I may have missed the first portions of information on your family.  How do you know they changed their name?  Also is the St. Hedwig Church in the US or in Europe. Pat Hi Pat,   I'm not sure if they changed their name or not.  I know Robert Kozlowski is on the marriage license and church records - St. Hediwg Church in Chicago, IL.  Robert Wiedemann is listed on everything else - census, naturalization, WWI draft registration, etc.  Robert was born in Pehsken, Germany.  That town is now Piaseczno, Pomorskie, Poland.  There is a film available from the FHL, #531358, births from 1824 - 1876, Pehsken, Germany.  Guess my best bet is to order that film and see if I can find Robert - he was born Aug. 22, 1876.   Thanks, Barb

Barb, Do keep in mind that some Polish immigrants did change their surnames, and they did not go to court to do it. Their motivation could have been as simple as the fact that their neighbors and co-workers could not pronounce or spell their names. Thus, an English surname was easily adopted. And this was done in the neighborhoods where they lived and not at Ellis Island. The stories about Ellis Island name changes are unfounded and undocumented, although many surnames were misspelled. In my Lewicki family research I found a Michigan obituary for my great grandmother which indicated that her brother William "Smith" lived in Minnesota. What?? That was confusing. But then we started locating the Smith family records which verified the change. In January 200 I was fortunate enough to locate his 90 year old daughter living in California, and I interviewed her by phone. The main question was, "Why did your Dad change his name?" She told me that her father Walenty Lewicki was sent to the U.S. with his sister (my great grandmother) because his family did not want him to be drafted into the Prussian army and have to go to war. (I already knew this from other family members.) But she then added, that he lived in fear that Prussian agents would come to the U.S. looking for him and send him back to his native land to be jailed for his offense. While we know this could not happen, he was an uneducated immigrant who did not speak English well. That helped to explain why he and his family moved so often and eventually landed in Minnesota. He wanted to make it difficult for any possible Prussian agents to locate him. He also changed his name to William Smith. Strange but true. Joseph Martin Romeoville, Illinois On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 10:14 AM, Barb Pardol <barbp1220@att.net> wrote: > I may have missed the first portions of information on your family. How do > you know they changed their name? Also is the St. Hedwig Church in the US > or in Europe. > > Pat > > Hi Pat, > > I'm not sure if they changed their name or not. I know Robert Kozlowski > is on the marriage license and church records - St. Hediwg Church in > Chicago, IL. Robert Wiedemann is listed on everything else - census, > naturalization, WWI draft registration, etc. Robert was born in Pehsken, > Germany. That town is now Piaseczno, Pomorskie, Poland. There is a film > available from the FHL, #531358, births from 1824 - 1876, Pehsken, > Germany. Guess my best bet is to order that film and see if I can find > Robert - he was born Aug. 22, 1876. > > Thanks, > Barb > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- People are funny. They want the front of the bus, the middle of the road, and the back of the church.