PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Emigration - finding an ancestor in records

kamcglynn — Tue Dec 01, 2015 12:55 pm

Author: kamcglynn

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 12:55 pm

Thanks Cheri and Gilberto! Cheri, what good luck that you were able to have someone help you find your grandmother's record! I have done the same as you - I have used Steve Morse's gold form, I have looked up every different way of spelling Konieczka I can; I have used just her first name, I have used the town name, spelled every way I can think, etc... I just have had absolutely no luck!

Re: Emigration - finding an ancestor in records

Anonymous — Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:38 am

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:38 am

Cheri Vanden Berg wrote:

Kate, I had the same experience. After 10 years of looking on and off, thanks to a kind soul on the Poland-Roots mailing list, I learned how my grandmother Aniela Lenart was indexed at Ellis Island:
Seuard, Anieta [Lenart, Aniela], age 17, single. Last residence: Telngger. Austria. Polish. Ship: Kroonland. Port: Antwerp.
Departure: August 9, 1913. Manifest line 0020. Arrived New York August 18, 1913. Going to uncle Josef Bielanski 1811 17th St. Chicago, Illinois. Contact in Zaluczne father Klemens Lenart.
When searching Ellis Island did you use the Steve Morse gold form http://stevemorse.org/ellis2/ellisgold.html I had tried looking for my grandmother under just her first name, or her first and last name initials, or just the village she was born in, or just the village initial Z, etc. etc. I had even worked on an emigrants from Zaluczne database, and found at least 50 different variations of interpretations of that village name, so I had tried every mistaken spelling. "Telngger looks like Zaluczne on the manifest to me, but of course I knew what I was looking for. I also learned that a cursive L could be mistaken for an S, and a lower case n could be mistaken for a u, but I was never able to find it by myself. Maybe I would have if they would have deciphered her first name as Aniela instead of Anieta.
Cheri

I developed 194 ways the surname Magrowski could have been misspelled in EI entries.

Gilberto

Re: Emigration - finding an ancestor in records

Cheri Vanden Berg — Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:34 am

Author: Cheri Vanden Berg

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:34 am

Kate, I had the same experience. After 10 years of looking on and off, thanks to a kind soul on the Poland-Roots mailing list, I learned how my grandmother Aniela Lenart was indexed at Ellis Island:
Seuard, Anieta [Lenart, Aniela], age 17, single. Last residence: Telngger. Austria. Polish. Ship: Kroonland. Port: Antwerp.
Departure: August 9, 1913. Manifest line 0020. Arrived New York August 18, 1913. Going to uncle Josef Bielanski 1811 17th St. Chicago, Illinois. Contact in Zaluczne father Klemens Lenart.
When searching Ellis Island did you use the Steve Morse gold form http://stevemorse.org/ellis2/ellisgold.html I had tried looking for my grandmother under just her first name, or her first and last name initials, or just the village she was born in, or just the village initial Z, etc. etc. I had even worked on an emigrants from Zaluczne database, and found at least 50 different variations of interpretations of that village name, so I had tried every mistaken spelling. "Telngger looks like Zaluczne on the manifest to me, but of course I knew what I was looking for. I also learned that a cursive L could be mistaken for an S, and a lower case n could be mistaken for a u, but I was never able to find it by myself. Maybe I would have if they would have deciphered her first name as Aniela instead of Anieta.
Cheri

Re: Emigration - finding an ancestor in records

kamcglynn — Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:23 am

Author: kamcglynn

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:23 am

Unfortunately, no. That is a really close name though. Mine was in the US by 1910 (I have her marriage record from the church in Philadelphia.).

Re: Emigration - finding an ancestor in records

Anonymous — Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:54 am

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:54 am

kamcglynn wrote:

Hi all. I have never been able to find my great grandmother's immigration record. I have searched Ellis Island until I am cross-eyed, under all the different variations of her name that I could think of. I have searched the Baltimore records and Philadelphia records as well. Her name was Petronela Konieczka and she was born in May 1889 in Humniska near Brzozow, then Galicia. In the 1910 and 1920 censuses it looks like she said she came to the USA in either 1901 or 1909. (writing is hard to read...they wrote the last number of the year on the line. Plus, she never spoke English.) She was in Philadelphia in 1910 as that's when she married my great grandfather. I have found her brother Jan's immigration record. I also have found her sister Helena traveling back and forth to Poland a couple of times, and in one case, bringing their younger sister Stella back to Philadelphia with her. (I would never have found Stella except that she is listed as traveling with Helena; the writing is extremely hard to decipher.) Is it possible that the old stories of immigrants "stowing away" is true? Could she have escaped documentation? One of my dad's cousins claims that she was told that Petronela came over on the same boat as her husband...I have looked at every name on his ship's manifest and find nothing like her name. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I am thinking I probably just need to give up on ever finding her immigration record. Thanks! Kate

Kate,

Could be this one in Ellis Island?
Kounezka, Petrona

Gilberto

Emigration - finding an ancestor in records

kamcglynn — Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:46 am

Author: kamcglynn

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:46 am

Hi all. I have never been able to find my great grandmother's immigration record. I have searched Ellis Island until I am cross-eyed, under all the different variations of her name that I could think of. I have searched the Baltimore records and Philadelphia records as well. Her name was Petronela Konieczka and she was born in May 1889 in Humniska near Brzozow, then Galicia. In the 1910 and 1920 censuses it looks like she said she came to the USA in either 1901 or 1909. (writing is hard to read...they wrote the last number of the year on the line. Plus, she never spoke English.) She was in Philadelphia in 1910 as that's when she married my great grandfather. I have found her brother Jan's immigration record. I also have found her sister Helena traveling back and forth to Poland a couple of times, and in one case, bringing their younger sister Stella back to Philadelphia with her. (I would never have found Stella except that she is listed as traveling with Helena; the writing is extremely hard to decipher.) Is it possible that the old stories of immigrants "stowing away" is true? Could she have escaped documentation? One of my dad's cousins claims that she was told that Petronela came over on the same boat as her husband...I have looked at every name on his ship's manifest and find nothing like her name. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I am thinking I probably just need to give up on ever finding her immigration record. Thanks! Kate