Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:38 pm
Post subject: trouble finding my father
My name is Joann Walczyk. I have been searching for any records on my father Emil Walczyk. All I have is a passenger list from Ellis Island and a newspaper article from Stars and Stripes that mentions he was born in Galicia, but I can't seem to find anything else about him. Any suggestions?
I am attaching the news article.
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1560
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:53 am
Post subject:
Hi Joann,
The article is quite interesting. If he emigrated to the U.S. as it says, then he may have applied for a Social Security card. You can submit a request for a copy of that application, on which he should have written his place of birth. Do you know when and where he died? A death certificate could also be useful for such information. I see the passenger list from 1949. This means that there will not be census records for him in the U.S. available to you yet, since the 1950 census would be the first one he appeared in and the 1940 is the most recent available to the public.
Best of luck in your search,
Sophia
Last edited by Sophia on Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:42 pm; edited 2 times in total
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1560
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:59 am
Post subject:
P.S. You have written Walczak and Walczyk. Do records for him use both spellings?
Later note: all resolved! Just Walczyk.
Last edited by Sophia on Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 10:44 am
Post subject:
Hi Sophia,
Thank you for replying.
First, the spelling is "WALCZYK" as long as I have been alive (I am 56) and on the passenger list it spelled "WALCZYK". The article says my dad was born in Galicia so that is all I know. As far as Social Security is concerned, he is not in the Social Security Death Index, he died 8/25/1985, but I will check about a social security card.
Here is the info for the passenger list:
Name Emil Walczyk
Event Type Immigration
Event Date 1949
Event Place New York City, New York, United States
Gender Male
Age 19
Birth Year (Estimated) 1930
Birthplace Polish
Ship Name General Bundy
CITING THIS RECORD
"New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24RV-ZPW : 3 October 2015), Emil Walczyk, 1949; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
View the original document. The original may contain more information than was indexed.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK PASSENGER AND CREW LISTS, 1909, 1925-1957
Affiliate Publication Number T715
Affiliate Publication Title Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1897-1957
Affiliate Film Number 7752
GS Film Number 002296464
Digital Folder Number 007255826
Image Number 00094
Thanks so much.
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1560
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:45 pm
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I believe a name only shows up in the Social Security Death Index if someone makes a claim for a death benefit. So yes, he still may have had a SS# even if he is not in that index, and it may still be worth pursuing getting a copy of his original application.
P.S. I have to correct my statement here - - names show up in the SSDI if the death was reported to the Social Security Administration. It is not an indication that a survivor benefit was paid. And yes, I can confirm that you can ask for his application form whether or not you have his SS#, although in the latter case you have to pay an extra fee for them to do a search for you and you also have to provide proof of his death.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:31 pm
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I have a suggestion. There is a document number on the manifest. This may have more information for you. Contact the US National Archives. All immigrants coming into the US for asylum would have been processed by the US government. It looks like he came over after the end of WW I. http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/refugees.html#bupop
Why is there no SS record for him? Is he living or deceased? It's possible his name was misspelled on his Social Security card. My grandfather's card application had the name spelled wrong, but he correctly signed his name in Polish. SS headquarters in in Baltimore, MD.
If he is deceased, and you know his DOB and place of Death, if you order his application they will not send it to you. Laws on release of this information changed because of people stealing the identity of the deceased. Maybe if you send a death certificate, they will help you. Maybe you can call them before filling out the papers they want for ordering records. I don't know if these answers to my questions are in any previous mail from you, so I apologize if I am being redundant.
If you know when he was born, when and where he died, you may be able to get a copy of his death certificate. Whoever gave the information for it, may have give his place of birth. Galiica was a very large area the Austria took from Poland. It covered Poland and part of that is today Ukraine. I think part of it became Czechoslovakia after the end of WW II.
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mcdonald0517PO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 27 May 2012
Replies: 989
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:19 pm
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Hi Joanne,
It seems you already have a tree on Ancestry with the information you mentioned. The only addition I found in Ancestry was from the US public records index 1950-1993 Vol 2:
Emil Walczyk
B. 24 Jul 1930
Lived: 112 N. Henry St., Brooklyn, NY
Additionally, you can request a copy of his death certificate from NY state. If he married after arriving in the US, you can also request a copy of his application for marriage from NY state or the church / synagogue that performed the marriage. These records often have more details such as village of birth in Poland.
From what I can make of the Stars and Stripes article, Emil arrived in Bamberg, Germany about 1944 and was living in a displaced persons camp. He then immigrated to the US in 1949 per your passenger list via the US Military Transport, General Omar Bundy which departed Bremerhaven, Germany Oct 16, 1949 and arrived in New York on Oct 27. 1949. After his arrival, Emil then lived in Brooklyn, NY. It seems he then enlisted in the US army as a private and ironically was assigned to Company A of the 26th Infantry Regiment based in Bamberg, Germany where he was serving as a cook in the mess hall at the time the article was written in 1952.
As a direct descendant, you can order copies of Emil's military records. I found the website for the association of 26th Infantry Regiment (called the Blue Spaders). You can ask them for help in locating information about Emil and/or how to order his military records. Here is information about membership and contact info: http://www.bluespader.org/membership/ His military records may include his village of birth in Poland.
Also, I found a website for Displaced Persons after WWII. They list all the camps and where to write to get information on people in the camps. There is a camp listed for Bamberg, Germany here is the website: http://dpcamps.org/bamberg.html
And here is the main page of the website: http://dpcamps.org/
Finally, I found a web page with a personal description of what it was like to be a displaced person aboard the transports headed for the US. Here is the website: http://www.usmm.org/dp.html
I hope this helps. Good luck in your search.
Cynthia
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:58 pm
Post subject:
Thank you all so much. I'll let you know
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