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paul&jaye



Joined: 19 Jan 2010
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:25 am      Post subject: Szeredy and Opalka - request for emigration hints.
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Am looking for any relatives of Jozef and Katarzyna (Opalka) Szeredy. He was born on Mar 10, 1856 at Galicya, Austria, Poland and she abt Nov 24, 1859 at Galicya,Austria, Poland. They were married in Poland abt 1878 and came to the US shortly after. They both died in Detroit; he on May 2, 1938-she on Dec 14,1938. According to the moikrewni site their surnames are most common in the Jaslo area of Poland. We would like to travel to Poland to the area of my grandparents birth,but need more specifics. Can anyone help.
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Shellie
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Joined: 18 Feb 2009
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:54 pm      Post subject:
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You have come to a good place. About a year and a half ago, I was in your exact position. I did not know the village of my ancestors but I wanted to find them in Poland. I have met wonderful people here at PolishOrigins who have provided valuable information and encouragement as I followed the path to my ancestral home. It took alot of patience, research and the kindness of strangers to get me to a point where I could identify exactly where my great-grandparents lived and then fly off to stand in my village.

When you are ready to go to Poland, I highly recommend that you talk with Zenon and discuss a Forefather's Traces Tour. http://tours.polishorigins.com/
You can read about my background and tour here: http://blog.polishorigins.com/2009/06/11/shellies-family-history-and-tour-to-ancestral-places/
You can read about Louis' wonderful tour here: http://polishorigins.com/document/welnas_story
Several others have taken tours and if you are interested we can point you to their exciting stories also.

But you need to determine your ancestral village first, right? I suggest that you share as much info as possible and maybe the members here at PolishOrigins can provide you with some advice. You have already taken a giant step in the right direction by posting your query here. Can you provide any more specific info? Perhaps you can reply to some of the following:

1. Where did you get the exact birthdates for your ancestors?
2. From what source did you determine that Galicya was their birthplace?
3. Do you have specific dates and ship names for their arrival in the US?
4. Did they have any other relatives in the US - if so, what do you know about them? names, birthdates, etc. (including children).
5. Where did your ancestor live in Detriot? Do you have a street name? Have you found them on any census records?
6. Have you found any WWI or WWII draft cards for Jozef Szeredy?
7. Do you have any obituary info for Jozef and Katarzyna?
8. Did Jozef have a social security number? If so, do you have his application?
9. Do you have copies of their death certificates?

This is a long list, but it contains some of the basic things that I used to find clues about the identity of my ancestral village.

Hope this helps!
Shellie
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paul&jaye



Joined: 19 Jan 2010
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:09 pm      Post subject:
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1 Got birthdates from obit in Detroit Newspaper for grandmother-could not find grandfathers date there(from Mi St Library) Got both birthdates from LDS site also dates of death. Nothing in obit about where from.
2 On the LDS site. It must be on LDS immigration site but I don't have copy of the record . How do I get it?
3 No specific dates . Just assumptions. First child George born in Poland Apr 1879 in Poland- second child John born Dec 1880 in East Lake, Mi. So they came either in 1879 or 1880. Probably married in 1878.
4 Have birthdates for all children and deathdates for all 12 children.
5Know where they lived in Detroit. Know where they are buried and Church where buried from (its now gone). Have census records from 1900, 1910,1920,1930 they all say Austria- or Austria Poland as place of birth.
6 He was too old for WW1 Died in 1938
7 See above
8 Where to look? Was a farmer -died in 1938.
9 Have sent to Detroit for death certificates but haven't received them yet.
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Shellie
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Joined: 18 Feb 2009
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:24 pm      Post subject:
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Hi -
It looks like you have a lot of information. Hopefully the death certificates will provide more clues. If Jozef or Katarzyna's death certificates do not have the info, consider death certificates of their children. Also, explore their first child further. Perhaps George had a social security number and you can try to obtain his application.

What variations have you found in spelling for their surname? I did not see them on the census records.

The church they attended my be gone, but the records may still be with the diocese. Have you explored that option? Their village name may be mentioned in the record for their children's baptism records.

Did Jozef or Katarzyna have siblings that came to the US?

A member of the LDS submitted the birth and death information for Jozef and Katarzyna - and they knew Katarzyna's maiden name. Have you contacted your nearest LDS family history center? Someone at your local center may be able to help you locate the member who submitted this info.[/b]
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paul&jaye



Joined: 19 Jan 2010
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Post Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:29 pm      Post subject: Naturalization records
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Got the naturalization record for Josef Szereda (sp) today, from Manistee County Mi. All it says about place of birth is Austria. Also got census records for 1900,1910 Sereta, Scerda. 1920 and 1930 were spelled correctly (American) Joseph Shereda.
I commited a booboo. While on white pages (I didn't write down the site) I found a Szeredy in Jaslo. I have his full name and phone number. A friend has a relative in Poland and she is going to try to contact him. Wish me luck. Thanks for your help Shellie.
Incidently from 1880 to 1893 they lived in East Lake,(Manistee Co) Mi. From 1894 to 1925 (approx) they lived in Freesoil Twp (Mason Co) Mi. From 1925 to his death in 1938 they lived Detroit City, Mi .
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Shellie
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Post Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:33 pm      Post subject:
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Good luck and keep us posted on your progress! I hope that you make a connection soon!
Best Regards! Shellie
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Zenon
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Joined: 28 Apr 2007
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Post Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:15 am      Post subject:
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Hi Paul (& Jaye?) Smile,

I think your shot about possible area of origins of your Szeredy and Opałka may be accurate. Both surnames are very popular in today's Jasło county. In case of Szeredy in this area there live more than a half population of all Szeredy in Poland (map: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/szeredy.html and Opałka: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/opa%25C5%2582ka.html ).

Although the search area may be narrowed now, there is still many parishes and thousands of records to check. I think it is crucial for further effective search to narrow it to the parish area.

You have one very important information - possible date of immigration to the US: 1879 or 1880. Have you considered to check Immigration and Emigration records - passenger lists - from these two years on Ancestry.com ? You could, for example, search among all Josefs or Josephs or Jozefs who immigrated in these two years from Austria. Or among all Katarzyna, Kataryna, Cathrine.

I think it is always worth trying to make phone call to the people who bear your name and live in "your" area in Poland. Unfortunately, in your case your ancestors emigrated from this area long time ago and chances that descendants know anything about them are not too high...

Anyway, I wish you luck Exclamation

P.S. If you were interested I found in our databases 8 more phone numbers to Szeredy people from Jasło and Krosno areas.
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paul&jaye



Joined: 19 Jan 2010
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Post Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:38 am      Post subject:
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Thanks for your help. I would like the names and phone numbers that you have. On another website a geneologist helper tried to find immigration records for Jozef or Katarzyna Szeredy but could find none for that time period, however he did find several coming through Ellis Island at a Later date and they all came from Samokleski. Because Szeredy is a rather rare name in Poland he was quite sure that my grandparents also came from there. I found the Roman Catholic church that serves that village and sent them an e-mail asking if they would have any records of my grandparents-sofar no reply. I have also sent for a LDS microfilm for that church history.

Again thank you for your help-Paul
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:01 am      Post subject:
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As I often advise, from mine and others experience, priest more and more rarely reply to such requests. Even if you send them money.

I hope you will find helpful the list of names and phone numbers I sent you. Among them is one person from Samokleski.
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Shellie
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Post Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:35 pm      Post subject:
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Hi Paul&jaye,
I was curious about how your family history research as been going since we last heard from you. Have you determined which village your Szeredy family came from?
Happy Easter!
Shellie
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Zenon
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:57 am      Post subject:
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To all our Emigration subject specialists Exclamation

Tomorrow morning Pual and Jaye land in Krakow and we travel together to the most likely place of origin of Paul's ancestors - Jaslo area. However, so far we have only guesses and we were not able to narrow the village of origin of Jozef Szeredy and Catharina to any specific parish.

We will start from Samokleski parish which according to our common investigation is area populated with the surnames of Szeredy, Opalka and Mastej.

However, if any of you had luck in finding emigration/immigration record of Joseph and Catharina Szereda with their very young son George (Jerzy in Polish) that could be of a great help for our search in the area. This is what we know:

    Time of emigration between Apr 1879 and 1882
    Names of emigrants: Jozef and Catharina Szeredy (or any close variation of the given names and surname)
    Ended up in East Lake, MI


See also discussion above.

Any, even the smallest hints from emigration records, can prove to be a breakthrough Exclamation

If Paul and Jaye do not mind, we will inform you about any discoveries we will have (or have not).
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PolishLibrarian
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:30 pm      Post subject:
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Well, this has been interesting. It has taken me 20 min. to finally get each PO page to load so I could post my message. Hope this helps. PL

I just took at look at Ancestry and found Hamburg Passenger List records for Josef Szeredy, Katharina Szeredy and Adalbert Szeredy. Their ship the Viola departed from Hamburg on May 22, 1881 going to New York via London. Joseph was 26, Katharina was 24 and Adalbert was 7/12. They were traveling with 14 other people (5 other surnames) all listed as being from Jaslo, Galicia, Austria. They are both listed as arbeiter (laborer). No other identifying information is give on the Hamburg passenger lists from this time period.

I saved the image and can try to post or send via private message if you'd like. Basically I've given all the textual information from the record.
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PolishLibrarian
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:08 pm      Post subject:
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In 1900 Census, Joseph and Katharina Szeredy had 11 children (12 pregnancies, 11 living) - there were 9 boys & 2 girls (born about 1885 & 1898). Does this mean that one child had died? Do you know which child that was? Could there have been another child between Frank and Charles? Or did the first baby (George) die in Poland, and the next baby also born there and given the same name? In 1910 they had one more boy (Ed) who was 9 years old. Or in 1900 was Katie pregnant with #12 who would be Ed?

Those 9 boys from 1900 all registered for the WWI draft in 1917-1918 – here are their names and self-reported birth dates:
1. George Joe Shereda 2 Apr. 1881 living in Detroit (says he’s father of Isador who is living in Free Soil, Mich. and Isador does show up with Joseph & Katharina in 1920 in Free Soil) – He had lost his left hand at the wrist.
2. John Joe Shereda 15 Sept. 1881
3. Frank John Shereda 2 Apr. 1883
4. Charles Shereda 2 Nov. 1886
5. Martin Shereda 28 Oct. 1888
6. Thomas J Shereda 4 Dec.1891
7. Paul Shereda 12 Mar. 1893
8. James Shereda 9 Aug. 1895
9. Mike Shereda 9 Aug. 1895

Since George and John could not have been born 5 months apart, perhaps George was born a little earlier than he reported. Hamburg Passenger list implies he would have been born in Oct. 1880.
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Ute
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:50 pm      Post subject:
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Zenon wrote:
To all our Emigration subject specialists Exclamation

Tomorrow morning Pual and Jaye land in Krakow and we travel together to the most likely place of origin of Paul's ancestors - Jaslo area. However, so far we have only guesses and we were not able to narrow the village of origin of Jozef Szeredy and Catharina to any specific parish.

We will start from Samokleski parish which according to our common investigation is area populated with the surnames of Szeredy, Opalka and Mastej.

However, if any of you had luck in finding emigration/immigration record of Joseph and Catharina Szereda with their very young son George (Jerzy in Polish) that could be of a great help for our search in the area. This is what we know:

    Time of emigration between Apr 1879 and 1882
    Names of emigrants: Jozef and Catharina Szeredy (or any close variation of the given names and surname)
    Ended up in East Lake, MI


See also discussion above.

Any, even the smallest hints from emigration records, can prove to be a breakthrough Exclamation

If Paul and Jaye do not mind, we will inform you about any discoveries we will have (or have not).

Zenon,
I realize that chances are not that great that the information will be helpful, but since you mentioned the Jaslo area I thought I share two Szereda church marriage records with you that I found in Chicago parishes:

Szereda, Michael getting married to Gros, Thecla on 9-22-1912, at St. Valentine Church, and Szereda (Sereda), John getting married to Nykiel, Anna on 7-4-1904, at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.

What is interesting is that Michael Szereda was from Jodlowa, Jan/John Szereda was from Przeczyca, his wife Anna from Kamienica, gmina Brzostek. I think these villages are all in the Jaslo area ...

Sources:
Michael Szereda church marriage record:
Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records, 1833-1925, St. Valentine (Cicero), Marriages, 1912-1915, Image 16 of 28
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11562-108336-74?cc=1452409&wc=11823720

Jan Szereda church marriage record:
Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records, 1833-1925, St. Stanislaus Kostka (Chicago), Marriages, 1904, Image 84 of 160
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12454-72954-91?cc=1452409&wc=11823739



SZEREDA, Michael church marriage 1912.jpg
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SZEREDA, Michael church marriage 1912.jpg



SZEREDA, Jan church marriage 1904.jpg
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SZEREDA, Jan church marriage 1904.jpg


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Zenon
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:18 am      Post subject:
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Thank you very much all of you who responded to our inquiry about Szeredy/Szereda/Shereda family here in Forum as well as via emails.

Because we still didn't determine exact village/parish where Jozef and Catharina could live before leaving homeland we took the only reasonable approach and within the last two days we visited 7 parishes. These are:

Jaslo
Debowiec (greetings to Ceil Jensen http://polishorigins.com/MiPolonia who priests remembered from her last visit here Smile)
Osiek Jasielski
Samokleski
Nowy Zmigrod
Stary Zmigrod
Skalnik

Only in three of the parishes we managed to make appointments with priest to search parish books so far: Debowiec, Osiek Jasielski and Skalnik, but we have made appointment in Samokleski for Monday and hope to meet priests in the remaining places on that day.

We chose the parishes based on current distribution of living now in the area Szeredys and Mastejas. We have the information from local phone book and from interviewing people in the area.

Today is Sunday which for priests is the busiest working day, so we have appointed guided tour in the Open Air Ethnographic Museum in Sanok (click here to take virtual walk through the skansen in winter time: http://skansen.sanok.pl/wirtualny-spacer-skansen-w-zimie.html ). Now in Poland we have temperatures around 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) and we hope that we will not freeze Exclamation

On Monday we will continue the legwork and will write you about results.
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