Bill,

Wirballen is called Virbalis in Lithuanian (present name) and Wierbolowo in Polish. Part of my grandfather's family line was from Virbalis.

The Polish archives in the town of Suwalki, Poland, may have records for this area since all of the villages in question were in the Suvalkija/Suwalki gubernia during the Russian occupation.

Since the villages in question all were within 5 miles of the German/Prussian border (now the border with Russian Kaliningrad), the German ports of Hamburg and Bremen would be good possibilities though my grandfather was from Virbalis and came over to the U.S. via Rotterdam.

His choice of port was interesting in that he lived in Essen Ruhr, Germany for a time (likely earning money for passge to America) and was fluent in German.

Hope this helps a bit.

Tom