This is an interview of my grandmother on my mother's side. She is Rita Garancis. She is the reason why I'm in love with history and proud of my Latvian heritage. She was a ww2 immigrant who had to flee Latvia to escape genocide and persecution. The lack of content was due to her poor health days in which she would not answer the phone, and because of my extremely busy school year. However there is so much more to be discovered, and this is just scratching the surface of my family history. A lot of this account has Latvian history tied into it. This is because my grandma has thoroughly and proudly researched these topics and would not leave them out. A lot of these historical facts are actually not found on Wikipedia. In fact, she has read into archives and requested information. So it would be a crime to leave this stuff out. Everything quoted is from my grandmother Rita Garancis.

My family comes from Baltic Roots, at least the last few hundred years of its known history. The current Independent Baltic Latvia, as a total land mass, is very recent. The land had experienced occupation for nearly 900 years. Its had many rulers like the Saxons/ Germans, Russians, Swedes, the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, and in recent history, the Nazis and Soviet Russia.

It became briefly independent in 1918 and lasted until 1940 until Soviet Russia annexed it and took it over. Russia went to commit genocide killing politicians, property and buness owners, professionals, intellectuals and their families. Then in 1941 Germany then occupied Latvia and started doing the same thing. My grandmothers family was a target and they had to flee Europe to escape the genocide. After WW2 it unwillingly became a part of the soviet union until its collapse in 1991. The current Independent Baltic Latvia, as a total land mass, is very recent as their independence was declared in 1991.

                                                                                                     Ancient history
Ancient tribes and their rulers had ruled this land. These tribes had very different names, borders, languages and origins. Historically, the people who called themselves Balts arrived there a few thousand years before Christ. The historian Tacitus refers to these Baltic people as amber traders, who reached Byzantium. At times Latvia is called Amber Land. Since Latvia is on the Baltic Sea and has large rivers, such trade was possible.

The still existent old regions, of current day Latvia, are a union of four tribal areas: Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale, and Latgale. There were others that no longer exist. As an example, Livonia, a place where Germanic Teutonic Knights brought Christianity in the 1100-1200‘s. Christianity was brought there by the tip of a sword. These ancient people did not trust Baptism and did not want to give up their ancient religion that worshiped the sun, moon, earth and their pantheon of deities. Riga, Latvia’s Capital, was established by the Teutonic Knights and was founded in 1201. Great Roman Catholic Cathedrals were built there. Most of them were taken over by the Protestants in the 1500's, during the Reformation.

To this day, Latvian culture melds together Paganism and Christianity, most evident in the celebration of the Eve of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, a pagan festival of the summer solstice—Jani. Bonfires, singing, dancing, oak leaf and floral wreaths and gate decorations with oak leaves, the sharing of beer and Latvian cheese  is a landmark. Jumping over  huge bonfires that last into the morning hours is as must. Torches to light these fires are also a part of the ceremonial activities. Young people go in search of the blooming ferns, of course fictional, to engage in fertility rites. “ At times I wonder how many young women have lost their virginity in this celebration. “ My grandma.

Stanislvs Belkovskis - my great grandfather - Rita's Father

A recent Teachers College graduate from Jelgava’s Teachers Institute, Stanislvs Belkovskis was offered a job as a Principal at an interesting location. In a small manor house, of past Polish Gentry, on Lake Rushons, in Latgale, Latvia.  Graduated highschool from Algona's Gymnasia.

Was a dear friend of Bishop Rancans. During Bishop Rancans he was the pallbearer. “My dad always found it an honor to carry the coffin of a bishop, with whom he had corresponded on several continents, in respect to religious practices of Latvian refugees, displaced persons, and immigrants to the United States. “”There are some pictures of Bishop Rancans, in Germany, Michigan and Wisconsin in our family albums.”

For a long while Stanislvs Belkovskis was a princple of the Skudrisu.
”I do not know what extracurricular activities my dad had the boys do. He might have taught them things about aviation. He was certified to build glider planes and had done so. He also had a certificate in National Aviation defense. He was planning to enroll in the University of Riga for further education and possibly enter politics or business. He was talented and interested all his life to organize things.”

Dagmara Kreilis - my great grandmother

A young lady, by the name of Dagmara Kreilis, who had graduated from Daugavpils Teacher’s Institute. Teachers college gave employment at Skudrisu (Skudrishu) school in the manor house. Rita's father was called to serve in the Latvian Army by the Bauska Division. During his training, dagmara was made principal of the school.  She did fundraising for the school and received first place in the nation for such. He came home and they were well on their way working with their 4-H club. Dagmara taught the young girls how to spin and dye yarn and then weave it into national costumes. She taught them fine needle work and embroidery to embellish these costumes with Latvian Designs, She collected historic samples of such to give to the ethnic museum in Daugavpils. She taught folk dancing and singing to these children. In  addition, she formed a school choir, the children of which sang at ethnic events and school functions.  “In the Christmas concert they had the children wrap the apples in beautiful paper and sell them for a fundraiser.”

Dagmara Krelis and Stanislvs Belkovskis marriage 1938 St. Michael the Archangel.

“It was love at first sight. My parents carried on a romance, quite often on one of the 30 islands on Rushons Lake, where they enjoyed nature rather primitively like Adam and Eve. My mother would get a full tan without a tanning bed. They found ancient Pheonecian or Roman coins on one of the islands and gave them to the museum in Daugavpils. Interestingly the museum curator was a relative of the Zeps family from Milwaukee. Daugavpils was the closest city, 31 miles from the school. The school was in lake country with farms, villages, hamlets etc. surrounding it. Not far from that school were places where my fathers family had lived there for more than 250 years.September 10th 1938, they got married in St. Michael the Archangel. “

Rita M. Belkovskis, and her siblings. 1939. My Grandmother

Daugavpils in Latgale is the 2nd largest city in Latvia and it is the city were ritas, her brother and her sister were born. Rita's sister Sylvia in 1939, during the period of independent Latvia, Rita in 1940 during the illegal Russian occupation,  and her brother John in 1942, during the illegal German occupation.

Rita's residence was Rušonu Manor on Lake Rušons. The property housed an elementary school, where ritas parents were teachers, from 1936 to 1944. They lived upstairs, since Stanislvs was the principal. It was a huge property, with 600 apple trees and on the other side of the orchard was a small country church, St. Michael the Archangel.

“My parents were married in the church. The pastor, Father Zeps, baptized my mother into Roman Catholicism, me and my brother and sister. I however was not baptized at the church, but at home, well after midnight, because the practice of religion was punishable by death or a trip to Siberian labor camps. This very priest was tortured to death by the Communists, just for being a priest.”  

John C Garancis. Born 1921 - 2005

Dr. Garancis was born in Gaigalava, Latvia on May 14, 1921. He graduated from Algonas Gymnasia. He began his medical studies at the University of Latvia in Riga. He received his M.D. Degree from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1950 and continued his medical studies. He completed his studies in Pathology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He served as a Pathologist in the U.S. Army and then became a Professor of Pathology and a medical researcher at various colleges and universities. Dr. Garancis retired from the Medical College of Wisconsin as Professor of Pathology in 1990.

Dr. Garancis did extensive medical research and specialized in kidney and lung diseases. He also reviewed research grants for the NIH. Dr. Garancis was a consultant at the Cleveland Clinic, the Marshfield Clinic and at St. Joseph's Hospital in Milwaukee. He was a member of numerous national and international medical societies.

Dr. Garancis was a member of the Latvian Fraternity, Leonia. He served as president of the American Latvian Catholic Association. During his term as president, he was a representative to the Vatican to commemorate 800 years of Christianity in the Angola Basilica Latvia. He also had an audience with the pope during the celebration of 800 years of Christinanity in latvian. He was given a silver rosary as a memento from the pope and had a photo op. “If I would have gone to that occasion, I also would have had a photo op with the pope.” John also visited Cardinal Vaivods in Latvia and was given an amber rosary. “The Rosary is in my jewelry collection. If I would have gone with him, I would have received an amber necklace, like other people I know, did.”

“In John‘s coffin the amber rosary was in his hands. The cemetery returned it back to me. I still must show my children what these  items are, so they do not discard them to the dustbins of history—the silver and amber rosaries.”

Antonia Vaivods Garancis (Garačs) and Cardinal Julijans Vaivods

John's brother's wife was Antonia Vaivods Garancis, and her first cousin Julijans Vaivods. Julijans Vaivods was buried in Aglona. He co-celebrated mass with pope John Paul the second at Aglona Basilica. There are pictures of Antonnia, and Julijans in rome. She went there on two occasions, for Julijans investiture as an Archbishop, and then his investiture as a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic church. Julijans made headlines in international press at his last investiture, because he was the first Cardinal from the Soviet block. There are also pictures of Julijans together with Pope John Pual the second. Antonia also dined inside the papal private residence in Rome with the likes of people like the Medici Family.

Origin Of the Škapar Line/Belkovskis.

My grandmothers fathers line late 1700’s

Unknown

The first known Škapars was a stonemason, who helped to rebuild Our Lady of Aglona Church in 1780 after the fire of 1768. He had many children. Rita's dad’s direct bloodline relative was its chief stone mason. Our Lady Of Aglona was a church of worship and burial of generations of Belkovskis family members. Furthermore, it is the burial place of Cardinal Julijans Vaivods, a first cousin of John Garancis. Stanislvs Belkovskis and John Garancis graduated from its cathloic boys high school called Algonas Gymnasia.

Škapari Latgale, Latvia

In the late 1700's, many generations of the Belkovskis family had lived and lived and still live at Kolnu Škapari. Their last name originally was Škapars. In the late 1700, there were at least 5-6 Škapars families living at Škapari.They were landowning serfs later to become peasants under the Russian Empire, since Katherine the Great. It was during this time period that the last name of Belkovsky was given to the family.

Their mistress, Pan Bellovsky, a Polish woman, was the owner of Putans Muiža(Manor House). That part of Latvia had a strong Polish/Lithuanian influence. The manor houses had Gentry/Nobility privileges, even under the Russian Empire. So did the German Nobility in other parts of Latvia. The indigenous Latvians were the lowest class of society and only the gifted were allowed to go to college or the university.

There was four Škapars brothers lived Kolnu Škapari. One was Pan's Bellosvky cooking supervisor at her estate. She liked the cooking supervisor a lot…... One day she and another landlord from an estate at Jaunaglona played cards over a dog. She lost and consequently lost her dog. The manor house owners took more serious steps and exchanged whole families of serfs. Five to six Škapars families were transferred to Jaunaglona and became the serfs there. From Jaunaglona, Putani acquired Grenžu and Madelanu families.

Pan Belkovsky:Start of the Belkovskis

However, she refused to let go of two of the four brothers. She gave the cook her last name: Pan Belkovsky. Rumors were spread that they were lovers. Pan Belkovsky was my grandma's father's direct relative. Eventually the last name was spelled Belkovsky and finally Belkovskis. The stone mason who built the church was part of the Škapars family, most likely an uncle of the first Belkovskis. The farm Skapari has been in the family for 250 years. Ritas 1st cousin Pavels (Paul) Belkovskis lives there.

Belkovskis meaning:

Belkovsky is a Polish Gentry name given to a Latvian common man. Bel means white. Sky(l) means from and in this case Belkov. Belkov is most likely a place and it is a Slavic name. ln Polish it is spelled differently. lt is the last name of a Polish nobility. Yet the acquirer of the noble name was a Latvian serf/slave.

My great-great-Grandfather Dr.Antons Belkovski 1871

My great-great-grandfather Dr. Antons Belkovskis M.D.(1871-1947) had bought that land from his older brother Jazeps Belkovskis, who had inherited the land. Jazeps was the oldest son of Rita’s great-grandfather Belkovskis ( Rita's great great-grandfather is buried in Putans Cemetery in Latvia. He was a farmer.

Antons Belkovskis bought the land from his brother to use as a summer home. He had a lot of gold from practicing medicine in Tsarist Russia for 20 years. He was paid in bags of gold, when he went across Russia, during the Russian Japanese war on an expedition to stem a cholera outbreak. He made one to two of these trips, each of which lasted 2-3 years. For the most part he took the Siberian Express Railroad, almost all the way to Vladivostok. He oversaw 4-5 other doctors on this trip. He received half of the gold and the rest split the other half. He accumulated 32 bars of gold and placed them in a bank. With the Russian Revolution of 19I7 he lost all his gold. Lenin had given out his order that the gold or any property does not belong to an individual but to the state.

His regular job was at a thousand bed psychiatric hospital in St. Petersburg Russia. The name of the hospital was St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. He oversaw a division of the hospital who treated criminally insane patients. Some of these patients were not insane, but feigning insanity to avoid political torture or death. Ritas grandfather, in 1901 helped Pilsudski escape from that hospital. Pilsudski became the Premier of free Poland and sent an ambassador to Skapari in Latvia to give him an estate in Poland. That was before 1935, the year of Pilsudski's death.

The Origin of the Krelis Line.

My great-grandmothers Genealogy 1763

Unknown

Known history dates back to 1763. The current family did not have a last name during this time. Lastnames were not common in certain areas, in fact they were adopted up until 1828.  The family lived in the city Valka on the estonia border, in fact could walk between the borders. The city in Latvia was known as Valka, and in Estonia as Valga. During this time they were under Russian rule. The person to receive the last name is unknown however, he was given the last name Krelisis because he was a left handed tailor(or a tradesman). In latvian Krelis means left handed. At the time it was known as krel because it was russian. The man most likely had manor house owners and was a surf.

The Krelis family worshiped in the Lutheran church. Historically they might have been cathalotic however at the time they were lutheran. The church's name today is the evangelical Lutheran church in Valka. During that time the schooling and church were affiliated.

Paulis Krelis. 1830

Rita's great grandfather Pualis Krelis was born 1830. He studied in Latvia, and originally went to Valka to become a teacher and violinist. He couldn't finish his education in latvia. So he went to study in 2 different universities in Germany, one in Berlin, and the other at Likesig. During that time he studied  violin, choral directing, musical composition, biology, astronomy, German, and other sciences. He finished up his schooling before 1860.

He would then go live in Lugazi Latvia, which was out in the countryside of Valka. So people lived at the school. He was a school teacher and musician at the church that was connected to the school. At the school was more than just a teacher, he was in charge of choir, sciences, astronomy, botany, music, and composition of music, child and adult choirs, sciences, and forgien languages.

Paulis Krelis and Marija Lubbits marriage of 1860

In 1860 he married a farmer's daughter in Valka. Her name was Marija Lubbits(or the Russian form was Lubnis). She had many brothers and sisters. She had completed her elementary school education. During her confirmation classes, her minister suggested that she should continue to do adult education with Paulis krelis as a teacher. She ended up following through with that, and met Pualis Krelis. Paulis fell in love with her on the spot, and asked for her hand in marriage right away, she agreed, and then he asked her father to which he agreed.

Footnote: Education, from what I gathered she completed her elmetery when she was older. However the most likely large age gap by today's standards of 2022.  As to speculation there are plenty of factors. Education was a privilege back then. It could have been spread out, or required when you are older. What adult education sounds exactly like.

Their Children

They would go on to have 14 kids, and only 2 of them would survive due to high mortality rates. Interesting connection is that they had two sets of twin girls(I have two twin girl cousins), and 10 girls were born. However those twins would die. The two surviving children were Karlis Aleksandr, and Emilia Krelis.

Karlis Aleksandrs Krelis - my grandma's maternal grandfather.

Karlis Aleksandrs Krelis was born in 1869, and was the first born child. He was Rita's mothers father. His english name was Karl Alexander, and kriel sometimes. He fought in the war of independence for Latvia in 1918.

Emilia Krelis

The one surviving daughter was Emilia Krelis, and was one of the older children. She was also a musician. She sang in the Latvia song festival Valmiera during 1903. She was one of the two solist for this performance. She also sang in opera. My grandmother's cousin has the playbill of Emilia, when she sang in a russian opera by the composer gleka.

She owned a sewing school with 26 students in Valmiera. She also had a fashion studio in St. Petersburg Russia where she would design clothing for the minor Russian nobility. The studio was on mainstreet, had big french minors, and exclusive decoration.