Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:26 am
Post subject: Kieta Family
I have found a lot of information about my family on Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org starting with their entry into the US but I would also like to find information on relatives who lived (and live) in Poland. I just don't know how to find that information. What I do know is as follows:
My grandfathers name is Ignacy Kieta. He was born in Stare Bystre, Galicia in 1894 and he came to the US in 1911.
He had at least 1 brother Francizek Kieta who was born in 1892 and came to the US in 1906
He may have a sister, Mary Kieta who stayed in Austria
My grandfather's father's name was Joseph Kieta and he died in Stare Bystre sometime between 1894 and 1897
My grandfather's mother's name was Anna. She was born in 1863. After my greatgrandfather died, Anna remarried to Johus Stopko (it's also spelled Stopka in some records). They had a son Andrew in 1898. Anna and Andrew came to the US in 1901. Johus (also called Jan) came to the US sometime before Anna but i haven't found hiw ship manufest yet.
Does anyone have a suggestion about how I can continue my research?
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:59 am
Post subject:
Stan
Polish social network NaszaKlasa (nk.pl) shows 25 Kieta living in Stare Bystre.
Gilberto
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 1:09 pm
Post subject:
Hi Gilberto,
Wow, thanks for the quick response. I'm new to this website and I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm not familiar with NaszaKlasa. Is that a good website for me to try to connect with the Kietas in Poland? I searched for the website on google but it looks like the site is only in Polish and, unfortunately, I don't speak Polish.
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 1:47 pm
Post subject:
Yes, it is only in Polish and I am not a polish speaker,either. I subscried years ago with the help of a polish friend. Maybe you can do it by using Google translator.
Gilberto
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PolishLibrarianPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Aug 2010
Replies: 323
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:59 pm
Post subject:
Searching the www.EllisIsland.org database(free but need to register) I searched first name starts with J, last name starts with Stopk, male, and year of arrival 1899 + or – 2 years. Among the 12 results I find a Jan Stopka, 25, a married male from Stare Bystre arriving 1899. There’s also a Jan Stopka (line 24 on his manifest), age 45, a married male from Storakista [indexed] (but looks like could be StareBistre) possibly going to the same person (looks like J. Roki) and place (maybe Passaic, NJ) as the person (maybe Andrzej Roki age 26) on Line 23. Says they’re from Hungary (not Galicia) though. Departed Hamburg the S.S. Pretoria and arrived in New York on Dec. 15, 1901. Looks like he was detained in the hospital.
Based on what you know of Anna and Andrew’s arrival, do either of these sound like the right Jan? Hmm…could he have been that much younger than Anna (in 1899 the first Jan was 25 and she would be 36)?
Thought I had good possibilities, but maybe not... ~PL
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:45 pm
Post subject:
Thank you for doing the Ellis Island search. I know that Jan was about 10 years younger than Anna but his final destination would have been in Pennsylvania. Anna's ship manifest says she was travelling to Bens Creek, PA to meet Jan. I know that they lived in Hooversville, PA which is about 15 miles from Bens Creek. Anna did come through Ellis Island. My grandfather came through Philadelphia and his brother came through Baltimore.
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BobKPO Top Contributor
Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USABack to top |
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:52 pm
Post subject:
Doing direct searches on Ellis Island can be vastly improved by using the 'Steve Morse' web site that front-ends to the E.I. database and allows much more flexible searches. Go to http://stevemorse.org/, select the 'Gold form' .
You can search for any name coming from a specific town, or on a named ship or port as well as 'starts with', 'sounds like', or 'contains' on any name (first, last, companion, or town)..
.
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 9:10 pm
Post subject:
Hi Gilberto,
I took your advice and used the google translator to help me register on NaszaKlasa. I did a search on Kieta and found several people with that name. I couldn't figure out how to find which Kieta's are living in Stare Bystre. You said there were 25. How can I find those 25?
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 11:12 pm
Post subject:
Stan,
Have you looked at the Jan Stopka, age 25, who arrived in 1899 (who Polish Librarian found)? He was from Stare Bystre, Galicia, and was going to an acquaintance in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania. I think I saw this same Jan/John in the 1900 census. He was a border living in Portage Twp., Cambria County, PA.
Cheri
Last edited by Cheri Vanden Berg on Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:25 am; edited 1 time in total
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 5:48 am
Post subject:
| stankieta wrote: | Hi Gilberto,
I took your advice and used the google translator to help me register on NaszaKlasa. I did a search on Kieta and found several people with that name. I couldn't figure out how to find which Kieta's are living in Stare Bystre. You said there were 25. How can I find those 25? |
Hi,
Type Stare Bystre in the field Miejscowosc. Be sure of the correct polish spelling of the place. If it has diacriticals, they must be typed, either.
Gilberto
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:30 am
Post subject:
BobK,
Thank you for the link to stevemorse.org. I wish I hknew about that link months ago when I started this research. It would have saved me a lot of time.
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:40 am
Post subject:
Thank you Cheri,
I think you may be right about Jan Stopko. Gallitzin isn't too far from Portage and Portage is only about 30 miles north of where Jan and Anna finally moved to. I had assumed that Jan moved directly to Bens Creek or Hooversville when he arrived.
Wow, everyone on this site is so helpful. I really appreciate the help. Last evening I spent some time on the NaszaKlasa website looking for Kieta's and I found a photo of a little boy with the same surname who looks almost identical to my grandson. I showed my wife the picture and her first reaction was to ask whether my daughter had sent me a new photo of her son.
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 9:58 am
Post subject:
| stankieta wrote: | Thank you Cheri,
I think you may be right about Jan Stopko. Gallitzin isn't too far from Portage and Portage is only about 30 miles north of where Jan and Anna finally moved to. I had assumed that Jan moved directly to Bens Creek or Hooversville when he arrived.
Wow, everyone on this site is so helpful. I really appreciate the help. Last evening I spent some time on the NaszaKlasa website looking for Kieta's and I found a photo of a little boy with the same surname who looks almost identical to my grandson. I showed my wife the picture and her first reaction was to ask whether my daughter had sent me a new photo of her son. |
Stan,
That is very cool about the photo you saw on the NaszaKlasa website.
Yesterday I was originally going to comment that IF your Jan Stopko had gone to NJ first, I wouldn't have ruled him out. I found that my assumptions about my grandparents had really slowed me down in the beginning. I thought they had both gone to Chicago first, before finally settling in Hammond, IN (25 miles away). My oldest 3 aunts were born in Chicago, so I searched there for a marriage record. It turned out that they had married in Hammond, IN. My grandmother had gone to an Uncle in Chicago when she first arrived. My grandfather to his sister in Hammond. The information on their application for a marriage license had that she was working in a hospital in Hammond at the time. They moved a number of times, and my guess is that it was always for work.
I have seen other people from Poland going to Chicago first, and then ending up in Pennsylvania, and other places. People don't always do what we expected, and it's helpful and interesting to get us much documentation as you can. If any of your immigrant ancestors became citizens, you might want to look for naturalization papers for them.
Best of luck,
Cheri
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Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 11:08 am
Post subject:
Thanks Cheri,
I've learned not to take anything for granted when doing this research.
I spent a lot of time looking for the ship manifest for my grandfather's brother Francizek. Several times I found a record for a Francizek Kieta listed as a female and I passed over looking at the record. When I did look at it I found that whoever translated the manifest misread it. The manifest listed Francizek as a single male (SM) but it was interpreted as (FM). It was the manifest for my great uncle.
I also spent much time looking for the manifest for my grandmother. One of my aunts told me that she came here with an aunt named Mrs. Orkisz and another said she came with a Mrs. King. I knew my grandmother came through New York because she would tell a story about the entire ship cheering when they saw the Statue of Liberty. I managed to find the ship manifest for Mrs. Orkisz but there was no mention about a little girl.
One day I found an obituary for Mrs King. It said that before marrying Mr. King, she was married to an Orkisz. It also said that her maiden name was Dydula. I found the ship manifest for Miss Dydula and the next line on the manifest listed a Bronoslawa Dydula who was the right age and from the same town as my grandmother Bronoslawa Szczurek. They were even travelling to the correct town. I think that Miss Dydula used a fake surname for my grandmother in order to get her to the US more easily. It turned out that both of my aunts were correct. Gramma did come with Mrs Orkisz and with Mrs King.
Here's an update on NaszaKlasa: I found 18 Kieta's on the NaszaKlasa website. I wrote an email of introduction and used translate.google.com to convert it to Polish. I then sent the email to the 18 people I found on NaszaKlasa. I hoped that some of them might respond back but, so far, I haven't had any responses. Oh well, I thought it was worth a shot.
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 1000
Location: Atlanta, GABack to top |
Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:29 am
Post subject:
Hi Stan,
Was your family close to the family of your grandfather's brother Francizek Kieta who you said was born in 1892 and came to the US in 1906? I ask because if you do not know his family, it would be worth tracking them down to see what the oldest surviving family members can share with you. When I did this, I found relatives that had names, addresses, letters and photos from Poland that helped further my research.
Also, sometimes I will do a search on Ancestry.com with only a keyword - no names. If you have not ever done this, it is very interesting. Be sure to type in "Stare Bystre" with quotes so the search engine looks for that exact name.
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