PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

PolishLibrarian — Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:06 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:06 pm

Hi Lorri~ As you can see from the title of this record, the church records go to 1889, so you're probably not going to find Jozef's baptism (you're pretty sure he was born 1890-1893, right?). But you might be able to find Jozef's parents marriage and perhaps births of other older siblings if there were any. Certainly worth a try.

This record is for 14 rolls of microfilm so no one here is going to have it in their collection. If you click on the View Film Notes button in the upper right hand corner, it will take you to a list of the 14 rolls with what years are on each roll & a roll number for each. I think I'd choose to look at the marriages from 1882-89 first and maybe births 1888-1889. You order (& pay) online by the film number to have them sent to the the Family History Center closest to you. Then go into the center and look at the film on the center's equipment.

As for the SS document, again Joe probably didn't fill in the document but gave the info to the govt person and then signed that the info. was correct. As to the spelling of his name, obviously that is the way he was spelling it then, but the spelling is more like a phonetic spelling of what it sounds like. And I see what you mean about being a common name. There are a whole bunch of Jozef Lewandowski's born between 1890 and 1893 and arriving in the US around 1912-1913. I believe this village would have been part of the Russian partition at the time so that gives you another limiter - speaks Polish but from Russia. Cheri gives you some ideas of how to start broad and slowly narrow the results down. Good luck. ~PL

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:42 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:42 pm

Would anyone have these records in their collection already?

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

Cheri Vanden Berg — Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:09 am

Author: Cheri Vanden Berg

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:09 am

Hi, I'm sure that you know not to count on the birth date of the Social Security application when you have found so many birth years! I had the same with my grandmother. Glad to see that Joseph's village was on his application. Both my grandparent's applications only said Poland. Good news, the LDS has filmed church records for Goworowo: http://tinyurl.com/cgrufnw
I understand your frustration with not finding Joseph at Ellis Island. I spent endless hours over ten years looking for my grandmother Aniela Lenart. When I found her home village was Zaluczne, I went to Ellis Island gold with just intials, etc. A for a first name, L for her surname (I also tried S because I found that the cursive L could look like an S to an indexer, and a Z for the village, and still came up with nothing. When I got too many names, I'd narrow them down by adding a range of years for arrival, a range of birth years, and adding Polish for Ethnicity. It turned out she was indexed as Anieta Seuard from Telngger. I could tell that it said Zaluczne, but probably only because I knew where she was from at that point. Have you searched other ports besides Ellis Island?

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:45 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:45 pm

I have finally received my GGrandfathers SS Application. I'm very confused as he is using a very different spelling of his name. This is the Jozef I have been looking for for sure. I have spent the past two hours looking on the http://stevemorse.org/ellis2/ellisgold.html website and can't find him. I am very excited I have found his place of birth and confirmed his parents names. His information, in his handwriting, in a period of this life that I can count on it to be semi correct.

Need help finding his enterance to America.

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

PolishLibrarian — Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:39 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:39 pm

lorrir wrote:

I am attaching a screenshot from another website (rootsweb) where I was reading posts about "Sierpc and neighboring villages & parishes-Plock diocese" I came across the name Aneila Lewandowska. Is she my Aneila "Belak" Lewandowski. Could she have been widowed and remarried? Would she be referred to as a Belak or a Lewandowski in the marriage records?

Hi Lorri~ In my opinion this Aniela Lewandowska is not your Aniela Belak. This record says Aniela Lewandowska is the daughter of Szymon Lewandowski and she is age 20, not likely to be a widow although it is possible. I don't know if is usual, but my great gfather was a widower when he married my great gmother and that was so noted in the church marriage record (as well as the name of his deceased wife). ~PL

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:42 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:42 pm

I am attaching a screenshot from another website (rootsweb) where I was reading posts about "Sierpc and neighboring villages & parishes-Plock diocese" I came across the name Aneila Lewandowska. Is she my Aneila "Belak" Lewandowski. Could she have been widowed and remarried? Would she be referred to as a Belak or a Lewandowski in the marriage records?

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

PolishLibrarian — Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:01 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:01 pm

Another phone number I found connected to SH of J Church in Canonsburg, PA is 724-745-9139 (found in the parish directory at the PNCC website www.pnc.org) which also seems to be connected to a Rev. Joseph S. Lewandowksi. Now there's a coincidence!! Could he be a relative? Of course you did say there were other Lewandowski's in the area not related. ~PL

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

PolishLibrarian — Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:40 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:40 pm

Lorri~ That's great! Although this Polish National Catholic Church is part of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese Polish National Catholic Church, headquartered in Lancaster, NY and founded in 1928 http://www.buffalopittsburghdiocesepncc.org/. So you can't request sacramental records from the Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Diocese. I think you might want to start by contacting the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish (412) 418-7724 to find out where their early sacramental records are kept and how you could obtain copies of these records if they still exist. Good luck. ~PL

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:35 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:35 pm

I have found Joseph's Death Certificate and Obit (via a great researcher in PA), in 1959 he had one brother and two sisters still living in Poland! I am attaching the obit in hopes someone might be able to make a connection for me. I am doubting his date of birth as early documents; marriage certificate, son's birth certificate and census, give his birth year as 1891. I have ordered his SS application and will know for sure when it arrives.

I'm very excited at tis find, this is the one section of my family tree that had a dead end that I could not seem to over come. I still do not know what part of Poland he was from and if he knew Alexsandra Rutkowska (his future wife) when he lived in Poland.

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

Shellie — Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:15 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:15 pm

Excellent advice! I recently sent a request to the diocese for info about my great-great-grandparents!

http://www.diopitt.org/office-archives-and-record-center/information-genealogists

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

PolishLibrarian — Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:46 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:46 pm

Hi Lorri~ I’ve looked at the Census records for 1920 (I’m having problems getting this image to display fully), 1930 and 1940.

In 1920 Joseph & Alexander (sic) are living at 205 Euclid Ave. in Canonsburg. He is 29 and she is 24, both came in 1913 and I believe both are aliens (that part of the image was blacked out). He was working as a helper doubler in a tin plate mill(?)

In 1930 Chas (short for Charles) Freynik and Alice were living in Canonsburg, PA. Says she came to US in 1913, she is 38, age at first marriage is 21 (agrees w/your marriage record), and she is naturalized (if after 1920 or so, she had to apply on her own – couldn’t be naturalized in conjunction with her husband). Interestingly it looks like Chas is 31, but he came to US in 1893 (which is impossible, so maybe he’s 39), his age at first marriage is 18 (so they both were married once before) and he is naturalized.

In 1940 Alexander (sic) a female is living at 419 Hartiers Ave in Canonsburg, PA with son Leo. She’s widowed and working as a dressmaker. She was living in Canonsburg in 1935.

You have the civil marriage record. Is it safe to assume Jozef and Alexandra were Catholic? If so, have you considered looking for the sacramental records at the Diocese of Pittsburg? At the diocese web page for the archives with information for genealogists (can’t provide the web address as I can’t get the webpage to re-open in my browser), it tells which counties are part of the diocese (includes Washington County where Canonsburg is as well as Allegheny where Bruceton is) and indicates the church records prior to 1917 contain various amounts of info (no set standard on what had to be recorded prior to 1917). Marriage records may contain the town where groom and bride were born. Baptismal records may contain birth towns for the parents. For $15.00 per hour they will research more than one name, i.e. if you send them $15 and give them several names, they will give you one hour of time looking for records. I would give them the marriage info you have as well as the birth info. for each of the boys. Maybe you’ll hit pay dirt with one or all of them. They only give out info older than 100 years unless you can prove that the people are dead. Providing the civil marriage certificate should be good enough for looking for the sacramental marriage record as they would be 120 years old by now. Obituaries for John, Joseph and Leon would probably suffice to prove they have died as well.

Hope this helps. My grandparents’ 1912 church sacremental marriage record in Minneapolis, MN gave their parents names as well as the towns they were from. The civil marriage record was not much help at all. ~PL

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:59 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:59 pm

Shellie,

I found him in the PA death index you referenced. I searched year by year until I found a close match. If he died in 1959 as I think he did that index says he was 72, his date of birth would be 1887, which would mean he's not my Jozef or the family had his age wrong on the Death Certificate. I am hoping the family is wrong about his age and this is really my Jozef. Only time will tell.

Based on family conversations, it doesn't sound like my Jozef would have done anything more than the min required, so I doubt he would have made the effort to naturalize, but it is worth a try to look.

Thanks,

Lorri

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

Shellie — Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:37 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:37 pm

Hi Lorri,
You have found some great information.

In fact, it's probably enough info to request a search for records with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

If Jozef ever started the naturalization process, there is a good chance that his declaration of intent is on file with USCIS along with any other forms related to him.

If Jozef did not make any attempt to apply for citizenship, the USCIS may have alien registration forms for him.

The process is not cheap - a preliminary search is $25 and if they find records, it will be about $35 or so to get the records. I know that some of these records can be obtained for little or nothing at the National Archives, but in my case, I was not able to find what I was was looking for.

For me, the records I ordered from USCIS were the only documents that provided birthdate and village name for some of my ancestors: exactly the information I needed to break through my brick walls and locate church records from Poland.

You can read about how I ordered records from USCIS at the link below. Actually, this message reminded me that I need to update that post with some info about the Alien Registration forms I received.

http://polishorigins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657

I hope this helps!
Shellie

PS: Did you find the possible 1959 death date for Jozef in the Pennsylvania death index at:
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1085804&mode=2

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:50 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:50 pm

The Marriage record is from Allegenghy County, Bruceton, PA to be exact, a mining town.
Jozef moved his family to Canonsburg and appears in the 1920 census married with three sons: John born 1915, Joseph born 1916 , Leon born 1918.

Alexandra (Rutkowksa) Lewandowski Freynik is the full name of his wife, she remarried after she divorced him in 1925. She appears in the 1930 Census married to Charles Freynik and listed as Alice.

I have found a Jozef Lewandowski in the 1930 census in the Canonsburg area, but I can not confirm it is him because, there is another Jozef Lewandowski that was a miner that moved in the same circles as my Jozef. I'm looking for another piece of evidence to support the 1930 census before I add it to my records.

I found him in 1940 census living as a boarder, in Canonsburg .

The Sons; John Lewandowski (my grandfather) lived his life in Canonsburg until his death, his mother (Alexandra was living with him when she passed), Joseph Lewandowski move to Baltimore and lived there until his death, Leon Lewandowski lived in Pittsburg until his death.

In reference to the military, I have not found where he would have registgered for WWI or WWII, I have looked at every single Lewandowski (or variation of) registration form on both Ancestry and Fold3 and can't find a match.

I have not applied for his SS number because I do not know his date of birth. Based on his son's birth certificates and census records, I have narrowed it down to Jan-April of 1890.

My mother and aunts indicate he was a heavy drinker, who worked on and off, lived with whoever would take him in. His divorce record from Alexandra indicates physical and mental abuse and lack of support. My mother said he broke his hip after a fall and died in a nursing home or hospital sometime before 1962.

I think I found his date of death in 1959 in Canonsburg, I have someone who is going to the PA archives for me to get the death certificate. I suspect that as time went on he americanized his name to Joseph or even Joe.

With out a date of birth I haven't gotten very far. I'm concerned that even his death certificate will not give the correct date of birth, as the information would have been supplied by one of his sons.

I was hoping that if I found information on his parents in Poland I could find more about him. I am thinking if I find his parents, he would have been baptized and I could have the one piece of information that I need the most. A date of birth.

Lorri

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

Shellie — Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:25 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:25 pm

lorrir wrote:

The only information I have is the document I downloaded on this sire. I am really looking for Jozef Lewnadowski their son.

Actually you have more information, but might not realize it. You found Jozef in the 1920 census and found a possible emigration date. The census can also have his address, whether he was naturalized, names of any borders, and his occupation. All of these are useful clues that can lead to other documents.

Do you have the link to Jozef's census record? Posting it here may generate more discussion that might help your search.

The marriage record is from Allegheny County, PA.
Did Jozef live in the Pittsburgh area all of his life, or did he move?
Did his wife ever go by another first name/nickname?
Do you have names of their children?
Did he serve in the military?
Did he apply for a social security number?

These might also provide more clues to people who are trying to help you.

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:48 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:48 pm

The only information I have is the document I downloaded on this sire. I am really looking for Jozef Lewnadowski their son.

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

Shellie — Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:19 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:19 pm

Hi Lorrir

Can you add any details that you already know about Leon and Aniela (Belack) Lewandowski?

These are the ancestors that you mention this this posting at the link below?

http://polishorigins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1690

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:33 pm

Author: lorrir

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:33 pm

I have been searching on Familysearch.com for any information about my great great granparents Leon and Aniela (Belack) Lewandowski, But have come up with nothing. Any help would be great!

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

lorrir — Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:12 am

Author: lorrir

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:12 am

I changed the heading on my post.

Thanks a million for correction

Re: Surnames: Lewandowski/Belak Rutkowska/Rajkowska

PolishLibrarian — Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:55 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:55 pm

Took a quick look at your document. The one thing I noticed is that Jozef's mother's name is Aniela Belak (note how the e is written in all the other words on the form) not Brlak. ~PL