DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story that almost didn't get told at all. We're in DeWitt County, out in the Yorktown vicinity, and the year is somewhere around 1852. A family by the name of Stanchos — David and Dora, her maiden name Scholze — is putting down roots in Texas soil.
The marker calls them probably the first Lithuanian family to settle in this area, and more than that, it places them among the earliest documented Lithuanian immigrants to America. Let that sit a moment. Not just early to Texas.
Early to the whole country. Now, they didn't come alone for long. By 1874, they'd been joined by roughly seventy more immigrants, most of them from the province of Gumbinnen, which at the time was part of East Prussia.
Religious reasons, political reasons — the marker says a variety of both — these folks made a decision to leave everything they knew and sail toward something new. They came in primarily through the ports of Galveston and Indianola, two of the great entry points of that era, and then they made their way inland to DeWitt County. They farmed.
They became American citizens. And when the American Civil War came calling, men from this Lithuanian community answered — on both sides of it. That line deserves a quiet moment, because it tells you something about how thoroughly these people had planted themselves into the life of this country, contradictions and all.
But here's the wry twist the marker offers up: for generations, most of this was just… overlooked. The Lithuanians gradually assimilated with the large German immigrant population already living in the area, and in doing so, their distinct contributions faded from the common memory. It took records — careful, determined records — to pull the story back into the light.
There is one place, though, that kept the faith all along. South of Yorktown, there's a small graveyard called Jonischkies Cemetery, and it holds the interments of many of these early settlers. The names are in the ground even when they weren't in the history books.
Some stories don't vanish. They just wait.
What the marker says
Among the many European immigrants arriving in Texas in the mid-19th century was a small group of Lithuanians who settled in the Yorktown vicinity of DeWitt County. Due to their eventual assimilation with the numerous German immigrants in the area, the Lithuanians and their contributions to the history of this region were overlooked for generations. Records reveal that the first Lithuanian family to settle in this area probably was that of David and Dora (Scholze) Stanchos. They arrived about 1852, making them among the earliest documented Lithuanian immigrants to America. By 1874 they were joined by about 70 more immigrants, most from the province of Gumbinnen in what was then part of East Prussia. Leaving their homeland for a variety of religious and political reasons, the Lithuanians arrived in Texas primarily through the ports of Galveston and Indianola. Establishing farms in the area, the Lithuanians became American citizens and contributed to the history and culture of this area. Men from the community fought on both sides of the American Civil War. A small graveyard south of Yorktown known as Jonischkies Cemetery contains the interments of many of these early settlers. (1994)