> > There are several reasons why a family might have entered Baltimore. > > First, Baltimore was the first port of call on some ships out of Germany, through which most Galicians passed. Thus the fare was cheaper and the ride shorter. > > Second, it was said, though I have no proof, that the medical exam given to immigrants disembarking in Baltimore might have been a little more lax than in New York. (Tuberculosis was a big problem at the turn of the century.) > > Third, many US companies recruited for workers in the Austro- > Hungarian empire, including Galicia and Slovakia. A few of these companies,notably Bethlehen Steel, arranged for passage to Baltimore. > > Fourth, Baltimore was known in Europe as the center of American Catholocism In fact there was a network in Baltimore set up by the church to provide temporary accommodations to new immigrants. Don't automatically consider these people as "Good Samaritans", however -- they were well compensated for their efforts. > > Just a few random thoughts.... > > Joe Here is a random thought for Joe who saw fit to advise us to not honor the "Good Samaritans" who provided shelter for immigrants to Baltimore at the turn of the century. His view is that they were "well compensated" for their effort. So my thought for Joe is....WHO did the compensating?? It surely wasn't the immigrants themselves. If not them, WHO?? -- Jerry, just curious ======================================== Jerry Machalek, publisher CZECH & SLOVAK CONNECTIONS A monthly newsletter for US/Canadian readers with serious interests in the Czech/Slovak Republics. Includes business, travel and trade advertising. Subs. $12. /annum. Free sample issue upon request. see http://www.czech.com or (612) 897-1151 =========================================

Looking for information regarding Julian Lugowsk,who became a naturalized citizen in Chicago in 1875 and his son Leo Lugowski who was born in West Prussia , Poland on 06 May, 1865 and died in Chicago on 26 February, 1940

Hello All - I have come across a new surname of a g-grand parent: KAPLAN, Zelda, b. @1873 Birth location, unknown. Suspect Russia/Poland. Married Abraham Gallant. Lived in Missouri. Another odd situation is the surname GILLBERG - which also appears from my g-grand parent. (listed below) We had believed this to be of Russian/Polish origin, however, I am finding out it is a rather common Sweedish name. Any input here? Below, I have listed surnames which connect to hers. Any and all help is welcomed! Thanks - Jamie GALLANT, Abraham b. @1873 Birth location - unknown, Suspect Russia/Poland. Married Zelda Kaplan. Lived in Missouri. GALLANT, Edward Jacob b. 1892 d.1953> St. Louis, MO. Jeweler. Parents, Abraham Gallant and Zelda Kaplan. Married Anna L. PIAN. Seeking to identify his parents and family�s country of origin. PIAN, Sam b. @1876 MO? USA. Married Ethel LESA. Their daughter was Anna L. GALLANT. LESBA, Ethel b. @1876 MO? USA. Married Sam PIAN. Their daughter was Anna L. GALLANT. ++++++++++++++++++ GORDON, Joshua b. @1870 Sokolow, Poland (?). Married Sarah GILLBERG. They had four children , Ida Gordon >USA, Sadie Gordon SOLARZ / SCHULTZ >USA, Son name unknown>UK, Son? unknown.>Poland. GILLBERG, Sarah b.@1870 Sokolow, Poland (?) Married Joshua GORDON. They had four children, Ida Gordon>USA, Sadie Gordon SOLARZ / SCHULTZ>USA, Son name unknown>UK, Son? Unknown>Poland. GORDON, Sadie b. 1890 Sokolow, Poland d. 1975 St. Louis, Mo. Married Jacob SCHULTZ(aka SOLARZ)>USA. Daughter of Joshua Gordon and Sarah GILLBERG>Poland. Her brother settled in UK, a surname in his family is GITTER. GITTER, Alfie, UK - or any - Grandson of Joshua GORDON and Sarah GILLBERG, nephew of Sadie GORDON. Family line originates from Sokolow, Poland.

I too am bothered about spammers who flood our newsgroups with unwanted and undesireable mail. Sometimes I can spot a spam and easily disgard it. Other times, I waste a few more seconds reading it. It costs me my time to delete it, and for those who pay by usage from their Internet service provider, a few seconds on the charge-o-meter to download it. Please don't insult to injury by responding to the newsgroup with your objections! Send your complaint directly to the authors of this claptrap. If we must contend with a dozen well-intended replies to every whacky spam, we run the risk of driving away the good messages. My advice: Ignore the spams or e-mail their authors directly, but do not reply to the newsgroup. Gary

Alf Christophersen wrote: > > "Pia Westphal" <nin.westfraz@stockholm.mail.telia.com> wrote: > > >You might write to the archive containing information about the area > >(Nordslesvig as it is called in Danish). > >I do not have the exact adress as I live outside Denmark, but try this: > >Landsarkivet > >Viborg > >Danmark > >(Viborg is a rather big town and Landsarkivet a well-known adress) > > Viborg has the archive for Northern Jutland. You should rather visit > Aabenraa in Southern Jutland. :-) > > Alf Christophersen > alf.christophersen@basalmed.uio.no I have links and addresses to the southern Jutland and archives for Schleswig at my Denmark webpage. It is most likely that the records are in the Schleswig archives in Germany if that is where your ancestor was born. There is specific information about what records are where at my Denmark "county" page at: http://members.tripod.com/~Youda/DKCOUNTY.HTM The URL for the website is: http://members.tripod.com/~Youda/DENMARK.HTM If I can be of anymore help, please don't hesitate to email me! -- Carol A. Haagensen Email: Youda@prodigy.net Homepage: http://members.tripod.com/~Youda/INDEX.HTM Denmark Genealogy: http://members.tripod.com/~Youda/DENMARK.HTM WySweetwater: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wysweetw/ WyCarbon: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wycarbon/ WyAlbany: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wyalbany/

I am researching the Dobias name from the area south and east of Pilzen in the Czech Republik. At this time I seem to have two independent family trees from that area that will not connect. Anyone else researching the same name, please get back to me. John Vojtisek vojtisek@midd-unix.middlebury.edu

-- Ralph Lewis wrote: > > I have also seen researchers write that they had encountered a priest who > did not want to look up family records. That is our case - if my > father-in-law's sister had not worked in the rectory for 30 years or so, > the priest would not have looked for any family records. I know this for > sure, because he said so directly, along with a "don't bother me again." > This was not a church in Poland, either, it was in Pennsylvania, USA. (I > say that because I understand that some Europeans don't fully understand > our interest in our roots - that they have lived in essentially the same > area for hundreds of years, and don't feel this need to 'connect.') > > And yet, there are many priests who understand our interest. So, I am > asking two things: > > First, is there a priest who might write something for us to send along > with our requests, reflecting a personal experience regarding genealogy > research? Perhaps someone has helped reunite a family, or something like > that. > > Secondly, is there a Catholic perspective, here? I know why the Mormons > want to identify their relatives, but aren't there Catholic interests in > family, roots, heritage, tradition, etc.? What would Rome think about > genealogy research? That it is a frivilous effort that takes priests from > their work, or that this is an important part of that work. (By the way, I > enclose some money along with my requests, which I learned from the > suggestions of others.) Though I am no priest, I'd like to add some experiences about my dealing with priests in Poland during my genealogical activities. It is striking that the thing depends ENTIRELY on the priest himself, i.e. if he is interested in helping you at all, to what extent etc. I have experienced the broad spectrum of reactions on the side of the priests. There were some who even welcomed me with the lunch, asking questions, praising my interest in history of their parish, on the other hand there were cases I was refused any help and even access to the parish archive. In such cases I usually finally managed to convince the priest of my sincerity and seriousness of my research and sometimes I was ultimately allowed to look into the records but not to research them more thoroughly. I want to stress that I am ALWAYS visiting the parishes personally, usually unexpectedly so as to have the possibility to convince the priest face to face and not on the phone. I am trying only to ensure when the parish office is open, i.e. if the priest will be present at all. I encountered no case in my carreer that I would be refused any access to the records at all, sometimes however it was very difficult. Even though, in the majority of cases no special problems occured. One must be prepared for everything, anyway. Some examples: the priest from the parish my grandfather was born in 1908 at first didn't want to show me the records as he suspected that I was trying to find any ethnic German ancestors of my family and get the German citizenship on that way! That was indeed the practice in that area (northern Poland), once ethnically mixed, to prove one's German ancestry as the Federal Republic of Germany granted citizenship to such people. The priest knew it as many his parishioners did it in the past and went to Germany. He couldn't catch the idea, however, that one can be willing to search through those records in any 'honest' intention, i.e. simply to learn about his ancestors. Finally he let me research the records as I solemnly promised him that it was not my intention to go to Germany (and in fact there were no German ancestors in my family anyway ;)) ). Sometimes the priests who do not want to spend tehir time to help you say that you have to have permission from the Bishop or something alike. One must cope with each such case individually :) Best wishes to all researchers Lukasz Bielecki =================================================================== Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences Noskowskiego 12/14, PL-61-704 Poznan, phone: +48 61 528503 ext. 154 mailto:bielecki@ibch.poznan.pl http://www.man.poznan.pl/~bielecki =================================================================== Ceterum censeo monarchiam esse restituendam....

> The Kurutz and Kuruc families were originally from Felso Lapso. > I am also researching my grandfather's family- Soltis and Faltin. > ...I don't have a specific town name but my grandfather mentioned > Lapsanka (spelling). Felso Lapso is now Lapsze Wyzne ("Upper Lapsze"), and is now just over the Slovak border in Poland (a bit east of Zakopane). Lapszanka is right nearby, also in Poland. (The capital "L"s in both names have a bar through them in Polish.) Joe armata@vms.cis.pitt.edu

>I've been reading this newsgroup and other genealogyical web pages in >search of the VONDRA and REJDA surnames and have noticed these names >never seem to show up. Are these unusual last names or could they have >been altered during immigration? Vondra is a very common last name here-- in fact the new Ambassador to Washington from the Czech Republic is ALEKSANDR VONDRA. As Karel says it's derived from the nickname for Ondrej. Rejda I had never heard, but then I had never heard my last name either before I met my husband. Looking in the Prague phone book I find Rejda is perhaps a little more common than Tatoun-- there are 8 Rejdas and 5 Rejdovas (all women with the last name Rejda will have 'ova' on the end-- just as my last name is Tatoun but I am Tatounova here). Of course if your ancestors were from Moravia Rejda may be much more common there. Incidentally you are lucky that your last names don't have any diacritical marks. Mine does and it makes it impossible to pronounce in the states-- am thinking of changing it to Tatioun-- which is the way it used to be written in the old records-- to make it more pronounceable. Rejda is, however, pronounced differently than you might think-- as Rayda, since j is pronounced as y and e as something like a long a. -- Sarah Shaw Tatounova (I live in Prague and work as a translator).

** Moderator ** Please do not post this message if you think it is inappropriate. Fellow genealogy researchers, I am not sure how to approach this. My genealogy research has produced about 3,800 names (but I have an advantage - I have three ets of grandparents.) Much of my research has been conducted by calling someone, explaining my interest and my relationship to them. I then ask them to give me the names of the family members. Everyone knows their own information regarding birth, marriage, children, grandchildren. Usually they can tell me who about their own parents, and their siblings and spouses, and usually some nieces and nephews. While they are telling me all this, I have a phone book CD on my computer, or I'm connected to Switchboard.com to be sure I can locate addresses and phone numbers of the names I'm getting. Each family branch seems to have that one member who keeps track of everyone, and I try to talk to them, too. Using sites like http://www.switchboard.com for phone number listings, and SDDI Online at http://www.ancestry.com/ssdi/main.htm, I have been able to identify three new branches of my wife's family - by calling and talking to people. Anyway, my phone bill was getting pretty big, so I tried to find a goodLd company with a great deal. Most LD plans involved a monthly fee, or they had a great rate, but at weird hours. Eventually, I found a company with a super US rate - 10.9 cents per minute all day, all night, every day. They also had international rates like 30 cents to Europe, etc. I do not want to solicit in this newsgroup, but if someone wants more information, please e-mail me, and I can give them the name of the company and the phone number. Ralph Lewis, Harrisburg, PA - rllewis@usa.net (also RalphLewis@aol.com) ***** Researching these families: (Genealogy is my hobby) CHATCHKALEVITZ/KHATCHKALOVITZ (Latvia,Vilna,Svencionys,SouthAfrica,Silale,Kovno,MA) BRUKARZ/BROOKS, ROCHAKOVSKY/ROCKOFSKAYA/ROCKOFF JACUBOVICZ/JACOBSON (Pultusk,Lomza), SALANT, RUDNITZKY, MATZKIN ROSEN (Switzerland, Poland[Pultusk?] ,Russia), SCZUPAK/LEWIS/LOUIS, STENBECK(sp?) KAMYKOWSKI, LENAR/LENART ---------- How well do *you* know Macintosh? Check out the EvangeList web site at: <http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/>

Hi Everyone, I thought this might be interesting to everyone- Matronymics were occasionally uesd in poland when the female ancestor was more respected or wealthier than the male. She may have been a rich widow or a generous woman who did good works in the community. Example- DOROTIAK is the "son of Dorothy", and JEWIARZ "son of EWA (EVE). Taken from the book "POLISH ROOTS", by Rosemary A. Chorzempa. Hope this helps someone. Donna Gregor tdg@erols.com ------------------------------------- Name: T. & D. ,---. | -' ,-.,-.,-.,-.,-. | ,-'| |-'| || || `---| ' `-'`-|`-'' ,-.| ,| `-+' `' Sr.

According to a book I recently read on the history of Slovakia, Pittsburgh and Cleveland were two large pockets of Slovakian Slavs. In fact there were two Pacts put together in support of Slovakia's independence called the Pittsburgh Pact and the Cleveland pact. Apparently they migrated to those particular towns because of opportunities in industry and others followed where they could be with fellow natives that knew the culture and spoke the language. My grandparents ended up in Pittsburgh. On Tue, 27 May 1997 07:40:19 -0500, you wrote: >In many cases, I have seen someone write > ">Those who immigrated in the early 1880's came to the coal mining area >>of central PA. Some then went to the Chicago area ..." >Why? I know about the coal mines in central PA. But why there, or >Chicago? (As opposed to New York City, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, or >somewhere else?) I *know* they went where there were jobs, but why *those* >jobs? Why *those* areas? >Was there an organized effort? I know there was the effort to get >Polish/Russian Jews to enter the US through Galveston, TX, and then settle >in Texas, Colorado, etc. Was there such an effort in Galicia to assist >Polish Catholics? My grandfather-in-law KAMYKOWSKI came through Baltimore, >and moved to Minersville, PA. Why did he go through Baltimore, stay with a >family named JENKINS (doesn't sound like *they* were relatives), and move? >Why did his cousin enter Baltimore, and go directly to Chicago? >Can we discuss some of the cultural/societal issues? Can we discuss some >of the 'color' - some of the 'fabric' of these immigrations? These people >were more than names and dates and descendants. >Ralph Lewis, Harrisburg, PA - rllewis@usa.net (also RalphLewis@aol.com) >***** Researching these families: (Genealogy is my hobby) >CHATCHKALEVITZ/KHATCHKALOVITZ >(Latvia,Vilna,Svencionys,SouthAfrica,Silale,Kovno,MA) >BRUKARZ/BROOKS, ROCHAKOVSKY/ROCKOFSKAYA/ROCKOFF >JACUBOVICZ/JACOBSON (Pultusk,Lomza), SALANT, RUDNITZKY, MATZKIN >ROSEN (Switzerland, Poland[Pultusk?] ,Russia), SCZUPAK/LEWIS/LOUIS, >STENBECK(sp?) >KAMYKOWSKI, LENAR/LENART >---------- >How well do *you* know Macintosh? Check out the EvangeList web site at: ><http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/>

Joanne Hollak wrote: > > >I replied back to one of them and telling them we were not interested in > this type of mail and it was undeliverable. Guess they can send out info. > and not give the correct address from: so we don't have a way to respond > directly to this. jo Sometimes, too, the spammers get shut down by their ISP postmasters between the time they send out this junk & the time we try to reply to them in order to complain. Unfortunately, the spammers then move to another ISP & send the stuff again! -- Thomas J. Danicki danickit@concentric.net, Rochester Hills, Mich. 48306 U.S.A.

Nicholas Trahan wrote: > > This depends on the parish. I have written to the RC parish which my > family was intrumental in starting here in COnnecticut and the preiest > there categorically denied me access to any church records. Perhaps I've been lucky so far; I requested information from one parish in the Philadelphia area (via mail) and was cheerfully and promptly sent what I requested. Before reading this thread, I assumed that my experience was common. I subsequently mailed another request to another parish about other family members. It has been too soon to expect any response to my second request. I sure hope I don't get a disagreeable response like some others have mentioned... Now I've become worried :( -- Thomas J. Danicki danickit@concentric.net, Rochester Hills, Mich. 48306 U.S.A. "...you've got that stunned Brian-Wilson-is-a-god look on your face!" - Bruce Johnston, per _Endless Summer Quarterly_

I lucked out with the help of another listmember and the secretary at the St. John Cantius Church in Chicago. I sent a copy of my grandparents marriage certificate from the church, and today I received a photocopy of a document which included the names of my maternal great-grandparents. Also on the document are the places of baptism. The document is in latin, but it's obvious that this is the best thing I've come across since finding their marriage certificate in the attic. Dennise Larson

Anyone familiar with this name? I found it on the marriage records belonging to my grandparents. Dennise

RaiR <rair@AOL.COM> wrote: >Subject: BORAWSKI - Village of Rogale, Lomza, Poland > >My grandfather emigrated from the Lomza region of Poland. I would like to >contact anyone doing any research in this region and possible find some >relatives still living there. His mother died of starvation when the >soldiers took their food away from them. There was at least one sister >still living there as late as the 1950s. Rai, and all other Gen-Slavic researchers, If your family was Jewish, there is an extensive effort to computerize LDS records from Poland during the Russian years. It is called Russian Era In Poland Project (REIPP), and the information is available as an online search at http://www.jewishgen.org/reipp/index.html I searched for your BORAWSKI, but all I found was a marriage, 1839, of Moszko POROWSKI, son of Joszko, who married Chajka (Surname not shown), daughter of Dawid. (The REIPP records use Soundex, so POROWSKI showed up for this search.) Ralph Lewis, Harrisburg, PA - rllewis@usa.net (also RalphLewis@aol.com) ***** Researching these families: (Genealogy is my hobby) CHATCHKALEVITZ/KHATCHKALOVITZ (Latvia,Vilna,Svencionys,SouthAfrica,Silale,Kovno,MA) BRUKARZ/BROOKS, ROCHAKOVSKY/ROCKOFSKAYA/ROCKOFF JACUBOVICZ/JACOBSON (Pultusk,Lomza), SALANT, RUDNITZKY, MATZKIN ROSEN (Switzerland, Poland[Pultusk?] ,Russia), SCZUPAK/LEWIS/LOUIS, STENBECK(sp?) KAMYKOWSKI, LENAR/LENART ---------- How well do *you* know Macintosh? Check out the EvangeList web site at: <http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/>

Ralph Lewis wrote: > So, I am asking two things: > > First, is there a priest who might write something for us to send along > with our requests, reflecting a personal experience regarding genealogy > research? Perhaps someone has helped reunite a family, or something like > that. > > Secondly, is there a Catholic perspective, here? I know why the Mormons > want to identify their relatives, but aren't there Catholic interests in > family, roots, heritage, tradition, etc.? What would Rome think about > genealogy research? That it is a frivilous effort that takes priests from > their work, or that this is an important part of that work. (By the way, I > enclose some money along with my requests, which I learned from the > suggestions of others.) > There is no specific Catholic perspective as with the Mormons, but certainly there are Catholic interests in tradition and heritage. (Any church that's 2000 years old certainly has a lot of interest in tradition!) To be quite honest, I don't know why Catholic churches keep records for more than 70 or 80 years. The main time they are used for church purposes is in marriage preparation. A fresh copy of the baptismal certificate is ordinarily requested to ensure that the individual is free to marry (a note ordinarily is made in the baptismal record of a marriage or ordination). After a person dies, there really is no reason, other than historical, for keeping the records. I suppose some priests have a greater sense of maintaining the privacy of their parishioners, living or dead, than others. They might feel that, even though you might be a relative, you don't have any right to the information. That, plus irritation at being asked to dig in musty and dusty old records (which are probably not conveniently located), might be the reason that some priests don't answer requests for information. Since I work in a school and not a parish, I can't give you a definitive answer. Personally, I have never requested any records from any parish. I have used the Mormon microfilms of Polish church records to trace my father's family back to about 1830 in Poland. But a cousin, while in Poland, did go to the local parish and obtain a copy of his grandparents' marriage certificate. So I don't know if that helps you or not. Feel free to pursue this further if you think it will help. Father Jack Pejza

LuAnne, I don't know what it is, but I can't find anything either. You are the only person I have talked to with these surnames. Jeanie

William A Anikouchine wrote: > > Hello, > >I am researching SOLTIS, SHOLTIS, FALTIN, KURUC, KURUTZ, GRIGLAK and > >MAZUR. > > > She joined her husband, John Sholtis. They lived in West > >Leisenring, PA. (Monarch). They had two more children, Anna and Steve. > > > >My grandfather, John A. Soltis, immigrated to America around 1913. He > >was met in New York by his Uncle Valent Faltin. He came with Anton > >Griglak. > > > >I don't have a specific town name but my grandfather mentioned > >Lapsanka (spelling). > > > I encountered the Soltis surname while researching the church records of > Slovinky, Slovakia. See the Slovinky home page at: > > iarelative@slovinky.com I found it at this URL: http://www.iarelative.com/slovinky.htm Lots of information there. Thanks to William A Anikouchine. Jim