Smilgjus to Smith? A funny thing happened on the way to the Airport
How did the Lithuanian family Smilgjus become the Scottish family Smith? That was a question that I ever had reason to ask. That is until long after I left home …
Transcript
In the late 1980s, I took on a new role with Labatt’s—overseeing human resources for the company’s brewing operations outside Canada. At the same time, the business was expanding into Europe: first in the United Kingdom… and later into Italy.
That meant I was travelling to London quite often.
Now, if you flew into Heathrow in those days, you learned one thing very quickly— you were going to wait. Most North American flights arrived within the same two- to three-hour window in the early morning, and immigration was always backed up. It wasn’t unusual to spend an hour and a half—
sometimes two hours—just trying to get through.
After one of those trips, someone mentioned something interesting. They said, “If your father was born in the UK,you might be eligible for British citizenship.” And if that was true, there was a much shorter line at the airport.
That got my attention.
So I called my dad and asked if he could send me documents—a birth certificate, a baptismal record—anything that proved he’d been born in Scotland.
About a week later, the envelope arrived. And when I opened it… I got a surprise.
Some of the documents weren’t in the name Peter Smith. Instead, they were made out to Petras Smilgjus.
I called my father and asked, “Who is this?” That’s when I learned something I had never fully understood. My father had been born in Scotland—yes—but his parents were immigrants from Lithuania. When he and his siblings were born, they were given Lithuanian names.
Petras Smilgjus…was my father.
As the children grew up, those Lithuanian names proved difficult in everyday life. So, over time, the family adopted simpler, English names. Petras Smilgjus became Peter Smith.
There was never a formal legal change—but every practical record followed the new name. His military service… his immigration papers… even his passport— were all issued to Peter Smith.
My father was always proud of his Scottish roots, but he rarely spoke about his Lithuanian background. This was the first time I really understood that part of our family story.
In the end, I gathered all the documents—both names, both identities—and submitted my application.
Not long after, I was issued a British passport. And yes—it made getting through Heathrow much easier. But more importantly, it opened the door to something else—A deeper understanding of where we come from.
Smith Family Roots Ancestors
Smith, Paul William Murray (1955 – )
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