Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:08 am
Post subject: Sekula / Sekola Surname - Help, I Hope
I am new here. But after looking at some articles here and stuff I see many of us are in a similar predicament. Tracing your Polish ancestry is hard ( to put it mildly ). I have been trying to find out where my grandfather came from in Poland. The information I have is slim. I am in my 50's and really don't have the aunt, uncle, parent or grandparent to help me. What information I have is from cousins and a little help from the 1930 Rusk county, Wisc. census. So, this might be long so grab some strong Kava and read on.
What I can say is my grandfather's name in Polish is Wojcek P. Sekula (the "L" is the one pronounced as a "W") In American it was George Sekola or in his crappy writing George Secola. So I was told he came to the U.S in 1911 to somewhere in Pennsylvania. Went to Gogebic, County Mich. and worked in the mines then bought some land in Rusk Co. Wisc. around 1913. While in Mich he met a brother and sister John and Mary Cabak and he courted Mary and they were married in 1915. Not sure if in Rusk Co. WI or Gogebic Co MI. I was told they traveled between MI and WI for a couple years while George and John were building their homesteads in the Hawkins area; they lived about a half mile apart.
As for Grandma Mary? She and great Uncle Johnny were born in Nowy Sacz. That is a given. Grandpa might have been born in Nowy Targ but no living cousin can verify that. Now what makes things difficult is that grandpa referred to his origin of birth as Austria and grandma's too. I have a copy of my aunt Helen's birth certificate for that as well as the 1930 census states it also. Yes I know that Poland was controlled by Austria from the mid 1800's to about WW I.
I do have a little more info on grandma Mary because in 1979 I was given an address to a relative in Avoca, Penn. And found out that great grandma Cabak had for some reason re-married and his last name was Dziadosz and I also have an address to a Diadosz in Nowy Sacz. When I wrote that person in 1979 we communicated for about 5 or 6 letters until she found out I was about 30 years younger and stopped writing to me. Did get a little info but nothing to write home about.
Anyway about 3 years ago I had the full blown Ancestry.com "Search the World" package for about 4 months and didn't really learn anything about Grandpa George. For the last 2 years my ambition has lessened because I keep running into walls. It is more difficult than doing my mothers side which is English, Irish and Dukes mixture.
If anyone knows something I don't, tell me. I can say that my grandfather was born April 27, 1879 (headstone) or 1880 (Family Bible) and died July 10, 1939.
I did get this website through Fred Hoffman who is a major contributor to the Polish Genealogical Society of America. I had asked him the meaning of the surname Sekula, he gave me the answer and gave me a link to here to post it somewhere around this site.
Hopefully no one fell asleep .
dziękuję. Jim Sekula.
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 998
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Help, I Hope.
Pepse wrote: | I am new here. But after looking at some articles here and stuff I see many of us are in a similar predicament. Tracing your Polish ancestry is hard ( to put it mildly ). I have been trying to find out where my grandfather came from in Poland. The information I have is slim. |
Hi Jim! We are glad that you have joined all of us here. It is nice to know that Fred Hoffman referred you here. Many of us where exactly where you are at and received generous support from other members here. Just a few years ago, I knew nothing about my Polish family and thanks to the resources and hints I got here, I've been able to make major breakthroughs in my brick walls.
My replies are going to focus on your grandfather instead of your grandfather because it can be confusing to talk about 2 sides of your family in one message. Also it seems like you are more interested at the moment in finding info about your grandfather.
Pepse wrote: | What I can say is my grandfather's name in Polish is Wojcek P. Sekula (the "L" is the one pronounced as a "W") In American it was George Sekola or in his crappy writing George Secola. So I was told he came to the U.S in 1911 to somewhere in Pennsylvania. Went to Gogebic, County Mich. and worked in the mines then bought some land in Rusk Co. Wisc. around 1913. While in Mich he met a brother and sister John and Mary Cabak and he courted Mary and they were married in 1915. Not sure if in Rusk Co. WI or Gogebic Co MI. I was told they traveled between MI and WI for a couple years while George and John were building their homesteads in the Hawkins area; they lived about a half mile apart. |
Jim - I assume from what you have written that you have not found any arrival information for your grandfather, am I correct? Have you made any attempts to search for your grandfather in Ellis Island records or other ship manifests? If not, we can try to help you.
Have you found your grandparents marriage records?
Pepse wrote: | Grandpa might have been born in Nowy Targ but no living cousin can verify that. Now what makes things difficult is that grandpa referred to his origin of birth as Austria and grandma's too. I have a copy of my aunt Helen's birth certificate for that as well as the 1930 census states it also. Yes I know that Poland was controlled by Austria from the mid 1800's to about WW I. |
Jim, Do you have a link to the 1930 census record for your grandfather? I am wondering if it shows whether he was an alien or naturalized citizen. Do you know if he became a citizen? Have you found him on the 1920 census records?
These questions are not meant to discourage you, just to start understanding where we could help. I look forward to hearing from you.
Shellie
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:23 am
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I thank you Shellie for the welcome and answering my reply.
So, to start with the first part you highlighted, yes I am more interested in finding out about my grandpa Wojcek. So, yes I had looked hard at Ellis Island and some Pennsylvania records through whatever I could get through Ancestry.com. And like I said I had their full blown package for searching and after about 3 months I gave it up and tried here and there. I had tried searches for George Sekola, George Sekula, George Secola, Wojcek Sekola, Wojcek P. Sekola and other variations. Close calls came up but nothing that looked at all positive. I tried both Poland and Austria; nothing there. And as I mentioned the family Bible states he came to Penn., somewhere. I am sure there were a lot of places back then where a ship could dock. But I am sure it would have been limited to a few ports for passenger ships.
As for the marriage records? About 6 months ago I was trying to track that down through Gogebic Co. MI ( for a start) and at about that time my cousin in Chicago sent me a copy of his mom's birth certificate and when I seen that it lists Austria as to where my grandparents came from I again became disappointed because that it what he lists in the 1930 census. I was going to try to get my father's birth cert. but I figure why grandpa surly would have put Austria on that, too. Sorry for the frustration. It really annoys me to the point of maybe spitting on grandpa's grave. I would probably feel better but would not get me anywhere . I need a smoke break, be right back.
I just looked at a bookmark from a few months ago pertaining to marriage records; through Familysearch.org. What the search thought was relevant, was not. What it didn't consider relevant, was a little. Mention of the death of grandpa and grandma's first born child. That was in Bessemer, Gogebic Co. MI, in 1916. Birthplace was listed as Austria but we (cousins) are positive baby Mary was born in MI.
I will have to go to my other hard drive to find what I have for the 1930 census. I will do that Tues., I hope.
I am starting to nod off here so I will stop for now.
Later. Jim.
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SlavPolishOrigins Team
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UtePO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:21 am
Post subject:
Quote: | I will have to go to my other hard drive to find what I have for the 1930 census. I will do that Tues., I hope.
I am starting to nod off here so I will stop for now.
Later. Jim. |
Jim,
Here is the link to the 1930 Census for the George Secola family, Hawkins, Rusk, Wisconsin:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X9SR-9VN
Ute
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brianminnie
Joined: 25 Sep 2011
Replies: 51
Location: California, USABack to top |
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:27 pm
Post subject:
Hi Jim,
Have you tried searching for your grandfather's arrival record using Steve Morse's website? http://stevemorse.org/ It lets you try a bunch of different parameters to narrow down the data, and links you to the free Ellis Island site for viewing of the original records.
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 998
Location: Atlanta, GABack to top |
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:03 pm
Post subject:
Thanks to Ute for providing the link to the census. Is this your family that she has led us to? If so, your grandfather indicated that he arrived around 1907 and that by 1930 he filed papers to become an American citizen. These are 2 great clues!
brianminnie wrote: | Hi Jim,
Have you tried searching for your grandfather's arrival record using Steve Morse's website? http://stevemorse.org/ It lets you try a bunch of different parameters to narrow down the data, and links you to the free Ellis Island site for viewing of the original records. |
I agree with Brian - at stevemorse.org, I like the Ellis Island Gold Form. You can leave off the ends of names if you are unsure of spellings. I had very good luck with this method. For example, you knew that your grandfather as George - so his Polish name was probably Wojciech. But since you also knew he went by Wojek, you can try searching for the partial spellings of Woj and Seku. I left off the L because some may have mistaken it for a t if it was the L with a slash, which you know to have the sound of "w". Below is a screen shot of the search results. Have you seen these already? If you want more results, try searching with only the W for first name and Seku.
Also - try searching for his last name as Lekula. Sometimes the writing on the ship manifest is hard to read and an S looks like an L.
Don't pass up examining a record because the birth year and the arrival year are different than what you've always known. I've noticed that people often get the year wrong when they state the year of their arrival in the US - they were so busy trying to make a new life in America to remember. Give yourself about 5 years before and after the year you were told he arrived and go from there. And many ages were incorrect also.
Also, since he stated that he filed papers to be a citizen, the application may have the village name. When I finally tracked down my great-grandfather's citizenship application, it turned out to be the one and only piece of paper that stated where my grandfather's brothers and sisters were born - because my family moved a few times within Poland.
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Magroski49PO Top Contributor & Patron
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:43 pm
Post subject:
I totally agree with what Shellie has posted. I just would add that if the naturalization papers were filled decades after his arrival, chances are that date was approximate (obviously, some people have an excellent memory!). My great-grandfather's brother's wife filled her papers with incorrect dates. And it wasn't that long after her arrival.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:54 am
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I'm back. I went to stevemorse.org and tried a few combinations and considering that Shellie and magroski49 mentioned to give a little leeway on birth year it is probable that the Wojciech Sekula from Konina Austria (Poland) might be the right one. I looked up Konina, Poland on Wikipedia.org and it is a village in southern Poland near the Tatra mountains (my dad always said we were hillbillies ). I also used GoogleEarth to try to find this village, no luck but a neighboring city, Limanowa, does exist down there. And Konina is somewhat near Nowy Targ which "I" remember being said where grandpa was from and which a lot of people use the "I'm from Chicago, IL" when they are actually from a suburb 30 miles away. Also, looking at the manifest he states he is going to Lansford, PA. I was told that he came into port in PA, but as these things go maybe not. Taking all the variables that you people have made me think about does help this quest. I know that this may or may not be my grandfather but because of you people this searching is getting better and a little easier than before. Now if I can figure how/where to acquire his Naturalization papers I might get closer than I ever was. Well actually I am getting close now.
I know I shouldn't get carried away as this could be wrong but I will be able to stick with searching if it is not.
Later. Jim
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:27 am
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I found a Wojciech Sekula, age 27, arriving in NY December 9, 1907. He was going to Barnesboro, PA. He was from Homrzyska, as was his father Jozef.
I agree with your theory that someone would say they were from a larger town. My grandmother told us that she was from Nowy Targ, and she was from Zaluczne. The only problem (IF the Wojciech above is your grandfather) is that Homrzyska is 12 km from Nowy Sacz, and Homrzyska is about 82 km from Nowy Targ, but this is still the area of the Gorale (Highlanders, that your dad called hillbillies).
This Wojciech was indexed with the Sekula surname at Ancestry. On the Ellis Island site, someone did index him as Lekula (as Shellie said, the cursive S could look like an L). The town at Ellis Island someone made out as Stowrzyska. I didn't look to see if there was a town by that name, since I had found Homrzyska on the map.
This Wojciech does match with the 1930 census age and year of immigration. I found it interesting though in that census that it has him 50 years old, Mary 40 years old, and says that he was married for the first time when he was 37, and she was married for the first time when she was 25. Her age matches the 1915 wedding year, but his does not. Of course we don't know who gave the information to the enumerator, but the enumerator didn't bother with the math!
You asked how Shellie knew he had applied for Naturalization. In Column 23 of the 1930 census, the Pa stands for Papers, so he had at the very least started the Naturalization process (note: Mary had Al in this column, which means that she was an Alien. There were years that a woman was a citizen if her husband was a citizen). I have read that there is more of genealogy interest in Declarations of Intention, and you could check with Gogebic or Rusk County Courthouses to see if he applied there.
I've attached the 2 pages of the manifest, hope it's big enough for you to read.
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:30 am
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You can click on the images to enlarge them. I forgot to mention that Wojciech is on line 14.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:35 pm
Post subject:
Sherri, this all looks really good. I will try the Rusk Co. Courthouse probably tomorrow and see what I can get. Assuming he was doing the Naturalization around 1930 I think Rusk Co. would be the right place to start. I will report back as soon as I can.
Thank you.
Jim.
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PolishLibrarianPO Top Contributor
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:39 pm
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Jim~ I have a great aunt and uncle who came from Galicia Poland to Minneapolis in 1902-3 era. They married in 1904 and he had declared his intention to become a citizen in 1905. By 1912 (7 years later) his petition for naturalization was signed. By 1917 they had moved to Weyerhaeuser, Rusk County, WI. In MN all the naturalization records are on microfilm at the MN Historical Society (and they have a personal name index so you can figure out which reels of microfilm have the documents for the people you are looking for), so I was able to get his records there. I think it was in the early 1920's that the female spouse no longer became naturalized automatically with her husband.
Anyway, in Wisconsin the State Historical Society has Area Research Centers set up in local state college/univ. libraries. Each ARC covers specific counties. They have naturalization records and other records of interest to genealogists (like probate records). The ARC for Rusk County is at the U of WI Eau Claire Library. Here is the link to the page that shows what naturalization records they have http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/pubrecords.htm - for Rusk declarations 1901-51 and petitions 1885-1954. The next step is to find an index to the naturalization records so you can figure out exactly what reel of microfilm his records might be on. Giving the library a call might be the easiest way to find out if an index exists and how you might go about finding your person. They should be able to tell if they can do this research for you because they have the index, or how to get access to the index (maybe through the Family History Library), or if there are local researchers you could contact who for a fee will go to the ARC and do the research for you, or maybe some other helpful advice. I think they understand that everyone can't travel to an ARC to do their own research. For a small fee I was able to get a print out of an obituary from a newspaper from another ARC in NW Wisconsin. I had a name, death date and location, so they were able to look in the local newspaper on microfilm after that date to find the write-up for me.
Hope this helps. Good luck. ~PolishLibrarian
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PolishLibrarianPO Top Contributor
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:08 pm
Post subject:
Also looking at Cheri's Ellis Island manifest images, note Woj. Sekula (nearest relative in Poland was his father Jozef Sekula in Homrzyska) was going to a "friend" Michal K.... in Barnesboro and on line 12 Wojciech Rogoz age 25 from Kunina (a village a very short distance from Homrzyska) was going to his brother-in-law Michal K.... (same person) in Barnesboro. So it seems likely they were travelling together. Doesn't tell you if this is your Wojciech, but it is still more info. about this trip.
It seems to me that if this were your person from this village Homrzyska, they would have said they were from Nowy Sacz, not Nowy Targ. But who knows. 2nd cousins I have found with a grandparent from a village just outside Nowy Targ said they were from Zakopane. Go figure!
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