Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

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JFalejczyk

Joined: 4 Days ago at 5:14 am
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Posted: 4 Days ago at 5:30 am Post subject: Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

Hi,

For some time I've been trying to unravel the mysteries around my great great grandmother Sylvia (AKA Ksawera or Teresina) Cieslak Falejczyk. The story I was told is that she was born in Poland, but orphaned at a young age, and it's unclear if she was brought to the United States before or after losing her parents. One version of events in my family said that she lived at an orphanage in Warsaw, and some records I've found do mention her saying she's from there. I don't know who her parents (adopted or not) were, and if Cieslak is an adopted surname or not.

Anyways, a while ago I found her Ellis Island manifest entry, where she listed a hometown entirely different from anything I've seen before. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says, and since I think someone else who maybe wasn't a Polish speaker (immigration/ship worker?) wrote it down for her, it's probably some sort of warped spelling from the original. With that being said, I've seen some really impressive detective work on these forums, so if anyone's interested in taking a crack at it, I would seriously appreciate any help deciphering this town name (photo attached). Thanks so much.

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Sophia
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Joined: 05 Oct 2014
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Posted: 4 Days ago at 9:50 am Post subject: Re: Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

JFalejczyk wrote:

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Super busy today so I cannot reply with a very informative post, but a quick check of a source that provides place names shows me a few places with this spelling: Krzanowice

This would sound very much like what was written in the snippet you provided. I see it written as Kramewitze and that strikes me, as you said, as incorrect spelling.

There is supposed to be a Krzanowice in the Warminsko-Mazurskie region and another in the Opole region. I have not looked at maps yet. Geneteka is showing a Krzanowice in Slask region, which upon a further look seems to be a town that had a German version of its name as Kranowitz and a Polish version of its name as Krzanowice. That looks promising, when placed against the spelling you see on the manifest.

I see that Trish has posted the ship manifest on your other thread, which gives us not only a better look at how this writer wrote their names and words, but also an indication that your gr-gr-grandmother was born around 1886.

Best regards,
Sophia

JFalejczyk

Joined: 4 Days ago at 5:14 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 3:49 pm Post subject: Re: Need Help Deciphering Ancestor's Town Name

Sophia wrote:

Hey Sophia,

Thank you so much for this, this is very helpful and inspiring already. I did see your earlier version of your message before you saw Trish's post, and would like to confirm that although Sylvia did give a few different years of birth throughout the years, I don't think it ever went as far back as the 1870s. I think the fact that her youngest child, Eugene, was born in 1926 (when she'd already be ~40 in 1886) further strengthens the theory that she was born around 1886. Some census records have her birth year around 1884, and she does interestingly mention immigrating to the US in 1885, but again I'm not sure if/when any adoption took place.

What I saw your original post also touch on was the possibility of her surname being spelled "Ciesla". This caught my attention, because she did sometime use this spelling in some records (sorry if I should've mentioned that earlier, Cieslak was just by far the most common one). I've also seen some with "Ciesna", although maybe it's just a misspelling.

I believe you may have already seen in the other thread as well, but it looks like in Sylvia's marriage to Michal Falejczyk, her parents were listed as "Stanislaw (Cieslak) and Apertia Szalkowska". I'm unfortunately not sure if these were adopted parents or not, and have never been able to find anything further on them, although "Apertia" is an interesting name that I don't see very often. One final piece of info is on top of the other names, Sylvia would also go by the name Severina sometimes.

I know this is kind of all a lot, trust me it's been a fun challenge researching all this haha. No problem if you don't see anything deeper here, again I really appreciate the help already. Thanks again.

Trish
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Joined: 23 Sep 2020
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2026 10:01 am Post subject:

Hi Everyone,

I am posting Walter's baptismal record with the transcription. It looks like Sylvia's name is Xaviera. Would Ksawera be her name in Polish? I am seeing the same given name for Sylvia several of her children's baptismal records.

Regards,
Trish

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Ladislaus (Walter) Baptismal Transcription.pdf

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JFalejczyk

Joined: 4 Days ago at 5:14 am
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Posted: Yesterday at 6:06 pm Post subject:

Trish wrote:

Hey Trish,

Correct, in my research I believe I read that Ksawera is "Xaviera" in Polish. Sylvia seemed to use a lot of names, between Sylvia, Teresina, Severina, Xaviera, and Ksawera. I even found one document from a newspaper in 1919 where I'm 99% sure she posed as a man under the name "Sylwester Falejczyk" and made a donation, which I think might have either been due to stigma back then, or some other personal reason.

But based on confirming details like known family members that she's with in records, age, or other things we know to be true in my family, I know for a fact that it was actually her when she used those names and we're not confusing someone else for her. Thanks again for the help.

anna_p

Joined: 15 Nov 2025
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Posted: 6 hours ago at 9:15 am Post subject:

Hi JFalejczyk and others,

I have several ideas how to read the village name, but the information you provided later, about Ksawera parents, lead me to Krośniewice. You can see birth record of Ksawera Cieślak, born 1886 in Bzówki, parish Krośniewice, her parents were Stanisław and Agnieszka Sielkowska. There is also marriage certificate of that couple in the same parish, village Ostrowy (1867). The marriage certificate says that groom (Stanisław Cieślak) was born in Chodów, and the bride (Agnieszka Sielkoska) was born in Pęczniew. The couple had other children since 1870 to 1889. You can find indexes on Geneteka and certificetes on Scanoteka.

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=eng&bdm=B&w=05ld&rid=1451&search_lastname=cie%C5%9Blak&search_name=stanis%C5%82aw&search_lastname2=&search_name2=&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&ordertable=

I don't know if this is your ancestors, but some facts fits. I hope this would help.
Greetings
Anna

Sophia
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Posted: 6 hours ago at 9:34 am Post subject:

anna_p wrote:

Hi Anna,
Beautiful! This is a very good fit. I was not entirely comfortable with my guess of Krzanowice because the records show that she came from the Russian partition.
Thanks for finding this!
Sophia

Trish
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Posted: 5 hours ago at 10:29 am Post subject:

anna_p wrote:

Hi Anna, Sophia, and JFalejczyk,

I had just found this possible manifest for Ksawera and family. The family starts on line #213. However, Ksawera is listed as a male, but most of the other children listed all match up with what Anna found on Geneteka.

Sophia, should there be another manifest to coincide with this manifest?

Regards,
Trish

Name Stanislav Ceslak
Gender männlich (Male)
Departure Age 46
Birth Date abt 1846
Residence Place Warschau, Russland
Departure Date 23 Apr 1892
Departure Place Hamburg, Deutschland (Germany)
Arrival Place Baltimore
Occupation Arbeiter
Ship Name Virginia
Captain Böcke
Shipping Clerk Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft
Shipping Line Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft
Ship Type Dampfschiff
Ship Flag Deutschland
Accommodation Zwischendeck
Volume 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 078
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Stanislav Ceslak 46
Agnes Ceslak 45 Frau (Wife)
Josef Ceslak 18 Kind (Child)
Sophie Ceslak 12 Kind (Child)
Wladislav Ceslak 8 Kind (Child)
Xaver Ceslak 4 Kind (Child)
Eduard Ceslak 11/12 Säugling (Infant)

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Sophia
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Posted: 4 hours ago at 10:53 am Post subject:

Trish wrote:

Trish! This manifest fits really well with what Anna found on Geneteka. I have to think that the mix-up of gender for Ksawera is simply an error.
You are asking me if there should be another manifest to coincide with this. If this is a Hamburg departure manifest, then yes, there should be a manifest for the ship Virginia arriving in Baltimore.
Sophia

Trish
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Posted: 3 hours ago at 12:40 pm Post subject:

Sophia wrote:

Hi Everyone,

Sophia, I thought there should be another manifest that coincides with the Hamburg manifest. Thnak you for verifying that for me.

Now thanks to Sophia who was able to figure out this is the second manifest that coincides with the Hamburg manifest. I'm posting the record from ancestry.com.

Regards,
Trish

Name Stanrislav Tislla
Gender Male
Race Polish
Age 43
Birth Date 1849
Residence Place Bznoke
Arrival Date May 1892
Port of Arrival Baltimore, Maryland
Arrival Quarter May
Arrival Destination Illinois
Ship Name Virginia
Page number 62

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Sophia
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Posted: 2 hours ago at 12:49 pm Post subject:

Trish wrote:

Hi Trish,

Thanks very much for pulling that manifest from Ancestry. It is only because of the manifest that you already posted, which showed how the family was listed as they departed Hamburg, that this manifest of arrival in Baltimore makes any sense at all. The spelling is so off! I mean, really, "Feberia Tislla" for Ksawera Cieslak! But since it matches with the Hamburg manifest, it is definitely them.

There are two bonus points on this manifest. One is that 4-year-old Ksawera is correctly listed as female here (correcting the error on the Hamburg manifest). The other is that the town they last lived in is listed, and thanks to the work that AnnaP did, finding the family on Geneteka, that we know that this place name written so poorly on the arrival manifest must surely say Bzówki.

Sophia

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