PolishOrigins Forum

 FAQFAQ    SearchSearch    MemberlistMemberlist    ProfileProfile    Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages    Log inLog in    RegisterRegister 
Author
Message
VMounce



Joined: 26 Apr 2015
Replies: 11

Back to top
Post Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 9:06 am      Post subject:
Reply with quote

Hi Dave,

Thank you for the reply and the information!

Have a great day!

Vicky
View user's profile
Send private message
JFischer



Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Replies: 4

Back to top
Post Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:41 am      Post subject: Life in Czarny Dunajec and Emigration Experience
Reply with quote

I have recently began researching my maternal grandparent's journey to America. In particularly I am focusing on my grandmother, Kunegunda Pawelczak, with the intention of writing her life story. After locating her naturalization papers I was able to find (and correct) her Ellis Island ships manifest records. She emigrated from Czarny Dunajec via Bremen in 1913. I am trying to piece together her journey from her village. Based on the ships manifest I have believe she traveled with several other young women from her village: Aniela Figus, Marya Caladowczak (both single), Karolina Czerwin, and possibly a cousin, Aniela Pawelczak and her 3 year old son Jan. Aniela Figus and Marya were going to Chicago (as was my grandmother), Aniela Pawelczak was going to Republic, Pa to meet her husband Jan. (Which was the same name as my grandmother's brother who she was to meet in Chicago.)

Further research in a database generated from a Bremen organization, listed a Pawel Stochla also being from Czarny Dunajec. However, the Ellis Island manifest had him from another town. It is possible that he accompanied the young women on the trip if the Bremen records are correct.

I am seeking some general questions from the time period(1913) and help is greatly appreciated:

1. Was it usual/unusual for several young single women to emigrate together?
2. What kind of work would an 18 yr old girl do in Czarny to earn money for the journey?
3. What did the majority of residents of Czarny do in 1913? I've read that land was continually divided making farms small making farming not profitable. Does that mean that the majority of townspeople owned their own land? If they didn't own land, did they work others farms?
4. What was farmed? A variety of crops or was their one main crop of that region? Did people just farm to sustain their families? Or was there a market for their goods?
5. If you lived in town and not on a farm, what would have been your likely means for support?
6. Was it usual for two people in town to share the same name? (as it appears my grandmother's brother, Jan Pawelczak, shared with a possible cousin).
7. If a steamship ticket was sent from America by a sponsor did it include the railway ticket from their town to the port of departure or did the emigrant need to buy that in Poland?
8. Did an emigrant from Czarny need a passport to get to America? If so, how would they get one?
9. Can someone confirm that the currency of that time was the Korona? Did emigrants travel with the local currency or did they need US dollars on hand before they embarked? Was this something they could change over locally or did someone need to send them the US dollars from America?

And lastly, what is the best way to research sibling birth/death records from Czarny Dunajec?

Thank you so much!

Janis
View user's profile
Send private message
JFischer



Joined: 11 Jul 2015
Replies: 4

Back to top
Post Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:35 pm      Post subject: Church of Holy Trinity in Czarny Dunajec
Reply with quote

Does anyone know when the mural in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Czarny Dunajec was painted? Could it have been there in 1913? If not, any idea what the interior of the church was like around 1913?

Thank you!
View user's profile
Send private message
rjaremus



Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Replies: 29

Back to top
Post Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:39 am      Post subject: Immigration experience - from Czarny Dunajec
Reply with quote

JFischer - I have Figus relatives from Czarny Dunajec although my Aniela Figus (ne Las) was from Odrowaz and was too busy raising her 8 children to have gone to Chicago. That said, several of her children went to Chicago. My grandmother was Anna Figus, born in January 1893 in CzD - came to Chicago in 1910 to retrieve her ailing brother Joe. She took care of him for a while and I think sent him back but she ended up staying in Chicago, working as a seamstress for Hart, Schafner & Marx (a renown clothier), and eventually married Grzegorz (known as George) Gidzinski. When she came here she was 17. I can't imagine a 17 year old coming here on her own. I would think these girls came in groups. From some Ellis Island records, I saw that there were other Figus' that came to Chicago in the 1890's.

It is my belief that the CzD to Chicago migration began in the 1890's and soon grew into a flood. This was a very poor part of Europe and the family sizes were exploding. My grandmother was one of 8 children. My grandfather was one of 7 children. These people had to go somewhere because as my grandfather said - "there was nothing to do" at home. I think Chicago got a reputation as a land of opportunity and the flood gates opened.

When I visited Poland in '91 we stayed with a relative who had built a large beautiful house on a mountain top in the area. As we looked at all of the large houses in the area, he said that these houses were all built with American dollars. Every family sent a family member or two to Chicago to work for a year or two. They would come home with $10K which under the communists in the '80's was enough to build a mansion. This was just a continuation of the immigration flood that began many years before.
View user's profile
Send private message
Send e-mail
stankieta



Joined: 31 Jan 2014
Replies: 45

Back to top
Post Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 10:39 am      Post subject: Czarny Dunajec near Nowy Targ in Malopolskie
Reply with quote

I can only tell you what I’ve found during my genealogy research. Others might have better responses. I’ve posted answers to each of your questions…

1. I don’t think it was unusual for women to travel together. Often the husband would come to the U.S. first to get a job and earn money. He would then send for his family as he could afford to pay for their travel. In my family, it took more than 12 years to get the entire family here. My grandfather was 5 years old when his stepfather came to Pennsylvania and 6 years old when his mother came. Grandfather didn’t arrive until he was 17. It just makes sense that if a young woman, possibly with small children were going to spend a couple of weeks on a ship and then a long train ride to get here that it would be much safer to travel with other people. My grandmother was brought here at the age of 5 by a 20 year old girl who was a family friend in Poland. As far as I know, they came by themselves.

2. I don’t have a good answer for this question. In my case, most of my family was able to get here because people already in the U.S. sent them money for the trip. I don’t know how the original immigrants paid for the trip.

3. My family is from the village of Stare Bystre, which is directly next to Czarny Dunajec so I’m sure that things functioned similarly between the 2 villages. My family owned their farms and I think most of the families in that area did. I have seen records where families lived on a farm that was owned by relatives. Sometimes they lived in the same house as the farm owner and sometimes in a different house on the farm. In my family, most of the men worked the farms and they also held other jobs. My grandfather found work as a carpenter. Other relatives were “day-laborers” which, I think, meant that they would do whatever work was needed at the time.

4. There are several census’s taken starting in the 1700’s that include Czarny Dunajec. Common crops included oats, wheat, rye and hay for the animals. Usually they would rotate crops from field to field every year.

5. Not sure. Everyone in my family lived on farms.

6. Some names were very common. In my family tree for Stare Bystre, the names Joannes, Adalbert, Josephus, Andreas were very common boys names and Catherina, Rosilia, Regina, Anna and Mary were very common girls names. It was very common for cousins to share the same first and last names. It was also very common to reuse the same name in the same family if a child would die. My grandparents had 3 boys named Joseph. The first 2 died as infants. The third one lived.

7. I imagine that it depended on each circumstance. Most of the people coming here arrived with very little money. It’s not unusual to find ship manifest records where the person arrives with less than $10.00. I don’t know if that would be sufficient to buy a railway ticket at that time or if they were purchased before hand.

8. I don’t think that passports were required until the mid 1900’s. I know that neither of my grandparents had passports.

9. The ship manifests list the amount of money as dollars. I assume that’s what they came with but I don’t know for certain.

As for doing research in Czarny Dunajec, the records from about 1787 onward are in the Most Holy Trinity church in Czarny Dunajec. If you want to access those records then you’ll need someone to go to the church and get the priest to allow access to the records. There is also a copy of those records in an archives located in Kracow. The Kracow records are missing several years of records and, since they are copies, they contain errors from transcribing the original records. It’s still easier to access the Kracow records than the originals though. If you can’t travel to Poland yourself, you can hire a genealogist to do the research for you.
View user's profile
Send private message
Send e-mail
rsowa
PO Top Contributor


Joined: 09 Nov 2013
Replies: 177
Location: Dundee, Michigan, USA

Back to top
Post Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 6:16 pm      Post subject: Re: Life in Czarny Dunajec and Emigration Experience
Reply with quote

Janis...here's what I found from my research:

2. What kind of work would an 18 yr old girl do in Czarny to earn money for the journey?
I don't know about Czarny, but most of the single women from Galicia in my ancestry reported their "occupation" as "maid servant". In other words, domestic housework either for a richer family or for relatives.

3. What did the majority of residents of Czarny do in 1913? I've read that land was continually divided making farms small making farming not profitable. Does that mean that the majority of townspeople owned their own land? If they didn't own land, did they work others farms?
Very few of my immigrant ancestors owned land. They were nearly all tenant farmers working someone elses land.

5. If you lived in town and not on a farm, what would have been your likely means for support?
My ancestors that weren't farmers were usually involved in some skilled occupation. Most of those from one town were butchers and tanners. Those from another area made their living as blackmiths or miners. There were also a few that were skilled carpenters. Each of those folks arrived in America and used the skill they learned to work in similar trades here.


6. Was it usual for two people in town to share the same name? (as it appears my grandmother's brother, Jan Pawelczak, shared with a possible cousin).
Oh my...that has caused me real fits. In one of my ancestral families the progenitor was named Szymon whose mother was named Angela. He had four sons and 5 daughters. Of course, he named his first born son Szymon and daughter Angela. Then, of course, each of his kids named THEIR firstborn sons Szymon and daughters Angela. In the end, there were dozens of folks running around with the same name, many of them nearly the same age. Trying to sort all them out continues to be a nightmare. Using birth dates and ages might seem like a reasonable way to help resolve it, but for most of my ancestors, they either didn't know their age and birth date, or didn't care.


7. If a steamship ticket was sent from America by a sponsor did it include the railway ticket from their town to the port of departure or did the emigrant need to buy that in Poland?
On arrival in America one of the questions the customs agents asked was 1) whether they had a ticket to their final destination or 2) if they had enough money to buy one. If they didn't have either, they were often held at the port until they did. That happened to at least two of my immigrant ancestors

8. Did an emigrant from Czarny need a passport to get to America? If so, how would they get one?
I don't know about Czarny, but my wife's ancestors immigrated from Hungary in 1890, just south of Krakow. They were required to get a passport from Hungary, and pay a fee for an "exit" stamp. The United States did not require a passport for entry. But the Austria-Hungarian empire probably did as a means to help control loss of population.

9. Can someone confirm that the currency of that time was the Korona? Did emigrants travel with the local currency or did they need US dollars on hand before they embarked? Was this something they could change over locally or did someone need to send them the US dollars from America?
From what I have read, all of the major ports in America had vendors that set up at dockside that could both exchange foreign money for dollars, sell train tickets to their final destination, etc. The money exchange probably happened right away, maybe even before they were interviewed by the customs officials.

All the best,
Richard
View user's profile
Send private message
fredbaniecki



Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Replies: 2

Back to top
Post Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:56 am      Post subject:
Reply with quote

Elaine wrote:
Shellie, Thank you so very much! We're on the right track! I had to wait for my brother to come over to say "yes" or "no" if we were or not. He remembers visiting them when he was a young boy (he will be 80 in May).
I'm just hoping that as we get stories in from the remaining 18 children my grandfather Jakub Leja had (12 with Ludwinka Mazur) that someone will write about them and give us more of an insight on Bronislaw and Victoria Mazur. And the same hopes are some of my cousins might remember them and write about them for our upcoming Leja Memory Book we're creating for the Leja family reunion next summer.
I will check further into what you have given me in hopes that I'll be able to find out more.
I had just gotten a phone call from a Teresa Mazur from Uniontown,PA. I believe she may be married into the Mazur family. Anyways, she gave me a name and phone number of a 91 year old woman that knows all about the Mazurs from the Uniontown area and should be able to help me. Unfortunately, I'm hearing impaired and can't really talk on the phone and understand what the other party is telling me. So, I passed on the number to my older brother, in hopes that he'll call her soon and possibly get more information.
Thanking you for giving us a lead where to look for more information.
Regards,
Elaine L Cain
Great-granddaughter of Bronislaw & Victoria Mazur
View user's profile
Send private message
Send e-mail
fredbaniecki



Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Replies: 2

Back to top
Post Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:58 am      Post subject:
Reply with quote

Elaine wrote:
Shellie, Thank you so very much! We're on the right track! I had to wait for my brother to come over to say "yes" or "no" if we were or not. He remembers visiting them when he was a young boy (he will be 80 in May).
I'm just hoping that as we get stories in from the remaining 18 children my grandfather Jakub Leja had (12 with Ludwinka Mazur) that someone will write about them and give us more of an insight on Bronislaw and Victoria Mazur. And the same hopes are some of my cousins might remember them and write about them for our upcoming Leja Memory Book we're creating for the Leja family reunion next summer.
I will check further into what you have given me in hopes that I'll be able to find out more.
I had just gotten a phone call from a Teresa Mazur from Uniontown,PA. I believe she may be married into the Mazur family. Anyways, she gave me a name and phone number of a 91 year old woman that knows all about the Mazurs from the Uniontown area and should be able to help me. Unfortunately, I'm hearing impaired and can't really talk on the phone and understand what the other party is telling me. So, I passed on the number to my older brother, in hopes that he'll call her soon and possibly get more information.
Thanking you for giving us a lead where to look for more information.
Regards,
Elaine L Cain
Great-granddaughter of Bronislaw & Victoria Mazur
View user's profile
Send private message
Send e-mail
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    PolishOrigins Forum Index -> Villages and towns of our ancestors' origins All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4 Page 4 of 4

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB ©

© 2009-2024 COPYRIGHTS BY THE OWNER OF POLISHORIGINS.COM