PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Village of Czudnik?

Zenon — Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:17 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:17 am

I am very happy that I was able to help you a little .

I would honored to have you as a guest and assist in your Forefathers Traces Tour.

Bingo! Spot on!

rzg6f — Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:11 am

Author: rzg6f

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:11 am

I just found this on Ancestry.com

Quote:

1930 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists

View Image
Name: John Galant
Spouse: Amelia
Birth: abt 1882 - location
Residence: 1930 - city, Erie, Pennsylvania

Thank you so much, I have more to work with now (and a little relieved that it is more unlikely that a distant relative was a Stasi-type, that bothered me a little to think about it). Strange how the name changed after he was here as my Grandfather Zygie had two "l"s.

Thank you again. Once I have firmer information, I am interested in one of your family tours. But I want to have firm documentation rather than just interesting leads before I schedule anything.

And you are probably correct about Cudniki

Re: Village of Czudnik?

Zenon — Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:38 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:38 am

Richard,

rzg6f wrote:

It's strange, but neither my great-grandmother Gumienek nor my great-grandfather Gallant are showing up in the Ellis Island records, census records or the LDS databases. But they settled in Polonia, Buffalo NY which had a very large Polish immigrant population so I would expect that they came through New York.

Have you tried with Galant with one ''l" inside e.g. in ancestry.com As I mentioned you before Galant is a popular surname in Poland and literally means just gallant. I think it is possible that someday, someone just added the additional "l" in recording or filling out an official document. Names could changed more often than we can expect. I recommend you look at this article: http://polishorigins.com/document/name_changes and discussion in our Forum: http://polishorigins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=159 .

rzg6f wrote:

I've lived in Germany since 2004 and if Poland is anything like Germany, families usually stayed in the same place for generations or the closest metropolitan city.

That is often the case here. I have came across Cudniki village nearby Kutno, click here for map: http://bit.ly/ZDmQE . The name of the place sounds similar to your Czudnik and this area was within Russia borders at that time. What is also very interesting there lives about 50 people using Galant surname.

rzg6f wrote:

I am not sure, but wasn't Zamosc under Prussian control?

No, it was also under Russia control. Click here: http://forum.polishorigins.com/files/map_polish_territory_in_19_century_437.jpg for map of Polish territory in 19th century.

rzg6f wrote:

Do you know of any websites where I could find email addresses or phone numbers of those 13 Gallants in Poland?

Try this website: http://ksiazka-telefoniczna.com/ . Miasto means town, ulica means street, nazwisko means surname.

Good luck

Thank you Zenon

rzg6f — Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:30 am

Author: rzg6f

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:30 am

Since I last posted this topic, I was finally able to get in touch with my grandfather Zygie's nephew who had been working on family history for six years. He wrote up a 40 page history and passed it out at our last family reunion. He won't return home until mid-October, but promised to send me a copy. That should have a lot more information than I have.

It's strange, but neither my great-grandmother Gumienek nor my great-grandfather Gallant are showing up in the Ellis Island records, census records or the LDS databases. But they settled in Polonia, Buffalo NY which had a very large Polish immigrant population so I would expect that they came through New York. The only thing I found was a record of his WWI draft registration card which should indicate place of birth but I've yet to order it.

My grandfather's nephew wrote me back:

Quote:

yes--Czudnik is the town.....
I was led to believe that John was being forced into the Russian army. But hauled ass to France, then to the USA. I could never get info on if John was Polish, why is our name Gallant? As you probably know that Gallant is a French name... I heard long ago that the name changed from Gallinsky. Gina says absolutely not!

Gina is my great-aunt and youngest daughter of my great-grandfather and still alive and kicking, she has most of the family info. I also asked about a name change but was told that they carried the name as it is from Poland. My undergraduate degree is in Russian and Eastern European Studies and I studied in Moscow for a year (I studied Russian in 1993 because I mistakenly believed that Russian would be the lingua franca of Eastern Europe like English is in Western Europe until I took a school trip to Tallin and found out everyone despised the Russians so much they don't want to speak the language) so I know a little of the history. When Peter the Great built St. Petersburg, his government spoke French and took French names as French was considered western civilization at the time. I speculate that was true of Poland as well, but that was mostly the aristocrats. As far as I know, our family were peasants and I can't understand why they or how they could've changed their name. Perhaps there was a French deserter from Napoleon's Grand Armee who stayed in Poland? That would make military desertion somewhat of a tradition in our family

I reside now in Jena, Germany where I am writing my dissertation at the Friedrich Schiller University in medieval literature. I've lived in Germany since 2004 and if Poland is anything like Germany, families usually stayed in the same place for generations or the closest metropolitan city. If that is the case, and if my great-grandfather was in an area where he could be conscripted by the Russians, then the Lublin Gallants seem to be the most likely lead.

I am not sure, but wasn't Zamosc under Prussian control? If so then that presents the same problem as Galicia with regards to Russian conscription. That is if the family stayed in the same general area and were not displaced in either of the world wars.

If there is any relation to Bronisław Gallant, then that is certainly a very dark stain. I imagine it is akin to a young German discovering a family member was a Gestapo agent.

Thank you for the reply, Zenon, that gives me more information. Do you know of any websites where I could find email addresses or phone numbers of those 13 Gallants in Poland?

Sincerely,
Richard

Re: Village of Czudnik?

Zenon — Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:52 am

Author: Zenon

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:52 am

Welcome to the Forum Gallants' descendant,

rzg6f wrote:

I'm new here as of today and I'm searching for my great-grandfather's village, supposedly Czudnik, according to family lore.

Do you have any written documents which you could show us to identify the place I am afraid that without any written sources it will be very hard to identify the place.

rzg6f wrote:

I thought maybe the name of the village was altered in transliteration, perhaps it is Czudec. But since Czudec is in the former Galicia, I am not sure how my great-grandfather could've been conscripted by the Russians.

You are right, Czudec was in Galicia under Austrian control so if your your great-grandfather served in the Russian Army there is little probability that he was from this Czudec.

As you most probably already discovered it "your" Krzemień and Janów are here on the map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=jan%C3%B3w+lubelski&daddr=Krzemien,+Gmina+Jan%C3%B3w+Lubelski,+Poland&hl=en&geocode=%3BFdCSBQMdJNhXAQ&mra=ls&sll=50.702875,22.471035&sspn=0.05099,0.154324&ie=UTF8&z=13

There are only 13 living Gallants in today's Poland, click here for the map: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/gallant.html . Three of them are in Lublin. But there are more than 2000 who bear Galant surname, with one "l", map: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/galant.html . As you can see many of them live nearby Lublin and Zamosc. It might be a trace but without confirmation of the village original name it is hard to start any research...

rzg6f wrote:

The other (deceased) Gallant doesn't seem to be a very nice guy, and I found this out about him from a museum exhibit:

Quote:

Na wystawie można przyjrzeć się twarzom innych uczestników tamtych wydarzeń jak np. Bronisława Gallanta, szefa powiatowej bezpieki w Biłgoraju w latach 1945-1948. Lachowski w 1957 r. wyjechał do ZSRS, Gallant spoczywa w alei zasłużonych na głównej lubelskiej nekropolii.

That's right.

Village of Czudnik?

rzg6f — Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:23 am

Author: rzg6f

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:23 am

Hello everyone,

I'm new here as of today and I'm searching for my great-grandfather's village, supposedly Czudnik, according to family lore. This is what I have:

Quote:

Wedding of John Anthony Gallant and Amelia Marie Gumienek (Gallant-Gumienek)

Ages: 18 and 28 Years
Married: July 4th, 1911 Buffalo, NY USA or Corry. PA.

Mother's Birthdate: October 12, 1893
Father's Birthdate: August 6th, 1882 or 1883

Brief Known History:

John Gallant Sr. had 2 brothers and one sister named Irene. Parents were Josephine and Andrew Gallant from the village Czudnik, Poland. John Gallant Sr. served in the Russian Army, escaping and finding his way to the US at age 18.

Mother Gallant's parents were Katherine Geyer Gumienek and John Gumienek (migrated to Buffalo, NY) from Krzemien Vioska, Zakwijonka (Ostatnia Poezta), Janow, near the city of Lublin

Our beloved parents entered rest on:

June 4th, 1936 - Father
November 16, 1980 - Mother
Buried in St. James cemetary, Crossingville, PA.

I asked the Polish consulate in 1994 and they said no village exists of that name (or maybe destroyed in one of the world wars). I've been searching old maps and no village.

I've found two Gallants in Lublin, one alive and one dead on the internet. I've emailed the living Gallant (Janec) and it seems he's a high level politician in the Polish Social Democrats and I haven't heard back from him yet.

The other (deceased) Gallant doesn't seem to be a very nice guy, and I found this out about him from a museum exhibit:

Quote:

If I understand this correctly, he was in the Polish version of the Soviet NKVD and involved in some political executions in the 40s and 50s.
[Nasz Dziennik http://www.naszdziennik.pl/index.php?dat=20070706&typ=my&id=my11.txt]

I have no idea if these two Gallants are descended from my great-grandfather's family, but Gallant doesn't seem to be a common Polish surname.

I thought maybe the name of the village was altered in transliteration, perhaps it is Czudec. But since Czudec is in the former Galicia, I am not sure how my great-grandfather could've been conscripted by the Russians.

If anyone has any ideas about this deadend, I would certainly appreciate it.