PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Sat Jun 27, 2026 12:07 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2026 12:07 pm

Hi Sam and Trish,

There are minimal available records online for Lubasz, Szczucin. You can see that Skanoteka has them here, but only for the years 1880-1889:
https://skanoteka.genealodzy.pl/id3649-sy3505

I went through them anyway, just to see if the Piatkowski family shows up. Interestingly, there is one baptism for a Piatkowski child. It happens to be in September, and it happens to be a Maria, but it is 1889 and we were expecting her to be born in 1895. Sam, is there any chance that your great-grandmother was a bit older than her U.S. records show?

https://skanoteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=pg&id=3649&se=&sy=3505&kt=1&plik=015.jpg&zoom=6.41 look on the left page at baptism #20. Her father is Jan and her mother is Agnieszka. Trish, would this fit with the manifest you found?

Sophia

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Trish — Sat Jun 27, 2026 8:46 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2026 8:46 am

Sam wrote:

The following image is gleaned from my great-grandfather's 1918 draft card, and may be the only lead I readily possess regarding an exact place in Austrian Galicia (DNA appears to suggest modern-day Lesser Poland in particular) he may have resided/been born in before emigrating. The registrant (a Mr. Ryan) seems to have wrote village/town names on my ancestor's card and others he recorded on the foreign citizenship line, even though such a thing was not explicitly called-for, so it may be a stroke of fortune for me, considering my ancestor never filed for naturalization nor am I certain of any immigration/manifest record.

Hi Sam and Sophia,

Sam, don't you just love pictures? They bring the person to life. I think the pictures are so interesting. Thank you for sharing them with us.

I'm still having trouble finding the manifests for your ancestors. I did find a Marya Piatkowska coming into the USA from Lubasz, but her father was Jan.

By any chance did you try to obtain the church marriage record for Andrzej and Marya? It might have some clues on the record. I would ask the church for the record with any notations on it like place of origin and parents' name. The church record could list the witnesses' names which also might be helpful. You can also try to get the baptismal records of the children. Their could be clues on those records also.

Name Andrej Szewczyk
Gender Male
Marriage Date 22 Oct 1913
Marriage Place Greensberg, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, USA
Spouse Mary Anna Piotkonoska
Film Number 001316396

I am not familiar with the towns mentioned on the Alien Registration. Maybe someone on the forum would know if there is any microfilm online for these towns. Also, maybe you can write to the town and ask for the birth records for Andrzej and Marya.

Regards,
Trish

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Wed Jun 24, 2026 7:26 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 7:26 am

Hi Sam,

Thanks for uploading the portraits! These colorized photos were so popular in the 1910s and 1920s. I had a chance to see a set which had been removed from their frames. It was rather interesting. They are actual black-and-white photos onto which color had been added. On the back of each picture were some notes from the photographer to the color artist, telling them for example what color eyes the person had, what color the necktie should be, etc.

Thanks again,
Sophia

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:44 pm

Author: Sam

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:44 pm

Sophia,

My mistake! But Trish's manifest makes me wish the AR-2 asked if the registrant had any living siblings in the U.S.

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:56 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:56 am

Hi Sam,

Actually it was Trish who pointed out the difference between birthplace and residence on the manifest. Just giving credit where credit is due!

I'd be interested to see the crayon portraits!

Sophia

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Fri Jun 19, 2026 9:54 pm

Author: Sam

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 9:54 pm

Sophia and Trish,

I have been looking through FamilySearch manifests. Unfortunately I have seen nothing really substantial, although one can't shake the feeling they might've missed something, although the 13 July date seems specific now that a ship name has been revealed. I did investigate the Kaiser Wilhelm II's manifest, as it was at New York in July as well.

Trish, you are right about birthplace vs. residence.

And I did find two "crayon portraits" alongside a note identifying them as Andrzej and his wife, Marianna. If there is interest in seeing them I'd post them. I do wonder if the original photos the crayon enlargements are based on are still out there somewhere.

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Trish — Fri Jun 19, 2026 12:50 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 12:50 pm

Sophia wrote:

Sam wrote:

Sophia,

I did consider the 18 May manifest the most sensible possibility for Andrzej (of those I could readily find) if a 1904 arrival was indeed correct. Sadly I failed to pursue the lead of a brother while my paid membership on Ancestry was active.

What put me off somewhat was the apparent age of the individual (eighteen), which seems rather low, considering Andrzej only ever gave his birth years as between 1880-1882. The residence place, (also featuring a castle and lake à la Dobczyce), also seemed too far south to me, although I did see Slovak results in some of my DNA matches.

Hi Sam,

Thanks for that. It's hard to retain details like this when I am looking at so many requests from so many people.

I am providing here a link to the first page of the manifest for the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse's arrival at Ellis Island on July 13, 1904:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-816Y-94M4?view=index&cc=1368704&lang=en&groupId=M9P8-Z2W

You will notice that the first pages are for passengers who embarked in Cherbourg. You have to continue paging through the images until you reach those who sailed from Bremen.

I know it will be tedious because this ship begins on image 176 and ends on image 258, but I say you should go for it!

Good luck,
Sophia

Hi Sophia and Sam,

I still trying to see if I can find any other manifest for Andrzej. However, I do want to bring to your attention one detail about the 1904 manitest I had posted. The town listed is the "last known residence" not the "town of birth". I'm trying to keep an open mind here. However, I'll keep searching.

I did find a few people named Jozef Szewczyk in Pennsylvania. There were many. Their years of birth ranged between 1870-1890. None of them listed a father as Jakub or no father was listed at all.

Regards,
Trish

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Fri Jun 19, 2026 10:44 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 10:44 am

Sam wrote:

Sophia,

I did consider the 18 May manifest the most sensible possibility for Andrzej (of those I could readily find) if a 1904 arrival was indeed correct. Sadly I failed to pursue the lead of a brother while my paid membership on Ancestry was active.

What put me off somewhat was the apparent age of the individual (eighteen), which seems rather low, considering Andrzej only ever gave his birth years as between 1880-1882. The residence place, Czorsztyn (also featuring a castle and lake à la Dobczyce), also seemed too far south to me, although I did see Slovak results in some of my DNA matches.

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Fri Jun 19, 2026 8:33 am

Author: Sam

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 8:33 am

Sophia,

I did consider the 18 May manifest the most sensible possibility for Andrzej (of those I could readily find) if a 1904 arrival was indeed correct. Sadly I failed to pursue the lead of a brother while my paid membership on Ancestry was active.

What put me off somewhat was the apparent age of the individual (eighteen), which seems rather low, considering Andrzej only ever gave his birth years as between 1880-1882. The residence place, Czorsztyn (also featuring a castle and lake à la Dobczyce), also seemed too far south to me, although I did see Slovak results in some of my DNA matches.

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Fri Jun 19, 2026 4:37 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 4:37 am

Sam wrote:

The form states that Andrzej emigrated (during a period when Dobczyce was beset with troubles) in July 1904 as a passenger on the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm (der Grosse), departing Bremen July 5 and arriving at N.Y. July 13.

Hi Sam,

Back on Apr 22, 2025 Trish posted a manifest for Andrzej arriving May 18th, 1904 on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. Can you remind me why you don't think that is him?

Sophia

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:36 pm

Author: Sam

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:36 pm

I take back what I said. The 17 August 1909 manifest for the Kaiser Wilhelm is available.

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Trish — Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:19 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:19 am

Sam wrote:

Dear Trish and Sophia,

I finally went ahead and ordered the AR-2 forms, which, after more than a year of wrangling with the question of just where in Galicia my great-grandparents came from, I can say was worth it.

For my g-grandfather Andrew, he names "Dobcszese," Austria, as his place of birth, but no particular province, but I feel confident enough to say that such a place is in fact the town of Dobczyce, formerly part of Bezirk Wieliczka, Austria.

I was even more surprised to learn from a Histmag article by Catherine Dominik that when Andrzej was born in the 1880s, Dobczyce's revitalization as a settlement "was fueled, among other things, by the shoemaking craft, which by the end of the 19th century numbered approximately 170 workshops..."

So, it seems fitting that a man surnamed Szewczyk came from a town with a prominent Shoemakers' Guild and robust trade in footwear.

The form states that Andrzej emigrated (during a period when Dobczyce was beset with troubles) in July 1904 as a passenger on the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm (der Grosse), departing Bremen July 5 and arriving at N.Y. July 13. Unfortunately I have not had much success with manifests as of yet. Unfortunately it seems Steve Morse's site has suffered from expired certification or whatnot.

For my g-grandmother, Andrew's wife, the form, which is a bit more confusing in terms of the exact accuracy of the information, states that she was born in the village of Lubasz near the town of Szczucin, which corroborates a relative's note that she was born on the Austro-Russian frontier.

It also states she emigrated as a passenger on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse in August 1909, arriving probably on the 17th. Again, manifests seem hard to come by.

Many thanks for the advice and assistance thus far,

Sam

Hi Sam,
So happy to hear you got information from the Alien Registration records. Thank you for sharing it with the forum. Hopefully now we can try to find a manifest for Andrzej.

Have a great day!
Trish

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Wed Jun 17, 2026 11:29 pm

Author: Sam

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2026 11:29 pm

Dear Trish and Sophia,

I finally went ahead and ordered the AR-2 forms, which, after more than a year of wrangling with the question of just where in Galicia my great-grandparents came from, I can say was worth it.

For my g-grandfather Andrew, he names "Dobcszese," Austria, as his place of birth, but no particular province, but I feel confident enough to say that such a place is in fact the town of Dobczyce, formerly part of Bezirk Wieliczka, Austria.

I was even more surprised to learn from a Histmag article by Catherine Dominik that when Andrzej was born in the 1880s, Dobczyce's revitalization as a settlement "was fueled, among other things, by the shoemaking craft, which by the end of the 19th century numbered approximately 170 workshops..."

So, it seems fitting that a man surnamed Szewczyk came from a town with a prominent Shoemakers' Guild and robust trade in footwear.

The form states that Andrzej emigrated (during a period when Dobczyce was beset with troubles) in July 1904 as a passenger on the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm (der Grosse), departing Bremen July 5 and arriving at N.Y. July 13. Unfortunately I have not had much success with manifests as of yet. Unfortunately it seems Steve Morse's site has suffered from expired certification or whatnot.

For my g-grandmother, Andrew's wife, the form, which is a bit more confusing in terms of the exact accuracy of the information, states that she was born in the village of Lubasz near the town of Szczucin, which corroborates a relative's note that she was born on the Austro-Russian frontier.

It also states she emigrated as a passenger on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse in August 1909, arriving probably on the 17th. Again, manifests seem hard to come by.

Many thanks for the advice and assistance thus far,

Sam

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Trish — Wed May 21, 2025 12:52 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Wed May 21, 2025 12:52 pm

Sam wrote:

AncestryDNA updated their community or journey tab, adding new East Europe regions it seems. West Galicia is one of them. I was assigned the following:

Hi Sam,

I like the fact that ancestry.com is constantly updating their information as their technology gets better. Plus I know the more people that do their DNA, the more accurate the DNA results become.

I had to go check my own ancestry.com's DNA for latest update. My DNA actually showed this.
Specific places you’re connected to:
Wałcz | Drezdenko | Chodzież
Greater Poland & Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeships

I thought this was so interesting for my Pisarski family started out in Szamocin, Chodziez, Wielkopolskie. Several other ancestros are all from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie area. So it seems ancestry.com is starting to narrow down locations.

I hope the information you found with your DNA helps with your research.

Regards,
Trish

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Sat May 17, 2025 2:22 pm

Author: Sam

Posted: Sat May 17, 2025 2:22 pm

AncestryDNA updated their community or journey tab, adding new East Europe regions it seems. West Galicia is one of them. I was assigned the following:

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Wed Apr 23, 2025 9:34 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2025 9:34 am

Sam wrote:

Trish,

Interesting stuff! I personally wasn't aware of the Flexoline index. I will have to become more familiar with the Alien Registration Act. That first transcription indeed fits my g-grandfather's established personal information, from date of birth (July 12, year alternatively given as 1880, 1881, or 1882), nation of nativity (Austria), the Americanized name he went by (Andy Shefsky), and the year of arrival fits the period he gave in the censuses (1902-1906). Is the actual form obtainable?

Hi Sam and Trish,

Sam, I'm sure you have already researched how to obtain a copy of the alien registration form, which you should probably go ahead and order, so I won't go into any detail here. Someone recently uploaded an image of this form for their ancestor, which you can see if you follow this link and scroll up a bit:

https://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?p=67786&highlight=alien+registration+form#67786

The info that Trish provided which is extracted from your Andrzej's alien registration form provides a date of arrival at the port of NY, and that can be helpful in finding the ship manifest. One tool you can use to see images of the manifest pages for all ships arriving in NY on that date is this:

https://stevemorse.org/cgi-bin/boat.php?series=&rollStart=&rollEnd=&volumeStart=&volumeEnd=&monthStart=7&dayStart=13&yearStart=1904&monthEnd=7&dayEnd=13&yearEnd=1904&boatkind=starts&boat=&offset=1&portkind=starts&port=&pageSize=50&database=all&local=yes&auth=

Pick one ship. Click on its name. A page will open that shows an image of one of the pages from that ship. At the bottom of that page, there are buttons you can click on to navigate through the manifest (Frame +1, +2, etc.). What you typically see is that they take you first to the page(s) of immigrants held for Special Inquiry, followed by the page(s) of immigrants who were detained, then the regular pages of the manifest. Here, seeing that several of the ships that arrived on July 13, 1904 originated in Genoa, Italy, you might consider those secondary to the ones that left from Bremen. I looked at the manifest for the Barbarosa, and the images are incredibly poor due to what I suppose was fading ink. Many of those pages are so illegible that they could hardly have made it into an index, and this may be why you (and Trish and I) are finding it so difficult to locate a manifest for Andrzej despite our attempts at varying the spelling of his surname. Not all manifests are that bad, so if you want to go ahead and check for him, but it is too many ships for me to go through page by page. And if the information about him arriving on the 13th is off by a day or two, you'd be at it for quite a while. I did want to offer you the tools to do it, anyway.

Best regards,
Sophia

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sam — Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:22 pm

Author: Sam

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:22 pm

Trish,

Interesting stuff! I personally wasn't aware of the Flexoline index. I will have to become more familiar with the Alien Registration Act. That first transcription indeed fits my g-grandfather's established personal information, from date of birth (July 12, year alternatively given as 1880, 1881, or 1882), nation of nativity (Austria), the Americanized name he went by (Andy Shefsky), and the year of arrival fits the period he gave in the censuses (1902-1906). Is the actual form obtainable?

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Trish — Tue Apr 22, 2025 11:06 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2025 11:06 am

Hi Sophia and Sam,

Sophia, I too saw the town of Popczyce on the Morse website. I also saw the spelling of the surname Szefczyk on Geneteka.

I found a "possible" alien registration information for Andrzej. Sophia, I believe you know more information about Alien Registrations. You shed some light on this subject?

United States, Flexoline Alien Registrations 1940-1954

Name Andy Shefsky
Birth July 12 1880 - Austria
Arrival July 13 1904 - New York, United States
Row #04
Document #R073E01490
Flexoline Format C
Soundex S-120
Alien registration #A2078317
(There was no actual record. Only the transcription.)

I found this 1904 ship manifest. This Andrezej is going to Pennsylvania. This is a "possible" manifest. Andrzej is on line 21

Name Andrzej Szuvszyk
Gender Male
Birth Circa 1886
Arrival May 18 1904
New York, New York, United States
Departure Bremen
Ship Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse
Age 18
Last permanent residence Czorsztyn
Nationality Austria
Marital status Single
Relative joined in the U.S. Josef Szewezyk (Brother)
Line 21

I thought this manifest was interesting too. Andrzej is on line 23.

Name Andrzej Szoczyk
Gender Male
Birth Circa 1883
Arrival May 2 1902
New York, New York, United States
Departure Bremen
Ship Rhein
Age 19
Last permanent residence Rokszawy
Nationality Austria
Marital status Single
Relative joined in the U.S. Wikterya Brocnek (Sister)
Line 23

Regards,
Trish

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Sophia — Tue Apr 22, 2025 8:16 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2025 8:16 am

Trish wrote:

Hi Sam and Sophia,

Sophia, can I ask where the town of Popczyce is located? I did see the town of Ropczyce.

I saw a couple of possilbe manifests for Andrzej, but nothing so far with the town listed as Popczyce. Some manifests only list "last know residence "not "place of birth".

Thank you
Trish

Good question, Trish. Based on the towns that Donna G. listed along with Niwiska, I looked at old maps hoping to find Popczyce and was not successful. Perhaps it was a typo, on her part, and transcription errors for the indexed manifests on the Morse site. Your suggestion of Ropczyce is a good one. We should hold on to that possibility. For the manifests which you found and which you think are possibilities for Andrzej, are any of them headed to the right area of Pennsylvania?

Sophia

Re: Could This Be a Village or Town (Popczyki, Galicia)?

Trish — Mon Apr 21, 2025 2:30 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 2:30 pm

Hi Sam and Sophia,

Sophia, can I ask where the town of Popczyce is located? I did see the town of Ropczyce.

I saw a couple of possilbe manifests for Andrzej, but nothing so far with the town listed as Popczyce. Some manifests only list "last know residence "not "place of birth".

Thank you
Trish