Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Help with Potok surname & family in Galicia

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valerie potuck

Joined: 01 Apr 2014
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 2:42 pm Post subject: Help with Potok surname & family in Galicia

searching surname Potok in Galicia. Grandfathers name is Wesfl,Wesol Potok on US marriage certificate.
Went by Joseph Potuck with other US documents.
Birthdate is 15 Nov 1877. Came to US about 1903. I can not find his immigration records from Ellis Island
but i do know he came in Ellis Island.
Thank you with any information on the Potok family.

Magroski49
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:43 pm Post subject: Re: Help with Potok surname & family in Galicia

valerie potuck wrote:

Valerie,

Maybe this one:
Wasyl Petak, arriving Jan 27 1903. Departured from Antwerp on ship Kroonland.
He was 27, married, from Rohatyn (then Galicia), going to Perth Amboy NY ? to a cousin Michal Andrycion at Wiajne St. 8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohatyn

Gilberto

valerie potuck

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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:41 pm Post subject:

Thank you Gilberto,
I did not mention he married in 1910 in the US. The marriage certificate stated he has not been married before.
So his name must be Wasyl. How did the Joseph come from Wasyl? I am trying to find out where in Galicia he was from. I do have his naturalization petition only says Galicia.
He lived in Sullivan County Pa.
He has been a difficult one since the surname has been misspelled often. I am thinking the Potok is the correct spelling. Thank you so very much for your help.

Regards, Valerie

Cheri Vanden Berg
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:34 pm Post subject:

Hi Valerie,
I assume Joseph's naturalization petition is where it said he arrived in 1903? I see that in the 1930 census it says that he arrived in 1898, and his wife Mary in 1910. In the 1920 census it says he arrived in 1909, and Mary in 1910. We can't know who answered that question to the enumerator though...

I found the family in 1920 at Heritage Quest indexed with the surname Polakok (first name Joe). At Ancestry it is indexed as Polokok. The were in Sullivan County.

Can't really offer an explanation for Wasyl changing his name to Joseph, except for the fact that sometimes people picked whatever name they wanted.

Sometimes the church wrote down what church people were baptized at, or the village were they were born in the marriage records.
Cheri

Cheri Vanden Berg
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:38 pm Post subject:

I was curious about what the MH stood for in Joe's marriage column, so I looked it up:
A statistical study was done in 1923 on coal miners listed in the 1920 census.The codes used follow:
MH - coal miners who were also the heads of their households
BD - coal miners who were boarders in a household
BWF - coal miners who lived in their parent's household
USC - "colored" coal miners who were born in the United States (for African American miners)
USW - "white" coal miners who were born in the United States (for caucasians miners)

Cheri Vanden Berg
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:04 am Post subject:

Valerie,
Did Joseph and Mary get married in Pennsylvania? Have you found her passenger record? I found a Maria Jaleczko (close to the Jaroczko surname you mentioned in your profile) arriving on Feb. 18, 1910. She was 20 years old. That matches Mary Potuck's age and date of arrival from census records. This may just be a weird coincidence, but she was going to Perth Amboy, NJ, the same place that Gilberto found Wasyl Petak going to...Don't know if that is your grandfather Joseph for sure. IF it was, the manifest could have the wrong information about him being married - there were ditto marks...On the other hand, he wouldn't be the first person that didn't claim a previous marriage if he had been married before. I didn't have any luck finding Wasyl/Wesol/Joseph or Mary/Maria in the 1910 census. That would be helpful. I saw that in 1940 the family was indexed with the surname Rotock at Ancestry, but it looks like Potuck to me.

valerie potuck

Joined: 01 Apr 2014
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:59 am Post subject:

Cheri,
Thank you so very much for every ones help in my search. I am new to Polish Origins. It is such a great help.
I did not have the 1920 1940 census. Still looking for 1910.
Yes Joseph & Mary were married in Bernice Sullivan County Pa. on January 25 1910 @ the Russian Orthodox Church In Bernice.
Mary's maiden name on the record is so very different spelling again (Garote). Oh my!
I think you & Gilberto might be on to something.
many thanks again, Valerie

Magroski49
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:42 am Post subject:

Valerie,

in www.stevemorse.org Ellis Island gold form I have narrowed a search for Mary using the following paterns:
first name starts MAR, surname sounds like Jaroczko, female, born between 1885-1895, ethnicity galician+polish.

Among 71 results this one caught my attention:
Marya Jarocka (sounds Iarotska), arriving Feb 13, 1909, from Bremen, ship Scharnhorst. She was 20, from Lymna (Galicia) and her father was Hyric?. Going to.....Perth Amboy!
The engine now cracked and I cannot enlarge the manifest to vivew additional info.
Happy Easter

valerie potuck

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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:49 am Post subject:

Gilberto,
And a very very happy Easter to you also.
Thank you so much for your time. I will look into this.
Your expertise is so appreciated. You find places of research that i
have no clue of.
many thanks, Valerie

Magroski49
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:10 am Post subject:

You are welcome. A sucessful attemp with another machine: she declared she had been before in the USA,about 1906 or 1908. There is an entry for her in 1906, going to the same place to meet her uncle Michal Jarocki. The place is now listed as Lomna. There were 3 Lomna in Galicia:
Lomna - Bochnia - Wisnicz - Wisnicz Nowy - Wisnicz Nowy
this one still in present day Poland; the next in Ukraine
names stand for Community - RC church - Jewish church - Greek church --
Lomna Dobromil Bircza Leszczawa Dolna Rybotycze Lomna
Lomna Turka Turka Turka Turka Lomna

Cheri Vanden Berg
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:17 am Post subject:

Hi Valerie,
Well, I don't have the right Mary's ship manifest if this is your Joseph and Mary that married in January of 1910. I've attached the record found at Family Search. I don't think Mary's surname is Garote. It looks like a t when it was written one time, and a k when it was written another time on this same record. I think the only letter that I'm sure of is the G (maybe not even that one, as I look at it again I wonder if it is some version of Jaroczko).

Wesol's birth year is given as 1881 on the marriage record, which doesn't match Joseph's birth year in the census. That is not unusual, as I think many people have different birth years for the immigrant ancestors (my grandmother's birth year was different on documents). I am confused about the different surname for Mary though. You have Jaroczko on some document for her?? If it's her death certificate then I can understand that the informant might not have been sure of her maiden name. Was her maiden name on Joseph's petition for citizenship? And you have another document that shows that your Joseph's name was "Wesfl" previously?

Potok marriage.jpg

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Cheri Vanden Berg
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:30 am Post subject:

I wrote the above before Gilberto's messages showed up. Now it makes perfect sense to me that Mary's surname on the marriage record could be a version of the surnames that Gilberto has found on manifests!

valerie potuck

Joined: 01 Apr 2014
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:13 am Post subject:

Cheiri, Gilberto you amaze me.
I have not done much research on Mary. Many versions of the spelling from other families research.
Sure would like the correct spelling. I did not throw into the pot her brother Stanislaw Jaroczko b 15 Feb 1895 arrived in US 1912 lived in NY city & a sister Laura who lived in Pa. married name Slovitsky. Found her maiden name spelled different. This info from other family trees & obits. Was not sure about the siblings.
You have me hooked on Polish Origin now.

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