PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Albertinio — Thu Oct 22, 2026 9:11 am

Author: Albertinio

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 9:11 am

Hi Doug, Trish, and Barb,

I have found the marriage banns record for the parents of Katarzyna and Maria Gawlak (also known as Pięta). The marriage of Ignacy Gawlak—aged 33, son of Franciszek and Mariana Augustyn—to Ewa Jagielska—aged 16, daughter of Jan and Marianna Skałba—took place at the church in Harklowa on November 14, 1870.
P.S. Ignacy was from Grudna.
See the photo below.

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Albertinio — Thu Oct 22, 2026 8:56 am

Author: Albertinio

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 8:56 am

Hi Doug, Trish, and Barb,

I found the birth record for Katarzyna—sister of Maria Gawlak, alias Pięta—who was born in Harklowa on April 13, 1880. See the photo below.

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Albertinio — Thu Oct 22, 2026 8:49 am

Author: Albertinio

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 8:49 am

Best regards,
Sophia[/quote]

Hello everyone,
Based on information about Maria, we know that she was older than her brother Ludwik. She emigrated in 1903. According to the ship manifest she was 20 years old at the time. This gives a birth year abt.1883.

Doug, you said she was married to Wojciech Pienta /Pięta. You also mean she went back to Poland. I found a grave in Harklowa cemetery that might fit. What do you think?

Trish, Sophia, do you manage to find Maria's manifest. When did she go back to Poland?

Regards,
-Barb[/quote]

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Albertinio — Thu Oct 22, 2026 8:29 am

Author: Albertinio

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2026 8:29 am

Pfronten778 wrote:

Hello everyone,
After the recent success in finding a different line's town here, I would like to ask another favor of you guys. My grandma's family, the Gawlak's are from the Galicia area of Poland. Family legend has that they are from in or around Krakow. For relatives, I know he had a brother named Frank Gawlak who lived in Connecticut and a sister, Mary Pienta who stayed behind in Poland. They were Roman Catholics. My ancestor, Louis (formerly Ludwik) Gawlak moved to Lackawanna, NY, was born in 1895, and emigrated from Poland either 1907 or 1909. I can send census records and draft cards if needed.
Cheers,
Doug

Hi Doug,

I decided to write because I have been researching genealogy in the area around the village of Harklowa for years. Harklowa is a large village with a church, which included the villages of Grudna and Głęboka within its parish. The surname Gawlak (which also appears in my own family tree as a collateral branch) has been present in Grudna and Głęboka for years. In Harklowa itself, the name appeared only sporadically, if at all; it originated from those two smaller villages. Unfortunately, passenger manifests rarely list a passenger's parents. It is worth noting that, in the past, the range of first names used in Polish villages was quite limited; consequently, several related families might have shared the same first and last names. To distinguish between these families, one needs to trace the lineage back several generations. I have found records from the Harklowa parish, and I will try to help you.

Best regards,
Patryk

P.S I am quickly pasting the birth record of Franciszek Gawlak—mentioned in other messages—who was born on January 26, 1887, in Grudna (Harklowa parish) and is said to be a brother of Ludwik.

[img][/img]

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:29 am

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:29 am

Doug, you wrote that you sent an email to the parish of Harklowa? Did you write this in English? Could you please share this with me as a PM? Priests rarely answer questions. I get 1 reply per 10 sent mails.
-Barb

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:20 am

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:20 am

Pfronten778 wrote:

Hi Barb, Trish, and Sophia,

Thanks for all the updates! I emailed the church in Harklowa a few days ago and no response yet. The Pruchnicki/Barzydlowicz(?) families were from Russian Poland and were born in the 1870s. With the tombstone, it definitely could be Mary Pienta/Pieta's grave. I've attached an obituary for a potential American child of Wojciech and Mary. I know that he is only the nephews of Frank and Louis, but in Ludwik Gawlak's obituary, his only siblings are Mary and Frank.

Cheers,
Doug

Hallo,
In this obituary, the daughter of Maria Pieta nee Gawlak, Stanislawa (Stella) Gorczyca, is also mentioned.
Maria Gawlak and Wojciech Pieta married in 1906. Wojciech died in 1924. They probably had more children than those mentioned in the obituary. Walter was the youngest (born ca. 1923).
Maria returned to Poland, but she did not travel without her children. They were young. It seems that Walter later returned to the US. Unless Maria returned to Poland after 1940?
I found in Harklowa a grave that may be the grave of Stanislawa Gorczyca and her husband Franciszek. It may be the Stella mentioned in this obituary.
Note the quite similar gravestones for Maria and Stella.

-Barb

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Pfronten778 — Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:58 pm

Author: Pfronten778

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:58 pm

Hi Barb, Trish, and Sophia,

Thanks for all the updates! I emailed the church in Harklowa a few days ago and no response yet. The Pruchnicki/Barzydlowicz(?) families were from Russian Poland and were born in the 1870s. With the tombstone, it definitely could be Mary Pienta/Pieta's grave. I've attached an obituary for a potential American child of Wojciech and Mary. I know that he is only the nephews of Frank and Louis, but in Ludwik Gawlak's obituary, his only siblings are Mary and Frank.

Cheers,
Doug

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Fri Jan 17, 2025 1:42 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 1:42 pm

Nice work, Trish. Yes, I was wondering when she went back to Poland. Thinking after 1924. I will check the census for 1930.
I strongly believe that I found Maria's grave. Now I understand why her husband wasn't buried in Harklowa.
It appears that the Gawlak siblings' parents were Stanislaw Gawlak and Agata Ewa Jagielska.
I am writing to the parish of Harklowa tonight. Maybe the priest can help.
Unfortunately I get 1 answer out of 10 sent questions. Without trying we will not get an answer. The marriage records of all siblings would also help. Maria's death record would give us the answer to that.
-Barb

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Trish — Fri Jan 17, 2025 1:15 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 1:15 pm

Sophia wrote:

Hi Trish,
Nice work finding the marriage record for Wojcieck Pienta and Mary Gawlak!
In answer to your question, what I meant was that Trieste, being in Italy, was a very round-about way to get from Austrian Poland to New York. I wasn't suggesting there would be another manifest for Jozef Gawlak.
I think Barb is asking if we can find a manifest showing Maria returning to Poland. I don't think I have access to anything like that.
And again, I am not sure that Maria Gawlak and Maryanna Gawlak are the same person. Could be sisters.
Best,
Sophia

Hi Sophia,
Thanks for verifying everything especially about the manifests.

I do not see any information on manifests returning to another country on ancestry.com. Sorry, I cannot help here on this one.

Regards,
Trish

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Sophia — Fri Jan 17, 2025 12:14 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 12:14 pm

Trish wrote:

Hi everyone,

Sophia, Are you saying there might be another manifest for Jozef Gawlak leaving through another port? I'll see if I can find something.

Barb, I posted on January 7, 2025 a possible manifest for Maria (Maryana) Gawlak. Here is the information. The manifest on the post from January 7th.

Name Maryana Gawlaz
Gender Female
Ethnicity/ Nationality Austrian
Age 20
Birth Date abt 1883
Departure Port Hamburg
Arrival Date 29 May 1903
Arrival Port New York, New York, USA
Residence Place Hainlowa
Ship Name Patricia

This is the information I found on Wojciech Pienta. He died in the USA.

Wojciech (Albert) PIENTA
Birth 9 JUL 1880 • Harklowa, Podkarpackie, Poland
Death 5 OCT 1924 • Windham, Connecticut, USA

I just found the marriage information for Wojciech Pienta and Mary Gawlak. Doug, maybe you can send away for the marrige record in hopes that it lists Mary Gawlak's parents.

Name Mary Gaulak
Record Type Marriage
Marriage Date 17 Feb 1906
Marriage Place Windham, Connecticut, USA
Spouse Albert Picta

One more comment, it looks like Ludwik Gawlak married Bronislawa (Bertha) Pruchinicki. Franciszek Gawlak married Bertha's sister, Stefania Pruchinicki. I just thought this was an interesting tidbit. The parents of the Pruchinicki sisters was Stanislaw Pruchinicki and Katarzyna Barzydwo (spelling of surname could be spelled differently).

Regards,
Trish

Hi Trish,
Nice work finding the marriage record for Wojciech Pienta and Mary Gawlak, being indexed as "Picta" and "Gaulak." All due to what the handwriting looked like, I'm sure.
In answer to your question, what I meant was that Trieste, being in Italy, while actually closer to Harklowa, wasn't the route most people took to get to a ship to New York. I wasn't suggesting there would be another manifest for Jozef Gawlak.
I think Barb is asking if we can find a manifest showing Maria returning to Poland. I don't think I have access to anything like that.
And again, I am not sure that Maria Gawlak and Maryanna Gawlak are the same person. Could be sisters.
Best,
Sophia

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Trish — Fri Jan 17, 2025 11:54 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 11:54 am

BarbOslo wrote:

Sophia wrote:

Hi Doug, Trish and Barb,

The manifest that Trish posted for Joseph Gawlak is interesting for two reasons. One is that he sailed from Trieste. The others sailed from Bremen and Hamburg, which is much more usual for emigrants from the Austrian partition of Poland. The other detail is in Column 16 where he states he is going to his sister Maria Gawlak. In faded ink, there is the addition "Bril Wojciech Pinta" where "Bril" (sometimes written Br-i-l on manifests) means brother-in-law. Perhaps you can look for a marriage record in Willimantic for Maria Gawlak and Wojciech Pinta (or Pienta or Pięta -- note that Polish spelling would most likely be Pięta but U.S. records could be any of these spellings) just before the date of this manifest.

Doug, I think the grave marker you found is a different couple with the same names, since "ur." means "born" and "zm" means "died" so it is not reasonable for this Marianna to have been the one these Gawlak brothers were coming to in the years of these manifests. I would also point out that Maria and Marianna are not the same name, and both of these names are used in the manifests so while they could mean the same person, they might refer to two different Gawlak sisters. Just keep an open mind on that.

Best regards,
Sophia

Hello everyone,
Based on information about Maria, we know that she was older than her brother Ludwik. She emigrated in 1903. According to the ship manifest she was 20 years old at the time. This gives a birth year abt.1883.

Doug, you said she was married to Wojciech Pienta /Pięta. You also mean she went back to Poland. I found a grave in Harklowa cemetery that might fit. What do you think?

Trish, Sophia, do you manage to find Maria's manifest. When did she go back to Poland?

Regards,
-Barb

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Fri Jan 17, 2025 9:26 am

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 9:26 am

Sophia wrote:

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Fri Jan 17, 2025 9:20 am

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 9:20 am

Hi,
I agree with Sophia. It is not "your" Maria. It is the grave of Marianna Pienta nee Kiełtyka. Daughter of Wawrzyniec and Jadwiga Łątka. She was born on August 31st, 1903 in Osobnica.

-Barb

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Sophia — Fri Jan 17, 2025 5:32 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 5:32 am

Hi Doug, Trish and Barb,

The manifest that Trish posted for Joseph Gawlak is interesting for two reasons. One is that he sailed from Trieste. The others sailed from Bremen and Hamburg, which is much more usual for emigrants from the Austrian partition of Poland. The other detail is in Column 16 where he states he is going to his sister Maria Gawlak. In faded ink, there is the addition "Bril Wojciech Pinta" where "Bril" (sometimes written Br-i-l on manifests) means brother-in-law. Perhaps you can look for a marriage record in Willimantic for Maria Gawlak and Wojciech Pinta (or Pienta or Pięta -- note that Polish spelling would most likely be Pięta but U.S. records could be any of these spellings) just before the date of this manifest.

Doug, I think the grave marker you found is a different couple with the same names, since "ur." means "born" and "zm" means "died" so it is not reasonable for this Marianna to have been the one these Gawlak brothers were coming to in the years of these manifests. I would also point out that Maria and Marianna are not the same name, and both of these names are used in the manifests so while they could mean the same person, they might refer to two different Gawlak sisters. Just keep an open mind on that.

Best regards,
Sophia

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Pfronten778 — Thu Jan 16, 2025 8:29 pm

Author: Pfronten778

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 8:29 pm

Hi Barb and Trish,

I've been looking into Mary Gawlak, who is mentioned in most of the manifests. In Ludwik Gawlak's obituary, she is mentioned as being "of Poland" and having the surname Pięnta. On some of the online family trees I have seen, she is married to Wojciech Pięnta. I found a gravestone for Wojciech and Mary Pięnta in Osobnica, a town next to Harklowa. I've attached the image below.

Edit: I realize the dates are different but still let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Doug

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Trish — Thu Jan 16, 2025 1:14 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 1:14 pm

Pfronten778 wrote:

Hi Barb and Trish,

I emailed the archives in Sanok, and they had a record for Ludwik Gawlak born in Harklowa on September 30, 1894 to Ignacy Gawlak and Agata Ewa Jagielska. He only had one brother though, Jozef Gawlak. Let me know what you guys think.

Cheers,
Doug

Hi Doug and Barb,

I found this possible manifest for Jozef Gawlak. He is on line #2. Just like the other manifests, it states he is going to his "sister's". Could the people all be half-siblings or step-siblings? Just a thought.

One more note if you look at all the manifests, the Gawlak's are traveling with others all from Harklowa.

Regards,
Trish

Name Josef Gawlak
Gender Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality Polish
Marital Status Single
Age 15
Birth Date abt 1891
Last Known Residence Harklowa
Departure Port Trieste
Arrival Date 24 May 1906
Arrival Port New York, New York, USA
Residence Place Austrian
Final Destination Willimanthie, Connecticut
Money in Possession $10
Person in US Maria Gacolae
Person in US Relationship Sister
Sibling Maria Gacolae (Gawlak)
Ship Name Georgia
Line #2

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Wed Jan 15, 2025 7:22 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2025 7:22 pm

Pfronten778 wrote:

Hi,
I got the same answer from the Archives in Sanok today. Will look into it tomorrow.

-Barb

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Pfronten778 — Wed Jan 15, 2025 6:46 pm

Author: Pfronten778

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2025 6:46 pm

Hi Barb and Trish,

I emailed the archives in Sanok, and they had a record for Ludwik Gawlak born in Harklowa on September 30, 1894 to Ignacy Gawlak and Agata Ewa Jagielska. He only had one brother though, Jozef Gawlak. Let me know what you guys think.

Cheers,
Doug

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

Trish — Thu Jan 09, 2025 10:07 am

Author: Trish

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2025 10:07 am

Hi Doug and Barb,

I found the other brother, Anton Gawlak. Anton is on line #24.

Regards,
Trish

Name Anton Gawlak
Gender Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality Polish
Age 26
Birth Date abt 1877
Departure Port Bremen
Arrival Date 24 Nov 1903
Arrival Port New York, New York, USA
Residence Place Austria
Ship Name Kronprinz Wilhelm

Re: Searching for Gawlak ancestors

BarbOslo — Tue Jan 07, 2025 4:18 pm

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 4:18 pm

Hi,
I sent an email to the State Archives in Rzeszow asking if they have birth records from Harklowa from the years 1875-1890. I will contact you when I get an answer.
Regards,
-Barb