PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Need help finding family’s history. Tordosinski / wojtowicz

Amyshirkey13 — Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:09 am

Author: Amyshirkey13

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:09 am

Thank you so much Dave I appreciate your help greatly! I do have a ancestry account but I have only found so much on there about my moms family. I have noticed on one document that my great grandpas last name was spelt differently and have tried to figure out his actual surname (if different from tordosinski) but I’ve had no luck and the only document with the spelling that is different is just that one. My dad’s side I have taken all the way back to the 1760s. My husband got me a dna test from them for Christmas so I’m hoping it links some more stuff and areas of interest

Re: Need help finding family’s history. Tordosinski / wojtow

dnowicki — Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:15 pm

Author: dnowicki

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:15 pm

Amyshirkey13 wrote:

I’m trying to find my moms side of the family and I can’t. My mom Paula Shirkey (born Kaminski )

Her Mom is Mary Ethel Tordosinski 1931-1979 from Michigan
Mary’s parents Paul John Tordosinski 1911-1983 born in Poland ?
And Estelle Marie Wojtowicz 1912-1984 born in Poland ?
Estelle’s parents are Julius Wojtowicz 1882 from Poland and
Katherine Wszela 1878 from Poland

Her dad is George John Kaminski born in Michigan 1930-2016
George’s parents are Bruno Kaminski 1885-1972 and Mary Radtke 1894-1975

And that’s all the information I have about her side. I never met my grandma and she passed when my mom was 16 years old so I don’t have much on her or my grandpa really. I’m putting together a book for my son when he’s older he will have all of our family history. So if any of you can recommend sites to use to find more information I’d greatly appreciate it. I’ve searced and searced for her side and can hardly find anything. Thank you thank you thank you

Hi Amy,

A good free site to use to research in the USA is https://www.familysearch.org/
Another site (subscription) is Ancestry. Many public libraries subscribe to Ancestry and you can access it gratis in a library which subscribes. There are a number of sites in Poland which would be useful but it seems that you need to do more research here before looking for anything in Europe.

To get you started attached are two Federal Census returns...one for Bruno & Mary Kaminski and one for Julius & Catherine Wojtowicz which includes their daughter Estelle and son-in-law Paul. The spelling of Paul’s surname is not as you posted so it would be a good idea to do additional research regarding his actual surname. The ages of Paul, Estelle and their daughter Mary are all what you would expect based on what you posted. Note that Estelle (and at least some of her siblings were born in Pennsylvania.

An important attachment is the civil return of Bruno Kaminski and Mary Radke’s marriage. They were both born in Michigan and it also lists the given names of their parents. A very helpful clue is the name of the priest who blessed their marriage, Rev. Francis Gzella. He was the pastor of St. Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr parish in Detroit. It would be very helpful for you to get a copy of the church marriage record since that should contain baptismal info for Bruno and Mary, as well as maiden names of their mothers. The parish is closed but this link http://www.aod.org/parishes/sacramental-records/closed-parishes/#S takes you to the Archdiocesan Archive where the record is housed. The contact info on the site should enable you to request a copy of their marriage record.

Wishing you success in your research,

Dave

Need help finding family’s history. Tordosinski / wojtowicz

Amyshirkey13 — Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:01 pm

Author: Amyshirkey13

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:01 pm

I’m trying to find my moms side of the family and I can’t. My mom Paula Shirkey (born Kaminski )

Her Mom is Mary Ethel Tordosinski 1931-1979 from Michigan
Mary’s parents Paul John Tordosinski 1911-1983 born in Poland ?
And Estelle Marie Wojtowicz 1912-1984 born in Poland ?
Estelle’s parents are Julius Wojtowicz 1882 from Poland and
Katherine Wszela 1878 from Poland

Her dad is George John Kaminski born in Michigan 1930-2016
George’s parents are Bruno Kaminski 1885-1972 and Mary Radtke 1894-1975

And that’s all the information I have about her side. I never met my grandma and she passed when my mom was 16 years old so I don’t have much on her or my grandpa really. I’m putting together a book for my son when he’s older he will have all of our family history. So if any of you can recommend sites to use to find more information I’d greatly appreciate it. I’ve searced and searced for her side and can hardly find anything. Thank you thank you thank you