PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:06 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:06 pm

I'll try and respond to matters people have raised within this fuller version of my story and it might prompt some new suggestions too..

I have a 'certified copy' of my original birth certificate. That and whatever copies of adoption papers are available is all you get in the UK when you're adopted and you exercise your right to obtain them. You don't get told any more information so it's detective work from thereon. I started my search 25 years ago in December 2000. Out of loyalty to her I'd left it until my adopted mother had passed before I started the process.

So in 2000 all I knew from my birth certificate was my mother's name and her occupation (Assistant Boarding House Keeper) and her address in October 1948 (and that the space for the name and occupation of my father was left blank) and that she was the one who registered the birth on 7th October 1948, 18 days after my birth. From my adoption papers I discovered the address of the maternity home where I was born – in a village called Westow near York– and the address in York of the 'mother and baby' home for single women with children where I was until I was collected by my adopted parents on 22 November 1948.

I naively assumed I'd just simply find my mother and she'd tell me who my father was. I went to the address 31 Eastborough, Scarborough that my mother had given in 1948 and it still existed but had changed hands and uses many times and I later discovered it had changed hands in 1949 anyway. It had in fact been a boarding house and cafe run by her eldest sister who who according to my adoption papers was the only one who knew about the pregnancy and who I suspect had taken my pregnant mother under her wing away from their parents and the rest of the family (my mother had 4 brothers and 4 sisters I discovered later).

In my adoption papers there were references from a school and a church in Northallerton so I summised that's the area where she'd been brought up. I also discovered her age, she'd been born in March, 1930 so was 17 years old when I was conceived. I then obtained a copy of her birth certificate and learnt she'd been born near Hexham in Northumberland. So her family had moved from there to the Northallerton area.

I didn't know what to do next really so I wrote to local newspapers covering Scarborough, Northallerton and Hexham and they printed my letter referencing my mother's name and asking for any information about her and giving my contact details. They wouldn't print anything like that these days! I was contacted by one lady from Scarborough who remembered my mother from the cafe but that's all. Then I had an amazing stroke of luck. In the days of dial-up internet I found a genealogy site for Northumberland and there was a forum on it and I posted asking for information on my mother. Within 48 hours I received an email from a woman who turned out to be a 1st cousin who gave me all the names and dates of my mother's parents, grandparents, her siblings and their marriages and children etc. She did this without asking why I wanted to know about my mother so she shouldn't have done really but it probably saved me years of searching. That's when I discovered my mother had died in 1990. She had married a few years after my birth and had a baby girl, so I had a half-sister. I also discovered that 2 of my mother's sisters were still alive and lived together.

I tried contacting my sister very tentatively via an intermediary but she didn't respond so I wrote to her directly myself proving who I was. I was a shock to her but she eventually sent me information about our mother's life and suggested we should meet once she'd come to terms with my existence - but we never have and I've never heard from her since. She said she had no idea who my father might be. Not long after I received a message from her husband telling me not to bother them again. I also wrote to my mother's 2 surviving sisters and they told me to leave them alone and wouldn't answer any questions about who my father might be.

I've found my mother's parents and her siblings on electoral registers in Northallerton, Scarborough, and Cumberland in the post-war years but my mother was too young to be included on them so where she was living between leaving school in July 1944 and working with her eldest sister from sometime in 1948 I can't say with any certainty. My sister seemed to think our mother and her other sisters worked in a cafe the family owned near Northallerton. The family also owned 3 farms : Bruncliffe Farm near Straddle Bridge, East Harlsey. They also had Marigold Farm a bit further north and another farm at Duggleby near Malton. These may well have employed farm hands who had been in POW/Polish resettlement camps and my mother would have had the opportunity or need to visit these farms as they were owned by her family. This seems the most likely scenario of how she met my father but I don't exclude other possibilities.

I'd pretty much given up on finding my father until about 7 years ago when DNA tests started getting publicity. I took one at Ancestry and discovered I had 'Eastern European' heritage which can only have come from my father as I traced my mother's family back to the 17th century and everyone in the tree is from the British Isles. Obviously these things are still an imprecise science re geographical locations but the first likelihood at the time seemed to suggest Pomerania as the most likely region of my father's ancestry, so he could have been of Polish or German nationality. Since then Ancestry and other sites seem to have broadened his possible ancestry to include other parts of Poland and a bit of Ukraine. Obviously I was taken aback by this revelation having always thought I was 100% British.

In 1948 I couldn't imagine there'd be many Poles in Yorkshire but how wrong I was. Thousands arrived in the UK just after the war to add to the 17000 air crew who'd been flying here during the war and the thousands of Poles who'd been fighting in the Polish Army with the Allies all over the world and were resettled here. A few thousand definitely arrived by ships to the port of Hull in Yorkshire and some passenger lists are available with hundreds of surnames. In the 1951 UK Census, 162,339 residents had listed Poland as their birthplace and Yorkshire being the largest county in England had it's fair share of Poles overall eg in October 1948 there were 2000 Poles in the city of Sheffield alone. In the 2021 UK census there were 57000 Poles in Yorkshire. I recently took a y-chromosome test which flagged up that me and a Mr Baranski had a common male relative sometime between 1500-1850, probably around 1600. Not much use really but I'd not come across that surname before so I searched for 'Baranski' in Yorkshire on the Ancestry website and got over 50000 results!

There were POW camps – my father may have been German or a Pole conscripted into the Wehrmacht - and Polish resettlement camps not too far from where my mother may have lived/worked but there are no records I can find with names of who lived in them. Even if there were records there'd be 00s/000s of names. There were schools for the children from the Polish Resettlement camps and I have found lists of attendees for some but there are hundreds of different surnames. I have been to the local Archives in the region of Yorkshire where my mother likely was in 1947/8 but there is a lack of documentary information. Similarly I have contacted Catholic churches where I suspected Poles might have visited back in 1948 and asked present-day Polish community organisations such as polishatheart.com and the Polish project at FamilytreeDNA,com for help and even the National Farmers' Union, British Newspaper Archives etc, but there's just no records (or sometimes no interest) that would help narrow down Polish men to a manageable number of names to research and filter down to those in a specific area in 1947/8.

Thanks for reminding me of FreeBMD and how it can be used. I couldn't find any Poles born 1926-28 (based on the 'fact' my father was 21 in 1948) in the areas where my mother may have lived so if he was born in the UK it must have been in another area. There are some Polish names that married in 1948-52 (an arbitrary cut-off point for now) in the areas where my mother may have lived so I can spend some time looking into that. There's also the 1939 Register that's been mentioned and the National Archives' naturalization records to peruse. The support I feel in this forum has galvanised me into considering writing to my sister and asking for example if any family friends or acquaintances were Polish or German, as when we were in contact 25 years ago she didn't know about my mixed ethnicity. She can't do worse than ignore me. I also have a first cousin of my mother's ( the son of one of my mother's brothers) who might be still alive and who I could contact again for any local knowledge of Poles or Germans or my mother's whereabouts 1944-48.

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:17 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:17 pm

Trish wrote:

Hi Stewart, JaJan, and Jillian,

Stewart, everyone so far has given you great advice to try. I do have some question and comments for you.

I’m not sure if you know that Polish Origins conducts genealogy research. Here is the link about their genealogy research team. https://polishorigins.com/genealogy/ I HAVE A GENEALOGIST WHO'S BEEN HELPING ME

Do you have a tree on ancestry.com or familysearch.org? I saw a few trees with Pawel Matyakowski’s family in ancestry.com. I did not see a tree on familysearch.org. The trees on ancestry.com did not have a lot of information on them. Since the trees on ancestry.com did not have a lot of information on them, there was no way to figure out any connections to someone that may have went to the UK. I wondering if you post a tree on familysearch.org (Where it is free to post a tree.) that maybe other people on the forum can try to help find information for you. I CAN'T POST A TREE RE MY FATHER. I HAVE ABOUT 3500 'MEANINGFUL' DNA MATCHES SOME IN TREES SOME NOT, THE PROBLEM IS BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL SO DISTANT IT'S BEEN DIFFICULT TO FIND CONNECTIONS AND I NEED MORE CONNECTIONS TO FIND MORE GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS>GREAT GRANDPARENTS>FATHER. SO UNLIKE MOST PEOPLE BUILDING TREES I'M TRYING TO BUILD ONE FORWARD IN TIME NOT GOING BACK IN TIME.

You wrote: My mother was only 18 when she had me and after leaving school in Northallerton, Yorkshire may have worked on farms or riding schools in that area or in Cumbria where her family had farms. She certainly worked in a Boarding House run by her eldest sister in Scarborough, Yorkshire for most of 1948.

Did you contact people who are related to your mother’s side for any information about your mother? The reason why I ask this question was there were relatives who knew of my biological mother’s secret that she gave me up for adoption. I just saying, you don’t know what people know unless you ask. Maybe someone knew your mother and your father. I know you said some people do not respond, but I would not give up. Someone might shed some light for you. I'M GOING TO POST AN EXPANDED VERSION OF MY CV/FATHER SEARCH THAT COVERS THIS POINT

Question: I am not sure how it is in the UK, but a lot of adoptees in the USA have two birth records. One is our “original” record with our biological parents’ name on it (Note: Sometimes the father’s name is not listed.) And then we have an “amended” birth record with our new name (If your name was changed like mine name was.) and adoptive parents’ names are listed. Does the UK have anything like that? Do you have two birth records? Here in the USA, some States like Pennsylvania allowed adoptees to get a “non-certified” copy of our original birth record. The last time Pennsylvania had this option was back in the early 1980’s. The State sealed the records again in 1985. It’s only recently that the State opened the birth records for adoptees again. I’m not sure if the UK has anything like this. YES IT'S THE SAME IN UK, I HAVE MY CERTIFIED COPY OF MY ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE AS WELL AS ADOPTED VERSION

Regards,
Trish

Trish, I've inserted comments in your quoted text

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:05 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:05 pm

Apologies Jillian, I forgot to add at the end that i'd inserted comments in capitals in your quoted message

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:03 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:03 pm

Jillian W wrote:

Hello Stewart,

It appears that you have two counties to concentrate on - both quite large - Yorkshire and Cumbria.

1. Take a look at the British Newspaper archive website to see if they hold local newspapers for these counties and then carry out some searches, e.g. Polish refugees, Polish camps, etc., as they may have reported on the set-up and arrival of residents. You can carry out searches on various topics for free before subscribing and I think that you can get access to about half a dozen newspapers for free as well.I'VE TRIED THAT PREVIOUSLY AND ANNOYINGLY MOST RESULTS WERE ABOUT POLISH, THE THING YOU CLEAN SHOES OR FURNITURE WITH!

2. I’ve attached a link to a document covering prisoner of war camps in the U.K.
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/prisoner-of-war-camps/prisoner-of-war-camps/ EDEN CAMP NEAR MALTON WAS PROBABLY THE NEAREST TO WHERE MY MOTHER MAY HAVE BEEN BUT I'VE BEEN UNABLE TO FIND RECORDS OF OCCUPANTS, SIMILARLY WITH RESETTLEMENT CAMPS.

3. Also to a site for Polish Resettlement Camps. https://www.polishresettlementcampsintheuk.co.uk/index.htm. This site has a forum and maybe you might be able to obtain some further assistance.

4. If your father arrived in this country before 1938 then he would have attended school until he was at least 14 years. YES I'D NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT, I'M CONTACTING THE NORTH YORKSHIRE RECORDS OFFICE TO SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING THERE.

5. Perhaps local archives may hold some information on Polish settlers, local schools, camps, etc., which could prove useful. TRIED ALREADY AND GOT NOWHERE

6. Maybe consider trawling through the 1939 National Register to see if there were any residents with Polish sounding surnames living in the area. I seem to remember that one of the sites did allow you to search on place of birth. YES I'LL CHECK THAT OUT

7. Time consuming, but your father may well have married in the years following 1948 so a search of marriages for men in these two counties with Polish sounding surnames may also throw up some names - https://www.freebmd.org.uk/search Assuming his year of birth is correct, you could also carry out a search on deaths in a similar manner. YES, WORTH A TRY

8. If one of your Dna cousins has an on-line tree which they've researched then you could try using that information as a starting point and moving forward. LOTS OF TREES BUT CAN'T CONNECT THEM YET

9. Geneteka and FamilySearch are both useful in providing alternative spellings of surnames as well as identifying the areas of Poland where the name is most prevalent. YES I'VE HAD HELP IN USING THESE FROM A COUPLE OF POLISH COUSINS AND GENEALOGISTS WHO ARE HELPING ME

I will send you a pm later as I was in a very similar situation a few years ago, but two generations back!

Jillian

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:44 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:44 pm

Sophia wrote:

Hi Stewart,

I am sure you have explored the collections of the UK National Archives, but have you looked specifically at their lists of people who were naturalized? Here, for example, is the list of those naturalized in 1947. They are listed alphabetically, but of course since you do not know the surname you are looking for, ignore that and look rather at the other two columns. One shows the country they came from. The other shows where they were living when they applied. It may not be the best example, but I found a "Baumwollspinner, Alfred" from Poland with a place of residence given as Sheffield, Yorkshire.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11194777

Click on "preview an image of this record" and it will allow you to look at each page of the index.

It would seem a daunting task, yet finite. You will be able to create a list of names of men who were at least near where your biological mother lived, with the hope that they went on to have descendants who have created family trees or who have had their DNA tested. I understand that you are looking at a large area of England. Still, it would provide a starting point. The National Archives has indices for naturalization in other years as well.

Worth a look?
Sophia

Thanks Sophia, it's something that hadn't occurred to me before and yes it does look a bit daunting when my mother could have been in a few different places and that's only 1947! Of course my father could also have been an itinerant or just visiting the area where my mother happened to be he could have died or emigrated to USA in 1948 etc etc, there's just so many possibilities. I'll give it a try anyway!

Re: Trying to ID my father

Sophia — Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:20 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:20 pm

Hi Stewart,

I am sure you have explored the collections of the UK National Archives, but have you looked specifically at their lists of people who were naturalized? Here, for example, is the list of those naturalized in 1947. They are listed alphabetically, but of course since you do not know the surname you are looking for, ignore that and look rather at the other two columns. One shows the country they came from. The other shows where they were living when they applied. It may not be the best example, but I found a "Baumwollspinner, Alfred" from Poland with a place of residence given as Sheffield, Yorkshire.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11194777

Click on "preview an image of this record" and it will allow you to look at each page of the index.

It would seem a daunting task, yet finite. You will be able to create a list of names of men who were at least near where your biological mother lived, with the hope that they went on to have descendants who have created family trees or who have had their DNA tested. I understand that you are looking at a large area of England. Still, it would provide a starting point. The National Archives has indices for naturalization in other years as well.

Worth a look?
Sophia

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:56 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:56 pm

Sophia wrote:

stewart wrote:

Hi Jajan, Jillian and Trish!

Just to say thanks all for your posts which have given me some fresh inspiration and confirms how fortunate it was that I found this forum - though I'm still not sure how to send a pm or whether to use quote or quick reply. I'll try and respond to any points or Qs separately

Stewart

Hi Stewart,

It looks like you are making good progress here on the forum. Let me assist you a little bit. When you write a private message, it will sit in your Outbox until the recipient reads it. Once they read it, it will move to your Sent Box. If they reply privately, you'll see that in your Inbox. Did you need any additional help with the private messaging?

You can reply for all to see by using either the quote or the quick reply. If you use the quote, then everything in the message you are quoting will be present along with your added words. You can see that is what I did here. Had I used the quick reply instead, it would only be my words in this post. Does that clear it up?

Best regards,
Sophia

Yes, I think I get the hang of it now Sophia, thanks!

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:53 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:53 pm

Jillian W wrote:

Stewart, Trish's query has now triggered another line of thought!

Yes, we do have a similar system here in the U.K. - the original birth certificate would simply show the baby's date and place of birth and also the mother's name and possibly her own address. Where there hadn't been a marriage the column for the father's name and occupation would be left blank. Following an adoption there would be an adoption certificate which was laid out in similar fashion to a birth certificate but just showing details of the adoptive parents.

But, what might prove to be of interest is the name of the person who went to the Registrar's Office and registered the baby shortly after the birth had taken place. This may have been the mother - or maybe a friend/relative.

I have also heard of situations where the mother of a child who is to be adopted decides to do one last thing and have the baby christened. So it may be worthwhile just checking churches near to the place of birth as the godparents could prove to be interest. In addition, there's always the possibility that the adoptive parents also arranged a christening - again this could be investigated just to be certain.

Jillian

My mother registered the birth according to my birth certificate. I'm not aware of any godparents and I think my mother wouldn't have wanted anyone else to know she was pregnant - only my mother's eldest sister knew of the pregnancy according to my adoption notes and it was clear my mother would not have found a welcome for herself and me at her parents home. I'd be surprised if a church back then would want to christen a child born out of wedlock but it's a possibility so i've emailed the nearest church to see.

Re: Trying to ID my father

Sophia — Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:07 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:07 pm

stewart wrote:

Re: Trying to ID my father

Trish — Mon Feb 10, 2025 10:17 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 10:17 am

Jillian W wrote:

I have also heard of situations where the mother of a child who is to be adopted decides to do one last thing and have the baby christened. So it may be worthwhile just checking churches near to the place of birth as the godparents could prove to be interest. In addition, there's always the possibility that the adoptive parents also arranged a christening - again this could be investigated just to be certain.

Jillian

Hi Everyone!

Jillian, you made me remember, I too have two baptismal certificates. One under my orignial given name and one under my adoptive name. My adoption was through Catholic Social Services. I have two baptismal records because the nuns at the orphange had the babies baptized right away.

Regards,
Trish

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Sun Feb 09, 2025 5:38 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 5:38 pm

Hi Jajan, Jillian and Trish!

Just to say thanks all for your posts which have given me some fresh inspiration and confirms how fortunate it was that I found this forum - though I'm still not sure how to send a pm or whether to use quote or quick reply. I'll try and respond to any points or Qs separately

Stewart

Trying to ID my father

Jillian W — Sun Feb 09, 2025 1:04 pm

Author: Jillian W

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 1:04 pm

Stewart, Trish's query has now triggered another line of thought!

Yes, we do have a similar system here in the U.K. - the original birth certificate would simply show the baby's date and place of birth and also the mother's name and possibly her own address. Where there hadn't been a marriage the column for the father's name and occupation would be left blank. Following an adoption there would be an adoption certificate which was laid out in similar fashion to a birth certificate but just showing details of the adoptive parents.

But, what might prove to be of interest is the name of the person who went to the Registrar's Office and registered the baby shortly after the birth had taken place. This may have been the mother - or maybe a friend/relative.

I have also heard of situations where the mother of a child who is to be adopted decides to do one last thing and have the baby christened. So it may be worthwhile just checking churches near to the place of birth as the godparents could prove to be interest. In addition, there's always the possibility that the adoptive parents also arranged a christening - again this could be investigated just to be certain.

Jillian

Re: Trying to ID my father

Trish — Sun Feb 09, 2025 12:12 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 12:12 pm

Hi Stewart, JaJan, and Jillian,

Stewart, everyone so far has given you great advice to try. I do have some question and comments for you.

I’m not sure if you know that Polish Origins conducts genealogy research. Here is the link about their genealogy research team. https://polishorigins.com/genealogy/

Do you have a tree on ancestry.com or familysearch.org? I saw a few trees with Pawel Matyakowski’s family in ancestry.com. I did not see a tree on familysearch.org. The trees on ancestry.com did not have a lot of information on them. Since the trees on ancestry.com did not have a lot of information on them, there was no way to figure out any connections to someone that may have went to the UK. I wondering if you post a tree on familysearch.org (Where it is free to post a tree.) that maybe other people on the forum can try to help find information for you.

You wrote: My mother was only 18 when she had me and after leaving school in Northallerton, Yorkshire may have worked on farms or riding schools in that area or in Cumbria where her family had farms. She certainly worked in a Boarding House run by her eldest sister in Scarborough, Yorkshire for most of 1948.

Did you contact people who are related to your mother’s side for any information about your mother? The reason why I ask this question was there were relatives who knew of my biological mother’s secret that she gave me up for adoption. I just saying, you don’t know what people know unless you ask. Maybe someone knew your mother and your father. I know you said some people do not respond, but I would not give up. Someone might shed some light for you.

Question: I am not sure how it is in the UK, but a lot of adoptees in the USA have two birth records. One is our “original” record with our biological parents’ name on it (Note: Sometimes the father’s name is not listed.) And then we have an “amended” birth record with our new name (If your name was changed like mine name was.) and adoptive parents’ names are listed. Does the UK have anything like that? Do you have two birth records? Here in the USA, some States like Pennsylvania allowed adoptees to get a “non-certified” copy of our original birth record. The last time Pennsylvania had this option was back in the early 1980’s. The State sealed the records again in 1985. It’s only recently that the State opened the birth records for adoptees again. I’m not sure if the UK has anything like this.

Regards,
Trish

Trying to ID my father

Jillian W — Sun Feb 09, 2025 3:07 am

Author: Jillian W

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 3:07 am

Hello Stewart,

It appears that you have two counties to concentrate on - both quite large - Yorkshire and Cumbria.

1. Take a look at the British Newspaper archive website to see if they hold local newspapers for these counties and then carry out some searches, e.g. Polish refugees, Polish camps, etc., as they may have reported on the set-up and arrival of residents. You can carry out searches on various topics for free before subscribing and I think that you can get access to about half a dozen newspapers for free as well.

2. I’ve attached a link to a document covering prisoner of war camps in the U.K.
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/prisoner-of-war-camps/prisoner-of-war-camps/

3. Also to a site for Polish Resettlement Camps. https://www.polishresettlementcampsintheuk.co.uk/index.htm. This site has a forum and maybe you might be able to obtain some further assistance.

4. If your father arrived in this country before 1938 then he would have attended school until he was at least 14 years.

5. Perhaps local archives may hold some information on Polish settlers, local schools, camps, etc., which could prove useful.

6. Maybe consider trawling through the 1939 National Register to see if there were any residents with Polish sounding surnames living in the area. I seem to remember that one of the sites did allow you to search on place of birth.

7. Time consuming, but your father may well have married in the years following 1948 so a search of marriages for men in these two counties with Polish sounding surnames may also throw up some names - https://www.freebmd.org.uk/search Assuming his year of birth is correct, you could also carry out a search on deaths in a similar manner.

8. If one of your Dna cousins has an on-line tree which they've researched then you could try using that information as a starting point and moving forward.

9. Geneteka and FamilySearch are both useful in providing alternative spellings of surnames as well as identifying the areas of Poland where the name is most prevalent.

I will send you a pm later as I was in a very similar situation a few years ago, but two generations back!

Jillian

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Sat Feb 08, 2025 6:09 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 6:09 pm

Yes Jajan, I've had help from a Polish distant cousin in finding things through that website, it's a pity there are gaps in the data but it's digitalized by volunteers so it could be some time before it's complete.

Re: Trying to ID my father

jajan — Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:43 pm

Author: jajan

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:43 pm

Hi stewart.

From what you posted, I expect that you have seen the following on https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/? I am not familiar with this part of Poland, but maybe knowing the parish (Gójsk, woj. mazowieckie) might be helpful to someone else on the forum in order to potentially provide assistance in your search.

I hope that you find the break-through that you are looking for. jajan

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:08 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:08 pm

In lieu of my PM:

Thanks for the prompt response Trish and your interest in my case.

I've tested at Ancestry and 23andme and at FamilyTreeDNA where I did the Y-111 chromosome test, and I've uploaded my DNA to all the sites you mention - Myheritage, Gedmatch and LivingDNA. I've been searching via these DNA sites for my father for about 7 years and although I've not used the tools you mention myself I've had people use them on my behalf - I have a genealogist 'cousin' in USA whose been helping for the past 2 years pro bono and before her I had 2 'search angels' at different times.

The main problem is that my matches are so distant - my biggest ever match is 102cM at Ancestry, most of the rest are well under 50cM. The second problem is people not replying to my messages (including my 102cM match) for whatever reason (death, disinterest, dubious about revealing family secrets and/or my motives). The third issue is people - especially children/grandchildren of emigres to USA simply not knowing about their own ancestry in Poland/Germanic Poland so unable to provide any information. Another issue is the lack of Poles and Germans getting DNA tested!

The Polish Genealogy Society site https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=eng&bdm=S&w=02kp&rid=S&search_lastname=Czajkowski&search_name=&search_lastname2=Wasielewska&search_name2=&from_date=1850&to_date=1889&rpp1=&ordertable= has been useful in confirming names, dates etc but it can be a bit quirky and there are gaps in the information because it hasn't all been digitalised yet - old scrawly handwritten records are being deciphered as best they can by volunteers much like at familysearch.org. Talking of them they list a lot of helpful links https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Poland_Societies but they are only helpful if I knew my father's name! Similarly there are records in the UK of Poles in resettlement camps after WWII and records of Polish airmen who fought in the war but without a surname it's hopeless. For all I know he may have been a single child and died in 1948 in which case it's doubtful i'll ever find out anything, there are all sorts of scenarios!

I really don't know that I can do any more than I have that's why I posted my desperate plea in the forum, I'm just feeling more frustrated as time marches on. Obviously I don't know what your situation is as an adoptee but I'm getting more unsettled about not having ever met my mother, being shunned by her family when I discovered who she was, and not knowing anything about my father. I feel restless and rootless, more so as I never really bonded with my adopted parents.

At the moment I'm thinking of joining the Gedmatch Tier 1 plan for a month to see if that reveals anything new but I suspect it's more clutching at straws like doing the Y-chromosome test. I'm also considering employing a German genealogist as it seems a lot harder to access German records online for some reason, maybe privacy concerns and/or a lot of records were lost in wartime.

I'm glad I discovered this forum anyway! It's nice to know someone empathises with your plight and is keen to help.

Re: Trying to ID my father

stewart — Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:01 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:01 pm

Thanks Trish, I've tried to pm you but my message seems stuck in the outbox and doesn't appear in my sent box, so not sure how to send it

Re: Trying to ID my father

Trish — Sat Feb 08, 2025 1:31 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 1:31 pm

stewart wrote:

I was born in September 1948 near York, England. My father was not named on my birth certificate. My mother's pregnancy was hidden from the rest of the family – and I presume my father - and I was adopted a few weeks after my birth. I didn't discover the ID of my birth mother until about 2000, and learnt she had died in 1990 and so she took my father's ID to her grave.

7 years ago out of curiousity I took DNA tests in the hope it may throw up something. I didn't find any close relatives but the main surprise was that my heritage was 50% Eastern European, probably Polish/ Germanic Polish and possibly focused on the region known as Pomerania. This can only have come from my father as I can trace my mother was 100% British.

My mother was only 18 when she had me and after leaving school in Northallerton, Yorkshire may have worked on farms or riding schools in that area or in Cumbria where her family had farms. She certainly worked in a Boarding House run by her eldest sister in Scarborough, Yorkshire for most of 1948.

Former Prisoners of War and workers from Poland who had fled from there (from fascism or later from communism) or who had fought in the Second World War for the Allies were employed as farm hands on farms near where my mother lived and worked for some years after the war ended. This has made me wonder if my father could have been one of these workers. She described him to the adoption agency (in 1948) as being 21 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, fair, a farmer/farmer's son and British.Whilst most of that may have been true she was a young woman in different times and may have been frightened of the stigma of having had a relationship with a foreigner though it is possible but I think unlikely - as farms tend to be passed down through families - that his family may have previously emigrated to England and got into farming.

My paternal DNA connections are very very distant but thanks to a distant cousin in USA I recently reached a milestone in my search, finding my most recent common ancestors. Their names are Pawel Matyakowski and Katarzyna Kozlowska born in Poland in the early 19th century. Multiple DNA matches of mine descend from this couple. They are likely one set of my paternal great-great grandparents. Once I find another set of great-great grandparents, I may be able to identify a great grandparent then try to build the trees down instead of up and try to find a descendant in the right place and time (1947/4 to have been my father.

But at 76 I'm not sure if this will happen in my lifetime.It' s very frustrating not to know who my father was or anything about his life and family history. So I am looking for a man with Polish/Germanic-Polish heritage who was in the North of England in 1947/48. If anyone has any suggestions they would be most welcome.

Hi Stewart,
Welcome to the forum! I too am an adoptee.

What DNA test did you do? Each one gives you something different. I did the DNA tests for ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and 23&me. Each one gives you different information. It seems most Europeans like MyHertiage.com ove ancestry.com. However, I did not get a lot of responses when I wrote to people about our connections. I like ancestry.com the best. It is the easiest to use. It really narrows down your DNA. People seem to respond back more if you write to them. (For the record, the emails go through the website. So your email address is private unless you give your email address directly to the person.)

I found these tools to be a big help when trying to figure out how people are related.

If you have an ancestry.com subscription, you can buy their "Pro Tool". The "Pro Tool" is a big help in figuring out how people are related to you. If you click on "shared matches" in your DNA while using the "Pro Tool", it will show how a match is related to you such as sibling, half-sibling, 1st cousin, 2nd cousin, etc. There are ways around to figure out how you connect to people if you don't have an ancestry.com subscription but did ancestry.com's DNA test, I can explain this better through a private message.

The other thing to try is the "Leeds Method". You color coordinate the surnames that are matching up to you. I've used this method several times. It does help.

Here is the link for the "Leeds Method". https://www.yourdnaguide.com/leeds-method

Also, you can download your DNA test as a zip file to your computer and then upload it for free to the following sebsites. You might get some hints.

https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomal-transfer

https://www.myheritage.com/dna/upload

https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php

https://livingdna.com/free-dna-upload

DNApainter is a great tool also. There are several tools on this website you can use.
https://dnapainter.com/

Use this tool to see possible relationships at a specific percent or number of centimorgans.
https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

If you have any questions, you can send me a private message, and I will be happy to help any way I can.

Regards,
Trish

Trying to ID my father

stewart — Fri Feb 07, 2025 4:00 pm

Author: stewart

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2025 4:00 pm

I was born in September 1948 near York, England. My father was not named on my birth certificate. My mother's pregnancy was hidden from the rest of the family – and I presume my father - and I was adopted a few weeks after my birth. I didn't discover the ID of my birth mother until about 2000, and learnt she had died in 1990 and so she took my father's ID to her grave.

7 years ago out of curiousity I took DNA tests in the hope it may throw up something. I didn't find any close relatives but the main surprise was that my heritage was 50% Eastern European, probably Polish/ Germanic Polish and possibly focused on the region known as Pomerania. This can only have come from my father as I can trace my mother was 100% British.

My mother was only 18 when she had me and after leaving school in Northallerton, Yorkshire may have worked on farms or riding schools in that area or in Cumbria where her family had farms. She certainly worked in a Boarding House run by her eldest sister in Scarborough, Yorkshire for most of 1948.

Former Prisoners of War and workers from Poland who had fled from there (from fascism or later from communism) or who had fought in the Second World War for the Allies were employed as farm hands on farms near where my mother lived and worked for some years after the war ended. This has made me wonder if my father could have been one of these workers. She described him to the adoption agency (in 1948) as being 21 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, fair, a farmer/farmer's son and British.Whilst most of that may have been true she was a young woman in different times and may have been frightened of the stigma of having had a relationship with a foreigner though it is possible but I think unlikely - as farms tend to be passed down through families - that his family may have previously emigrated to England and got into farming.

My paternal DNA connections are very very distant but thanks to a distant cousin in USA I recently reached a milestone in my search, finding my most recent common ancestors. Their names are Pawel Matyakowski and Katarzyna Kozlowska born in Poland in the early 19th century. Multiple DNA matches of mine descend from this couple. They are likely one set of my paternal great-great grandparents. Once I find another set of great-great grandparents, I may be able to identify a great grandparent then try to build the trees down instead of up and try to find a descendant in the right place and time (1947/4 to have been my father.

But at 76 I'm not sure if this will happen in my lifetime.It' s very frustrating not to know who my father was or anything about his life and family history. So I am looking for a man with Polish/Germanic-Polish heritage who was in the North of England in 1947/48. If anyone has any suggestions they would be most welcome.