PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Regina Antolak

Rosebudd083 — Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:12 pm

Author: Rosebudd083

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:12 pm

I realize this is an old forum, but I just stumbled upon it and am hoping someone may be able to help me. My paternal great-grandmother is Regina Antolak. She married Stanislaw Sulak in Chicago in September 1907. She indicated on her marriage certificate that her parents were Lorenz Antolak and Maria Pietrzak. I haven’t been able to find any other information about her or her parents. I cannot find her immigration records, so I do not even know when she came over. The only information I do have beyond her marriage is a birth of 17 May 1890 in Poland. My great-uncle believes that my great-grandparents knew each other in Poland, but Stanislaw’s records have him coming from Spytkowice in March 1907. Any help would be SO much appreciated!

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Shellie — Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:26 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:26 pm

I received the following information today from Richard Lubinski:

Adam Jam Antolak son of Stanley Antolak and Juzefa Maria Oczkowska.

Adam was born on 15, Dec. 1933 in Rokiciny, Poland, died in 2004 ar age of 71

The children of Adam Jan Antolak Are:
Zdzislawa born 29 Oct. 1958 in Rokiciny, Poland.
Andrew, born 12 July 1961 in Rokiciny Poland.
Peter born 27 June 1966 in Rokiciny,Poland.
Margaret Wanda, born 23 June 1967 in Rokiciny, Poland.

My great aunt Marianna Lubinski born 17 April 1880 in Wysoka, Poland married Andrew Majchrowicz.

Thier son Joseph Majchronwicz was born 9 Nov. 1905….. his daughter Janina Anna married Adam Jan Antolak.

I am researching my Lubinski family in Wysoka, Poland at Holy Trinity Church in Wysoka.
Richard Lubinski

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Shellie — Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:52 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:52 pm

Hi Anita,
Have you found anything new lately?

Re: Antolak family in Odrowacz--Polish obituaries found

Ute — Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:39 pm

Author: Ute

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:39 pm

jkoloj wrote:

... Don't know if you have pursued this angle already, but there are several obituary names that I found in the PGSA database (from the old Polish daily newspaper in Chicago) that might be of interest. I have found many links to family members after I obtained the obituaries because they typically list surviving relatives by name and their family relationship. For example, the Polish terms for Aunt and Uncle are different, depending on which side of the family they are from..."stryj" = uncle on father's side or "wuj" = uncle on mother's side. That can help research down the road.

You're right, obituaries are a treasure of information. My grandfather's obituary that appeared in "Dziennik Chicagoski" in 1940 proved very helpful in my further research. There are several obituaries for Antolak in the Chicago Tribune Historical Archive that might be of interest to those who have Antolak ancestors in the Chicago area. If someone is interested, I can pull up the obituaries.
Ute

Lubinski's in Wysoka

Richard Lubinski — Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:37 am

Author: Richard Lubinski

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:37 am

Yes, this is the village close by to the Joesph Majchrowicz farm.

Re: Antolak

Shellie — Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:23 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:23 pm

Richard Lubinski wrote:

I have Stanley Antolak b. 19 Dec. 1883, d. June 1996. Rokiciny, Poland
His wife Juzefa Maria Oczkowska b. Oct. 1895, Zebrzydowice, Poland
Son, Adam Jan Antolak b. 15 Dec. 1933, Rokiciny, Poland.
He married: Janina Anna Majchrowicz b. 10 May 1939, Rokiciny, Poland.

Hi Richard,
I was curious about how close your village Rokiciny was to Odrowaz. I've attached a map - do you think this is your village: Rokiciny Podhalanski

The name Majchrowicz, or variations has come up in other discussions here at Polish Origins:

http://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?t=385&highlight=Odrowaz

http://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?t=1224&highlight=Odrowaz

Shellie

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

KKempa — Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:29 pm

Author: KKempa

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:29 pm

"rarely do people travel to someone they barely know". I've found that not to be true in my family research. Many Poles travelled to U.S. to work and would list the owner of a boarding house as their destination, the owner of the house as the person they were going to. My grandfather did the first time he travelled overseas to work in a Pennsylvania coal mine. So did some of his brothers (They arrived in different years). The 2nd time grandfather travelled, he was moving to Canada with his wife (worked in the mine and saved money to marry and relocate). That time, he listed either my grandmother's brother or a friend from his Polish village as the person he was going to (I forget which).

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Richard Lubinski — Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:46 am

Author: Richard Lubinski

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:46 am

If you want a custom report that finds all occurences.
Go to; john@john.rys.name.
Label the e-mail with the subject as "Family Ties".
A donation to the Polish Genealogical Society of Minnesota
is suggested for each surname report.

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

aantolak — Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:34 am

Author: aantolak

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:34 am

Richard Lubinski wrote:

Catholic Church Records in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Go to this web site. http://www.pgsa.org
You will find 20 Antolaks baptism records and 8 marriage records.

HI Richard, thank you for sending the link! I did find a bunch of Antolaks...I will need to find out how they might be related to my Antolak family.

Anita

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Richard Lubinski — Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:55 am

Author: Richard Lubinski

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:55 am

Catholic Church Records in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Go to this web site. http://www.pgsa.org
You will find 20 Antolaks baptism records and 8 marriage records.

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

aantolak — Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:01 pm

Author: aantolak

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:01 pm

babblingbrook wrote:

Hello Anita,
my name is Bonnie Czepiel I had first used a fake name as I did not know re the site yrs ago and cannot seem to change it. Anyway, I have a relative that went to the same Marcela yet I could not even make out the Marcela for sure and I could not make out the relationship. If anyone can figure out the relationship I would appreciate the advice. Am thinking that this might mean we have a relation, rarely do people likely travel to someone they barely know. And now that the spelling is down due to your manifest we need to do research on this person!!!
First entry on the manifest. I have a ton of tangents going at the moment, have you found anything re this person, try if you would and i will try as fast as i am able to as well.
If you can send the whole page I can likely look at it better, the relation part. As a whole page might clarify it. I can only zoom in so much and do not have the whole page to make a comparison with. Will PM my email address.

HI Bonnie, thank you for writing! I do not have a copy of Anna's record, I think Shellie was able to do a screen shot and captured the portions she posted. Shellie thought perhaps Anna was going to see cousin Marcela, I can't make it out at all. As for your record I'm thinking it says cousin as well, so we must be cousins of some sort!! Marcela certainly was a popular destination, wish we had more information about her...I didn't find a record for her at Ellis Island. It would be awesome someday to travel to Chicago and spend time at their library tracking down as much as we could about all of these folks!

I wonder if any of them ever thought anyone in the future would be so curious about them and their lives!! I'm amazed at the strength of all of these people. I could not imagine getting a group of any of my relatives together to forever leave my country, knowing I would never see my father, mother, or other various family again. At the same time, in my case, my g-grandmother Anna, leaving behind her two boys..not knowing if she would ever see them again..even if it was 'the plan' that they would join her someday I would think there's surely the uncertainty that 'something' could happen, whether financial or not, where you would not be able to be reunited again.
Perhaps leaving for a better life and country was 'the thing to do' back then..but to me it would be an extremely hard and brave thing to do. So thankful I am in the US and I wish I could somehow thank my ancestors!
Anita

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

aantolak — Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:30 pm

Author: aantolak

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:30 pm

Thank you all so much for your help! I truly am overjoyed at how many people have jumped in and helped me the past few days!

I am so fortunate Shellie and PolishLibrarian found the records they did and we were able to confirm we had the correct family and gave me knowledge about great and great-great grandparents I never knew! Amazing!!

Thank you to jkoloj, Cheri Vanden Berg, Richard Lubinski and Bonnie for your help and comments! I"m looking forward to finding more clues and as Bonnie thought perhaps long lost relatives!
Anita

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

babblingbrook — Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:29 pm

Author: babblingbrook

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:29 pm

Hmm looking at it again the best I can it seems they both might say acqn. acquaintance on yours Anita. Though this could have been something to write with a language barrier vs trying to figure out a relationship in another language. As I said I doubt people would travel to unknowns. Can not figure out from mine going to the same person what the relationship is. Does not quite look like the relationship below that is cousin but maybe? the writing is bad. Any feedback welcome!

Antolak

Richard Lubinski — Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:20 pm

Author: Richard Lubinski

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:20 pm

I have Stanley Antolak b. 19 Dec. 1883, d. June 1996. Rokiciny, Poland
His wife Juzefa Maria Oczkowska b. Oct. 1895, Zebrzydowice, Poland
Son, Adam Jan Antolak b. 15 Dec. 1933, Rokiciny, Poland.
He married: Janina Anna Majchrowicz b. 10 May 1939, Rokiciny, Poland.

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

babblingbrook — Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:17 pm

Author: babblingbrook

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:17 pm

Hello Anita,
my name is Bonnie Czepiel I had first used a fake name as I did not know re the site yrs ago and cannot seem to change it. Anyway, I have a relative that went to the same Marcela yet I could not even make out the Marcela for sure and I could not make out the relationship. If anyone can figure out the relationship I would appreciate the advice. Am thinking that this might mean we have a relation, rarely do people likely travel to someone they barely know. And now that the spelling is down due to your manifest we need to do research on this person!!!
First entry on the manifest. I have a ton of tangents going at the moment, have you found anything re this person, try if you would and i will try as fast as i am able to as well.
If you can send the whole page I can likely look at it better, the relation part. As a whole page might clarify it. I can only zoom in so much and do not have the whole page to make a comparison with. Will PM my email address.

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Cheri Vanden Berg — Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:13 pm

Author: Cheri Vanden Berg

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:13 pm

Hi Anita,
Yes, jkoloj is right, you might be surprised what you could find from obits. It is really helpful to dig for information about other relations, because you could end up finding more about your direct line. You wrote:
"I can't read the person or address my grandmother listed on the ship record as to where/who she was going to live with in Chicago, not that the information would possibly help me find her Polish roots."
You might be surprised what you could learn from doing further research on that person. It IS very hard to read the relationship to the person she is going to in Chicago. It doesn't look like daughter, but that is one relationship that I considered - that she could have been going to a married daughter.

You wrote: "I, too, was wondering why/how Anna could leave these boys and come to America without them, I'm assuming it was a financial issue but geez loueez I don't think I could have left my children behind for any reason, it makes this more interesting." I think you are right to assume that it was for financial reasons. Most of our families could not afford to emigrate together. One had to go and earn enough to send for the next family member.

You wrote: "Also, I looked at the Wisconsin vital records site and from what I read I didn't 'qualify' to request a death certificate for Klemens et al. : (" I didn't look at the Wisconsin vital records site, and you now have Klemens father's name, so that isn't an issue. I would just like to say that as a granddaughter, I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't let you pay for a record. Sometimes it's the difference between a certified and an uncertified copy. You would only need an uncertified copy for genealogical purposes. I know that in one state that I have sent for records, a great aunt had to "become" my great grandmother in order for me to be allowed to pay for a copy (and in order for me to satisfy my curiousity)...

You might want to check out Ellis Island Gold and look for other members of your family (now that you know a number of surnames) that emigrated from Poland. At this site, you can search for as many letters as you want for a surname, a first name, or a town name. That way you can run across names that were either spelled wrong, or indexed incorrectly. You might want to look at Google maps to see where Odrowaz and Nowy Targ are, and become familiar with the surrounding towns in the area, because you may have relatives from those towns.

You might also try to connect with people that share your surnames. Check out the surname list on this site, or other Polish genealogical sites. If you haven't questioned all the cousins that you know, to see what they know, you should do that. My mom didn't know much about either of her parents' birth places, but her first cousin knew where her dad was born. I wonder if any of Michal's descendants are also searching for their roots. Best of luck!

Antolak family in Odrowacz--Polish obituaries found

jkoloj — Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:25 am

Author: jkoloj

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:25 am

Anita,
Don't know if you have pursued this angle already, but there are several obituary names that I found in the PGSA database (from the old Polish daily newspaper in Chicago) that might be of interest. I have found many links to family members after I obtained the obituaries because they typically list surviving relatives by name and their family relationship. For example, the Polish terms for Aunt and Uncle are different, depending on which side of the family they are from..."stryj" = uncle on father's side or "wuj" = uncle on mother's side. That can help research down the road.

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Shellie — Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:27 am

Author: Shellie

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:27 am

Such great news Anita! Our friend the PolishLibrarian confirms that Klemens father was Stantislaw so we have the right guy!!!

Also, this is interesting. Anna’s Ellis Island record is hard to read. I took some screen shots and cut and pasted some important parts of the ship manifest into one image for us to examine. I hope that when you click on it, you can see the information clearly.

If I am reading this correctly Anna was headed to Chicago to a cousin? Marcela? Czepiel at 149 17th Street. Czepiel is a surname that is important to several members here!

Look at the passenger below Anna: Jozefa Bielanska, also from Odrowaz. Headed to see an acquaintance? Jozef Mrozek at W. 17th St, 781? In Chicago.

There is also an added notation that says “uncle Jacob Gall” but it is not clear which of these 2 passengers the note refers to. There are also several members here who are interested in the Gal / Gall surname.

Now, even more interesting. Since Anna was the first passenger on this page, I flipped backward to the previous page and found at the end of that page 2 more passengers from Odrowaz.
Wiktoria Dzielawa? The surname is hard to read, but this is my best guess based on the surnames I already know from Odrowaz. Wiktoria was headed to see…… Marcelina? Czepiel at 149 17th Street, same as Anna.

Also traveling with them was Marcela Mroczek, headed to her father Jozef Mrozek – same as the passenger beneath Anna’s entry!

So, more helpful clues for you Anita!!!

PS: I included passenger #3, Jan Leja from Stare Bystre because I remember reading in another post that someone was interested in the surname Leja from village Stare Bystre…..

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

Shellie — Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:24 am

Author: Shellie

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:24 am

PolishLibrarian wrote:

I tried to attach the image by using the Add an Attachment box but it didn't complete loading. The file size is 1.47 MB so it's within the limits. What's the best way to do this? Or I can try to send it to you separately.

If you send the message to me at my personal email address, I'll reduce it and post it.
Shellie

OK - Here it is! See the last entry shown on the image.

Re: Antolak family in Odrowaz

PolishLibrarian — Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:22 am

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:22 am

Hi Anita~ I took a look at the Ellis Island records. You're right - deciphering who Anna was going to is very difficult. I might guess it says aunt, but because of the over-writing it is hard to tell. What I thought was interesting was that according to Michal's record it appears he was traveling with Jozef Klapacz (who was going to Passaic, NJ). It appears that Jozef's nearest relative in the country he was leaving was his wife Maria Kopacz in Maniowy and below him is Michal who's nearest relative is his cousin Maria Kopacz. Maniowy is a village just a little east of Nowy Targ on the north side of Jezioro (lake) Czorsztynskie (a man-made lake on the Dunajec River). So it seems that Anna left her son Michal with a relative when she came to the US 5 years earlier. Also note that the 2 people above Jozef were from Odroważ and were also going to Chicago. Odroważ is maybe 11km west of Nowy Targ (as the crow flies) and Maniowy is about 16 km east of Nowy Targ, so all in the same general area.

And in the "small world" category my grandmother's older sister and her husband married in Mpls. and in about 1916 moved to Weyerhauser in Rusk County WI where Klemens was living in 1942. They may have actually known one another - there was a large community of Galician Poles living in that area.

Good news - I have found the marriage record at St. Adalberts. Klemens father is Stanislaus Antolak and his mother is Anna Brenkus (I would expect this should be Brękus). Antonina's father is Joannes (Jan) and her mother is Maria Stoch (or Stach). Both Klemens and Antonina are from Odroważ.

I tried to attach the image by using the Add an Attachment box but it didn't complete loading. The file size is 1.47 MB so it's within the limits. What's the best way to do this? Or I can try to send it to you separately.