Re: Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

Sophia — Sat Jul 04, 2026 9:50 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 9:50 am

JFalejczyk wrote:

Hi,

For some time I've been trying to unravel the mysteries around my great great grandmother Sylvia (AKA Ksawera or Teresina) Cieslak Falejczyk. The story I was told is that she was born in Poland, but orphaned at a young age, and it's unclear if she was brought to the United States before or after losing her parents. One version of events in my family said that she lived at an orphanage in Warsaw, and some records I've found do mention her saying she's from there. I don't know who her parents (adopted or not) were, and if Cieslak is an adopted surname or not.

Anyways, a while ago I found her Ellis Island manifest entry, where she listed a hometown entirely different from anything I've seen before. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says, and since I think someone else who maybe wasn't a Polish speaker (immigration/ship worker?) wrote it down for her, it's probably some sort of warped spelling from the original. With that being said, I've seen some really impressive detective work on these forums, so if anyone's interested in taking a crack at it, I would seriously appreciate any help deciphering this town name (photo attached). Thanks so much.

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Super busy today so I cannot reply with a very informative post, but a quick check of a source that provides place names shows me a few places with this spelling: Krzanowice

This would sound very much like what was written in the snippet you provided. I see it written as Kzamewitze and that strikes me, as you said, as a warped spelling.

There is supposed to be a Krzanowice in the Warminsko-Mazurskie region and another in the Opole region. I have not looked at maps yet.

Would you be able to provide a link to the ship manifest, or possibly an image of the whole page of that manifest? It may be helpful to study how that handwriting looks.

Best regards,
Sophia

P.S. Geneteka is showing a Krzanowice in Slask region, with a Theresia Ciesla (no "k" on the end) born in 1876. Could you tell us when you think your gr-gr-grandmother was born?

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=B&w=12sl&rid=11586&search_lastname=cieslak&search_name=&search_lastname2=&search_name2=&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&ordertable=

What I like about this is that the place had a German name of Kranowitz and a Polish name of Krzanowice. This looks promising.

Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

JFalejczyk — Sat Jul 04, 2026 5:30 am

Author: JFalejczyk

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 5:30 am

Hi,

For some time I've been trying to unravel the mysteries around my great great grandmother Sylvia (AKA Ksawera or Teresina) Cieslak Falejczyk. The story I was told is that she was born in Poland, but orphaned at a young age, and it's unclear if she was brought to the United States before or after losing her parents. One version of events in my family said that she lived at an orphanage in Warsaw, and some records I've found do mention her saying she's from there. I don't know who her parents (adopted or not) were, and if Cieslak is an adopted surname or not.

Anyways, a while ago I found her Ellis Island manifest entry, where she listed a hometown entirely different from anything I've seen before. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says, and since I think someone else who maybe wasn't a Polish speaker (immigration/ship worker?) wrote it down for her, it's probably some sort of warped spelling from the original. With that being said, I've seen some really impressive detective work on these forums, so if anyone's interested in taking a crack at it, I would seriously appreciate any help deciphering this town name (photo attached). Thanks so much.

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Re: Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name