Plucking fruit from the family tree

Spent a couple hours this afternoon getting reacquainted with my genealogy research.  It's been many months since I spent anytime researching.  I have traced my paternal family line (the Gendreau name) all the way back to France in the 1500's.  I was very fortunate in that I personally traced my line back to Quebec in the late 1700's and then made the acquaintance of a professional researcher who had traced the family line back to France.  I have traced my father's maternal line (the Supernaw and Curtis names) back to the early 1800s in upstate New York.  I'm hoping to travel up to upstate New York this summer for a day of research.

On my mother's side, I have traced her mother's line (Balukonis) back to Lithuania in the mid 1800s.  I have run into a roadblock there seeing as how Lithuania has gone from being part of the Russian Empire to being  independent (1918) to being annexed by Poland (1920), then annexed by Nazi Germany (1939), given to the USSR (1940), invaded by Germany (1941), "liberated" by the USSR (1944) and declared independence in 1990.  I'm not even sure where to begin researching.  

Which brings us to my mother's paternal line.  My mom has always been reluctant to talk about that side of the family.  My grandfather died as a result of drowning before I was born.  All my mom could give me was his parents (her grandparents) names Francis Deedy and Catherine McGowan.  I have been able to trace them back through the census and his WWI draft card and today found out that they were married in Amherst MA on November 25, 1908.  I've requested a copy of the marriage certificate and I'm hoping that leads me further up the family tree.  I had previously found out that Francis Deedy parents were Michael Deedy and Kate Dunney.  I'm hoping the marriage certificate helps me find out more about Catherine's parents.  I have found a Catherine McGowan who arrived in America in 1882 at the age of 1 with her parents Thomas and Sarah from Ireland.  The birth year I have from the US censuses puts Catherine being born in 1884, so it's a longshot or as they say, the lady lied about her age.  The marriage certificate should help.