Steve Sr.
Joined: 09 Mar 2025
Replies: 12
Location: Illinois, U.S.A.Back to top |
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 5:28 pm
Post subject: Bystrzyca or Bychawka?
Hello!
My name is Steve Moroniak. I have been doing research on my family. I know for a fact that my grandfather, Roman Moroniak (born Oct. or Nov. in 1893) immigrated to America in 1911 and married Sophia. Romans father's name was Josephus, and his mother's name was Franciszka Kaniewska found in church records here in the USA where they were married on Feb. 3, 1914. (St. Stanislaws B+M)
What confuses me is the actual birth pace of Roman. Roman's manifest of Mar. 19, 1911 stated Rystrzyca, Russia but was later corrected by a relative who told me the “R” should have been a “B”. Various sources state Roman's birth place as both Bychawka and Bystrzyca.
My main question is Bystrzyca vs. Bychawka. Why are two different places of birth stated depending on my search?
Thank you in advance for any insight!
_________________
Researching my family roots since 2008.
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marcelproustPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Jun 2014
Replies: 4562
Location: PolandBack to top |
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 5:37 pm
Post subject: Re: Bystrzyca or Bychawka?
| Steve Sr. wrote: | Hello!
My name is Steve Moroniak. I have been doing research on my family. I know for a fact that my grandfather, Roman Moroniak (born Oct. or Nov. in 1893) immigrated to America in 1911 and married Sophia. Romans father's name was Josephus, and his mother's name was Franciszka Kaniewska found in church records here in the USA where they were married on Feb. 3, 1914. (St. Stanislaws B+M)
What confuses me is the actual birth pace of Roman. Roman's manifest of Mar. 19, 1911 stated Rystrzyca, Russia but was later corrected by a relative who told me the “R” should have been a “B”. Various sources state Roman's birth place as both Bychawka and Bystrzyca.
My main question is Bystrzyca vs. Bychawka. Why are two different places of birth stated depending on my search?
Thank you in advance for any insight! |
Here You have Roman's birth record
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My translations are voluntary, but they take a lot of time and effort, so whenever you want to send money it will be a very nice "Thank you" gift to me.
THANK YOU 
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marcelproustPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Jun 2014
Replies: 4562
Location: PolandBack to top |
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 5:44 pm
Post subject: Translation
148
Tuszów
It happened in the village of Bychawka, on October 24th/November 5th, 1893, at 1 p.m.
Appeared personally Józef Moroniak, 44 years old, a peasant living in the village of Tuszów, in the presence of peasants: Antoni Kaniowski, 37 years old, living in the village of Piotrowice and Wincenty Dojutra, 40 years old, living in the village of Jabłonna and presented Us a newborn male child, informing that the child was born in the village of Tuszów on October 19th/31st of the current year, at 4 a.m., to his legal wife, Franciszka nee Kaniowska, 36 years old.
At The Holy Baptism, held today, the child was given the name Roman and his godparents were Antoni Kaniowski and Marianna Moroniak,
This act was read to the declarant and the witnesses, who all were illiterate and it was signed by Us only.
Priest Antoni Boraczyński serving as Civil Registrar.
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My translations are voluntary, but they take a lot of time and effort, so whenever you want to send money it will be a very nice "Thank you" gift to me.
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 5:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Bystrzyca or Bychawka?
| Steve Sr. wrote: | Hello!
My name is Steve Moroniak. I have been doing research on my family. I know for a fact that my grandfather, Roman Moroniak (born Oct. or Nov. in 1893) immigrated to America in 1911 and married Sophia. Romans father's name was Josephus, and his mother's name was Franciszka Kaniewska found in church records here in the USA where they were married on Feb. 3, 1914. (St. Stanislaws B+M)
What confuses me is the actual birth pace of Roman. Roman's manifest of Mar. 19, 1911 stated Rystrzyca, Russia but was later corrected by a relative who told me the “R” should have been a “B”. Various sources state Roman's birth place as both Bychawka and Bystrzyca.
My main question is Bystrzyca vs. Bychawka. Why are two different places of birth stated depending on my search?
Thank you in advance for any insight! |
Hi Steve,
I looked at the ship manifest you cited. Here is a link to it on the FamilySearch website:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJKM-GW5?lang=en
FamilySearch has indexed him as "Roman Moruniak." He, and others travelling with him, are clearly from Bystrzyca, specifically the Bystrzyca in Gmina Wólka, just northeast of Lublin (there are many Bystrzyca's in Poland). Yes, the writing on the manifest says "Rystrzyca" for him but that would appear to be a handwriting error. Does everything else on this manifest fit? Such as Chicago being his destination?
I will add that there are a few surnames that are similar to yours. There is Moroniak, Maruniak and Mironiak. All three surnames are quite rare. I do not see evidence of any Moruniak. There is a website that shows how the surname is distributed throughout Poland. If you use the + key to magnify these maps, you will get greater resolution of the towns that they live in.
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Moroniak
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Maruniak
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Mironiak
I see that Marcel found for you a birth record for a Roman Moroniak in the parish of Tuszów. The question is, are these two Romans (both having a father named Jozef) really the same? Tuszów is not near Bystrzyca. I am confused by this.
You did not mention what sources you have for Bychawka.
Best regards,
Sophia
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marcelproustPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Jun 2014
Replies: 4562
Location: PolandBack to top |
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 5:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Bystrzyca or Bychawka?
| Sophia wrote: | | Steve Sr. wrote: | Hello!
My name is Steve Moroniak. I have been doing research on my family. I know for a fact that my grandfather, Roman Moroniak (born Oct. or Nov. in 1893) immigrated to America in 1911 and married Sophia. Romans father's name was Josephus, and his mother's name was Franciszka Kaniewska found in church records here in the USA where they were married on Feb. 3, 1914. (St. Stanislaws B+M)
What confuses me is the actual birth pace of Roman. Roman's manifest of Mar. 19, 1911 stated Rystrzyca, Russia but was later corrected by a relative who told me the “R” should have been a “B”. Various sources state Roman's birth place as both Bychawka and Bystrzyca.
My main question is Bystrzyca vs. Bychawka. Why are two different places of birth stated depending on my search?
Thank you in advance for any insight! |
I see that Marcel found for you a birth record for a Roman Moroniak in the parish of Tuszów.
Best regards,
Sophia |
In the parish of Bychawka, not Tuszów.
_________________
My translations are voluntary, but they take a lot of time and effort, so whenever you want to send money it will be a very nice "Thank you" gift to me.
THANK YOU
PAYPAL: [email protected]
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
Back to top |
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 5:37 pm
Post subject: Re: Bystrzyca or Bychawka?
| marcelproust wrote: |
In the parish of Bychawka, not Tuszów. |
Hi Marcel,
Yes, thanks for the correction. The family lived in Tuszów but the parish itself was in Bychawka.
I think Steve should see if there is another ship manifest for his Roman Moroniak.
Best regars,
Sophia
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 4:36 am
Post subject:
Now that I see on FamilySearch the church book for their marriage at St. Stanislaus in Chicago, I see that it says he is from Bystrzyca, Parish "Byhawka." Looking again at a map, there is a Bystrzyca Stara and a Bystrzyca Nowa all of three miles from Bychawka. That means that the Bystrzyca which I saw earlier to the northeast of Lublin was not the correct one.
It all makes sense now. Both the record that Marcel found and the ship manifest that you posted, Steve, are for the same Roman Moroniak.
Sophia
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
Back to top |
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 6:38 am
Post subject:
Hi again Steve,
This link will take you to the first image of the book "Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z oznaczeniem terytorjalnie im właściwych władz i urzędów oraz urządzeń komunikacyjnych" which is the "Index of Placenames of the Republic of Poland with corresponding govermental agencies and offices, including communication facilities." It was published in the 1930s. If you go to Image 209 and scroll down the page, you will see all of the places that had the name Bystrzyca. In the column for "wojewodztwo" the abbreviation "Lub." means those within the Lublin voivodeship. As you can see, there are seven of those. However, none of them are yours. You need to scroll down slightly further, to see Bystrzyca Nowa (= New Bystrzyca) and Bystrzyca Stara (= Old Bystrzyca) and one of these is yours. During the time that Roman lived in this area, it is very possible that there was a village called simply Bystrzyca which later was divided into new and old. You'd have to look into the history of the area. The column furthest right shows where the church is for that village. It was Bychawka.
https://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/publication/7126/edition/12786/content
I hope this clears up the confusion that you had about why different place names are showing up on different documents for your Roman.
Best regards,
Sophia
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Steve Sr.
Joined: 09 Mar 2025
Replies: 12
Location: Illinois, U.S.A.Back to top |
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 1:14 pm
Post subject:
Sophia,
It took some time to digest all of the information provided and I truly thank you for your time. The fact that Poland has so many administrative divisions and similar names is quite confusing, but I'm slowly beginning to understand. (Provinces, counties or districts, communes or municipalities)
Maybe I should let this go, however why would there be varying dates in the birth record?
“It happened in the village of Bychawka, on October 24th/November 5th, 1893...”
“...village of Tuszów on October 19th/31st.”
Regarding Maruniak's and Mironiak's: In 2008 we connected with a Moroniak in Lublin who stated at the time, “There is only one Moroniak family in the world”. He confirmed that his grandfather and my grand grandfather (Roman) were cousins, and that Roman emigrated to the USA. Why he used “grand grandfather” when referring to Roman, actually my grandfather, may have been an error. With that being said, I believe it is safe to assume that anyone with the surnames of Maruniak and Mironiak are not relatives.
Sadly this relative passed away, however he did furnish a list of birth, marriage, and death records (56 total) of Moroniaks going back to 1860. So I have names, account numbers (AKT) as well as parish names (Bychawa and Bychawka).
At this point in time I feel as though I need to slow down a bit in tracing my roots. “One baby step at a time”. It was a true revelation just to learn the names of Roman's parents after all this time. (Roman's parents weren't even listed on his death certificate.)
Thank you again.
Steve
_________________
Researching my family roots since 2008.
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
Back to top |
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 2:28 pm
Post subject:
| Steve Sr. wrote: | Sophia,
It took some time to digest all of the information provided and I truly thank you for your time. The fact that Poland has so many administrative divisions and similar names is quite confusing, but I'm slowly beginning to understand. (Provinces, counties or districts, communes or municipalities)
Maybe I should let this go, however why would there be varying dates in the birth record?
“It happened in the village of Bychawka, on October 24th/November 5th, 1893...”
“...village of Tuszów on October 19th/31st.”
Regarding Maruniak's and Mironiak's: In 2008 we connected with a Moroniak in Lublin who stated at the time, “There is only one Moroniak family in the world”. He confirmed that his grandfather and my grand grandfather (Roman) were cousins, and that Roman emigrated to the USA. Why he used “grand grandfather” when referring to Roman, actually my grandfather, may have been an error. With that being said, I believe it is safe to assume that anyone with the surnames of Maruniak and Mironiak are not relatives.
Sadly this relative passed away, however he did furnish a list of birth, marriage, and death records (56 total) of Moroniaks going back to 1860. So I have names, account numbers (AKT) as well as parish names (Bychawa and Bychawka).
At this point in time I feel as though I need to slow down a bit in tracing my roots. “One baby step at a time”. It was a true revelation just to learn the names of Roman's parents after all this time. (Roman's parents weren't even listed on his death certificate.)
Thank you again.
Steve |
Hi Steve,
Yes, it is a lot to digest. Ask questions as you go, and maybe we can assist you.
Regarding the dates as translated for you by Marcel, what you are seeing are the baptism dates (both Julian and Gregorian calendars) and then the birth dates (again, both calendars). Here is a nice explanation for this practice, which I found on the JewishGen website:
"There are often two dates listed on civil records in Russian Poland, for example: "Działo się dnia drugiego / czertnastego lipca" = "It happened on the second / fourteenth day of July", or "urodzone w dnia dwudziestym czwartym czerwca / szóstym lipca" = "born on the twenty-fourth of June / sixth of July".
These two dates are the Julian and Gregorian dates, respectively. The Julian calendar was used by the Russians (the Czarist government and the Russian Orthodox Church); and the Gregorian calendar was used by the Poles (and the rest of Europe). The Gregorian calendar is used worldwide today.
The later date is the Gregorian date. During the 1700s, the difference between the two calendars was 11 days. Beginning on March 1, 1800, there was a 12-day gap between the two dates. On March 1, 1900, the difference became 13 days. The date difference will become 14 days on March 1, 2100."
Since we function with the Gregorian calendar, you are correct to say Roman was born on October 31. He was baptized on November 5.
May I suggest that you change Roman's father's name from Josephus to Józef on your family tree? Josephus is a Latin form of the name, and the man would not have used it in his day-to-day life. The Polish form is Józef, and of course in English it is Joseph.
Best regards,
Sophia
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Steve Sr.
Joined: 09 Mar 2025
Replies: 12
Location: Illinois, U.S.A.Back to top |
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2025 3:33 pm
Post subject: Dates
Hi Sophia!
Thank you for your efforts in furnishing such a detailed explanation. And thank you for suggesting changing Roman's father's name to Józef. That will help in the future. If I'm correct, Józef and Franciszka had another child (Anna) in 1897 and was married in 1919.
Will take a little break then attempt to go further back "in time" tracing our Moroniak Family roots.
If you don't mind offering an opinion, I could start with the earliest Moroniak I know of (Agnieszka Moroniak) who married a Józef Szyszka in 1860. OR, pickup where I left off with Roman's birth?
Best Wishes,
Steve
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Researching my family roots since 2008.
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
Back to top |
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2025 7:31 pm
Post subject: Re: Dates
| Steve Sr. wrote: | Hi Sophia!
Thank you for your efforts in furnishing such a detailed explanation. And thank you for suggesting changing Roman's father's name to Józef. That will help in the future. If I'm correct, Józef and Franciszka had another child (Anna) in 1897 and was married in 1919.
Will take a little break then attempt to go further back "in time" tracing our Moroniak Family roots.
If you don't mind offering an opinion, I could start with the earliest Moroniak I know of (Agnieszka Moroniak) who married a Józef Szyszka in 1860. OR, pickup where I left off with Roman's birth?
Best Wishes,
Steve |
Hi Steve,
You are asking my opinion as to whether you should start with your earliest Moroniak from 1860, or pick up where you left off with Roman's birth. Now that you know the names of Roman's parents, it would be nice to try to follow the two of them back in time. However, sometimes the availability of records (or lack thereof) will force you to change your plan. Whichever direction you follow when you do pick up the search again, I wish you the best of luck.
Best regards,
Sophia
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1270
Back to top |
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 4:29 am
Post subject:
P.S. If you have not yet discovered it, here is a website that will be most helpful for finding Moroniak records:
https://regestry.lubgens.eu/viewpage.php?page_id=1057
In the box "nazwisko" enter the name Moroniak and click on "szukaj."
The results will be a list of baptisms, followed by a list of marriages and then a list of deaths. Almost all have scans linked to them, which does not always happen so this is lucky for you. Some of the links take you to images of the church books on the FamilySearch website, others take you to szukajwarchiwach (the Polish archives) website.
Best,
Sophia
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Steve Sr.
Joined: 09 Mar 2025
Replies: 12
Location: Illinois, U.S.A.Back to top |
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 11:15 am
Post subject:
| Sophia wrote: | P.S. If you have not yet discovered it, here is a website that will be most helpful for finding Moroniak records:
https://regestry.lubgens.eu/viewpage.php?page_id=1057
In the box "nazwisko" enter the name Moroniak and click on "szukaj."
The results will be a list of baptisms, followed by a list of marriages and then a list of deaths. Almost all have scans linked to them, which does not always happen so this is lucky for you. Some of the links take you to images of the church books on the FamilySearch website, others take you to szukajwarchiwach (the Polish archives) website.
Best,
Sophia |
Thank you so much! I was never able to find that website.
Steve
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Researching my family roots since 2008.
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