Šunskų parapijos teritorija
Territory and population of šunskai parish in 19th century

Summary/Abstract: According to some historical sources it seems that in 1710 there were chapel and lived some people in Šunskai. Whether these statements are unquestionable and how they could be confirmed, it is not certainly clear. However, it seems that it is close to the truth. The beginning of the parish would be the moment when the first Church was built in 1795. Its territory belonged to rural districts of Vilkaviškis and Šunskai, later it belonged to districts of Šunskai, Gižai, and Paežeriai. The descriptions of villages were made in 1858 and 1875. Recently, there was clarified the information about villages and inhabitants; however, some later records about distance from villages to the church differ from previous ones. It could be caused by clarification; however, it is possible because of made mistakes. That is noticed from newly made parish’s inventory which was detailed described in the middle of 19th century, including villages which belong to the parish. At that time in the inventories or descriptions of the parishes was also recorded parish‘s territory and number of people. In 1875 there were clearly defined boundaries of the parish. Because since 1868 it already belonged to deanery of Marijampolė, all documents were confirmed by dean of Marijamlopė. He writes that Šunskai parish neighbors upon Marijampolė in the East, Vilkaviškis in the West, Marijampolė ir Gižai in the South, and Pilviškiai in the North. In 1898 during the taking over of the parish by new pastor there was done a detailed inventory; however, the villages routinely were not inventoried and also it was not given number of people. According to nationality and religion major part in the parish were Roman Catholic Lithuanians. Although in the middle of 19th century there was large Jewish community, however, they did not have synagogue. Their nearest meeting-house was in Marijampolė. In later documents one can not discover any Jews who lived in Šunskai area. It seems that they were forced to move out because of Czarist government which restricted for Jews to live in countryside. There were quite a few German families in Šunskai. However, they did not found their own community because they did not have their own prayer-house. Among Catholics in Šunskai parish, especially in the end of 19th century, came of great number Church’s and public figures, priests and laity. The 19th century for Šunskai was period of development from subsidiary parish to independent one.

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