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Judy Ball



Joined: 24 Jan 2012
Replies: 9
Location: Vulcan, Michigan

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Post Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:00 pm      Post subject: Opalka/Mastej
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There were/are several Opalka families in my village of Vulcan in the UP of Michigan, as wellas Mastej. I know that the Mastej family came from Zawadka which is quite near Samoleski. I believe they attended church in Cieklin.
Could you please provide me with info on the LDS microfilm for Samoleski? There are more than one Samoleskis in Poland. When I was looking for the microfilm they were from the other towns.
Thanks,
Judy Ball(Bal)
Searching for Bal (Czekaj), Ciula and Zychowski (Dobrynia), and Jurkowski(Zawadka)

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Searching for Bal from Czekej , Jurkowski from Zawadka, Cuila and Zychowski from Dobrynia
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Zenon
PolishOrigins Team Leader


Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1515
Location: Poland

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:03 am      Post subject:
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Yes, we found Paul's Shereda ancestors Exclamation

After visiting almost all listed in my previous post parish offices on the penultimate day of our stay in Jaslo area we finally got access to the Samokleski parish books in the parish office. The rector priest, although reluctant at the beginning, agreed for us to quickly check the approximate dates and names which we knew about from information found by Paul and you all in the US sources.

Information from immigration and censuses sources where not exactly precise but good enough for us to have clue where and who to look for. After a few minutes of discussion with priest about the most appropriate approach to the search we finally immersed into baptism records for the village of Samokleski. After checking a few years and many other Szeredy families, finally in 1855 we discovered birth record of Joannes and Adalbertus Szeredy, twins born to Josephus and Catharina Opałka Exclamation Adalbertus (in Polish Wojciech) for some reasons became in the US Georga (in Polish Jerzy) but this was what we knew about before. We didn't know about his twin brother Joannes who died 3 months after birth. Now we knew that we just have to follow this trace. Because priest had limited time on that day he agreed for us to meet the next day (the last day in the area) to continue research.

The rector priest turned out to be most helpful and thanks to starting the next day from Status Animarum ("List of Souls" in the parish) documents we significantly accelerated our discoveries finding a lot of family backwards to 1794. In the Samokleski parish office (and nowhere else) there are no marriage nor banns records what makes the search slower but still effective because there are most of the baptism records as well as Status Animarum from the end of 1800s.

Among others, we found out 12 siblings and half-siblings of Pual's grandfather and also information about two of them emigrating to the US which about Paul wasn't aware of. Now he can continue this thread in the US records.

Now we have solid footholds for continuing research and try to find living relatives in the area in the future Smile.
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CShereda



Joined: 25 Nov 2012
Replies: 2

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Post Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 7:41 pm      Post subject:
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Thanks for all your work on this, Zenon. It looks like you uncovered some useful and interesting information on the Szeredys and Opalkas while you were in Samokleski.

I'm Paul and Jaye's son and my interest in the name is slightly different from my father's. I'm most curious about the origin of the surname Szeredy. From the bit of internet research I've done it seems as if the name Szeredy is more common in Hungary and Slovakia than in Poland. This leads me to wonder if there is a single origin of the name, such as a place, or if the name has some meaning like 'Baker' or 'Johnson' do in English. For instance, my mother's maiden name is the German Senger, which translates either to the English 'Singer', or can mean someone from Seng in Bavaria.

Does Szeredy mean anything in Polish? If not, do you know if it means anything in Hungarian or Slovak? The online translators are of no help.

Cheers-
Charles Shereda
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Slav
PolishOrigins Team


Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Replies: 172
Location: Warsaw, Poland

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:55 am      Post subject:
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Hi Charles,

I can only offer you a guess based on William F. Hoffman's book on surnames which does not list Szeredy, but it mentions Szeremet, possibly a Ukrainian (Cossack) name originating from Persian Šir, "Lion" + the Arabic first name Ahmad. It gave rise to the names Seremet, Szerement, Szeremet, Szeremeta, Szerment, Szermeta

There is the root Sered- which comes from a dialect word seredzic, szeredzic, "to discuss, gossibe about", or in some cases the names originate from the Ukrainian root sered-, "middle" (the Polish word is srodek), seen in many Ukrainian toponyms. It gave rise to the names Sereda, Serediu, Serednicki, Seredyn, Seredynski, Seredzinski.

Here you can see the distribution of the name Szeredy in Poland:
http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/szeredy.html
Only 95 people with this name lived in Poland in 2002 (the map is based on the government PESEL register of citizens).
Below the map you can see the names of counties (powiaty) and towns (preceded by the letter m. for miasto) ordered by the number of people with this name.

The name Szereda has a slightly higher representation in Poland (119 people) and, interestingly, a different distribution than Szeredy:
http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/szereda.html

I don't know Hungarian or Slovak but there is a town in Slovakia callled Sereď (Hungarian: Szered) and it used to be part of Hungary in the past, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sere%C4%8F

I hope this helps a little Smile

Best regards,

Slav
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Zenon
PolishOrigins Team Leader


Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1515
Location: Poland

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Post Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:27 am      Post subject:
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Hi Charles Exclamation

Your parents told me about you and, among others, that your are an avid biker. Now in the late fall and in winter, when I do not travel with my guests as much, I have again more time for biking through more or less uncivilized roads on my MTB. So welcome to the club Smile.

When your father contacted me a few years ago my first impression about your great-grandathers surname Szeredy was that it has something to do with Hungary.

The area south of Jaslo, specifically Dukla Pass, is the lowest part of Carpathian Mountain chain. It had many effects in the past for the life in this region. The area was scene for one of the most bloody battles in 20th century and before, but especially in the WWI. Also, for many centuries through Dukla Pass led trade route from Poland to Hungary and farther on to Balkans.

The area was inhabited by many ethnic groups among which there were Poles, Lemkos and Jewish.

So the original sounding of your surname Szeredy is not typically Polish and, as you noticed and as Slav wrote about it, it may have its origins in both, Lemkos (which used language more similar to today's Ukrainian) or Hungarian culture and language.

However, Opałka (or Opołka)is a very Polish word and literally means in older village dialect "basket" (often without handle) Smile
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CShereda



Joined: 25 Nov 2012
Replies: 2

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Post Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:25 am      Post subject:
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Very interesting! Thanks Slav for your analysis and thank you Zenon for the history and the explanation of Opołka.

I had suspected based on the spelling of Szeredy that it was originally Hungarian but I don't know enough about the languages to know for sure. I do see that Hungarian spellings are more likely to have an 'sz' prefix. I first noticed a town with the Hungarian name Szerednye in western Ukraine that was the site of a 12th century Knights Templar castle by the same name.

I was also able to find this page in Polish: http://www.szymonwiatr.strefa.pl/seret.htm. It speculates about the origins of the name Seretny, which might or might not be related, mentioning a river on the Ukrainian/Romanian border. On that page it mentions szereda but Google translate doesn't do a good job with the surrounding text so I don't really understand it.

There are also these pages in Hungarian on Szeredas, which seem to be a sort of folk tradition that encompasses both bag making and folk music: http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02115/html/5-19.html and http://www.szeredas.hu/. Whether or not any of this relates to Szeredy though, I have no idea. I suspect a native Hungarian could tell us more, especially if he or she were named Szeredy.

Enjoy your winter biking, Zenon!
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Zenon
PolishOrigins Team Leader


Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1515
Location: Poland

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Post Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:13 am      Post subject:
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CShereda wrote:
I was also able to find this page in Polish: http://www.szymonwiatr.strefa.pl/seret.htm. It speculates about the origins of the name Seretny, which might or might not be related, mentioning a river on the Ukrainian/Romanian border. On that page it mentions szereda but Google translate doesn't do a good job with the surrounding text so I don't really understand it.


This is a very interesting finding Charles. According to description from the website (in Polish): szereda/sereda (‘hałas’, por. szeredzić ‘obmawiać, wymyślać komuś, kląć’) -> translation: szereda/sereda (noise, compare to szeredzić: to slander, to insult someone, to curse). This word is supposed to be from the old villagers dialect.
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Jarzebina



Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Replies: 1

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Post Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 12:15 am      Post subject:
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I too have Szeredy family. It is the surname of the maternal line of my family that comes from the same Samokleski in Podkarpackie mentioned here. I made a stop at the local church this summer and got a chance to look at some of the records over the shoulder of the priest - he didn't want me photographing Sad Catherine Szeredy, daughter of Peter & Marianna Toblowska, married Lucas Broclawik and had 7 daughters and 1 son: Marianna (1879), Frances (1885), Agnes (1888), Victoria (1891), Magdalena (1894), John (1897), Tekla (1900), and Julianna (1903). I believe there are also relatives in Czekaj and Osiek Jasielski, but I didn't have enough time there to look.
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SMM



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Replies: 4

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Post Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 12:02 pm      Post subject:
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I am looking for links to my heritage. My Great Grand Mother, born Catholic, was named Victoria Gobin/Gabon? (Pronounced Gobboin). She and her husband, Anthony Mastej, settled in Detroit, Michigan. They had three daughters: Stephanie, Julianna, and my Grandmother, Michaelina. Michaelina married Julius Yuhasz in Detroit, MI. My Great Grandfather Mastej, born Jewish, was a co-owner of a bakery in Detroit. I understand he passed away as a father of young children. Do you have any information on where the family originated in Poland, and if not, how I may obtain that information?

Last edited by SMM on Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:54 pm; edited 4 times in total
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SMM



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Replies: 4

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Post Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 12:03 pm      Post subject:
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I know Michaelina Mastej was born in 1911.
Blessings,
Stephanie Michelle
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WLacki



Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Replies: 2
Location: United States

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 12:09 pm      Post subject:
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Hello,
My family comes from Samokleski and names Szeredy, Opalka also appear in my tree (although I have little details and no solid data from 1800's).
Szeredy - Female born around/before 1872 by estimate, I don't have first name but married name became Baciak.
Have you guys done any DNA testing? Please let me know, I've done one through Ancestry so we could see if there's any relation at all. Some part of my family also lived in Michigan, some in/near Manistee.

Also, I have question about obtaining records from Samokleski church. What records are available there? What kind of information should I expect to find there?

Thank you,

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Waldemar
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Zenon
PolishOrigins Team Leader


Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1515
Location: Poland

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:02 am      Post subject:
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Hello Waldemar,

You ask about records availability from Samokleski parish. In the parish office there are many gaps in the records. Besides, it is not always easy to make an appointment with the rector priest there. What is valuable, there are available Status Animarums (lists of souls) from which you can learn a lot about inhabitants of the parish living there in the second half of 19th century.

Also, some of the Samokleski parish books are available in the Diocesan Archives in Przemysl. But as you may know, access there is limited unless you know someone who works with the director of the Archives on regular basis.
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WLacki



Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Replies: 2
Location: United States

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Post Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 7:57 am      Post subject:
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Thanks Zenon,
I did visit the priest during my short visit but unfortunately he was busy that day and only had time to look up 2 relatives for which I provided exact dates of birth. Yes, seems like the records are hard to obtain from the parish. However, if you're researching in that area I suggest visiting Communal Office in Osiek Jasielski first. At the Register Office they have marriage books from Samokleski parish from about 1892-1950. These books should be freely available to the public. That's where I've found a lot of information. Now, rest of the info from earlier years rests in the parish and/or archives in Przemysl.

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Zenon
PolishOrigins Team Leader


Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1515
Location: Poland

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Post Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 3:51 am      Post subject:
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Waldemar,

This is one of the more "difficult" priests Smile. It works to make an appointment with him or, alternatively, use the Przemysl Diocesan Archives.

In general, according to privacy law and civil registers law in Poland the books available through Civil Registry Offices (Communal Offices) are available only to family members and there are most often records no older than 100 years old. There are sometimes records older than 100 years old if entries from many years (e.g. 1892 - 1922) are in one physical book and they weren't moved to the State Archives. These are official rules.
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