Time for Week 35 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge! As noted in my first post of this challenge, I am starting with my most ancient known ancestors.

This week’s ancestor is Ansis EglÄ«tis, born April 13, 1850, died prior to the mid-1920s. He is my great-great-grandfather, my maternal grandfather’s maternal grandfather.

As mentioned in his father’s post, Ansis EglÄ«tis (junior) was the son of Ansis EglÄ«tis (senior) and Anna (last name unknown). His birth record has not been found, since the Limbaži records are missing for that year, thus this date comes from a revision list supplement. I would assume he was born on Langači farm on Limbaži estate, since his family lived there earlier, and he appears on Langači farm as an infant in the 1850 revision list.

Ansis Eglītis married Līze Graumane sometime between 1873 and 1876, however, these marriage records are also missing from the Limbaži church records. The next time we meet Ansis is when he is moving to Lāde estate in 1878 with his wife and first son Vilhelms Leonards (b. 1876). They moved to Lejas Samši, the farm that Līze had grown up on, and that remains in my family to this day.

Ansis and LÄ«ze had nine children, according to a family story told to me by my great-aunt. The records provide me with the following: the aforementioned Vilhelms Leonards, Johanna MalvÄ«ne (1878), Hugo Samuels (1882), Emma Marija (1884), a stillborn daughter (1886), Kārlis Eižens (1887), Jānis Alfreds (1890), my great-grandmother, MÄ“rija Alide (1892) and Ella Elizabete (1897). I’m not sure if the stillborn daughter was included in that count of nine, or if there is yet another child I have not found yet. I’m pretty certain several of the children died in infancy, though the only one I have confirmed thus far is Hugo Samuels.

Ansis died prior to the mid-1920s, when and how I am not yet certain. I only know that my great-aunt has no recollection of him, but she does remember her grandmother LÄ«ze. So I would say that he probably died before my great aunt was born, or when she was just a baby. Ansis is buried in the family plot in Limbaži cemetery, however the gravestone also does not provide any information – it just says “EglÄ«tis family”. His wife LÄ«ze, his son Vilhelms Leonards and LÄ«ze’s parents Marcis and TrÄ«ne Graumaņi, are also buried there.

Where do we go next week? Back to the other family of repeating names!