Pužai-Pabalčia manor

There is not much information about the Pužai manor, which was located a little off the Raseiniai – Nemakščiai road. All that is known is that the manor quite often changed owners and boundaries and split into several smaller territories. The history of the manor is probably best described in the court decree of 21 January 1786 of the civil case of Budrecki nobles against ID4 Bartholomew Blinstrub de Towtwil and his brother ID1 Joseph’s children Andrew, Ignatius, Thadeus and Antoni, owners of the Pužai-Pabalčia manor, which can be found in the book of the Land Court of Raseiniai for the years 1781-1794 (D628).

The decree says that largest part of the Pužai manor, from the earliest times, was owned by the noblemen Uwojn de Iwoszka, and a small part by the noblemen Legaczinski. When two females of those families married two Blinstrubs (and received part of the manor lands as dowry), both part of the land became the property of Blinstrub family and the names Pužai-Uvainiškiai and Pužai-Legotiškė has appeared.

Pužai-Uvainiškiai was initially owned by Stanislaus Uwojn de Iwoszka, who received it from his father Jacob. On 3 July 1585, Stanislaus Uwojn donated part of the manor to his son Johannes. After the death of Stanislaus, the entire manor of Pužai-Uvainiškiai, together with Žalpiai, passed to his sons Chrysostomos, Johannes and Stephan Uwojn, who divided the property equally, as written in a document of 20 May 1594, mentioned in the above-mentioned Decree. Later, on 8 July 1647, Johannes Uwojn donated his part of the manor to his son David, who sold this part of the property, which stretched on both sides of the Balča River, together with Petrašiškės, to Johannes Pacera and his wife Maryann, Stanislaus daughter, Uvainyte (possibly an aunt or cousin). Then, by deeds of 24 August 1654 and 16 January 1655, the Paceras sold the manor for 500 kapas to ID540 Casimir Blinstrub de Towtwil, son of Wojtech and his wife Alška Nargėlavičiūtė Blinstrubienė. On 13 April 1681, the remaining part of the Pužai-Uvainiškiai lands, which still belonged to the Uwojn family, was bought by the King’s secretary, John Blinstrub de Towtwil (ID2), the son of Casimir, for 600 zloty, from Alshka Uwajnowa and her sons, Stephan and Chrysostomos Uwojn. In this way, the whole Pužai-Uvainiškiai manor with lands became the property of Blinstrubs.

The manor of Pužai-Legotiškė appeared when on 11 June 1621 Gregory Legat bought a part of the land for 50 kopas from Stephen Simonowicz and on 15 December 1634 Christopher Legaczinski, son of Andrew, received a gift of the land of Pužai-Balniškės-Joniškės from Michael Ambrazevičius. On 4 February 1640, Gregory Legat donated lands of Pužai-Sėmeniškės his son Jonas. On 23 April 1699, the manor already known as Pužai-Legotiškė was sold to Konstantin and Stephen Legachinsk. Later, the manor goes to their sister Catherine Legaczinska, who brings it as a dowry to ID2 John Blinstrub of Tautwil when she marries him(probably 1711-1712).

In this way, both manor became one manor of Pužai which until 1799 was one of the main patrimonies of Blinstrub de Towtwil. During the Blinstrubs period, the manor also got a second name, Pabalčia, after the name of the nearby river Balčia. The double name may have been intended to match the manor of Viduklė-Paalsė, ruled by another branch of the Blinstrubs, which also used the name of the nearby river in its second name.