PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Origin

Shellie — Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:56 pm

Author: Shellie

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:56 pm

michaelbigley1 wrote:

My birth-name was, and biological father's name is, Mathews. The story goes that when his parents came from Poland (that's even a little vague), to avoid being identified as Polish, they changed their name from Mathewskie or Mathewsky to Mathews (one T). My parents were divorced when I was an infant, so have never had any contact with my father or his relatives to ask any pertinent questions, and have no way of contacting them now to get any answers. It is apparent that I have some Jewish physical features and traits, which is consistent with what little I know.

I am 59 and my father would be approximately 80-82, making the time of his parent's arrival in the U.S approximately 1920's, or so.

Thank you for your time. Any information you might be able to provide will be appreciated.

Michael (Bernard Mathews) Bigley

Hi Michael,
Last year I tried to solve a mystery about my great-uncle who went by the surname Teodor Michalson when he came to America and settled near Pittsburgh. One of my cousins found an American birth certificate for Teodor's son that showed the surname as Michalyszyn. It was hard to get past this clue because there were many possible variations of this surname (people always jumbled the letters when writing the name). I found some helpful clues by contacting the archives for the Catholic Diocese in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sometimes the archives will have copies of the marriage records, death records, etc. The spelling used on the church documents, along with a few other clues on birth records and draft cards helped me to finally locate my great-uncle's ship manifest and identify his birthplace.

Do you think that Mathewskie is the correct spelling? What have you learned about your family history since you posted your message here?

Re: My Polish roots - how to start?

michaelbigley1 — Wed May 19, 2010 10:02 am

Author: michaelbigley1

Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 10:02 am

Thank you James. This is exciting!

Re: My Polish roots - how to start?

James — Wed May 19, 2010 9:56 am

Author: James

Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 9:56 am

Hi michaelbigley1,

There are many different directions that you could start searching.
* Find the death record for your father ( if he is deceased )
* Find the marriage record for your parents
These could provide birth dates, locations, names of other family members, which are all valuable in searching your roots.

* www.ellisislandrecords.com is a free site that has all of the manifests for immigrants arriving in USA, at Ellis Island. This site was very helpful to me. It can provide important information for tracing your family.
These are only a couple of areas to begin with. There are countless others.

You will find that one piece of information can lead you to another, and another, and so forth.
Good luck and have fun

James

Origin

michaelbigley1 — Tue May 18, 2010 2:16 pm

Author: michaelbigley1

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 2:16 pm

My birth-name was, and biological father's name is, Mathews. The story goes that when his parents came from Poland (that's even a little vague), to avoid being identified as Polish, they changed their name from Mathewskie or Mathewsky to Mathews (one T). My parents were divorced when I was an infant, so have never had any contact with my father or his relatives to ask any pertinent questions, and have no way of contacting them now to get any answers. It is apparent that I have some Jewish physical features and traits, which is consistent with what little I know.

I am 59 and my father would be approximately 80-82, making the time of his parent's arrival in the U.S approximately 1920's, or so.

Thank you for your time. Any information you might be able to provide will be appreciated.

Michael (Bernard Mathews) Bigley