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jkoloj

Joined: 31 Jan 2011
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Location: Plainfield, IL
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:07 pm Post subject: Kowalski/Gal family from Odrowacz

I have only recently begun a family search and unfortunately I waited much too long to begin. Most of my ancestors, including parents, are long deceased. I am in my early 60's and only a few days ago I finally uncovered information that led me to know the names of all eight of my great-grandparents. Hopefully someday I will be able to leave a much more detailed ancestral record for my grandchildren. I truly hope that other members of Polish Origins will be able to provide additional clues in my search.

Here is the pertinent info on my maternal ancestors:
Per his death certificate, my maternal great-grandfather Wincenty Kowalski was born in Odrowacz, Dec 23, 1860 and later died in Chicago, IL Aug 26, 1946.

I knew my grandfather Vincent Kowaski (same name as his father) and my grandmother Josephine Borkowska (ski) had been married at St. Adalberts church so I went searching in the online church records, and to my surprise, I found their 1915 marriage, which listed their parents' names. In addition, it also showed date and location of where my maternal grandparents were baptized....."Vincent Kowalski 21 ann. Piekielnik p. N.Targ" and "Josepha Borkowska 20 ann. Nagoszyn p. Ropcyze".

I do have copies of their (Vincent and Josephine) death certificates and in both cases, the town of birth was shown as Zaluczne. Since my grandfather provided the info on his wife's certificate, I assume it was accurate.

Except for my paternal grandpa, all of my grandparents were dead by the time I was born or shortly thereafter, so he was the only one I ever knew. Unfortunately, he only spoke Polish so we had nothing to talk about!

I think my maternal great-grandfather Wincenty Kowalski was married three times.
Based upon info from St Adalbert church records, when my grandfather (Vincent Kowalski) married my grandmother Josephine Borkowski, he listed his mother's name as Maria Kantula. My grandfather was born in Poland and I have no other US information re: Maria Kantula. It may be that she died in Poland.

However, my grandfather Vincent Kowalski had two brothers born in the US and their mother's name was Katherine Jelinek. Per 1910 census, both great-grandpa Wincenty and Katherine arrived in the US in 1892, however I have not been able to discover any other immigration information about either one.

Now for the most interesting part! My great-grandpa Wincenty got married again in 1911 at St Adalbert to Anna Leja. The church record shows that he was 49 yrs old at that time, which would give a different birth year (1862) than what was on his death certificate. The church record also indicates HIS mother was named Magdalena Gol or Gal and his father was named Michael Kowalski…….. Anna Leja’s father was Matthias Leja and her mother was named Catherina Gol or Gal. I see that many people on this forum have mentioned Gal ancestors, including SHELLIE, to whom I am deeply in debt for her help and guidance in getting this message posted to the forums, so I really hope that I am on the verge of uncovering some long lost ancestral facts!

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Joe Kolodziej

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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:03 am Post subject:

Looking at the info. you provided, I looked at the 1910 Census record for Wincenty (age 48 ) and Catherine (age 42). As you stated it does say that they both immigrated in 1892 and they are both from Austria (which would be southern Poland). But more importantly it says they have been married 12 years (meaning marriage in 1897-1898) and it does look like it says it was a first marriage for both M1 (although we all know you have to take any information on the Census forms with a grain of salt – Wincenty might have meant it was his first marriage in America!). Catherine had 2 pregnancies and 2 children living – the two sons listed Wojceich (7) and Michael (6). They also have Wincenty’s sister-in-law Rosalia Kowalski (age 57) and her son Albert (age 33) living with them.

As a follow-up, I tried to find him and Anna in the 1920 census. No luck. Found them in 1930 – Vincent Kowalski 63 (not age doesn't jive - 5 years off) and Anna 55 with daughter Lottie age 17. It says Vincent was 44 at marriage and Anna was 35 at their marriage. It says Vincent immigrated in 1892, that he has papers and that Anna came in 1895.

I also tried your grandfather Vincent. Found him and Josephine living at 1603 Wood St in Chicago. Info. as of Jan. 1, 1920 on the 1920 census. He is 25, she is 24, they are married and have three children – Helen 3 5/12, Victoria 1 6/12 and Marie 1/12. What’s interesting here is that it says Vincent immigrated in 1912 and Josephine immigrated in 1910, both are from Galicia. He worked as a laborer at the Harvester Co. Can’t find them in the 1930 Census.

So the question is if your ggf Wincenty immigrated in 1892, married Catherine in 1897 or 98, how did he father the child Vincent born in 1895 in Poland who immigrated in 1912? Did he go back and forth to Poland, father the child on a trip back. Then did the mother die and someone else raise the child, or did the mother live but the father never returned and started a new life in Chicago with Catherine. According to the 1920 Census gf Vincent was a citizen – looking for his naturalization records might provide some more clues. In addition according to the 1930 census ggf Wincenty also had his papers, so finding his naturalization papers could provide some additional clues.

By the way, on your chart you show Josephine as born in 1890, but if she was 20 when she married in 1915, then she was probably born in 1895-6.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

jkoloj

Joined: 31 Jan 2011
Replies: 22
Location: Plainfield, IL
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:17 pm Post subject:

PolishLibrarian wrote:

So the question is if your ggf Wincenty immigrated in 1892, married Catherine in 1897 or 98, how did he father the child Vincent born in 1895 in Poland who immigrated in 1912? Did he go back and forth to Poland, father the child on a trip back. Then did the mother die and someone else raise the child, or did the mother live but the father never returned and started a new life in Chicago with Catherine. According to the 1920 Census gf Vincent was a citizen – looking for his naturalization records might provide some more clues. In addition according to the 1930 census ggf Wincenty also had his papers, so finding his naturalization papers could provide some additional clues.

By the way, on your chart you show Josephine as born in 1890, but if she was 20 when she married in 1915, then she was probably born in 1895-6.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks so much for your response. Can't begin to tell you how often I have looked over the above info and it never occured to me that great-grandpa Wincenty must have gone back to Poland to produce his first-born son, Vincent! So far, I have not uncovered any marriage info for Wincenty and Catherine, however together they had two sons in 1903 & 1904---several yrs after their immigration.
I also have a copy of the marriage license for Vincenty and Josephine Borkowski in 1915, and it states that he was 21 yrs old and she was 25--birth yr would be 1890. In addition, the birth date as shown on her death certificate shows 1890 as well, which leads me to think that the census info was a little off.[/i]
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Joe Kolodziej

PolishLibrarian
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject:

My apologies - I used the info you provided: ....."Vincent Kowalski 21 ann. Piekielnik p. N.Targ" and "Josepha Borkowska 20 ann. Nagoszyn p. Ropcyze".

and since it agreed with the info. for Vincent and Josephine in the 1920 Census record (one year difference in ages) I assumed she was 20 when married and hence born in 1895 or so.

By the way, for what it's worth, in the U.S. church marriage records for my Polish grandmother and her younger sister, both gave their mother's surname as Koscielniak. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the church baptismal records in Poland for them and all their siblings gave their mother's surname as Knowa. I certainly can't explain how they could have gotten it so wrong.

Go ahead and assume the information you find is correct as given/recorded, but always be open to the possibility the info could be wrong as you continue your search. Good luck.

jkoloj

Joined: 31 Jan 2011
Replies: 22
Location: Plainfield, IL
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Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject:

Believe me, no apologies are needed. I too have often found major discrepancies in information. In fact, your comment about your grandmother's surname confusion made me smile.. Wink

I just recently located my uncle Chester Kucinski's birth records in the St Adalbert baptism files and in the Cook County Illinois Birth Registers. In the church record, his mother's name is shown as KUCHARKOWSKA and in the county record it is KUCHAHO. Aaarrhh!

Shellie
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:08 am Post subject:

jkoloj wrote:

PolishLibrarian wrote:

So the question is if your ggf Wincenty immigrated in 1892, married Catherine in 1897 or 98, how did he father the child Vincent born in 1895 in Poland who immigrated in 1912?...

My great-grandfather made several trips back and forth between the US and Poland, which was a big surprise to me because I always thought the cost would be too much for my peasant ancestors to make more than one trip! My great-grandfather first came to the US in 1899 and we could not figure out how my great-grandmother had 4 children born between 1905 and 1910 - before she emigrated. Later we found a notation and another ship manifest showing he had gone back to Poland twice, made some babies and returned to the US. Wink

jkoloj

Joined: 31 Jan 2011
Replies: 22
Location: Plainfield, IL
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Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:43 pm Post subject:

One of my biggest problems has been finding immigration records that match up with my family members. I realize that Ellis Island was not the only port of entry for Polish immigrants......I recently saw an online teacher's lesson plan regarding the Port of Baltimore, and the fact that in 1868, the B&O Railroad forged a business partnership with the North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd) Steamship Line based in Bremen, Germany. The lesson plan highlighted a fact I did not know before: Because of the partnership, immigrants could
purchase a single ticket that included both passage on a steamship from Bremen to Baltimore and rail transportation to their destination in the central United States---like Illinois! Well and good, but I haven't found any online source for Port of Baltimore immigration. Anybody have any clues--besides heading out to Baltimore Laughing

Cheri Vanden Berg
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Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:36 pm Post subject:

Well, Ancestry.com does have records from the Port of Baltimore. If you don't subscribe, you have a few options. If your library has the library edition of Ancestry, they might be included with that edition, and you could do look ups there. They offer a two week free trial, so you could see what you could find in that time. You can throw the names that you are looking for here, and maybe a kind soul will do a look up for you. I have to tell you that I had just about given up finding my grandmother at Ellis Island. I had been working on emigrants from Zaluczne, and I'd seen so many ways that letters were mistaken for other letters by an indexer. An n could look like a u in cursive handwriting, an old fashioned cursive S cold look like an L, etc. I spelled my grandmother's name, Aniela Lenart, many different ways, and still didn't find her. I actually subscribed to Ancestry because I saw an Aniela Lenart coming throught the Port of Baltimore, but it turned out not to be her. Someone recently found her for me, and she was indexed as Seuard, Anieta from Telngger (it actually was Zaluczne misread by the indexer). Oh, and she was coming through Ellis Island. Have you given Ellis Island Gold a shot, where you could look with just a letter if you want? Of course you'll get too much to look through with just one letter, but you can play around with the spelling of your surnames, or you can put the first few letters of a surname if you think the indexer might have read that correctly, and see what you get. I have sympathy for anyone that can't find their ancestor on a passenger list. I looked for ten years.

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