jackiewisniewski
Joined: 01 Jan 2011
Replies: 51
Location: Riverside, IL., USABack to top |
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 9:05 pm
Post subject: Rzenoua, Poland?
Hi all! I've been reading posts in the forum for awhile now and decided it was time for my first post! I've managed to find (and confirm) the birth towns for all of my great grandparents (the first generation to come to the US) except one - my great grandmother Sophia Polanski (nee Smigel).
One lonely, single document listed Rzenoua, Poland as her birth place. As written, that town does not seem to exist.
She had no social security number. No birth certificate of any of her children list anything but "Poland" as her birth place. Her death certificate only listed Poland as well. Her census forms? While all of my other great grandparents listed Russian or German Poland as their birth place, Sophia's simply reads "Poland." For 5 months I've searched for her passenger list with no luck. All I know for sure is that she came here prior to 01 Jul 1916 when she had a child out of wedlock.
When I put "Rzenoua" in google, it suggests correcting it to "Rzenada."
When I put "Rzenoua, Poland" in google, it suggests "Wrzesnia, Poland."
Can anyone offer tips/suggestions to help me figure out the mystery of Rzenoua? Any input is greatly appreciated!
Her parents, Thomas Smigel and Mary Dombrowski, are patiently waiting to be rediscovered over in Poland, along with her siblings 
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 1000
Location: Atlanta, GABack to top |
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:39 pm
Post subject: Re: Rzenoua, Poland?
| jackiewisniewski wrote: | | Hi all! I've been reading posts in the forum for awhile now and decided it was time for my first post! |
Welcome Jackie! We are glad that you've posted a message!
| jackiewisniewski wrote: | I've managed to find (and confirm) the birth towns for all of my great grandparents (the first generation to come to the US) except one - my great grandmother Sophia Polanski (nee Smigel).
One lonely, single document listed Rzenoua, Poland as her birth place. As written, that town does not seem to exist. |
Jackie, was the town name Rzenoua handwritten or typed into that document? If handwritten, can you attach a scan so others can examine it? Perhaps the town name is Rzucewo?
| jackiewisniewski wrote: | | She had no social security number. No birth certificate of any of her children list anything but "Poland" as her birth place. Her death certificate only listed Poland as well. Her census forms? While all of my other great grandparents listed Russian or German Poland as their birth place, Sophia's simply reads "Poland." For 5 months I've searched for her passenger list with no luck. All I know for sure is that she came here prior to 01 Jul 1916 when she had a child out of wedlock. |
It looks like you have done quite a bit of ground work before posting your question. Thank you for providing these details so we don't waste time suggesting things that you have already done. Can you share a few more details about Sophia and her child? When was Sophia born and did she marry before or after arriving in the US? Did she have siblings that came to the US? Do you know if Sophia ever became a US citizen? Was the child conceived in Poland or the US? Have you found the birth certificate for that child?
To our members with surname expertise.... could Smigel be a shortened version of Smigelska? What other forms of Smigel would apply to an unmarried woman from the family Smigel?
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UtePO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Replies: 599
Location: GermanyBack to top |
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:56 am
Post subject: Re: Rzenoua, Poland?
[quote="([/quote]
Jackie,
Do you have your great-grandparents' marriage records? I found a marriage licence for John Polanski and Zofia Szmiegel issued on May 6, 1919 in Chicago at the office of Robert M. Sweitzer, County Clerk of the County of Cook. Church marriage was on May 12, 1919. The name of the church is not given, and the reverend's name is hard to read, the address of the church looks like N. 48th St., Chicago, but could also be W 48th St. which would be St. Joseph’s. If you don’t have the church marriage record yet, you may want to order it. Some of the church marriage records I have give the place of birth and the parish where the bride and groom were baptized plus the names of the marriage witnesses.
I also found a birth record for Anna Polanski b. Sept 1922 that lists her as first child born to this mother, her mother’s name as Sophie Smigel, 28 years old with an illegible birthplace (looks like Matipotska – could be Malopolski which doesn’t help you). I searched Ellis Island for Zofia Szmigiel and found only one, a Zofia Szmigielska who arrived at Ellis Island on Feb 22, 1912, port of departure Bremen. I also found an obituary for Sophie Polanski, nee Smigel in the Chicago Tribune Historical Archive who passed away on Jan. 12, 1968. If you need any of the records I mentioned, let me know and I’ll e-mail them to you.
I have no time to search for more, but perhaps that helps a little.
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jackiewisniewski
Joined: 01 Jan 2011
Replies: 51
Location: Riverside, IL., USABack to top |
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 2:52 pm
Post subject:
Ladies thank you so much for your quick reply! As I mentioned I tried to make sure I did as much searching as possible before posting on here, and right after I posted I decided to give it one last shot looking for Sophia's passenger list. Somehow you must have brought me luck because I ended up finding Sophia's sister (which I didn't know existed). But her sister's birthplace was clear - Matysowka, and she was headed to Chicago to stay with her brother in law Jan Polanski - at an address I had already found them at in 1920! I was so excited I went back to my original files. The "Rzenoua" was a transcription (I had to order the original record) and it was from her daughter Anna's death certificate in 1943 - one I had written to obtain months ago and still had not heard back on.
As I was reviewing the file in order to provide more detail to you all, I decided during my lunch hour to do one last search for Sophia only by last name and year - would you believe I found her passenger list!!! She was listed under Tofia, her approxbirth date corresponded to one of the FIVE she rotated between, and her birth town was listed the same as her sister's - Matysowka! She listed her mother Marya Smigiel as her homeland contact, and her sister listed their father Thomas Smigiel as hers.
I really appreciate the help from both of you!! I definitely feel like coming to this forum is my "lucky charm." 
Ute - I do have all the records you mentioned (minus the passenger list, a few things on it did not check out) but thank you SO MUCH for searching and helping me out!
Jackie
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 1000
Location: Atlanta, GABack to top |
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:22 pm
Post subject:
Jackie, I'm so pleased that you think we brought you good luck. Isn't Ute amazing? And to think that she accesses all of that US information from Germany. I love the internet and how it breaks down distance barriers.
Do you ever use the FamilySearch Record Search at: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home
If you search Sofie Smigel, you will find a few birth records for your family, one for Helen and 2 for Anna and also the link to her ship manifest at the Ellis Island site. The Ellis Island site has her listed as Zofia Smigiel while the exact same manifest you found (at Ancestry.com?) has her listed as Tofia. Best of luck to you and please update us with your progress!
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PolishLibrarianPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Aug 2010
Replies: 323
Back to top |
Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:48 pm
Post subject:
| jackiewisniewski wrote: | | But her sister's birthplace was clear - Matysowka, and she was headed to Chicago to stay with her brother in law Jan Polanski - at an address I had already found them at in 1920! I was so excited I went back to my original files. The "Rzenoua" was a transcription (I had to order the original record) and it was from her daughter Anna's death certificate in 1943 - one I had written to obtain months ago and still had not heard back on. |
Jackie~ I see that Matysowka is not far from the city of Rzeszow (not that far off from Rzenoua, which is understandable when transcribing handwritten records). Glad you found the Ellis Island record for her.
I have not yet found the immigration record for my gmother's older sister, the first in the family to arrive in U.S prior to her marriage in Minneapolis in May 1904. I was lucky the handwriting on the manifests for my gmother and her younger sister were very clear and indexed correctly so they were easily found. But I'd love to know who the first sister was coming to in the U.S. and when she arrived. Too bad naturalization records from that time period don't list that kind of information for the female spouse.
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