Ką tyli akmenys : Viksvų giminės istorija

LTŠioje knygoje iš esmės kalbama tik apie du dalykus: Akmenę ir Viksvas. Akmenės vietovardis Lietuvoje gana dažnas. Vien Kupiškio rajone taip vadintos dvi nedidelės gyvenamosios vietovės (viena, susiformavusi Salamiesčio, kita - Zasinyčių dvaro valdose; abi jau išnykusios). Dar viena Akmenė, beje, taip pat priklausiusi Salamiesčio dvaro valdoms, buvo netoli Kupreliškio. Kupiškio krašte žinomi ir du kaimai, vadinami Akmeniais. Iš viso Lietuvoje Akmenės gyvenamoji vietovė minima 12 kartų ir dar keliskart tiek Akmeniškių, Akmenų, Akmenynių...1 Akmenės kaimelio (kartais dar pavadinamo Akmeniais ar Akmeniškiais) šiuolaikiniuose žemėlapiuose jau ieškok neieškojęs... Apie pusketvirto šimto metų trukusi jo istorija kaip ir pasibaigė. Tačiau surasti šią vietą žemėlapyje visai nesunku, kad ir internetu - tereikia užklausti Buožių valstybinio geologinio draustinio. Taip jau išėjo, kad kažkada, prieš tūkstančius metų, per mūsų kraštą keliaujantys ledynai čia atnešė devynias galybes įvairiausių riedulių. Kai šiose apylinkėse pasirodė pirmieji gyventojai, jie, be abejonės, atkreipė demėsį į tokią ledynmečio dovanų gausą ir, matyt, neskubėjo čia kurtis. Jau istoriniais laikais, čia, senojoje sėlių žemėje, ėmus kirsti miškus susiformavo tokie kaimai kaip Budriai (vėliau virtę Tuitais), Pimpiniai (vėliau pervadinti Buožiais), Petkūnai (Gumbeliai), Bakšėnai... Ant aukštumų iškilo ir Salamiesčio miestelis bei dvaras. Tik, kai jau visos kitos geresnės žemės buvo užimtos, tada imta kurtis ir šioje akmenynėje... O po kelių šimtmečių įnoringoji istorija pasisuko taip, kad žmonių čia nebeliko, ir vėl ėmė kilti miškas, želti viksvos. Tik akmenys gulėjo kaip gulėję... [...]. [Iš Įvado]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Kupiškio kraštas; Akmenė; Kaimai; Išnykę kaimai; Istorija; Viksvos (giminė); Genealogija; Pranciškus Viksva; Juozapas Viksva; Kunigai; Biografijos; Lithuania; Kupiškis region; Akmenė; Villages; Extinct villages; History; Viksva family; Genealogy; Pranciškus Viksva; Juozapas Viksva; Priests; Biography.

ENThis genealogical study focuses on a small, no longer existing village of Akmenė which was located in the north-eastern part of Lithuania (present-day Kupiškis district, Salamiestis parish) and the Viksva family who lived there. The first mention of Akmenė (the name was probably adopted because of the stony landscape of the location) is found in the archive documents of 1640 when it belonged to Salamiestis manor of the duchy of Biržai. Most of the villages were deserted following the plague that ravaged Lithuania between 1709 and 1710. The estates of Salamiestis greatly suffered during that period. They were gradually repopulated by people relocated from farther away. The first mention of a new resident Kazimieras Viksva (Kazimierz Wixwa), son of Jonas, was recorded in 1766. In 1795, aside from Kazimieras Viksva and his wife Marijona Pečiulytė, the residents also included their son Juozapas's (1756?-1801) family, a total of 8 residents. It is known that Juozapas and Barbora Daudeiytė had at least 10 children, and in the long-run their two sons, Juozapas (1789-1853) and Pranciškus, became the predecessors of separate widespreading branches of their family tree. For the purpose of clarity, these branches are divided into the first farmstead and the second farmstead of Akmenė. In the 19th century these were already totally separate farms. In 1861, after the abolition of serfdom, they received 36 hectares of land each. These were relatively large and strong farms at that period. In 1907, there were 15 residents in the village, and in 1921, residents numbered 21. In 1940, after Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, a portion of the land of the Viksva family was nationalized. After 1944, the residents of the village including well-off farmers suffered repressions carried out by the Soviet Government.Some of them were deported to Siberia, some lost their lives in resistance fight, whereas others were simply forced to leave their homes. In 1949, the ruined farmsteads went into the hands of a kolhoz established during that period. Not long after, the farm buildings became completely decrepit while under kolhoz control. The village was almost completely deserted in the 1960s. During that period, a portion of its area was covered in forests. In 1987, Buožiai Geological Reserve was established to preserve the boulders left behind by a glacier which are characteristic of this region. Among the descendants of the first Viksva farmstead, we should firstly mention the children of Juozapas and Uršulė Baniulytė: Silvestras (1816-1872), Ambraziejus Tomas (1818-1876), Vincentas Juozapas (1821-1894), Justinas Antanas (1832-1857). Silvestras and Ona Galvanauskaitė had 8 children. One of them named Jonas (1854-C.1930) married and moved to the town of Subačius and started a new family line there. Jonas's twin brother Petras (1854-c. 1910) married and settled in a nearby Žiliai village where he also started a new genealogy line. Its descendants still live in Lithuania (mostly in Panevėžys); others live in the United States. By the end of die 19th century, Silvestras's daughter Ona Ibodora (1859-after 1920) moved to the United States and married Šiliūnas. They had 12 children. Another son of Silvestras, named Pranciškus (Pranas, 1866-1951) also moved to the United States in around 1892; he worked random jobs and in 1909 he bought a farm in New Egypt, New Jersey, and started a new Viksva family line in the U.S. with his neighbour Anastazija Mikonytė (1887-1943). The most famous descendant of this family is Pranas's grandson John P. Wikswo (1949), Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, and Physics Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.Silvestras's eldest son Juozapas Jonas (1849-1924) continued to live in Akmenė as a farmer. He married Elzbieta Vosylytė from Bak- šėnai village. One of their son, Jurgis (1877-1935), moved to the United States and became a police officer in Chicago; their second son Lionginas (1880-1942) continued to work on his farm in Akmenė; and their daughters Ona, Pranciška and Valerija married and moved to other villages in the parish of Vabalninkas. Lionginas and Paulina Tkmonyte raised two sons and two daughters. In 1948, their daughters Antanina and Valerija were taken from the Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine and transported to Siberia, never to return. In 1947, their son Jonas lost his life while participating in the partisan resistance movement. After Ona Viksvienė and her son Antanas moved from Akmenė, their farmstead was destined to perish. In 1854, Ambraziejus Tbmas Viksva married Eleonora Didžiulytė and moved to live with her in her Šlekiškiai village in the parish of Salamiestis, where he also started a new Viksvai family line. Its descendants lived in Šlekiškiai village until the end of the 20th century. Vincentas Juozapas Viksva received training from Biržai physician Liudkevičius and became a doctor’s assistant and pharmacist; he worked in Salamiestis manor, and later bought Vijoliškis manor near Kupreliškis. Vincentas and Ona Ježauskaitė had a large family. Among its more prominent members was Juozapas (1860-1920) who graduated from a commerce school in Riga; he later became a priest and served in various parishes of the Diocese of Žemaičiai (Telšiai). Priest Juozapas Viksva also made his name as a book carrier, i. e. a distributor of the Lithuanian language books during the time of the press ban imposed by the tsarist government. Juozapas’s sister Julijona Uršulė (1865-1933) married forester Kazimieras Švėgžda. [...]. [From the publication]