Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:13 pm
Post subject: Insight into an original name and search option help
I am trying to get some insight into my grandfather’s original name and possible search options.
My grandfather’s Americanized name was Andy Shizak, and has appeared as Andrew Sizak on 1920 Census. In the research that I have managed to do, I have found other names that give clues to the original name.
On a property deed, he was listed as Antoni Cajkoski. His will listed his name as Andy Shizak (formerly known as Antoni Cajkoski)
His marriage license application has Antoni Caikoski. It lists his parents as Alexander Caikoski and Julia Caikoski. No maiden name. That was in Westmoreland County PA.
One of his daughters listed his name on her marriage application as Antoni Cykaski, and that same daughter had the name Cyjkoski on her baptism.
I have never found his immigration records- as there seems to be many similar names, including Czajkowski. From the 1920 census in Fayette County PA and 1930 census in Monongalia County WV, it appears he immigrated in either 1905 or 1906. I have not located him on the 1910 census, but western PA seems like where he should have been.
I have 2 dates of birth- Aug 6, 1881 and Sept 6, 1881, but really don’t know where that occurred. The first clue is that his son (my father) obtained a delayed birth certificate as an adult and listed his father’s birth place as Warszawa. I do not know if that is the city or just somewhere near there. The second clue is the 1940 census which says Russia. So I am leaning toward that Partition.
All other records, such as the WWI and WWII cards, death certificate, obituary, etc. all just say Poland. He died in Morgantown WV on Dec 28, 1949.
I have not located any siblings that might have existed. My father nor any of my aunts ever mentioned any, so I don’t any of that info try a different path.
I have begun to search some of the online Polish archives from links posted within these forums, but not speaking the language makes it hard. I also really don’t know what name to look for or what location.
I would appreciate any thoughts or insight anyone might have.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help- Dave
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Insight into an original name and search option help
| dshizak wrote: |
The first clue is that his son (my father) obtained a delayed birth certificate as an adult and listed his father’s birth place as Warszawa. |
What is the birthplace listed for your father?
| Quote: | | I do not know if that is the city or just somewhere near there. |
Maybe it refers to Gubernia Warszawa
| Quote: | | The second clue is the 1940 census which says Russia. |
Gubernia Warszawa was in Russian partition. http://www.pgsa.org/images/Atlas/03.Warszawski.jpg
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 7:59 pm
Post subject:
Thanks for the reply. That Gubernia might be correct. My father was born in Mount Braddock PA. I have that record but it only gives the one clue of Warszawa.
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Cheri Vanden BergPO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:52 pm
Post subject:
Dave,
Antoni's surname could be Czajkowski See the distribution of those with that surname on this map http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/czajkowski.html
Have you tried getting the marriage record from the church? Sometimes in the church records the priest will write where the bride and groom were baptized.
Cheri
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:50 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
Here is a summary of my take on your grandfather’s dual surnames.
It appears that Antoni/Andrej (hereafter referred to as Andy) is the son of Alexander and Julia CZAJKOWSKI. Czajkowski is a common Polish surname with 9,536 adults throughout Poland with that name in 2009. The “aj” in Polish has a strong “i” pronunciation and the Polish surname has the same pronunciation as the Russian composer.
I believe that Andy’s biological father died and his mother remarried a man with the surname Szczezak, Szyszak, Szostak etc. which Andy later anglicized to Shizak.
I believe that Andy may have immigrated using the “Shizak” surname and had every intention of adopting that surname here in the U.S.
When he married the widow of Joseph “Palochnok” (Pelagia/Pearl nee Dąbkiewicz), the priest may have asked for Andy’s baptismal information at which time he disclosed his Czajkowski surname. The church and Westmoreland County PA thus recorded Andy’s surname as Czajkowski.
Andy’s descendents, who chose to keep the genealogy accurate, reflected the Czajkowski surname in their documents.
The key to uncovering Andy’s Polish ancestral home is his U.S. Naturalization process. Another document that may have a record of his ancestral home would be the Roman Catholic church’s marriage register in Westmoreland County.
Generally, our ancestors had to start their naturalization papers 7 to 10 years after they immigrated. Where was Andy living circa 1914-1917?
Does the Westmoreland marriage application indicate in which church Andy and Pearl were married? When did that marriage occur?
Best regards,
Norbert
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Norbert Stevens
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:30 am
Post subject:
Norbert,
You might be on to something. I had not considered the possibility that Andy might have had a stepfather. It would not be most unusual thing I have discovered. Andy and Pearl were married in 1927, and the marriage record does not indicate a church. It almost seems like it was a civil ceremony at the court house with 2 witnesses. I will contact the Church there just in case. It was formerly the Transfiguration Church, now part of the St Pius X/Visitation Church. They have helped in the past on a few baptisms and burial info on Pelagia's parents.
During the years 1914-1917, they were living in Westmoreland County, then Fayette County PA. They moved to Morgantown WV about 1922 where they remained until they died in the late '40's, and I can't explain why they returned to get married in Westmoreland County.
Andy's story seems strange to me, maybe you could share some thoughts on the following:
My grandmother Pelagia married her first husband Joseph Palochnok (anglicized to Polens) in 1900 in Westmoreland County. Daughters were born Verna 1901, Agnes 1902, Stella 1905 and Ann 1907. The first 3 in/around Fairmont WV and the last in Westmoreland. I have Ann's baptism from that Church, but WV Diocese Archivist could not locate the other records. Then, according to all family stories, the next 4 children were Andy and Pearl's. These were Sarah 1910 (have her baptism), Rose 1912, my father Alex 1916 and Stanley 1919. But, the marriage was 1927-and that license says that Joe died in 1925, on Dec 25. I can't explain that difference in time line. My guess is Joe was out of the picture somehow around 1910, but not divorced. Andy was in the picture, but could not marry Pearl as she was still married. Might be why I can't find the later Baptisms- they were outside the Church at that point.
Thanks for your help,
Dave
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:25 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
I found your Barnes/Barnes Family Tree on Ancestry.com and traced through the documents for Andy Shizak to get a sense of when he may have filed for and gotten his U.S. citizenship papers.
It appears that in the 1940 U.S. census he was still listed as an alien (he died on December 28, 1949).
From about 1925 through the time of his death in 1949, Andy was a resident of Monongalia County, WV. The West Virginia U.S. Naturalization processes that were performed in the Circuit Courts are indexed on the Family Search Site. You can also browse through the documents.
https://familysearch.org/search/image/index#uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffamilysearch.org%2Frecapi%2Fsord%2Fwaypoint%2FM6LT-8TR%3A179596501%3Fcc%3D1909003
I was not able to locate any U.S. Naturalization documents for Andrew/Anton Shizak/Czajkowski.
It appears that there was not a Federal Court in West Virginia where he would have been naturalized. It could be that he never became a U.S. citizen which was not uncommon. Pearl probably became a U.S. citizen through her father’s (or her first husband’s) naturalization process.
That’s too bad because that eliminates a good source of genealogy information for Andy.
Do you think he may have filed with the Social Security Administration? They have an application (form SSA-5) that asks for his place of birth. That information is available under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2013/05/31/ordering-the-ss-5/
Good luck,
Norbert
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Norbert Stevens
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 3:19 pm
Post subject:
Thanks for trying Norbert. I remember you giving me some assistance a few years ago on the old geneology.com site with this same subject. The Ancestry website is my brother's wife's account, but I do add to it every so often. I have done the paid index search for the immigration records at USCIS thinking Andy might have registered as an alien during WWII. That came back empty. I have not tried the SSA, except the Death Index and he was not on there.
Dave
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:18 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
I believe you are familiar with this site:
http://www.herby.com.pl/indexslo.html
It allows you to try various spellings of Polish surnames and has a wildcard (*) feature.
My thought was that perhaps Andy started by only dropping the suffix “owski” from his original surname.
I input “*zakowski” into the white box on the website and hit SZUKAJ (search). The result produced several Polish surnames ending with “zakowski”.
The ones that peaked my interest were “Czakowski” and “Szczakowski”.
Norbert
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Norbert Stevens
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:23 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
Here is the 1910 U.S. Census for the Dabkiewicz and Polens families.
Norbert
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Norbert Stevens
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:11 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
Here is the 1920 U.S. Census for the Dabkiewicz family.
Norbert
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Norbert Stevens
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:22 am
Post subject:
Norbert, Thanks for those documents. Due to the many children in the Dabkiewicz family, I was able to locate many marriage records in Westmoreland County. A couple of them listed the original village- Witkowo in the Poznan/Posen region. I then was able to locate the marriage record in Poznan marriage index for Pelagia's parents, which then led me to several LDS films, which proved fruitful. Just stuck on my grandfather's side. I also believe Czajkowski is the name, but as mentioned, that is very common. Many people of that name immigrated around the time I am looking, and without further clues, I am unable to narrow one down. Dave
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:58 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
There are a couple of things in the 1910 census that I find interesting about the Polens and Dabkiewicz families.
The first is that the Polens family (indexed as “Povinski”) is listed as living directly next to the Dabkiewicz family (indexed as “Dompkicwicz”). The two families may have in fact been living together in the same structure and Joe, although listed in the census, may have not have been a part of the family by then.
Also, listed on the same page (and previous page) above the Polens is the Frank “Povinski” family. Could that be Joe’s bother or could it be a census taker error? (That’s a rhetorical question).
During that same 1910 census year, Sarah Shizak (Andy and Pearl’s first child) was born on November 28, 1910 in Westmoreland County, PA.
It would seem that Andy Shizak would have been somewhere nearby perhaps living in the same 1910 enumeration district. There were 49 census pages in that enumeration district (East Huntingdon Township).
I found a record for an Andy “Vichosky” a single boarder living in the John “Chachinski” household that matched some of your grandfather’s genealogy traits. I browsed through the first 8 pages than reverted to some voodoo search criteria to locate the Andy Vichosky record.
Also, on December 6, 1907, there was a coal mine explosion in Monongah WV (near Fairmont) that killed about 450 coal miners. Perhaps that had an influence on the Polens family dynamics.
Norbert
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Norbert Stevens
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:32 pm
Post subject:
Hi Dave,
Here is the 1900 U.S. census for the Dąbkiewicz family. They were indexed as “Dumkavich” on Ancestry.com.
The Dąbkiewicz surname has the “ą” Polish character with the diacritical mark below the “ą” and has a unique Polish pronunciation which creates havoc with our English language. The “ą” has an “om” pronunciation and the surname is pronounced “domb-kie-wicz” hence all of the misspellings.
I have the very common Polish surname Dąbrowski (aka Dombrowski) in my family tree so I can appreciate what you are going through.
Norbert
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:33 am
Post subject:
Norbert, thanks again. I had some of the same thoughts as you, and went through that 1910 census ED in the past. I might have missed that Andy Vichosky because I don't remember that right now. That does seem like it could be him. I always thought he was nearby. That gave an immigration date of 1910. I have not really searched that late, but I should widen my range. Dave
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