Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:52 pm
Post subject: Kanty Family
Researching Polish Roots
I am a relatively new genealogist. I began researching my fathers family about 3 years ago. I live in New York and my fathers family is Polish and all of my fathers family immigrated from Poland (or the partitions of Poland) and arrived between 1889-1910.
I have been pleased to discover the majority of the towns and ancestors for all but one arm of the family. I have family from Rakow Belarus and Kruszwica. The family I am having extreme difficulty in locating is the Kanty family.
I would appreciate anyones guidance on how to begin this search. What I know is that the Kanty family immigrated through Bremen or Bremenhaven in July 1889. I found their immigration records that showed they arrived in New York on July 16, 1889. The information on the manifest was very limited and did not given an indication of the town they were born in or town of last residence.
The members of the Kanty family that immigrated in 1889 were Jan F. Kanty (born in 1862) and his wife Teckla Kanty born in 1864 (Tecklas parents names were John Szlachta and Jospha Szczesnick) and their son Ludwig who was 11 months at the time of immigration.
Many of the documents I have on them in the United States indicate they are from Poland and were born in Poland but no town is ever given. I do have some census records that I am skeptical of that indicate Teckla and Ludwig were German/Polish but I am not sure who filled out these forms and other information on the form is inaccurate.
I am aware of the town Kety in Poland that I believe would have been in the Austria partition of Poland during the 1880s. Given the family stories of Jan F. Kanty being linked somewhat to St. John Kanty I thought it might a place to start the search for my family.
I would be very interested in anyones suggestions on the surname Kanty and where to begin my search. I feel very fortunate to have located my 3 other sets of great great grandparents and their towns of origin. I would love to include the Kanty family and truly round out my family research but I am stuck. I have reached out to all of my distant great aunts and uncles as well as cousins and no one knows the family history or where to begin the Kanty research. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
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NancyMPolishOrigins Matka Chrzestna
Joined: 14 Dec 2007
Replies: 185
Location: Massachusetts, USABack to top |
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:24 pm
Post subject:
Hi Lisa,
Welcome! It appears that you have been very successful with at least some parts of your research.
I think it would be very difficult, and perhaps impossible, to start a search in Poland without knowing for certain which town to target. I do not think the surname will give you the town, although it might help determine the province (or whatever the unit was called at that time). So, my suggestions are aimed at more research in the USA.
You do not mention what the documents are that you have manged to locate for this family. What do you have in addition to the passenger (immigration) and census records?
The first question that comes to mind is whether Jan ever applied for citizenship. The documents associated with that process would probably contain a mention of his town of origin.
Another line to follow would be death certificates, either theirs or those for any of their children. For example, my maternal grandparents immigrated in the 1890s from Austrian Poland (Galicia). I was trying to find the towns of origin for them, and the first place I saw either listed was on the official state-issued death certificate for one of their sons, who died in 1932. Later I found the naturalization documentation, which confirmed the information.
Hoffman's book on surnames suggests that the name is derived either from kant, meaning edge or crease, or possibly from Ka (with a mark under it, giving a sort of "n" sound), meaning "angle, corner, out-of-the-way place (applied to someone who lived there, and usually referring to a category of peasants so poor they had no home of their own). Zenon might have more information.
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ZenonPolishOrigins Team Leader
Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1532
Location: PolandBack to top |
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:06 pm
Post subject:
Nancy and Zenon
Thank you so much for your guidance. I have received Tekla and Jan's death certificates both just state their birth place as Poland. Jan's certificate does not list his parents names (those areas were left blank). Sadly Jan died only after being in the United Stated 2 years and 7 months. He died at the age of 30 from typhoid fever. Tekla was pregnant with her third child (my great grandfather) when Jan died. Jan died in February 1892 and my great grandfather was born in April 1892.
Tekla's married 8 years later and her marriage certificate (I found electronically) had her parents names but also listed her birth place as Poland. I am anxiously awaiting the actual copy of the certificate to arrive by mail hoping the handwritten certificate listed the town she was born in.
I have made the assumption that Jan never became a citizen because he died so soon after arriving here but that is probably a bad assumption. I can also see in the 1910 census that Ludwig did become a citizen and I hope to get to the county records office on Friday to see if he listed his birth place on the forms. I am hoping it doesn't just say Poland. In the 1910 census it did not look like Teckla had applied for citizenship but I will check for her (as well as Jan) when I get to the county records building.
So my hope here is either the actual marriage certificate of Teckla's second marriage or Ludwig's naturalization papers has the town.
Thank you again for the information on the name as well as the area of the country current Kanty's live.
Hopefully I will be lucky with the next two items on my list and I will get a break through.
Best regards,
Lisa
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NancyMPolishOrigins Matka Chrzestna
Joined: 14 Dec 2007
Replies: 185
Location: Massachusetts, USABack to top |
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:56 pm
Post subject:
Lisa,
Good luck, and please let us know if (when) you break through your brick wall.
Nancy
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 1000
Location: Atlanta, GABack to top |
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:31 pm
Post subject:
Hi Lisa,
Were you successful in finding your Kanty family? I had several Polish ancestors whose names were Jan Kanty but in my case Jan Kanty was the given name, not the surname. I'm interested in knowing were your Kanty family lived in Poland. Have you been able to find your ancestral village?
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:12 pm
Post subject:
Shellie,
Thanks for your post in December and I apologize for my late reply. I have to be honest. I got discouraged and stopped hunting for information. I did go to the local offices looking for citizenship papers and did not have any luck, after that I put it all away.
I caught the bug recently as I was contacted by another family member also involved in the "hunt".
I will update this information if I ever find out what town my Kanty relatives came from. Not sure what my next step will be but my guess it will be related to my great grandfather's brother Louis Kanty in Rochester NY as he was born in Poland and came here under the age of 2.
Wish me luck,
Lisa
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:43 pm
Post subject:
Shellie,
Well it has been almost 2 years, but I found my great great grandfather Jan Kanty. He showed up on the Poznan Marriage project web site, it hadn't been there in the past but I happened to check it on whim tonight. This is definitely them - I have the surnames for my great great grandmother Thekla Szczesniak. If you scroll up to the 2008 post you will see that the names that I had on Thekla's second marriage certificate (after Jan died) had the names reversed. This certificate had her mother's name as Szczesniak - and her father's name as Szlachta - turns out it was the other way around. Probably the clerk who filed the 2nd marriage certificate made the error. The frustrating thing I realized tonight (of course after i found the record) was my great grandfather's birth record had the correct maiden name of my great great grandmother Szczesniak - it was just spelled phonetically (very poor phonetics but phonetically none the less). Wow - 3 years worth of painful incorrect searching due to the swapping of names on a marriage certificate!
It appears they are from the town of Krotoszyn. So now the second part of the search begins - searching in the town of Krotoszyn. I'm not sure if any of this will be a help to you, but I thought I would share! I am so excited I needed to share it with someone who could appreciate the find!
Lisa
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ShelliePO Top Contributor & Patron
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Replies: 1000
Location: Atlanta, GABack to top |
Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 7:53 am
Post subject:
Lisa,
Now it is my turn to apologize for the late reply. Congratulations on finding your grandfather Jan Kanty! Have you had any success in finding Krotosyn since your posting in October? There are many members here who are very good at finding villages. You are looking for a village Krotoszyn in the Poznan area, correct? Wow!!! I am so happy for you - it feels like a million bucks when you break through a brick wall! Thank you for wanting to share this news!
Shellie
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