PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Great Grandmothers surname, too many spellings

kingpat — Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:38 pm

Author: kingpat

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 1:38 pm

starshadow wrote:

I would agree with Cynthia. I've run into this so many times, especially in records prior to 1800. Even the Oroconka, where the -onka is just a less common female surname ending. You might also find it spelled with -owna at some point.

Quick reply, thank you!

kingpat — Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:54 am

Author: kingpat

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:54 am

Thank you so much for your quick reply.

Re: Great Grandmothers surname, too many spellings

kingpat — Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:53 am

Author: kingpat

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:53 am

kingpat wrote:

My great grandmother has numerous spellings of her surname Osowska, Ososka, Von Offsofski, Von Osavka, Osofski, Oroconka, Osovska, Osovski, Koszewska. Most of these are from Ancestry birth records from the births their children. I got a copy of their marriage registration and its hand written and very difficult to read. It almost looks like Lsowska and shows her fathers name as Felix. My question is, is there any way to figure out what her surname actually is?

My great grandfathers surname is Christman. Alexander and Balbina.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Patricia Koenig

Re: Great Grandmothers surname, too many spellings

starshadow — Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:08 am

Author: starshadow

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:08 am

I would agree with Cynthia. I've run into this so many times, especially in records prior to 1800. Even the Oroconka, where the -onka is just a less common female surname ending. You might also find it spelled with -owna at some point.

Re: Great Grandmothers surname, too many spellings

mcdonald0517 — Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:00 am

Author: mcdonald0517

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:00 am

In the marriage record, I read

Balbina Osowska
Father: Felix
Mother: Anna Lewika

Osowska and Osowski are the same surname with different gender endings - a for feminine, i for masculine
Osovska is how the name Osowska sounds when spoken w sounds like v in Polish
The rest are misspellings of Osowska or Osowski.... the scribes just spelled it the way they thought they heard it.
The Von designation is used in Germany and Prussian partition of Poland.
Oroconka and Koszewska I don’t know... I would have to see the documents.

The Geneteka database shows many Osowski / Osowska in the former Prussian areas of Poland. I would tend to go with that surname. The 1910 census shows her birth as May, 1863 in Germany (which could be Prussian Poland). She immigrated in 1880. In the 1920 census shows Poland as her native country.

The marriage record was hard to read because the scribe overlapped the a at the end of her first name with the flattened capital O at the beginning of her last name.

Best,
Cynthia

Great Grandmothers surname, too many spellings

kingpat — Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:35 pm

Author: kingpat

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:35 pm

My great grandmother has numerous spellings of her surname Osowska, Ososka, Von Offsofski, Von Osavka, Osofski, Oroconka, Osovska, Osovski, Koszewska. Most of these are from Ancestry birth records from the births their children. I got a copy of their marriage registration and its hand written and very difficult to read. It almost looks like Lsowska and shows her fathers name as Felix. My question is, is there any way to figure out what her surname actually is?

My great grandfathers surname is Christman. Alexander and Balbina.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Patricia Koenig