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CDawson

Joined: 09 Feb 2024
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Location: Cleveland, OH
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2024 5:30 pm Post subject: Looking for Polish Ancestors - Rosiek and Abramski

Well, like many people here, I’m looking for information on some Polish ancestors (and hopefully their descendants). I’m pursuing my family history, including several families in Poland. My great-grandfather, Wojcieich (Albert) Rosiek was born in Lakta Gorna in 1885 and raised in the town until he immigrated to the United States in 1905 and resided in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia until his death in 1948. His parents were Joannes Rosiek (1838-1894) and Margarithae Kowalska (1845-1923). He had seven siblings, though his family in the US never knew he had that many, as he rarely if ever talked about his family and apparently didn’t keep in touch with them that often. Unfortunately I know nothing about his family, though they may possibly have had a farm in the village, and one brother may have been a local postmaster. The only family story we ever heard about him is that as a child he was an altar boy in a salt mine chapel (possibly Bochnia?) His wife Julia Abramska (1889-1977) was born and raised in either Zawady-Poniekiew or Rozan (my grandmother used both interchangeably when she talked about her mother). She immigrated to the US in 1909, and met and married Albert in 1911. Her parents were Antoni Abramski (1863-1926) and Wladyslawa Jablonska (1857-1960). Her father apparently owned or operated a wind-powered grist mill in their village. She had two brothers and two sisters, one of which, Stanislawa Abramska (1894-1932) also immigrated to the US. Julia did keep in touch with her family, and even returned for a visit in 1957 to see her 100-year old mother and help the family financially. We lost track of her family after her death in 1977.

I’m looking for possible sources I can use to try to research the family further, as I’m hoping to go farther back in the family history, but also to see if I can discover what happened to Albert and Julia’s siblings and perhaps trace the family forward. I’d love to find any descendants of Albert’s siblings, because I have some old photos of his that we believe were photos of his siblings that I’d like to forward on to a relative in Poland, as that’s the right home for those images.

BarbOslo
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Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:24 am Post subject: Re: Looking for Polish Ancestors - Rosiek and Abramski

Hi,
I don't know how much this will help. Perhaps you know it. There isn't much online. I'll start with your great-great-grandfather Antoni. He did not die in 1926, but on August 11th, 1928 in Zawady parish Różan at the age of 67. He was the son of Wawrzyniec Abramski and Rozalia Wojciechowska. See Attachment. Antoni had a younger brother Jan (ab.1863-1922).
The youngest children of Antoni and Wladyslawa were born in Poniekiew Wielka. I believe your grandmother was born there. Later the family moved to Zawady. So the two youngest were born there. On Genetyka I see that Marian Czeslaw was born on July 21st, 1902 and Franciszek Marian on March 16th, 1907. Franciszek later (15.12.1952) married Marianna Trynkos nee Jablonska in Warszawa.
They also had a son named Stanislaw who was born in Poniekiew Wielka in ab. 1893, and died in Zawady on July 23rd, 1907, aged 14.

This is what I found about the children of Jan Rosiek and Malgorzata Kowalska. See Attachment.
Hope I could be of some help.
Regards,
-Barb

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CDawson

Joined: 09 Feb 2024
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Location: Cleveland, OH
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Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 2:30 pm Post subject:

Hi Barb,

Thank you so much for this information, and I believe it will be helpful. I definitely need to delve a little further, as the information I had may be slightly off. Antoni Abramski's death date I had from a photo of his tombstone that one of the relatives sent to my great-grandmother in the early 1960s, but they may not have had the date on the tombstone correctly. The information on Wojciech Rosiek's siblings appears correct, as I had the information that his sister Josephine married Jan Paruch ... she may have been the only sibling he kept in touch with, as she was the only sibling named on his American obituary in 1948 (as "Mrs. John Pazuch"). But this helps move things forward. There is digitized church records on the FamilySearch website from Poland, but what I'm finding is that there were a LOT of Rosieks in Latka Gorna, so parsing out which ones were relatives is a bit difficult.

The Abramski records could be correct, though I'm a bit confused because from what little information we had, Julia's siblings were two brothers, one named Marian and one named Czeslaw ... so I'm wondering if Marian is actually Franciszek Marian, and Czeslaw is actually Marian Czeslaw. That very well may be. I'll have to check the notes I have from my grandmother's conversations and see if she had further information. She did say that Chester (Czeslaw) was the second-oldest sibling, after her, and Marian was the youngest (though apparently there was another child who died), so that would actually check with the dates you found. She did bring one brother over to the United States in the 1950s for a visit, hoping that he and his family would emigrate, but he had no interest in that, and she actually had a difficult time with him in the US, admitting to my grandmother that she really didn't know him very well, as he was only a toddler when she left Poland, so that could have been Franciszek Marian Abramski, as she left in 1909, and he was only 2 then.

Definitely I need to keep digging further!

I must also confess I've never used Genetyka before, but clearly I need to, so I thank you for mentioning that.

And again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You've definitely helped me move my project forward!!!

Chris

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BarbOslo
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Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:41 am Post subject:

Hi Chris,
It's hard to believe. Mistakes happen with new burials, and a new tombstone replaces the old one. It is not only the year, but also the date that is not correct.
At the same time, I can read in the death record that he leaves behind a wife, Wladyslawa nee Jablonska. I don't know what to believe. I started looking more at the Abramski family. Will send you something this evening.

Regards,
-Barb:)

BarbOslo
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Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 11:28 am Post subject:

BarbOslo wrote:

Hi Chris,
It's hard to believe. Mistakes happen with new burials, and a new tombstone replaces the old one. It is not only the year, but also the date that is not correct.
At the same time, I can read in the death record that he leaves behind a wife, Wladyslawa nee Jablonska. I don't know what to believe. I started looking more at the Abramski family. What do you know about the Abramski family?
Regards,
-Barb:)

CDawson

Joined: 09 Feb 2024
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Location: Cleveland, OH
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Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 6:03 pm Post subject:

Hi Barb,
That's the amazing thing to me ... that the day and month are different, not just the year. But could there be an error in the church records? I'm just surprised that a new tombstone would be ordered and have incorrect dates on it, when Antoni's children were still alive, and would likely know the correct date of his death. I know they were there at the original burial, as they actually took a photo of all of them around an open coffin, just before it was buried, which they sent to my great-grandmother Julia and her sister Stanislawa ("Stella") here in the United States. We still have the photo, as it's one of the only photos I have of Antoni, aside from one he took with Julia when he came over to the US briefly in the 1910s to visit with her and my great-grandfather, Albert Rosiek, after they had married.

Bue I guess I believe the church record, because Antoni's wife WAS Wladyslawa Jablonska, though she definitely outlived him, living until 103 years of age. Julia's daughter, my grandmother Marcella Rosiek Grace, almost tied the record, passing away only a few months before she would have turned 103.

But anything you could tell me about Antoni and Wladyslawa's family would be most helpful. My grandmother understood that her grandfather Antoni operated a windmill, but we know nothing else. Nor do we know if Wladyslawa from the same village or a nearby village, or anything about her. We do know the family moved in the late 1950s, because Julia went to visit them in 1957, found her family's house still damaged from World War Two, and went and bought another, newer house for the family to live in, even though Wladyslawa didn't want to move from the old family homestead. From what my grandmother Marcella could recall hearing from her mother, Wladyslawa's father was named Jacob, and her mother Antonnina Ragowska, though I think I was able to confirm that with FamilySearch's Polish church records. The only thing I know about the Jablonskis is that one of them, John (or Jan/Joannes) Jablonski immigrated to the US before Julia Abramska, because after she lived for a time in New Jersey, working in a silk factory with other Polish immigrant girls, she and her sister Stanislawa moved to Ohio to live with "Uncle Jablonski" in a boarding house he owned ... which is where Julia met Wojciech (Albert) Rosiek.

There's still a lot of mysteries with that side of the family. I wish we hadn't lost contact with them after Julia died, but it happened, so there's a lot about them and the Rosieks that are still unknown, though apparently in an old picture I found, one of Wojciech's brother had a son named Vladimir, as we have a picture of a young man in a military uniform from either World War One or prior to World War Two, and it says on the back that it was a brother's son.

Unfortunately, there's only a few of Julia's descendants left, and I don't think my cousins have any interest in this, but I'm pursuing it and writing up a story of the family's history to give to my daughter and my niece and nephew so the family won't be forgotten.

Thanks,

Chris

BarbOslo
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2024 7:23 pm Post subject:

CDawson wrote:

Hi Chris,
I do not believe that there are errors in church records. But thoughts go to the possibility that it was another Antoni Abramski who married Wladyslawa Jablonska. The wedding record would help us. I found Antoni's birth record. Parents are the same as in his death record. Year of birth is 1862. According to the death record from 1928, he died at the age of 67. This gives us an estimated birth year of ab. 1861. According to the date on the tombstone, he died at the age of 63. This gives us birth in ab. 1863.
I wrote an email to parish Rozany. Polish parishes do not answer questions, but I try anyway. Hope it's okay for you that I attached a picture of the tombstone.
You mentioned that Wladyslawa's parents from Jakub i Antonina Rogowska. This is what I managed to find about them.
Regards,
-Barb

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CDawson

Joined: 09 Feb 2024
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Location: Cleveland, OH
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2024 1:26 pm Post subject:

Barb, that's amazing! I've not tried MyHeritage yet, but I think I'm going to sign up for a trial run to see what else it has. It's rather interesting, in that it actually has Julia and Albert's death years and notes they died in the US (though it doesn't note that Stanislawa also died in the US), and it also misses Marian and Czeslaw (and according to notes from my grandmother, there may have been another child who died young). But it does have quite a bit, especially on the Jablonski side, which might be helpful in me solving the mystery of the Jablonski here in America who was considered an "uncle," but I'm not sure what the actual relationship was. But this is a heck of a start at filling in some of the mysteries of my Polish ancestors!!! Thank you so very much!!!

Chris

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