Miscellaneous Monday -- Vidunas' guests at Dinner Party

This is a newspaper article about a family who entertained several guests at dinner one night.  I wonder, as I go through all this information, who were these people that there were so many articles and mentions about them in the newspapers?  I think they were just ordinary miner families, and I suspect these newspapers did a lot of public relations pieces because it kept people buying their papers.  I have no clue, actually.  My guess is definately not evidence based practice.

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
Thu, Aug 5, 1937 · Page 11
Downloaded on Feb 8, 2017 from Newspapers.com 

Moving on, it reads:

Mr and Mrs Adolph Markoe of 18 Penn street, Kingston, entertained at dinner Monday night for Mr and Mrs Walter Pelsky and children Jean and Charles of Providence, R.I.  Other guests were Mr and Mrs Andrew Yorski, Mr and Mrs Lewis Vidunas, Mr and Mrs John Vidunas, Mr and Mrs Frank Swalina, Mr and Mrs Lucian Chehosky, Betty Marko, Adolph Marko, Constance Bell, Ann Karp, Ann Milanch, George Davis, James Brennan, Anthony Amber, Sally and Alice Marko of New York City.

 Adolph Marko was a complete surprise when Louis Vidunas first told me about him.  Louis is a second cousin of mine, who has contacts with more Vidunas kin than I do.  He had heard but hadn't had proof, that Adolph Markelonis and his wife  Martha were relatives of August and Mary Sadausky Vidunas.  That was very surprising.

It took a lot of research, but I found the relationship ... Mary and Martha are sisters.  I'm not sure when Martha came to America from Lithuania, but toward the end they lived in the other half of the duplex that August and Mary Vidunas lived in.  These were not big houses, I think.  I was told that both sets of children essentially raised themselves.

18 and 20 Penn Street as of 2012
Markelonis lived on the left, Vidunas lived on the right

(Google Maps Streetview, 2012)

So, lets see what we can find out from this little article.

• The name Markelonis was often shortened down to Marko or Markoe, later on to Markel.  Many families did this to help assimilate into American culture.
• 18 Penn Street is the other half of the duplex
• There were 26 adults at this party.  I wonder how big are these duplexes, really?
• Who is the Walter Pelsky family from Providence RI?  Are they related somehow?
• Attending are Andrew Yorski and wife Mary Sadausky Yorski
• Mary's son Louis (spelled Lewis) Vidunas and wife Frances Greboski Vidunas
• Mary's son John Vidunas and his wife Mary Vasilewski Vidunas
• I don't know the Swalina family nor the Chehosky family.  A point of research would be to check the 1930 census and the 1940 census to see if they are neighbors.
• Betty Markelonis (spelled Marko) and Adolph are the children of Adolph and Martha Sadausky Markelonis, and are single, I think, as are Sally and Alice who apparently live in New York City.  Their cousin Ann Vidunas was a nurse in New York City by 1940, perhaps they were staying with her?
• I don't know the rest of the guests

So, there is indeed a relationship to the Vidunas family, albeit a roundabout way.  It still counts.

Do you have any corrections or suggestions?  Please feel free to contact me, the form is on the right.

Google Maps Streetview. (2012, April). 20 Penn Street, Kingston PA. Retrieved May 23, 2017, from Google Maps Streetview:  https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2697213,-75.9004284,3a,85y,

            231.28h,93.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_mdVGSDm2uxeZKt2r51hXQ!

            2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Newspaper Wednesday -- Ambrose Vidunas 1893-1962

Ambrose Vidunas 3-Generation Pedigree
from Ancestry.com

The Plain Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania) ·  Wed, Apr 21, 1954 ·  Page 21
Downloaded on Mar 11, 2017 from Newspapers.com

It started with this newspaper clipping I found as I searched for every instance of Vidunas in Newspapers.com.


Ambrose Vidunas.  He bought property on 213 East Green street, West Hazleton.

Below are Google Map views of his house as it looks today.  It probably didn't look that much different then.

213 East Green Street, West Hazelton
Google Maps 2017

213 East Green Street, West Hazelton
Google Maps 2017

213 East Green Street, West Hazelton
Duplex on left of white house
Google Street View, 2017

 Ambrose also went by Vidun, as evidenced by his WWII Draft Card.  Here, in 1942, he was living at 213 E. Green Street in West Hazelton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  He was 49 years old, was born 29 November 1893 in Lithuania.  Guess I'll have to find his immigration records.

He worked for the Lattimer Coal Company in Lattimer, Luzerne, Pennsylvania.  It seems to be his own signature.  Interesting, the Mrs. Rose Jenkus is his sister Rose Vidunas Chenkus.  She was living with her husband on 46 Jefferson Ave, West Hazelton.  Ambrose was tall at 5'11" weighing in at 157 pounds.  He had gray eyes, gray hair and light complexion.  He had no physical deformities.

Ambrose Vidunas WWII Draft Card, 1942

This is Ambrose's death certificate.  He was 68 years old, working as a Bartender.  His name was listed as "Vidunius."  He was living at 329 West Green Street, West Hazleton, was married but the informant, Mrs Joseph Boris of 329 W. Green Street cannot remember his wife's name, but only knew they had separated.  She did not know his parents' names.  He died of Anthro-Silicosis and Emphysema, made worse by his pneumonia.  He is buried at Sts Peter & Paul Lithuanian cemetery in Hazleton.

Ambrose Vidunas death certificate 1962

Below is his obituary, found in Ancestry.com and was downloaded from Newspapers.com.  It reads:

Ambrose Vidunias, 239 West Green Street, West Hazleton, died at 7:20 a.m. yesterday at St. Joseph Hospital where he had been a patient since Sunday.

Born in Lithuania, he resided most of his life in West Hazleton.

He was last employed as a bartender at Chenkus' Cafe, West Hazleton

This would be his sister's cafe, by the way

The deceased was a member of Ss. Peter and Paul's Lithuanian Church

 Surviving are a daughter, Mrs (Helen) Boris, West Hazleton, wife of Justice of the Peace Joseph A. Boris; one granddaughter; two great grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Rose Chenkus, West Hazleton; three brothers and two sisters in Europe.

The funeral will be held from the Pusti Funeral Home, 480 West Broad street ....  Interment will be in the parish cemetery.

This provides the answer as to who Mrs Boris is on the death certificate.  How sad that she did not know her grandparents' names, even, nor this man's wife.

Ambrose Vidunas obituary 1962
found on Ancestry.com, clipped from Newspapers.com

Here is the video discussing this information