Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Towns)

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JFalejczyk

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Posted: 4 Days ago at 5:56 am Post subject: Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Towns)

Hi,

I've been trying to learn more about my great great grandfather for a while. In my research, I've honestly gotten the impression that this guy had a tendency to give false/wrong info in genealogical records (and so I never take things at face value), but what I do know is the following:

Michal Falejczyk
-Born in Kadysz, Grodno, 1881
-Immigrated in 1903, briefly stayed in Buffalo, NY (where a separate branch of the Falejczyk family still resides, before settling in Chicago
-In records he claims the following Falejczyk's in Chicago with him were his brothers: Marcin (1870-1926), Jozef (1877-1955), and Antoni (1897-1977), but I'm skeptical given the large gap in ages between them
-He also said he had a sister (in-law?) in Horaczki named Michalina Lewczyk, who I was actually able to track down and confirm that she was real and later immigrated and settled in Buffalo, NY
-Gives multiple names for his parents (Joannes Falejczyk and Paulina Mikolewicz in one record, and Szymon Falejczyk and Karolina Rapi in another)
-Died in Chicago, IL, 1935

I understand Falejczyk to be a relatively uncommon Polish surname and the fact that there's not many Falejczyk's has been both a blessing and a curse in my research. Most of his (supposed) family were born in Kadysz (now Kadysh, Belarus) or Horaczki (now Haracki, Belarus). I have not been able to find anything on him or his immediate family in Geneteka, MyHeritage, or FamilySearch.

I think his hometown falls under the Teolin Parish, and it's my understanding that the region was hit pretty hard during WW2 and a lot of records were destroyed. Is there any chance anyone knows of a place online where any available records might be? I've gotten the idea that unfortunately he just came from a region that is now very hard to research, but I just figured I'd leave no stone unturned.

My goal here is, ideally, to learn who his parents really were and be able to draw a line to any living relatives in Poland or Belarus. Thanks for reading.

Trish
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Posted: 4 Days ago at 10:43 am Post subject: Re: Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Town

JFalejczyk wrote:

Hi!
Welcome to the forum! I am posting this information to help others on the forum figure out clues as to where Michal is from.

Here is the manifest of Michal coming to the USA with his first wife, and children. Michal is on line #21.

Name Michal Falejczyk
Gender Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality Polish
Marital Status Married
Age 30
Birth Date abt 1881
Birth Place Russia
Other Birth Place Kadesh
Last Known Residence Chicago, U. S. A.
Departure Port Rotterdam
Arrival Date 3 Feb 1911
Arrival Port New York, New York, USA
Residence Place United States of America
Final Destination Chicago, Illinois
Height 5 Feet, 7 Inches
Hair Color Blonde
Eye Color Gray
Complexion Fair
Person in Old Country Michalina Lewshek
Person in Old Country Relationship Sister
Person in Old Country Residence Sapolsken Fun
Sibling
Michalina Lewshek
Ship Name Rijndam

I am attaching Michal's second marriage with transcription with his spouse, Teresa.

I'm still looking for clues.
Regards,
Trish

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Michal Falejczyk 2nd Marriage Transcription.pdf

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Sophia
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 3:23 pm Post subject: Re: Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Town

Trish wrote:

Hi Trish and JFalejczyk,

Trish, that manifest is very helpful. It does confirm what JFalejczyk said about Michal being from Kadysz. It would also be useful if we could see the one from 1903 for Michal and while there should also be one for 1895 for Ksawera it likely won't have much useful info on it.

I am not sure where it says Michalina Lewczyk lives. I'll post again if I can decipher it.

Sophia

JFalejczyk

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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 6:15 pm Post subject: Re: Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Town

Trish wrote:

Hey Trish,

Thank you so much for this. You are correct in pointing out that Sylvia (Teresina/Severina) was his second wife, or at least, second partner. He had a son named Bruno (Bronislaw) (1902-1973) with another woman in Poland, and then he came to the US. The story we know in my family is that when he married Sylvia and she found out he had a son he left back in Poland, she made him go and bring him to the United States so they could be together as a family. So that 1911 trip you attached is actually the trip where they went and got Bruno (and brought their young daughter Helena with them), and then they later had my great grandfather Chester, making Bruno his half-brother. Bruno spent the rest of his life in the US.

All of this makes me wonder if Michalina was the sister of Bruno's mother then? We know nothing about Bruno's mother, but if anything is discovered along the way, I'm certainly interested. As for Michalina, I should've mentioned that I was able to find her Ellis Island and Naturalization records, the latter of which is attached, confirming she was born in 1891 in Horaczki, immigrated in 1907, and married Isodore Stomporowska and settled in Buffalo, NY. The only detail here that catches my attention is she immigrated before Michal could've stayed with her as he said he did in 1911, although perhaps she did a return trip, or he was simply staying at her family house. Additionally, the relation Michal gives of sister still confuses me, because she was 16 when she immigrated and likely unmarried, so I assume her maiden name was Lawczik/Lewczyk. This is why I have that theory that she was a sister of Bruno's mother, and Bruno's mother was a Lewczyk, but then it makes me wonder why the distinction was made in the ship manifest that she was Michal's sister and Sylvia's sister-in-law. Some conflicting details, for sure haha.

Sophia wrote:

Sophia,

I think it gives Michalina's location as Sapotskin in column 11 of the manifest, which corresponds to Sopockinie, or the larger town in modern-day Grodno, Belarus next to the smaller villages like Kadysz and Horaczki that Michal and his family are from. I've seen Michal use Sapotskin/Sopockinie as his hometown in a few different documents too. Her naturalization record that I attached also gives her hometown as Horaczki.

As for Michal's immigration record, I found one for 1900 that could potentially be him, assuming there wasn't another Michal Falejczyk born around 1880? I'll attach it, as well as his naturalization record (which regrettably is not a detailed version like others I've seen).

One final thing: I was able to find the death record for Michal's supposed older brother Marcin/Martin (attached). In it, they list his mother's, Paulina Mikulewicz/Mikolewicz's, birthplace as "Ososoczniki", which I believe may be a misspelling of the Grodno village Osoczniki (now Asochniki in Belarus). I wish I had confirmation that Marcin and Michal were brothers other than their word, but if anyone happens to find Paulina in church records, I'd love to see while I look for the same myself. Thanks again for all the help.

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Marcin/Martin Falejczyk Death Record

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Michal Falejczyk Naturalization Record

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Michal Falejczyk Potential Ellis Island Record

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Michalina Lawczik Naturalization

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Trish
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:46 am Post subject:

Hi Sophia and JFalejczyk,

JFalejczyk, do you have any other death records for any of the Falejczyk siblings of Michal besides Marcin?

Here is the manifest for Jozef Falejczyk. He is on line #26. Jozef is going to Buffalo, NY to meet his brother, "M. Faalejczyk".

JFalejczyk, is this where you got the Buffalo, New York connection with the Falejczyk families?

Name Józef Falejczyk
Gender Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality Russian
Age 23
Birth Date abt 1877
Departure Port Antwerp, Belgium
Arrival Date 16 May 1900
Arrival Port New York, New York, USA
Residence Place Horaczki
Ship Name Westernland

I am posting the 1900 manifest for a Michal Falejczyk. I need Sophia's eyes for this one. Michal is on line #27. It also looks like there is an Anton on line #25. This Anton would be born around 1870.

Name Michael Falejczik
Gender Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality Russian
Age 26
Birth Date abt 1874
Departure Port Hamburg
Arrival Date 14 May 1900
Arrival Port New York, New York, USA
Residence Place Smorelk
Ship Name Graf Waldersee

I'll be back with more information soon.

Regards,
Trish

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dnowicki
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Location: Michigan City, Indiana
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2026 10:13 am Post subject: Re: Seeking Church Records for Grodno (Kadysz, Horaczki Town

JFalejczyk wrote:

Trish wrote:

Sophia wrote:

Hello Jfalejczyk et al,

The reason there was little detail on the Naturalization Index Card is that it is only an index card. An apt analogy is that it similar to a card in a library catalog prior to the digital age—it provides data regarding the location on the detailed info one would need. The good news is that full naturalization files Chicago are available on Family Search. Those files should contain dedtails which should help guide your search. The files include the Declaration of Intention and the Petition for Naturalization which contain birth, immigration, and family details. (The one document not included is the Naturalization Certificate since that was given to to new citizen.) The not so good news is that those files are not indexed so it is necessary to browse images and since Chicago & Cook County had a plethora of individuals who were naturalized in the federal courts browsing can take a bit of time but should be worth the effort. Link to the collection: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/2212212

Attached are the burial records of Michael, Sylvia, and Martin. They were all buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City (once known as Sobieski, Illinois and also as West Hammond, Illinois. Attached is a Cemetery map. I know quite a bit about the cemetery since the vast majority of my relatives are buried there and since I was gainfully employed there during summer vacation when I was in High School. (During undergrad and grad school vacations I had a better job at higher wages —or at least at higher wages—at US Steel South Works.) Sylvia/Seweryna is buried in St. Casimir Section but Michael & Martin were buried across the road in Section H, which was a term grave aka a line grave section. Basically the grave was “rented” for 25 years. Then the family had the option to transfer the remains to a perpetual care family plot. Any headstones and grave markers in Section H were removed. Michael & Martin were not moved so there is way to locate their graves.

Regarding Sylvia’s name...For the marriage record the indexer erred in listing her given name as Teresina. Her name in the Latin record is Seweryna in Polish. Ksawera was an alternate spelling occasionally used prior to the 20th Century reforms of Polish spelling. My educated guess regarding Sylvia is that it was an English name she decided to use because the initial sound was the same as her Polish name. Countless individuals did the same…Stella for Stanisława, Stanley for Stanisław, Chester for Czesław, Walter for Władysław, etc., etc.

Wishing you success,

Dave

P.S. Trish, Many of the family death & burial records are on Family Search.

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Trish
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2026 10:20 am Post subject:

Hi Everyone,

Are we looking at two different "clans" of Falejczyk in Chicago?

Michal Falejczyk lists his father on his marriage record as Joannes (which would John in English) and Pauline. Marcin Falejczyk lists his parents as John and Pauline.

There is a Stanislay Falejczyk who lists his father as Simon.
Name Stanley Falejczyk
Birth Date Dec 1888
Birth Place Poland
Death Date 2 Feb 1921
Death Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Burial Date 5 Feb 1921
Cemetery Name Holy Cross
Death Age 32
Occupation Machinist
Race White
Marital Status M
Gender Male
Street Address 12327 Parnell Ave.
Father Name Simon Falejczyk
Father Birth Place Poland
Mother Birth Place Poland
Spouse Name Antonina Falejczyk
FHL Film Number 1852953

Here is a Louise who was a Falejczyk whose father's name was also Simon.

Name Louise Cielesz
[Louise Falejczyk]
Birth Date 15 Feb 1884
Birth Place Unknown, Poland
Death Date 24 Jul 1944
Death Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Burial Date 27 Jul 1944
Burial Place Calumet City, Cook, Ill.
Cemetery Name Holy Cross
Death Age 60
Occupation Housewife
Race White
Marital Status W
Gender Female
Residence Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Father Name Siniow Falejczyk
Father Birth Place Unknown, Poland
Mother Birth Place Unknown, Poland
FHL Film Number 1983250

I'm thinking we are looking at two different branches of the Falejczyk family. Does anyone else have an opinion on this matter?

Regards,
Trish

JFalejczyk

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Posted: Yesterday at 2:59 am Post subject:

dnowicki wrote:

Hey Dave,

Thank you so much for this clarification, that makes a lot more sense. In terms of the data I have from the index card in tracking down Michal's petition (which I understand would have a lot more info), it looks like I have the date he was naturalized, and the page in the original book that his certificate was on.

With the latter, I think I'm pretty out of luck since those page numbers no longer line up with the FamilySearch scans and I don't see any page numbers on the pages themselves that would correspond.

With the former, that's just the date he was naturalized, not necessarily the date he made his petition, right? I think I read online that back then, people had to wait a few months after their petition before they could actually take the oath. So would my best bet here just be starting with the petitions dated a few months before his date of naturalization, then going backwards on the chance he could've waited a little bit to swear the oath too?

Regarding Holy Cross, I appreciate the info. I knew Michal (and pretty much every Falejczyk in my family) was buried there, but I didn't know about Sylvia being buried in a different spot. That's also great to know about her name also being Seweryna, I will try looking for any records matching that. Thanks again

Trish wrote:

Hey Trish,

I unfortunately think I've only ever been able to find the death records for Marcin and Michal, which didn't yield any new info.

I also apologize for not mentioning this sooner, I didn't think we'd get this deep into my family so fast: yes, there are multiple "clans" of Falejczyk's in the US. There aren't a ton of us, and in my years-long research, I have identified 3 main clans that trace back to the first generation to immigrate here. Every immigrating Falejczyk first went to Buffalo, NY, but the founding members of 2 of the 3 clans then went on to Chicago. I refer to the ones who stayed in Buffalo as the "Buffalo Falejczyk's", and I technically have not proven how exactly they're related to the Chicago groups, but I feel like I'm very close and just a generation away from the connection, hence why I'm also very curious in finding out who Michal's parents were.

Below, I can summarize all I know about each Falejczyk clan if it helps:

"Buffalo Falejczyk's"
-Franciszek Falejczyk and Anna/Aneta Lisowska of Sopockinie had 5 children: Piotr, Wiktoria, Jozef, Franciszek, and Wladyslaw. Of those children, 3 settled in Buffalo, being...
-Franciszek Falejczyk AKA Frank A Filk (1886-1946)
-Wladyslaw/Walter Piotr Falejczyk (1893-1954)
-Jozef Falejczyk (1897-1972), not to be confused with Jozef Falejczyk of Chicago
-I've spoken to descendants of Piotr in Poland who confirmed each member of Franciszek Falejczyk's family

-Separately, there was another Wladyslaw Falejczyk (1881-1937) who married Mary Bauer, and I do not know how he's connected to any other Falejczyk's but he has a number of descendants too
-This separate Wladyslaw (1881-1937) mentioned in his Ellis Island record that he had cousins in Buffalo named Jozef and Jozefa Gasiewicz, and I was able to track them down and learn that their parents were Franciszek Gasiewicz and Zuzanna Falejczyk, and in a 1915 census it looks like Wladyslaw had his sisters Eva/Ewa and Hedwig/Jadwiga visiting him (I've never seen them mentioned again)

-Again, Michalina Lewczyk/Lawczik, Michal's sister (in-law?) settled in Buffalo as well, and married Isodor Stomporowski

"Szymon Chicago Falejczyk's"
-These are the Chicago Falejczyk's who in documents say that their parents were Szymon Falejczyk and Karolina Rapi/Rapiej
-Ludwika/Louise Falejczyk Cielesz (1880-1944)
-Stanislaw/Stanley Falejczyk (1884-1921), had a son named Chester "Pinky" Falejczyk who my grandfather recalled being told was his father's (Michal's son Chester's) cousin, and he always understood it to be first cousin
-Jan Falejczyk (1894-1928), interestingly in his Ellis Island records (attached, line 21), he simultaneously lists Michal as his brother (column 18) and Szymon as his father (column 11)

"Jan/Joannes Chicago Falejczyk's"
-These are Chicago Falejczyk's who in documents say that their parents were Jan/Joannes Falejczyk and Paulina Mikulewicz
-Marcin/Martin Falejczyk (1870-1926)
-Jozef/Joseph Falejczyk (1877-1955)
-Michal Falejczyk (1881-1935), my great great grandfather, and I have done pretty extensive research and I am 99% sure there was only one Michal Falejczyk in the US at this time, belonging to this generation
-Antoni/Anton/Anthony Falejczyk (1897-1977)

-Separately in Chicago, there was another Jozef Falejczyk (1881-1971) who married a woman named Margaret and lived in Phoenix, AZ in 1950, but I do not know how he was related to the other Chicago Falejczyk's and am fairly certain he is not the same Jozef under the Joannes Chicago Falejczyk's

A few other notes:
1. Regardless of their "clan", I believe I read in Ellis Island records that multiple Falejczyk's (and even other unrelated people on the same boat) destination was 617 Carroll St in Buffalo, NY. I've always wondered if this address or building had some sort of historical significance with Polish immigration to the US? It just looks to be an empty lot now.
2. The two different Chicago Falejczyk clans 100% knew and interacted with each other. At one point, Michal, Jozef, Stanislaw, and Ludwika's families all lived within a few houses of each other on the same street, and I believe I recall a naturalization index document for Jozef where Michal and Ludwika's husband Joseph Cielesz were the witnesses listed.
3. I also have evidence that some of the families that the Falejczyk's married into knew each other from Grodno and they lived in the same villages together. Ludwika married a Cielesz, and Stanislaw married a Krawczel, and these surnames (along with the Gasiewicz's) appear on a school document on the Polska 1926 site (I can't seem to connect right now to get it, but if you search up those surnames it'll appear). I also might've touched on this earlier, but I'm in correspondence with the family of Piotr Falejczyk, the sibling of the Buffalo Falejczyk's who stayed in Poland. He has a son who is actually still alive at 90, and he recently confirmed that these surnames all belonged to families who lived in the Falejczyk's hometowns.
4. From Buffalo to Chicago, all Falejczyk's seem to have chosen "Filk" as a shortened/Anglicized surname that they sometimes went by. Michal's children used it, other Chicago Falejczyk's did, and the Buffalo Falejczyk's did too. I'm not sure who started it and how they all mutually agreed upon it, but it may clear some things up in documents.
5. I am a bit skeptical about Antoni being a full-blooded brother of Michal, Jozef, and Anton considering the 16-year age gap between him and his next-oldest brother Michal, but he does at least list Jozef as his brother, so I included him in the Jan/Joannes Chicago Falejczyk's.

Apologies for the long dump of info here, but this is my fairly exhaustive list of the research I've done thus far on the immigrating generation of Falejczyk's who came to the US. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I can create a rough family tree of everyone if needed as a visual representation. I hope this clears things up though with the "clans", but yeah, Michal sure did make it hard for me to untangle the web of his family tree haha. At this point, I'm wondering if a lot of the Chicago Falejczyk's are half-siblings but I'm not sure how the timeline on that works out.

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Jan Falejczyk Ellis Island 2

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Trish
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Posted: Yesterday at 10:21 am Post subject:

Hi!

I think it's wonderful that you have so much information on the family. Hopefully you can get records so that you can connect all the people you found.

Regards,
Trish

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