Petras Daukša (1860-aft1920), a.k.a. Peter Douse, was a Lithuanian immigrant, a coal miner, and one of the three brothers who proginated the Douse family of Centralia, Pennsylvania.
Birth[]
Peter was born 1860 in Lithuania. His parents, as well as the location of his birth within Lithuania, are unknown.
Marriage[]
Peter married a woman named Anne around the year 1880 in Lithuania.
Children by Anna[]
Peter and Anne did not have any children together.
Immigration[]
Peter came to the United States in 1891, following his two brothers Michael Douse and John Douse. Peter's wife Anne came the following year, 1892.
Peter's nephews[]
While Peter did not have any children of his own, he cared for his brother John's son Charles Douse and later went with both Charles, and John's other son Joseph Jacob Douse, to West Virginia, where the two boys became coal miners as well. (Peter's brother John had abandoned his family around the year 1900 and left his two young sons Charles and Joseph in Pennsylvania.)
Occupation[]
Peter was a coal miner, first in Pennsylvania, and later in Raleigh County, West Virginia.
Census data[]
1900 census[]
Peter lived with his wife Anne in Centralia, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the 1900 census. Peter reports being a coal miner, but having been unemployed for 6 months.
1910 Census[]
Peter lived with his wife Anne and nephew Charles in Conyngham Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the 1910 census. Interestingly, while others in nearby households reported to the census taker that they were from Russia with ethnicity Lithuanian, Peter and his wife report being from Austria, with ethnicity Yiddish. It should be noted that Vilnius (Lithuania's present capital) had a population which was approximately 40% Jewish at the time, so the information may very well be accurate.
1920 Census[]
Peter lived with his wife Anne and nephew Charles in Cranberry, Raleigh County, West Virginia, in the 1920 census. The family had also taken in a boarder by the name of Martin Renteck.
Death[]
Peter's wife Anne reported being a widow in the 1930 census. She was still living in Cranberry, West Virginia in 1930. Peter's nephew Charles is also nowhere to be found in the 1930 census.