Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:26 pm
Post subject: Surname Szpara
Searching for history and family. Grandfather Jacob Szpara was born in the village of Szkodna in the year of 1896. His fathers name was Jan and mothers name was Maria. I believe he had at least one sister Honorata and her married name was Szcpanak.
Does anyone know anything about this family or have any ideas where I should look.
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:04 pm
Post subject:
Have you entered the Szpara surname in Rafal's surname list? http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~polwgw/rafal/surname.html#updates
I see 3 people with that surname there, and one of the email addresses I recognize is someone that is very involved in Polish research. It looks like her Szpara ancestor came from Ropczyce which is just 7-8 miles from Szkodna. I see that you have tried other message boards, and I would have recommended doing that - to connect with others who might know something. In that regard, I will tell you that I believe that you have made a great choice by posting here at Polish Origins. I started posting just this past October, and I have learned an incredible amount. I'm sure I am more fortunate than most, but it does help to ask. It seems that there are many members here who haven't posted anything, and I would like to encourage anyone to do so.
I would have recommended that you get microfilm from a Family History Center, but a quick check and I don't think they have filmed in Szkodna. I might be able to find the church in that town, if you'd like to write to the priest there. That is something I haven't done yet, as I just learned where my grandmother emigrated from, but I have read about other people doing that with success.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:13 pm
Post subject:
Thank you for the reply Cheri. I am on the surname list that you mentioned. I am also on Polishgenius.com and Ancestery.com.
I was fortunate to travel to Poland this past August and was able to visit the with the pastor of the church. He said he would research my family history but I never heard from him. I wrote to him in October and received nothing. I wrote to him again today and I am hoping to receive something. I continue to try anything until I can hopefully find family. I know there where 2nd cousins still living in the village in the early 1980s, and they had children. I wish you all success in your search.
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:00 am
Post subject: Szpara
I'm sorry to hear that you haven't gotten any information from the priest yet. I am really kind of new to Polish research (though I have been searching for years), and I'm sure you already have more experience than I, since you've been to Poland. This is from the book Polish Roots by Rosemary A. Chorzempa: There was often more than the one original copy of the register. If a copy is not available at the parish, there may be one at the diocesan or archdiocesan archives, or even at the state provincial archives for civil records. While it is true that many records were destroyed by fire, flood, and invaders, some may exist in unexpected places.
Did Jacob Szpara's sister also emigrate, or is that the family that you believe still might have descendants in the area where Jacob was born? What about his parents, did they stay in Poland?
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:33 am
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Could it be that Honorata Szpara's married surname was Szczepaniak? When I tried to search for her name, I didn't find anything with the Szcpanak name, but I did find quite a bit with Honorata Szczepaniak (not necessarily the one you are looking for).
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:15 pm
Post subject:
Thanks Cheri,
You are probably right about the spelling. But where did you search for Honorata ?
I will take your advise and post something on Szczepaniak.
Where do you live?
Diane
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:12 pm
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Diane,
I'm afraid that I didn't find the Honorata Szczepaniak that you are looking for, but I did wonder if one of these Honoratas could possibly be a descendant who is a namesake. If you google "Honorata Szczepaniak" with quotation marks, you will find a number of sites that are in Polish, but you can click translate this page. There is an Honorata that lives in the UK, and I believe that there is a picture of her looking at artwork (that might be the 2nd on the list that comes up with the search). There is also a site where you could leave your e-mail address and post a message to Honorata. Then there is an Honorata Szczepaniak who is a deputy chairperson at a primary school in the town of Kolniczki. That's about 300 miles from Szodna, but of course your Jacob went much further away from Szkodna. I don't know if there is more than two different woman that came up in the search. I don't know how common this surname is, and Honorata is actually a new name to me, so I thought maybe...
Hopefully when the priest gets back to you he might know of other children of Jan and Maria Szpara.
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