riven by a famine and a series of insurrections, Lithuanian immigration to the U.S. began in 1850, with as many as 750,000 said to have arrived by 1918. While the largest community is in Chicago, there is a substantial and historic community in New York City which lived in proximity to Slavic communities, united by churches like the Annunciation in Williamsburg and the Transfiguration Roman Catholic Church in Maspeth, Queens, both with frequent services in Lithuanian. One affiliate of the church is the Knights of Lithuania organization, whose primary goals are to celebrate Lithuanian language, customs, and culture. Most Lithuanian Jews were native Yiddish speakers and settled among Jews. Lithuanian ("Lipka") Tatars have also been in New York for over a century, with a Williamsburg mosque still in the community.