Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Finding My Grandparents

Author

Message

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:55 pm Post subject: Finding My Grandparents - Orner and Turner

I am looking for any information on my grandparents. I live in Los Angeles, CA and they are:

Grandfather:
Isaac (or Itcha, or Izaak, or Isaak, or Icze) Orner
Born 10/15/1876 in Melec (Galicia) Bjostock (Bzosdig) in Poland (Austria/Hungry)
Left from Rotterdam, Holland on 6/11/1907 and arrived in New York on 7/02/1907
He died on 2/25/1948 in Cleveland, Ohio (age 72)

Grandmother:
Gertrude (or Getcha, or Gitta, or Gitla) Turner
Born 9/29/1883 in same place as my grandfather.
Came to New York on the ship S.S. Pretoria on 10/05/1910
She died on 1/04/1959 in Encino, California (age 76)

They were married in 1904 in Melec

I use ( ) on items that I am not sure of the spelling or if I found different spelling in my research or old records I have. I am mostly confused over the names of cities (or Villages) and countries. I have found Poland, Austria and Hungry in various records I have. The name Melec comes up most often for these two people.

I knew both my grandparents as a young child and unfortunately I never asked them anything about their history. I am 74 and I do want to complete this Family Tree before I die - as I seem to be the only one in a large family that has an interest in this. Hopefully my grandchildren will.

Bill Rushin
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Replies: 311
Location: Virginia Beach, Va.
Back to top

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:12 pm Post subject:

George, I have sent you a message with information and some maps to help you. Check your private message box. Bill

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:39 am Post subject:

Dear Bill:
WOW - what a thoughtful and informative reply. I do so much appreciate the information and guidance. I shall add these maps to my files. I hope in the upcoming years I am able to visit Poland and trace where my grandparents and my great grandparents lived.
Thank You,
George

Bill Rushin
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Replies: 311
Location: Virginia Beach, Va.
Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:16 am Post subject:

Your quite welcome George, I sent some more info this morning in reference to Waksmund + maps. Bill

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:59 am Post subject:

Bill:
This is fascinating and I am getting deeper and deeper into this. When I started all this there were no computers - or at least I didn't have one - just a phone. Now you can search all over the world in a second. This kind of free site is nice to work with - what I don't like is the way they move you to Ancestory.com for "further information" and those guys charge you every way you turn by dangling information in your face and when you click to go there they want money. Oh well, that I guess is how this all works in the long run.
George

Bill Rushin
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Replies: 311
Location: Virginia Beach, Va.
Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:17 am Post subject: genealogy

George wrote:

George, haha I have been doing genealogy since 1972. I am so glad I started when I was a young man. Read my story about my 39 yr search for my GF's sister that I found just last week!

Ancestry is a very good bargain in my opinion. I pay less than $200 a yr and it is well worth the money. No more writing letters to court houses, no gas spent going to court houses and libraries. I get all census records I want, passengership records, birth death, US draft cards, naturalization records,newspaper articles and obits - all for $180 - that's real cheap! Plus the 1940 census come out today! Bill (try one of those 14 day trails- you'll be hooked)

Last edited by Bill Rushin on Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:13 pm; edited 1 time in total

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:45 am Post subject:

Bill:
I trust your judgement and I shall go back to them as I did once, long ago, use their service and yes, it was a great help for me to get started but soon it reached a point that every time I wanted to advance a search there was a new price. First I need to get all this new information in order.
Regards,
George

Bill Rushin
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Replies: 311
Location: Virginia Beach, Va.
Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:54 am Post subject:

George wrote:

George, there is only one flat fee for Ancestry, (pay by monthly or a yearly fee) and you get access to all of it. If you want access to records outside of US there is one small additional fee for that extra service. My area of Poland (Podhale) has not been microfilmed so I do not pay for that- since they don't have my records. Bill

PS- you may have tried to access records in Poland and that is why you saw the extra fee notices.

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:30 pm Post subject:

Good point - that may well be what happened. Thanks - I shall look into it.
George

Cyrwus

Joined: 14 Feb 2012
Replies: 17
Location: Brookfield, IL
Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:39 pm Post subject:

George,

Bill is right it is one flat fee for Ancestry and I pay for the world since my mother’s side is not Polish and I have been doing this for about 10 years. What I have started to do is look thing up at Familysearch.org it seems to be easier to find thing here then it will take me right to it on Ancestry or Ellis Island. I was able to find the boat that my Great Grandmother came over on and then just yesterday I found my other Great Grandparents marriage license. The biggest problem that I have is the misspelling of the names. The wonderful people on this site really help out when they can.

Mark

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 3:16 pm Post subject:

Mark:
Familysearch.org is a very good (and FREE) site and I have used it before. I am going to revisit it - woo oops, just did and this is not an easy site to work with and after reading many of the complaints - I tend to agree. But, I will plow through and lear to use it over again.
Thanks for the heads up.
George

Cyrwus

Joined: 14 Feb 2012
Replies: 17
Location: Brookfield, IL
Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 3:48 pm Post subject:

George,

Yes it is that is why I like it. I will give you an example how family search help me. My great grandmother Kordula Mroszczak she was born in Waksmund and came over a few times but I could not find when she finilly came over to the US. So I just put the last name in and just went page by page on family search until I saw a Rodula Mroszczak which was her. Also I found my grandfather brother birth and death certificates he died when he was 18 days old.

Mark

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 4:21 pm Post subject:

Mark:
My grandparents (my father's folks) were also from Waksmund Village. My uncle told me of a farm they lived on (don't think they owned it) and that he would walk up a hill to a fountain to get water. He said the other boys would throw stones at him as he was Jewish. My uncle Jack Weinstock was born on 11/11/1911 and my father Morris Fred Weinstock was born on 6/19/1910. My mother (Anne Turner Orner) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. My father and uncle, along with their mother Jennie (Stamer) Weinstock (my grandfather Peter (Pinkus) had come to America first to get established in New York and then Cleveland, Ohio) came to America (Ellis Island, New York) on 10/4/1921 after leaving Hamburg on 9/2/1921 on the S.S. Mount Clinton. I have a copy of the hand written manifesto of that ship and a photo of that ship.

Something interesting I never gave much thought to is that my grandparents and my father spoke no English. I was born in 1937 so by then they were speaking English just fine. It is hard to imagine my family not speaking English (spoke Polish). My father passed away in 1969 and prior to that I never had a chance to ask him anything about his history - primarily because he refused to talk about it - in fact got angry for even asking. I later realized he did everything to lose his European connection. He resented his friends that still spoke with an accent. He had none - and now I think he worked hard to lose it. When I was about 13 I got a gold star of David to wear on a chain around my neck. When he saw it he was very displeased and asked that I please not wear it. I did question him why and he said how would I feel if I were forced to wear it? I never (to my regret) pursued the conversation. My mother (lived to 89) could;t add any information as he would not discuss it with her. My Uncle gave me a few tidbits. He is now 100 and knows nothing of his
past.
Sorry - this was not a "Quick Reply".
George

Cyrwus

Joined: 14 Feb 2012
Replies: 17
Location: Brookfield, IL
Back to top

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:49 pm Post subject:

George,

Don't be sorry about a long post the more you post the more easier for someone to help you with some info even the smallest detail can help find thing out. I am someone that believes that you should know where you come from and you can see how it shapes a person.

My Great Grandfather came over in 1905 at the age of 15 and work in the coal mines. After talking with my great aunt she said that he could speak Polish, Czech, and English. I think he learned to speak English over here. He was from Nowy Tang.

My Great Grandmother who came here for good in 1909. her and her one sister were the only ones that were born in Waksmund her 5 other brother and sisters were born here. Her brother and one sister were the only other ones to lived here until they died. The only reason that I know this much about them was my great aunt asked her mother about everything she remembered before she died.

I could under stand where he was coming from because of the time that he lived. You have to remember what were happening to Jewish people at that time and how they were treated in Poland and the US. Also the stereotypes that people have. For most of us we think WW2 started in 1941 but it started earlier. Poland was invaded in 1939 and Hitler took over Germany in 1933 and we know how he treated the Jewish people. If you still had family over there at this time and if he new what happen to them this could be one reason why he acted like that. Also when people have an accent some people think that they are dumb or uneducated. My great grandmother use to act like she could not understand English that well when sells men use to come to the Tavern the my great grandfather owned and then she would let them have it.

Most family did not talk about there past when they came here unless they still had contact with them. I know more about my family here then in Poland until Monday when I went and seen my great aunt and she told me everything she could remember and that is even with going to Waksmund in 2005 with her. My grandmother side I don't know where they came from in Poland I was told they are not highlanders

Also Polish Highlander were look down on by the rest of Polish people. The Highlanders are the mountain people where Waksmund is located. It is a very small town next to Nowy Tang.

It might be hard to find out about the Jewish family in Poland because what I have been reading is that the Nazi took a lot of the records trying to find out who was Jewish. If you were Catholic you would go to the Church and maybe the cemetery to find out information in Poland.

Mark

George

Joined: 01 Apr 2012
Replies: 8

Back to top

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:51 am Post subject:

Thanks Mark - more roads to travel and more information to discover.
George

PolishOrigins Forum