ShannonCreedon
Joined: 14 Jan 2026
Replies: 14
Location: CaliforniaBack to top |
Posted: 4 Days ago at 8:27 pm
Post subject: Looking for help narrowing down location
Hello,
I'm working on trying to identify where my 2x great-grandmother, Stanislawa Smigel (Smígel/Schmigiel/etc) and her family originated.
I wasn't able to find much that pointed to a specific place in Poland that Stanislawa was born. Just the ship manifest that she arrived on. I'm attaching a copy below, she is on line 19. To me, the town appears to be Shdosy or Sholosy?
Her brother, Konstanti, had more information that I was able to find, but there wasn't anything that appeared on multiple sources. His immigration record shows Sczeliezni Russia, and Scelasmietz Russia. His WWI Draft card says Kolna, Lomya, Poland Russia. Lastly, his obituary says Wies Zje [or Wies Zie, there is a smudge at the bottom of the j/i in the second word] Lavna, Poland.
I haven't been able to come up with much googling, so I'm hoping someone here with some more knowledge will be able to help.
Thanks in advance!
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| Konstanti's WWI Draft Card |
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| Konstanti's Immigration Record |
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| Ship manifest for Stanislawa's immigration - line 19 |
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1575
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Posted: 4 Days ago at 7:20 am
Post subject: Re: Looking for help narrowing down location
| ShannonCreedon wrote: | Hello,
I'm working on trying to identify where my 2x great-grandmother, Stanislawa Smigel (Smígel/Schmigiel/etc) and her family originated.
I wasn't able to find much that pointed to a specific place in Poland that Stanislawa was born. Just the ship manifest that she arrived on. I'm attaching a copy below, she is on line 19. To me, the town appears to be Shdosy or Sholosy?
Her brother, Konstanti, had more information that I was able to find, but there wasn't anything that appeared on multiple sources. His immigration record shows Sczeliezni Russia, and Scelasmietz Russia. His WWI Draft card says Kolna, Lomya, Poland Russia. Lastly, his obituary says Wies Zje [or Wies Zie, there is a smudge at the bottom of the j/i in the second word] Lavna, Poland.
I haven't been able to come up with much googling, so I'm hoping someone here with some more knowledge will be able to help.
Thanks in advance! |
Hi Shannon,
I don't have any answer for you yet about these place names. However, I do want to ask whether all of the records you posted for Konstanty are for the same Konstanty. Two refer to New Bedford, but the WWI draft card has him in Syracuse with the trade of molder. In his obit, he was a weaver. What are your thoughts on this?
Sophia
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TrishPO Top Contributor
Joined: 23 Sep 2020
Replies: 573
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Posted: 4 Days ago at 12:54 pm
Post subject: Re: Looking for help narrowing down location
| ShannonCreedon wrote: | Hello,
I'm working on trying to identify where my 2x great-grandmother, Stanislawa Smigel (Smígel/Schmigiel/etc) and her family originated.
I wasn't able to find much that pointed to a specific place in Poland that Stanislawa was born. Just the ship manifest that she arrived on. I'm attaching a copy below, she is on line 19. To me, the town appears to be Shdosy or Sholosy?
Her brother, Konstanti, had more information that I was able to find, but there wasn't anything that appeared on multiple sources. His immigration record shows Sczeliezni Russia, and Scelasmietz Russia. His WWI Draft card says Kolna, Lomya, Poland Russia. Lastly, his obituary says Wies Zje [or Wies Zie, there is a smudge at the bottom of the j/i in the second word] Lavna, Poland.
I haven't been able to come up with much googling, so I'm hoping someone here with some more knowledge will be able to help.
Thanks in advance! |
Hi Shannon and Sophia,
If we are going by the information on the obituary, then I found a tree on ancestry.com. I don't know if any of the information on the tree is correct. There isn't any source information for the Poland dates and places.
Regards,
Trish
Konstanti "Kostek" Smigiel
Birth 8 May 1893 • Piasutno Zelazne, Lomza, Poland
Death 7 Jan 1952 • New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA
Father: Jozef Szmigiel
Birth 14 Mar 1860 • Katy, Podlaskie, Poland
Death 26 Oct 1920 • Piasutno-Zelazne, Maly Plock, Podlaskie, Poland
Mother: Julianna Piaścik
Birth 1861 • Piasutno-Zelazne, Mały Płock parish, gmina Zbojna, Kolno County, Podlaskie, Poland
Death 12 May 1926 • Katy, Maly Plock, Podlaskie, Poland
Wife's information.
Wiktoryja "Victoria" Wojtuszewska
Birth 4 Mar 1897 • Niebieszczany, Podkarpackie, Poland (Galicia)
Death 19 Apr 1991 • New Bedford, Massachusetts
Sister's Information.
Stanislawa "Stasia" Smigiel
Birth 15 JAN 1885 • Piasutno Zelazne, Zbojna, Lomza, Augustów Governorate, Poland
Death 17 JUN 1972 • New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA
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ShannonCreedon
Joined: 14 Jan 2026
Replies: 14
Location: CaliforniaBack to top |
Posted: 4 Days ago at 1:34 pm
Post subject: Re: Looking for help narrowing down location
| Sophia wrote: | | ShannonCreedon wrote: | Hello,
I'm working on trying to identify where my 2x great-grandmother, Stanislawa Smigel (Smígel/Schmigiel/etc) and her family originated.
I wasn't able to find much that pointed to a specific place in Poland that Stanislawa was born. Just the ship manifest that she arrived on. I'm attaching a copy below, she is on line 19. To me, the town appears to be Shdosy or Sholosy?
Her brother, Konstanti, had more information that I was able to find, but there wasn't anything that appeared on multiple sources. His immigration record shows Sczeliezni Russia, and Scelasmietz Russia. His WWI Draft card says Kolna, Lomya, Poland Russia. Lastly, his obituary says Wies Zje [or Wies Zie, there is a smudge at the bottom of the j/i in the second word] Lavna, Poland.
I haven't been able to come up with much googling, so I'm hoping someone here with some more knowledge will be able to help.
Thanks in advance! |
Hi Shannon,
I don't have any answer for you yet about these place names. However, I do want to ask whether all of the records you posted for Konstanty are for the same Konstanty. Two refer to New Bedford, but the WWI draft card has him in Syracuse with the trade of molder. In his obit, he was a weaver. What are your thoughts on this?
Sophia |
Hi Sophia,
Thanks for the question! Yes, I can verify that it is the same Konstanti on both records. Besides the records attached, I have the application for military headstone, among other evidence stating he was a part of the New York company. I haven't found out whey he was in New York when he enlisted, but can confirm it is the same person.
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ShannonCreedon
Joined: 14 Jan 2026
Replies: 14
Location: CaliforniaBack to top |
Posted: 4 Days ago at 1:42 pm
Post subject: Re: Looking for help narrowing down location
| Trish wrote: | | ShannonCreedon wrote: | Hello,
I'm working on trying to identify where my 2x great-grandmother, Stanislawa Smigel (Smígel/Schmigiel/etc) and her family originated.
I wasn't able to find much that pointed to a specific place in Poland that Stanislawa was born. Just the ship manifest that she arrived on. I'm attaching a copy below, she is on line 19. To me, the town appears to be Shdosy or Sholosy?
Her brother, Konstanti, had more information that I was able to find, but there wasn't anything that appeared on multiple sources. His immigration record shows Sczeliezni Russia, and Scelasmietz Russia. His WWI Draft card says Kolna, Lomya, Poland Russia. Lastly, his obituary says Wies Zje [or Wies Zie, there is a smudge at the bottom of the j/i in the second word] Lavna, Poland.
I haven't been able to come up with much googling, so I'm hoping someone here with some more knowledge will be able to help.
Thanks in advance! |
Hi Shannon and Sophia,
If we are going by the information on the obituary, then I found a tree on ancestry.com. I don't know if any of the information on the tree is correct. There isn't any source information for the Poland dates and places.
Regards,
Trish
Konstanti "Kostek" Smigiel
Birth 8 May 1893 • Piasutno Zelazne, Lomza, Poland
Death 7 Jan 1952 • New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA
Father: Jozef Szmigiel
Birth 14 Mar 1860 • Katy, Podlaskie, Poland
Death 26 Oct 1920 • Piasutno-Zelazne, Maly Plock, Podlaskie, Poland
Mother: Julianna Piaścik
Birth 1861 • Piasutno-Zelazne, Mały Płock parish, gmina Zbojna, Kolno County, Podlaskie, Poland
Death 12 May 1926 • Katy, Maly Plock, Podlaskie, Poland
Wife's information.
Wiktoryja "Victoria" Wojtuszewska
Birth 4 Mar 1897 • Niebieszczany, Podkarpackie, Poland (Galicia)
Death 19 Apr 1991 • New Bedford, Massachusetts
Sister's Information.
Stanislawa "Stasia" Smigiel
Birth 15 JAN 1885 • Piasutno Zelazne, Zbojna, Lomza, Augustów Governorate, Poland
Death 17 JUN 1972 • New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA |
Hi Trish!
Thanks for taking the time to look. I believe I have also found this tree in the past and noticed the same thing. I will say, something that strikes me as interesting, looking at it now though, is that Wiktoryja Wojtuszewska is listed as being born in Niebieszczany. The reason that jumps out at me, is because the Smigels are from my grandmother's side, and I know for a fact that my grandfather's side of the family (Jozefek, Wesoly) is from Niebieszczany.
I know that the Niebieszczany birth records from 1890-1915(ish) are available on https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/, so I'll definitely explore that connection!
***EDIT***
I just looked, and I found her listed there! It's a very interesting discovery, thanks for sharing what you found!
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SophiaPO Top Contributor
Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Replies: 1575
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Posted: 10 hours ago at 8:41 am
Post subject:
Hi Shannon and Trish,
It took me a while, but I think I have sorted out the various place names. It is mostly thanks to the person who put the information in that family tree that Trish posted, with the place Piasutno-Zelazne.
I am attaching two images of maps. One shows the spelling as Piasutno-Żelazne which is proper Polish spelling. The other one shows it as Piasutno-Schelasna, more of a German spelling. Now I can see how this relates to what we see in the various documents. Stanislawa's manifest, which you read as Sholosy, is Schelasna. Konstanty's immigration index card, where it is spelled as both Sczeliezni and Scelanietz, is also Schelasna, as transcribed by whoever read the manifest and wrote the index card. Konstanty's obituary refers to the "wies" (Polish for village) of "Zie, Lavna" and that is Żelazne.
Sophia
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ShannonCreedon
Joined: 14 Jan 2026
Replies: 14
Location: CaliforniaBack to top |
Posted: 8 hours ago at 10:29 am
Post subject:
| Sophia wrote: | Hi Shannon and Trish,
It took me a while, but I think I have sorted out the various place names. It is mostly thanks to the person who put the information in that family tree that Trish posted, with the place Piasutno-Zelazne.
I am attaching two images of maps. One shows the spelling as Piasutno-Żelazne which is proper Polish spelling. The other one shows it as Piasutno-Schelasna, more of a German spelling. Now I can see how this relates to what we see in the various documents. Stanislawa's manifest, which you read as Sholosy, is Schelasna. Konstanty's immigration index card, where it is spelled as both Sczeliezni and Scelanietz, is also Schelasna, as transcribed by whoever read the manifest and wrote the index card. Konstanty's obituary refers to the "wies" (Polish for village) of "Zie, Lavna" and that is Żelazne.
Sophia |
Thank you so much for your help and for the maps! I will add this information to my records, and look forward to learning more about this area! This also gives me a place to start looking on Szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl !
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