lifetime. Marcele died 4 months before I was born. This is why I was named after her.
Marcele took in laundry at home to help contribute to their income. She spent the rest of her time raising the 4 children. My mother said Marcele never became fluent in English. All spoke Lithuanian around her. They said she particularly struggled with saying the letter W. Ie, my mother relayed a story about how she tried to teach Marcele to say "towel". Marcele continued to drop the W entirely as she could not say it!
Per my mother, Marcele married her first husband in Lithuania and had 3 children. Two where boys named Andrew and Anthony. They died in infancy. Ann survived and immigrated with Marcele when she came to the US. The census that shows the number of children she had vs the number that survived supports what the family said verbally. However, I have no other data to support the claim of these young boys.
Marcele told everyone she came from Vilnius. My 23 and Me DNA has her origins in Alytus. My guess is - she came from a small village between the Vilnius and Alytus areas.
