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