Kristaps and Anna are my husband’s great-great grandparents. Both Kristaps and Anna grew up in the Zaļenieki area of south-western Latvia. They were married in 1883 and gave birth to four daughters: Emilija, Luize, Olga and Anna Zelma. Unfortunately, Luize died in childhood.
Kristaps was born with the surname ‘Rudzitis/Rudzis’. His mother, Anna, was an unmarried maiden when she gave birth to Kristaps at Ragumuiža Manor in March of 1858. We will probably never know who his biological father was or what circumstances led to his being born ‘illegitimate’. In 1859 or 1860, Kristaps’s mother married. Geddert Rozenbergs was old enough to be her father, but Anna Rudzis was probably in need of support and with an ‘illegitimate’ child it wouldn’t have been easy to find a husband. Geddert had been widowed a few years before, for the second time and already had 3 adult children of his own. His first son, Davis, would become the father to one of Latvia’s most beloved writers, Elza Rozenberga, better known by her pen name, Aspazija (please take a look at my website dedicated to Aspazija’s family history here).
In 1861, Kristaps got a sister. Anna and Geddert gave birth to Lavize. Tragically, Geddert died in the same year, 1861, probably of illness but we aren’t sure. Young Anna was now widowed with two small children. We really don’t know the conditions of Kristaps’s childhood. It was probably spent moving from farm to farm to find work and being supported by extended family members. We know that Kristaps and his sister Lavize were very close and would remain so for the rest of their lives.
Kristaps’s wife, Anna Smiltnieks, was born in 1864 to Jannis and Anne Smiltnieks. She had at least one sister, possibly two. After their marriage Kristaps and Anna used the surname ‘Rozentals’. Geddert had used the name ‘Rozentals’ during his earlier marriage but was using ‘Rozenbergs’ when Lavize was born. Lavize would use ‘Rozentals’ in her early life (although she was born ‘Rozenbergs’) but she would use ‘Rozenbergs’ later in life. Although Kristaps and Anna used ‘Rozentals’ for the births of all their children, by the end of the 19th century, as they made their transition to the city of Riga, they used ‘Rozenvalds’. This is the name they would both use from then on. But their three daughters would use both names: ‘Rozentals’ and ‘Rozenvalds’, at different times in their lives. We do not know the reason for these back and forth name changes.
So by 1900, Lavize was living in Riga and Kristaps and Anna and their daughters were following. Kristaps settled his family in the Iļģuciems neighbourhood in Riga. This was on the industrial side of the Daugava River, across from the Old City. The lure of factory employment was strong and many peasants were making this same transition at the turn of the 20th century. We believe the family lived at 1 Grodnas Street and at least some of them worked at a local textile factory. Their modest dwelling was very close to the pub run by Andrejs Zekants and his wife Lizette. I believe this must be the initial connection between these two families. Did Kristaps end a hard day of labour with a pint from Andrejs’s establishment? Is this where his eldest daughter, Emilija, fell in love with Andrejs’s younger brother, Žanis? Both the Zekants and the Rozenvalds families were also parishioners at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church.
By 1917, Kristaps’s family had moved across the river to safety. The Germans were on Riga’s doorstep and the threat in invasion was very real. Life had been hard for the family. In 1915, Kristaps’s son-in-law, Žanis Zekants died leaving Emilija a widow with a small baby to care for. Also in 1915, Kristaps’s daughter, Olga, had most likely evacuated along with the entire industrial complex of Riga. At the end of August 1917, Emilija also passed away. Most likely due to injuries from some kind of accident involving a carriage. She was buried in Lāčupes cemetery next to her husband. Kristaps and his wife were now tasked with making sure their only grandchild, Žanis Jr., would survive. Three days after Emilija’s burial the Germans took Riga.
Kristaps and his family, along with his sister Lavize’s family, fled Riga to the north. They spent at least part of the years 1917-1920 in the northern city of Rujiena. Although this was ‘safer’ than Riga there was much fighting nearby during those years and life must have been unimaginably difficult. By 1920, after WWI and the Russian Civil War, Latvia had declared its independence. Kristaps moved his family back home. They got a flat, #20, at 9 Karlines Street just north of the Old City. Their building was modern and clean and the family in some form would live there for the next 24 years.
Kristaps had no special job training that we know of and he was illiterate. He must have just taken any work he could find throughout his life, a general labourer. His daughter, Olga, returned to Riga in 1921 and used her sewing skills to bring in income for the family for years to come. She pretty much took on the main role of caring for her orphaned nephew.
In 1926, Kristap’s wife, Anna, passed away of tuberculosis. This must have been a huge blow to the family.
In 1927, Olga married Andrejs Blezurs and they had their own son, Valdis, in 1929. Sadly, Andrejs died only six months after his son’s birth. Kristaps’s family had seen more than their fair share of tragedy. But life had to go on. Olga continued to bring in money, young Žanis was a student and Kristaps’s youngest daughter, Anna Zelma, got married in 1926 to Janis Berkman.
Sometime in 1932 or 1933 Kristaps must have been having some health problems. Maybe he thought time in the country would help. He went out to the Krumkalni farm owned by the son of Lizette Pudze (born Zekants). Lizette was the elder sister of the Zekants brothers. The Zekants siblings’ maternal aunt, Minna, had owned the farm with her husband since before WWI. Olga’s husband, Andrejs Blezurs, was a cousin to the Zekants siblings. His mother, Angrieta, was also living at this farm. So there were many family connections there and they must have been happy to take Kristaps in. He remained there for the most part of the next three years.
In the first few months of 1935, Kristaps’s health must have taken a turn for the worse. He moved back to Riga to be with his family and perhaps to get medical care. But sadly he died in May 1935 of heart failure.
Although Kristap’s mother was buried at Lāčupes cemetery in 1914, we still have not found the burial place of Kristaps or Anna.
Learn more about this family member at my other website here: Kristaps Rozentals/Rozenvalds