Hi, Kuba, Regarding my note on 1990 vs 2002 PESEL data, you wrote: > I am sure glad you posted this. I'm pleased to hear that. I was hoping I hadn't bored everyone to tears, for no good reason ;-) It's reassuring to know the info interested you. > As far a Rymut on my surname it is inaccurate. I know > more people with my last name then he accounts for. I believe you. We had a discussion on one of the mailing lists about just how accurate that data is -- I can't remember if it was this list, or Poland-Roots, or what. In any case, the 1990 data covered about 93% of nearly 38 million Polish citizens, and the 2002 data covered 100% (well, as near as can be) of over 38 million. Anyone who thinks there aren't going to be errors in databases of that size is probably waiting for a Nigerian lawyer to send him 10 million dollars.... As best I can tell, the data is reasonably accurate, and probably about as good as we're going to get. But I don't doubt for one second there are plenty of mistakes. This is another good reason why those of us interested in family history research have to remember: NEVER take any source for Gospel! Get the best info you can, but keep a grain of salt handy. With any luck, your research will help you get more reliable info. Fred

Fred, Glad you explained it. I always thought that the number from Rymut was the current number and if smaller many have left Poland of died off. I never thought that adding your data to Rymuts was the correct population of a particular surname. This sure makes a difference in my thinking. I am sure glad you posted this. As far a Rymut on my surname it is inaccurate. I know more people with my last name then he accounts for. Kuba On Mar 16, 2010, at 11:50 AM, Fred Hoffman wrote: > Hi, > > Kuba wrote: > >> There is a name in Polish Surnames....... by Fred Hoffman. >> Siemiątkowski. There were 1994 of them in Poland in 1990. >> >> However >> I searched the site >> http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/siemi%25C4%2585tkowski.html >> >> and got the following information. >> >> W Polsce są 982 osoby o nazwisku Siemiątkowski. >> Zamieszkują oni w 137 różnych powiatach i miastach. Najwięcej >> zameldowanych jest wWarszawa ,a dokładnie 107. >> Dalsze powiaty/miasta ze szczególnie dużą liczbą osób o tym nazwisku >> Sierpc (37), m. Płock (37),Lipno (32), m. Toruń (30), zachodni Warszawa >> (28), Grodzisk Mazowiecki (24), Brodnica(22), Rypin (21) i Płońsk z liczbą >> wpisów 20. >> >> It shows 982 people with that name in Poland. >> then is shows the distribution by town. i.e. 137 in Warszawa, 37 Sierpc >> and so on. > > Good point! The discrepancy in numbers is easily explained, however. The > data I used in my book was from Prof. Rymut's compilation of 1990 PESEL > data, the same data you can search at http://www.herby.com.pl/indexslo.html. > That data did not separate masculine and feminine forms of surnames, so that > all Siemiątkowskis and Siemiątkowskas were grouped together under the form > Siemiątkowski. > > The data used by Moikrewni site is from Rymut's 2002 compilation of PESEL > data, which presents masculine and feminine forms separately. So to get the > full picture for the name Siemiątkowski, you also have to add in those > listed on the page for Siemiątkowska: > > http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/siemi%25C4%2585tkowska.html > > Add the 982 Siemiątkowskis and the 1,051 Siemiątkowskas and you get 2,033 > people registered under this name's masculine and feminine forms as of 2002, > or 39 more than the 1990 database showed. By and large, the 2002 number is > somewhat larger than the 1990 number, though there are cases where it's > smaller, probably because misspellings have been corrected. The point is, > comparing 1990 data to 2002 data is sometimes a matter of comparing apples > and oranges (to use a cliche that probably needs to be given a decent > burial). > > If you're interested in why they took this approach, let me explain. The > 2002 data is more accurate than the 1990 data was, and is also > comprehensive -- it covered essentially 100% of the Polish population, > whereas the 1990 data covered only about 93% of all Polish citizens. Rymut > realized that linguists -- perhaps not used to computers and their tiresome > way of doing exactly what you tell them to do -- made some mistakes > compiling the 1990 data in regard to masculine and feminine forms. Some name > forms ending in -ska are not actually feminine forms -- for instance, > LASKA -- so it was not appropriate to lump them in together with apparently > corresponding -ski forms. The 1990 data showed no LASKAs, but 3,354 LASKIs; > the more accurately compiled 2002 data shows 65 LASKIs vs. 3,534 LASKAS. As > you see, the 1990 data can be very misleading. I think that's because Rymut > and his collaborators were mostly linguists, not computer experts. They > didn't realize computers are only as smart as their programming, and can > make mistakes a human would instantly recognize and correct. I hate to think > how horrified Rymut must have been when someone called and said, "Yo, > Kazimierz, take a look at your 1990 LASKI/LASKA data. Something ain't right > here!" > > Also, adjectival masculine/feminine forms of some adjectival surnames, such > as BURY vs. BURA, had not been recognized as such; so the 1990 data gives > them separately, which is inconsistent. In addition, Rymut recognized that > there is a small but significant number of Polish women who choose not to go > by the distinctive feminine forms; for instance, of the 68,743 KOWALSKIs > registered in 2002, 61 were females who, for whatever reason, preferred not > to go by KOWALSKA. (With some surnames, the percentage of females using the > masculine form is much higher.) > > My point -- and believe it or not, I do have one -- is that Rymut knew > scholars would probably use this data for statistical analysis, and he > wanted it to make it as accurate as possible. So he left the data for > masculine and feminine forms separate. And the Moikrewni site, which uses > that data, also presents them on separate pages. That's why, to get the full > picture for the name Siemiątkowski, you also have to add in those listed on > the page for Siemiątkowska: > > I know I took the long way around to explain this, but I thought some of you > might like to know the details. The 2002 data is valuable for many purposes, > but to use it well, you have to know the ins and outs of the compilation and > formatting. The 1990 data on the Herby site lumps masculine and feminine > forms together, sometimes incorrectly. The 2002 data on the Moikrewni site > separates them. It's kind of a pain in the rear, but there is some > justification for that approach. > > Fred Hoffman > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Kuba Przedzienkowski

Hi, Kuba wrote: > There is a name in Polish Surnames....... by Fred Hoffman. > Siemiątkowski. There were 1994 of them in Poland in 1990. > > However > I searched the site > http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/siemi%25C4%2585tkowski.html > > and got the following information. > > W Polsce są 982 osoby o nazwisku Siemiątkowski. > Zamieszkują oni w 137 różnych powiatach i miastach. Najwięcej > zameldowanych jest wWarszawa ,a dokładnie 107. > Dalsze powiaty/miasta ze szczególnie dużą liczbą osób o tym nazwisku > Sierpc (37), m. Płock (37),Lipno (32), m. Toruń (30), zachodni Warszawa > (28), Grodzisk Mazowiecki (24), Brodnica(22), Rypin (21) i Płońsk z liczbą > wpisów 20. > > It shows 982 people with that name in Poland. > then is shows the distribution by town. i.e. 137 in Warszawa, 37 Sierpc > and so on. Good point! The discrepancy in numbers is easily explained, however. The data I used in my book was from Prof. Rymut's compilation of 1990 PESEL data, the same data you can search at http://www.herby.com.pl/indexslo.html. That data did not separate masculine and feminine forms of surnames, so that all Siemiątkowskis and Siemiątkowskas were grouped together under the form Siemiątkowski. The data used by Moikrewni site is from Rymut's 2002 compilation of PESEL data, which presents masculine and feminine forms separately. So to get the full picture for the name Siemiątkowski, you also have to add in those listed on the page for Siemiątkowska: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/siemi%25C4%2585tkowska.html Add the 982 Siemiątkowskis and the 1,051 Siemiątkowskas and you get 2,033 people registered under this name's masculine and feminine forms as of 2002, or 39 more than the 1990 database showed. By and large, the 2002 number is somewhat larger than the 1990 number, though there are cases where it's smaller, probably because misspellings have been corrected. The point is, comparing 1990 data to 2002 data is sometimes a matter of comparing apples and oranges (to use a cliche that probably needs to be given a decent burial). If you're interested in why they took this approach, let me explain. The 2002 data is more accurate than the 1990 data was, and is also comprehensive -- it covered essentially 100% of the Polish population, whereas the 1990 data covered only about 93% of all Polish citizens. Rymut realized that linguists -- perhaps not used to computers and their tiresome way of doing exactly what you tell them to do -- made some mistakes compiling the 1990 data in regard to masculine and feminine forms. Some name forms ending in -ska are not actually feminine forms -- for instance, LASKA -- so it was not appropriate to lump them in together with apparently corresponding -ski forms. The 1990 data showed no LASKAs, but 3,354 LASKIs; the more accurately compiled 2002 data shows 65 LASKIs vs. 3,534 LASKAS. As you see, the 1990 data can be very misleading. I think that's because Rymut and his collaborators were mostly linguists, not computer experts. They didn't realize computers are only as smart as their programming, and can make mistakes a human would instantly recognize and correct. I hate to think how horrified Rymut must have been when someone called and said, "Yo, Kazimierz, take a look at your 1990 LASKI/LASKA data. Something ain't right here!" Also, adjectival masculine/feminine forms of some adjectival surnames, such as BURY vs. BURA, had not been recognized as such; so the 1990 data gives them separately, which is inconsistent. In addition, Rymut recognized that there is a small but significant number of Polish women who choose not to go by the distinctive feminine forms; for instance, of the 68,743 KOWALSKIs registered in 2002, 61 were females who, for whatever reason, preferred not to go by KOWALSKA. (With some surnames, the percentage of females using the masculine form is much higher.) My point -- and believe it or not, I do have one -- is that Rymut knew scholars would probably use this data for statistical analysis, and he wanted it to make it as accurate as possible. So he left the data for masculine and feminine forms separate. And the Moikrewni site, which uses that data, also presents them on separate pages. That's why, to get the full picture for the name Siemiątkowski, you also have to add in those listed on the page for Siemiątkowska: I know I took the long way around to explain this, but I thought some of you might like to know the details. The 2002 data is valuable for many purposes, but to use it well, you have to know the ins and outs of the compilation and formatting. The 1990 data on the Herby site lumps masculine and feminine forms together, sometimes incorrectly. The 2002 data on the Moikrewni site separates them. It's kind of a pain in the rear, but there is some justification for that approach. Fred Hoffman

Maria, In addition to the helpful websites from Tina I would suggest, if you have not looked at them already, these two for a good background to Polish research: https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Poland http://www.donhoward.net/genpoland/polhistory.htm You could be busy for some time - it will be good to hear of your progress and try to help with further questions you may have. Kind regards, Bronwyn. On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 6:28 AM, Maria Peck <peckconstruction@interbaun.com>wrote: > Hi Tina, > > Thank you very much for answering my e-mail. I already had the Polish > names for my towns but I did check out the Kartenmeister website and > found lots of other information such as Parish, population figures, > etc. It is a very interesting site. I've never been able to find > anything on the LDS family history site for Hirschberg, Gillau or > Lengainen. But since the parish for Hirschberg and Lengainen is > Wartenburg I will order the films for the Wartenburg church records > (there are quite a lot). The parish for Gillau is Gillau but I > couldn't find anything on the LDS site. There is quite a lot of > information for different Hirschbergs but not Jedzbark which was the > in the former Kreis Allenstein. You said there were records available. > Perhaps I'm missing something. What records did you find? > > Regarding Bischofsburg I won't order any records yet because from > family lore, Unknown Stopienski and Unknown Stegen had one child who > died at an early age. She wasn't born in Bischofsburg. I was just > hoping that there would be some history on the town so that I could > check if Unknown Stegen was really the Oberburgermeister. I did find a > very interesting site http://www.bischofsburg.de/ which listed all the > employed individuals in 1939 with their position and home address. I > have e-mailed the originator of the website to see if he knows > anything about Mr. Stegen. > > I use the Google Language tools quite frequently as I still have > relatives living in Germany. Unfortunately, they are not interested in > family history and are unable to help me out. > > Tina, thank you very much for providing me with a very interesting > website. I'll do as you suggested and keep the list informed about > anything I find out from the LDS films on Wartenburg. > > Maria > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Roberta, Try <http://www,feefhs.org/maplibrary.html> They have lots of historic maps that should be of help to you. Good luck on your search. It's frustrating, I know, but so much to celebrate when you reach one of your goals. Of course, you know, that will only lead to ten more questions. That's genealogy! Dorothy On Mar 15, 2010, at 6:56 PM, roberta hall wrote: Yeah, that is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't know where in Poland they came from. I posted a query on a Polish message board and I was given this information about the name Siemionkowski (I have a 2nd cousin who told me this is the Polish spelling but I have not seen the headstones so I don't know this for sure). Any way the respondent to my query wrote to say that the Polish letter "a" had a tail on it and that the spelling could be Siemiathowski. He then directed me to a website for Polish surnames where he typed in the name Siemiatkowski, on this map it has 10 location where in Poland this name is found. The largest concentration is in 2 towns: Szcytno (15 people) and Makow Mazowiecki (14 people). I don't known if this is the right place to look as I can't verify the spelling. Also I don't know if these town are current day names. I need to find the town names as of 1882. I live in a small usually quiet town called Darien. I was born and raised here. Darien has been in the news lately, the 3 family members shot by a friend of the daughters x-boy friend. My daughter graduated with the girl who hid in the closet and is the mother of the child of the now arrested father. What is your family name that you are looking for? Roberta ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:48 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. > > I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall. Like you I have > some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so > hard to get around. For instance, I have a great uncle who was > hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family > "story" about him, I have his various addresses over the years, I > have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social > security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and > his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with > a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. > It all stops there. I've written to the records department of the > state hospital without results. I may have to quite butting my head > against that brick wall, but . . . > > I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific > information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you > have two problems: an exact location in Poland, and the variability > of the surname. Two things come to mind: 1)Have you tried National > Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? > > I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist > located in Torun near Warsaw. Most of my family came from either > Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is > located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock > down. And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a > leg. > > Where are you located in Chicago? I live in Evanston. If you'd like, > I'll send you my phone number. Like you, I am the only one in the > family who has any interest in geneology. They are interested in the > results but not in the process. > > I look forward to hearing from you. > > Dorothy > > Hi Dorothy, > I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international > subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 > years, > fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I > have > had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name > changes > over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend > from. > > Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in > 1882 at > that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage > facility. > Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. > > I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my > subscription > with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for > many of > my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit > for > Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits > thru > the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even > have a > funeral card for > my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I > have > located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license > but > haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. > > It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing > the > actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site > about > 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless > I can > find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that > is I > work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the > center > while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to > get > in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. > > You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into > them. > Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no > matter > how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as > very > helpful. > > Thank you, > Roberta Hall > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > >> Roberta, >> >> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of >> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. >> >> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google >> Ellis >> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information >> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their >> site. >> >> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited >> edition) >> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on >> rootsweb.com, >> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search >> for census records. >> >> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is >> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at >> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >> Arrival and Departure Documents. >> >> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are >> several in the Metro Chicago area. >> >> Happpy Hunting, >> Dorothy >> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >> >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >> wish I knew how to speak the language. >> >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >> This is want I have: >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >> >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >> Household # 252 >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >> >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >> >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers >> his >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank >> was 3 >> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out >> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and >> that >> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >> >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >> >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >> >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >> >> Thank you to anyone who can help, >> Roberta Hall >> Chicago, Ill. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Some of your questions can be answered using http://www.wikipedia.org about the places and regions you mention. Stolz is spelled Stolc in Polish. If these places are in what used to be part of Germany, you can use http://www.kartenmeister.com to find out the parish names and where the civil registries were kept. If they are in Poland and you are interested in furthering your research, you can use http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny to learn where records would have been recorded. They would be in the parafia (par. abbreviation) or gmina. If the LDS have microfilmed records, the parish or towns where the civil records were recorded will be listed in their online catalog: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp. You can locate an LDS Family History Center near where you live using this site: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp. If you are not intesested in the hands on technique of reseaching, you can have the archives in Poland do that for you, if they have the records. The Poland State Regional Archives show what records they have at this site: http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en. Reas the info and guidelines sections listed on the left side of the page. They are in English. Good luck in your search. Tina Ells On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 10:06 PM, Scott Plencner <scottplenc@yahoo.com>wrote: > > > > > I have been doing research for a long time but have never gotten very far > back in the Old World with these branches of my family. Was wondering if > anyone had any idea on specifics regarding these families and the following > questions. > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > I am investigating PLENCNER. There are three major immigrants with this > name to America that I know of. My immirant was Ludwig Plencner (ca > 1870-1945 IL) and his wife was Anastasai Stanislawa Banach (1870-1952) of > Chicago. It seems they made the journey to America in eary 1894 per U.S. > Census papers and son's birth certificate. I am not sure if they were > married in the U.S. or overseas. I know much of their lives after coming to > America, but little about the Old World. Family tradition is that we are > Polish, but there has always been debate about this. > > Today there are many people named PLENCNER in Poznan and some along the > Slovak-Polish border. The heaviest PLENCNER population in Europe is in > Slovakia in the mining towns of Spis (Szepes). The Plencners have a history > (that I know almost nothing about) in the Slovak town now known as > Nalepkovo, once a German mining town called Wagendrüssel or Vogendrisel. > THis city, along with local Spisska Nova Ves, were loaned to the Polish > crown by the King of Hungary. > > I want to know (a) more about the PLENCNER family (aka PLENZNER); (b) more > about the Spis region; (c) more about the potential migration of these > people over time through Europe; (d) Does anyone else think this name has > something to do with the Czech town of Pilsner? > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Another family in my search is the family known in America as HOWANIETZ, > which I am sure went by many different spellings. My immigrant is John A. > Howanietz (b. 1865 probably Silesia - d. 1930 Hillside, IL). He immigrated > with wife 1/10/1888 through New York. They list home country as Prussia. His > wife was Celestine STOLZ. I know from her obituary she was born in Oppeln, > now Poland, in Jan 6 1866. She died in 1929 in IL. > > John may be the son of immigrant Peter Howanietz from Silesia (b. 1840) who > settled in Pennsyvania's mining area.I have evidence that Celestine is the > daughter of Carl Stolz of Oppeln and his wife Johanna Korzynietz. > > Does this name mean anything to anyone? What is the history I should know > about people moving through Oppeln? It seems the Stolz name is quite German, > is this significant? > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > All the best to you all. > Scott Plencner > Chicago, IL > www.splencner.com/family > for my family tree visit above site > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

You are very welcome. There are many other tools for researching, but I think since you are probably anxious to find records, you may have fun with the LDS film. Be sure to search all religions if you lose track of people. In some areas, please were more liberal in their thoughts and inter-married with people of other faiths, even though their parents didn't want them to do it. Tina On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 11:28 PM, Maria Peck <peckconstruction@interbaun.com > wrote: > Hi Tina, > > Thank you very much for answering my e-mail. I already had the Polish > names for my towns but I did check out the Kartenmeister website and > found lots of other information such as Parish, population figures, > etc. It is a very interesting site. I've never been able to find > anything on the LDS family history site for Hirschberg, Gillau or > Lengainen. But since the parish for Hirschberg and Lengainen is > Wartenburg I will order the films for the Wartenburg church records > (there are quite a lot). The parish for Gillau is Gillau but I > couldn't find anything on the LDS site. There is quite a lot of > information for different Hirschbergs but not Jedzbark which was the > in the former Kreis Allenstein. You said there were records available. > Perhaps I'm missing something. What records did you find? > > Regarding Bischofsburg I won't order any records yet because from > family lore, Unknown Stopienski and Unknown Stegen had one child who > died at an early age. She wasn't born in Bischofsburg. I was just > hoping that there would be some history on the town so that I could > check if Unknown Stegen was really the Oberburgermeister. I did find a > very interesting site http://www.bischofsburg.de/ which listed all the > employed individuals in 1939 with their position and home address. I > have e-mailed the originator of the website to see if he knows > anything about Mr. Stegen. > > I use the Google Language tools quite frequently as I still have > relatives living in Germany. Unfortunately, they are not interested in > family history and are unable to help me out. > > Tina, thank you very much for providing me with a very interesting > website. I'll do as you suggested and keep the list informed about > anything I find out from the LDS films on Wartenburg. > > Maria > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

The LDS have the Roman Catholic records from 1666-1900 for Makow Mazowiecki. Szcynto is misspelled. It should be Szczytno. There are 7 places in Poland currently with that name. Not knowing much about you family, I'm at a loss as to suggesting the one you want. I would begin with the closest ones to Makow Mazowiecki, if they married in Poland. If they did not, you would want to start with the ones closes to Makow Mazowiecki. The reason I say this is because many people, who came to the US, tended to settle close to people already here, who were from places close to where they lived in Poland. You will be trying to fing the correct place by the process of elimination. This is the LDS online catalog: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp. This is the site to locate an LDS Family History Center near you: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp. They will get you started with ordering microfilm, and will show you how to search films and help you with copying the records on the films. Records in Poland are filed by parish. You can used this site to determine the names of all of the parishes for places named Szczytno You can find them using this Polish site: http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny. It consists of many textbooks called the Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego (Geographic Gazetteer for the Kingdom of Poland). These books were published between 1880 and 1902. Find the places named Szczytno in book # XI (#11). If you do not know Polish, look for the words parafia and gmina. the word following those words will be the name of the parish or gmina in which the places are located. Gmina is a small administrative district with in a powiat (county) in which the places are located. I found no place in Eastern Europe named Brevier. On what record did you find this place name? Tina Ellis On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 4:56 PM, roberta hall <jhallvoyager@att.net> wrote: > Yeah, that is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't know where in Poland > they came from. I posted a query on a Polish message board and I was given > this information about the name Siemionkowski (I have a 2nd cousin who told > me this is the Polish spelling but I have not seen the headstones so I > don't > know this for sure). Any way the respondent to my query wrote to say that > the Polish letter "a" had a tail on it and that the spelling could be > Siemiathowski. He then directed me to a website for Polish surnames where > he > typed in the name Siemiatkowski, on this map it has 10 location where in > Poland this name is found. The largest concentration is in 2 towns: Szcytno > (15 people) and Makow Mazowiecki (14 people). I don't known if this is the > right place to look as I can't verify the spelling. Also I don't know if > these town are current day names. I need to find the town names as of 1882. > > I live in a small usually quiet town called Darien. I was born and raised > here. Darien has been in the news lately, the 3 family members shot by a > friend of the daughters x-boy friend. My daughter graduated with the girl > who hid in the closet and is the mother of the child of the now arrested > father. > > What is your family name that you are looking for? > > Roberta > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:48 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > > > Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. > > > > I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall. Like you I have > > some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so > > hard to get around. For instance, I have a great uncle who was > > hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family > > "story" about him, I have his various addresses over the years, I > > have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social > > security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and > > his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with > > a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. > > It all stops there. I've written to the records department of the > > state hospital without results. I may have to quite butting my head > > against that brick wall, but . . . > > > > I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific > > information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you > > have two problems: an exact location in Poland, and the variability > > of the surname. Two things come to mind: 1)Have you tried National > > Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? > > > > I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist > > located in Torun near Warsaw. Most of my family came from either > > Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is > > located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock > > down. And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a leg. > > > > Where are you located in Chicago? I live in Evanston. If you'd like, > > I'll send you my phone number. Like you, I am the only one in the > > family who has any interest in geneology. They are interested in the > > results but not in the process. > > > > I look forward to hearing from you. > > > > Dorothy > > > > Hi Dorothy, > > I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international > > subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 > > years, > > fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I > > have > > had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name > > changes > > over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend > > from. > > > > Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at > > that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. > > Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. > > > > I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my > > subscription > > with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for > > many of > > my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit > > for > > Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits > > thru > > the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a > > funeral card for > > my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I > > have > > located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but > > haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. > > > > It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing > > the > > actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site > > about > > 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless > > I can > > find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I > > work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center > > while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to > > get > > in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. > > > > You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into > > them. > > Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no > > matter > > how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as > > very > > helpful. > > > > Thank you, > > Roberta Hall > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM > > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > > > > >> Roberta, > >> > >> It seems you have much information that could lead to further > >> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of > >> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. > >> > >> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis > >> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information > >> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend > >> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. > >> > >> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) > >> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library > >> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, > >> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search > >> for census records. > >> > >> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is > >> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at > >> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find > >> Arrival and Departure Documents. > >> > >> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are > >> several in the Metro Chicago area. > >> > >> Happpy Hunting, > >> Dorothy > >> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: > >> > >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I > >> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the > >> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only > >> wish I knew how to speak the language. > >> > >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in > >> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on > >> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. > >> This is want I have: > >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary > >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. > >> > >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA > >> Household # 252 > >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) > >> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. > >> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. > >> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. > >> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA > >> > >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, > >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. > >> > >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his > >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 > >> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out > >> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he > >> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name > >> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that > >> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in > >> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. > >> > >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. > >> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery > >> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, > >> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and > >> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. > >> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and > >> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. > >> > >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my > >> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives > >> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. > >> > >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has > >> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I > >> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I > >> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. > >> > >> Thank you to anyone who can help, > >> Roberta Hall > >> Chicago, Ill. > >> > >> > >> > >> ------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > >> the body of the message > >> > >> > >> ------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > > the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Here is the web site with a period (not comma), after the www http://www.feefhs.org/maplibrary.html --- On Tue, 3/16/10, D Petraitis <dorothykp@comcast.net> wrote: From: D Petraitis <dorothykp@comcast.net> Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 11:32 AM Roberta, Try <http://www.feefhs.org/maplibrary.html>  They have lots of  historic maps that should be of help to you.  Good luck on your  search.  It's frustrating, I know, but so much to celebrate when you  reach one of your goals.  Of course, you know, that will only lead to  ten more questions.  That's genealogy! Dorothy On Mar 15, 2010, at 6:56 PM, roberta hall wrote: Yeah, that is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't know where in  Poland they came from. I posted a query on a Polish message board and I was  given this information about the name Siemionkowski (I have a 2nd cousin who  told me this is the Polish spelling but I have not seen the headstones so I  don't know this for sure). Any way the respondent to my query wrote to say  that the Polish letter "a" had a tail on it and that the spelling could be Siemiathowski. He then directed me to a website for Polish surnames  where he typed in the name Siemiatkowski, on this map it has 10 location where in Poland this name is found. The largest concentration is in 2 towns:  Szcytno (15 people) and Makow Mazowiecki (14 people). I don't known if this is  the right place to look as I can't verify the spelling. Also I don't know if these town are current day names. I need to find the town names as of  1882. I live in a small usually quiet town called Darien. I was born and  raised here. Darien has been in the news lately, the 3 family members shot by a friend of the daughters x-boy friend.  My daughter graduated with the  girl who hid in the closet and is the mother of the child of the now arrested father. What is your family name that you are looking for? Roberta ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:48 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. > > I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall.  Like you I have > some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so > hard to get around.  For instance, I have a great uncle who was > hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family > "story" about him,  I have his various addresses over the years,  I > have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social > security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and > his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with > a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. > It all stops there.  I've written to the records department of the > state hospital without results.  I may have to quite butting my head > against that brick wall, but . . . > > I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific > information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you > have two problems:  an exact location in Poland, and the variability > of the surname.  Two things come to mind:  1)Have you tried National > Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? > > I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist > located in Torun near Warsaw.  Most of my family came from either > Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is > located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock > down.  And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a  > leg. > > Where are you located in Chicago?  I live in Evanston.  If you'd like, > I'll send you my phone number.  Like you, I am the only one in the > family who has any interest in geneology.  They are interested in the > results but not in the process. > > I look forward to hearing from you. > > Dorothy > > Hi Dorothy, > I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international > subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 > years, > fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I > have > had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name > changes > over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend > from. > > Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in  > 1882 at > that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage  > facility. > Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. > > I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my > subscription > with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for > many of > my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit > for > Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits > thru > the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even  > have a > funeral card for > my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I > have > located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license  > but > haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. > > It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing > the > actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site > about > 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless > I can > find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that  > is I > work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the  > center > while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to > get > in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. > > You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into > them. > Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no > matter > how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as > very > helpful. > > Thank you, > Roberta Hall > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > >> Roberta, >> >> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >> discoveries.  Have you tried Familysearch.org?  That is the site of >> the Latter Day Saints.  Try their  International Geanealogical Index. >> >> Since you have the month, year and  port  of immigration, google  >> Ellis >> Island and try a stearch.  Search PGSA.org.  Lots of information >> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >> conferences.  They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their  >> site. >> >> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited  >> edition) >> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >> card.  Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on  >> rootsweb.com, >> search Polish, Poland, Surnames).  Ancestry is a good place to search >> for census records. >> >> You have a wonderful start with your current information.   What is >> the source of your current information?  It sounds like starting at >> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >> Arrival and Departure Documents. >> >> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS).  There are >> several in the Metro Chicago area. >> >> Happpy Hunting, >> Dorothy >> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >> >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >> wish I knew how to speak the language. >> >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >> This is want I have: >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >> >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >> Household # 252 >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >>      Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >>      Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >>      Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >>      Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >> >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >> >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers  >> his >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank  >> was 3 >> at the time the family emigrated to the States.  As it turned out >> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and  >> that >> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >> >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >>  buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >>      Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >>  buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >> >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >> >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >> >> Thank you to anyone who can help, >> Roberta Hall >> Chicago, Ill. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com   with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and  the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Tina, Thank you very much for answering my e-mail. I already had the Polish names for my towns but I did check out the Kartenmeister website and found lots of other information such as Parish, population figures, etc. It is a very interesting site. I've never been able to find anything on the LDS family history site for Hirschberg, Gillau or Lengainen. But since the parish for Hirschberg and Lengainen is Wartenburg I will order the films for the Wartenburg church records (there are quite a lot). The parish for Gillau is Gillau but I couldn't find anything on the LDS site. There is quite a lot of information for different Hirschbergs but not Jedzbark which was the in the former Kreis Allenstein. You said there were records available. Perhaps I'm missing something. What records did you find? Regarding Bischofsburg I won't order any records yet because from family lore, Unknown Stopienski and Unknown Stegen had one child who died at an early age. She wasn't born in Bischofsburg. I was just hoping that there would be some history on the town so that I could check if Unknown Stegen was really the Oberburgermeister. I did find a very interesting site http://www.bischofsburg.de/ which listed all the employed individuals in 1939 with their position and home address. I have e-mailed the originator of the website to see if he knows anything about Mr. Stegen. I use the Google Language tools quite frequently as I still have relatives living in Germany. Unfortunately, they are not interested in family history and are unable to help me out. Tina, thank you very much for providing me with a very interesting website. I'll do as you suggested and keep the list informed about anything I find out from the LDS films on Wartenburg. Maria

Roberta, Finding exactly where your folk were from in Poland will be what you need to achieve before you can hope to locate Polish records. The surname spellings will vary in America, but once you are looking in the correct town or village the Polish spelling should start to become obvious to you and probably remarkably consistent. Have you seen this excellent collection of pages as background reading for Polish research? https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Poland Some sites for American databases rely on exact spelling so you need to think of variations even greater than you already have. Alas Wisniewski and Wiszniewski are very common surnames. My recommendation would be to try and find church records for your earliest family in America. If you are able to view the actual church books for records of extended family somewhere amongst them might be more specific information about the area they came from, which often is not included on certificates. Dorothy has also given you lots of good ideas of places to search and leave messages. Kind regards, Bronwyn. On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 4:17 PM, roberta hall <jhallvoyager@att.net> wrote: > Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I have > no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the American way > of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only wish I knew how to > speak the language. > > My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in December of > 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on documents I have found > not one person spelled it the same way. > This is want I have: > 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary > Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. > > 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA > Household # 252 > Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) > Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. > Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. > Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. > Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA > > 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, > Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. > > 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his > father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 at > the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out Frank was not > naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he filed papers to > naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name Shenenkowfski. He states > he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that he emigrated thru Bremen in > November of 1882 arriving in New York in December of that same year. He > doesn't know the name of the ship. > > 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. > buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery > Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, grand son > Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and Regina. Along with > son John Wisnicky. > buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and Mary's > son's Daniel Sheninkosky. > > The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my search > difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives and language > would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. > > Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has since > passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I am the only > one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I have many cousins > waiting to see what I can learn. > > Thank you to anyone who can help, > Roberta Hall > Chicago, Ill. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Ms Roberta, I think that person who wrote already about name SIEMIATKOWSKI is right because written phonetic names of Schemenkowski and Sieniskowski describe close enough to them as analogy. To find right village, town or farm in West or East Prussia from XIX or XX century you must go to; http://www.progenealogist.com/germany/prussia. You can find on that page adequate/needed place (village, town, cities or farm etc) by clicking on right column under print PRUSSIA on gazetter started with first letter of the place you are looking for. You will get information about your place - means district of that location, belonging to proper parish (protestant or catholic) and place where Civil Records Office were done. Also that site will send you to address http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/rovenstein/home.html and another one http:www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/ where you can find your searched places in Polish and German. The rest is in your hands. Marian A. Woronowicz -----Original Message----- From: roberta hall <jhallvoyager@att.net> To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Sent: Mon, Mar 15, 2010 7:56 pm Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was Yeah, that is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't know where in Poland they came from. I posted a query on a Polish message board and I was given this information about the name Siemionkowski (I have a 2nd cousin who told me this is the Polish spelling but I have not seen the headstones so I don't know this for sure). Any way the respondent to my query wrote to say that the Polish letter "a" had a tail on it and that the spelling could be Siemiathowski. He then directed me to a website for Polish surnames where he typed in the name Siemiatkowski, on this map it has 10 location where in Poland this name is found. The largest concentration is in 2 towns: Szcytno (15 people) and Makow Mazowiecki (14 people). I don't known if this is the right place to look as I can't verify the spelling. Also I don't know if these town are current day names. I need to find the town names as of 1882. I live in a small usually quiet town called Darien. I was born and raised here. Darien has been in the news lately, the 3 family members shot by a friend of the daughters x-boy friend. My daughter graduated with the girl who hid in the closet and is the mother of the child of the now arrested father. What is your family name that you are looking for? Roberta ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:48 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. > > I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall. Like you I have > some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so > hard to get around. For instance, I have a great uncle who was > hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family > "story" about him, I have his various addresses over the years, I > have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social > security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and > his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with > a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. > It all stops there. I've written to the records department of the > state hospital without results. I may have to quite butting my head > against that brick wall, but . . . > > I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific > information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you > have two problems: an exact location in Poland, and the variability > of the surname. Two things come to mind: 1)Have you tried National > Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? > > I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist > located in Torun near Warsaw. Most of my family came from either > Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is > located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock > down. And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a leg. > > Where are you located in Chicago? I live in Evanston. If you'd like, > I'll send you my phone number. Like you, I am the only one in the > family who has any interest in geneology. They are interested in the > results but not in the process. > > I look forward to hearing from you. > > Dorothy > > Hi Dorothy, > I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international > subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 > years, > fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I > have > had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name > changes > over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend > from. > > Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at > that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. > Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. > > I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my > subscription > with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for > many of > my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit > for > Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits > thru > the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a > funeral card for > my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I > have > located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but > haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. > > It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing > the > actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site > about > 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless > I can > find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I > work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center > while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to > get > in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. > > You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into > them. > Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no > matter > how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as > very > helpful. > > Thank you, > Roberta Hall > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > >> Roberta, >> >> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of >> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. >> >> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis >> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information >> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. >> >> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) >> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, >> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search >> for census records. >> >> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is >> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at >> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >> Arrival and Departure Documents. >> >> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are >> several in the Metro Chicago area. >> >> Happpy Hunting, >> Dorothy >> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >> >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >> wish I knew how to speak the language. >> >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >> This is want I have: >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >> >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >> Household # 252 >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >> >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >> >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 >> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out >> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that >> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >> >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >> >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >> >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >> >> Thank you to anyone who can help, >> Roberta Hall >> Chicago, Ill. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I found the Siematkowski family. They are listed in the Poznan Project. This project is on line. Just google "Poznan Project" and plug in the surname. The clue here was that the family stated that they were from Prussia so that excluded Makow Mazowiecki as that area was not included in the Prussia area of Poland. The Poznan Project is a database of marriages from various churches in the Prussian area of Poland. Once you find the parish, my advise is to go to the Morman Center and order the church records for the parishes listed as having the Siematkowski family. Good Luck. -----Original Message----- From: roberta hall <jhallvoyager@att.net> To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Sent: Mon, Mar 15, 2010 8:02 pm Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was Thanks I will also try this site. I haven't found the church records yet for y great great grandparents. Although the cemetery records are on line it eems the church they attended is no longer. I've written to the cemetery t's self to see if there is anyone who can help me but it seems there is no ne working at the cemetery any longer. My next move come summer time is to isit the area and see if the church records are in the county clerks office r the public library. ---- Original Message ----- rom: "Bronwyn Klimach" <bronklimach@gmail.com> o: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> ent: Monday, March 15, 2010 6:39 PM ubject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was Roberta, Finding exactly where your folk were from in Poland will be what you need to achieve before you can hope to locate Polish records. The surname spellings will vary in America, but once you are looking in the correct town or village the Polish spelling should start to become obvious to you and probably remarkably consistent. Have you seen this excellent collection of pages as background reading for Polish research? https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Poland Some sites for American databases rely on exact spelling so you need to think of variations even greater than you already have. Alas Wisniewski and Wiszniewski are very common surnames. My recommendation would be to try and find church records for your earliest family in America. If you are able to view the actual church books for records of extended family somewhere amongst them might be more specific information about the area they came from, which often is not included on certificates. Dorothy has also given you lots of good ideas of places to search and leave messages. Kind regards, Bronwyn. On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 4:17 PM, roberta hall <jhallvoyager@att.net> wrote: > Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I have > no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the American > way > of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only wish I knew how to > speak the language. > > My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in December > of > 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on documents I have > found > not one person spelled it the same way. > This is want I have: > 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary > Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. > > 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA > Household # 252 > Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) > Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. > Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. > Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. > Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA > > 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, > Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. > > 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his > father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 at > the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out Frank was > not > naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he filed papers to > naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name Shenenkowfski. He > states > he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that he emigrated thru Bremen in > November of 1882 arriving in New York in December of that same year. He > doesn't know the name of the ship. > > 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. > buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery > Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, grand > son > Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and Regina. Along > with > son John Wisnicky. > buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and Mary's > son's Daniel Sheninkosky. > > The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my > search > difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives and > language > would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. > > Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has > since > passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I am the > only > one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I have many > cousins > waiting to see what I can learn. > > Thank you to anyone who can help, > Roberta Hall > Chicago, Ill. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message

There is a name in Polish Surnames....... by Fred Hoffman. Siemiątkowski. There were 1994 of them in Poland in 1990. However I searched the site http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/siemi%25C4%2585tkowski.html and got the following information. W Polsce są 982 osoby o nazwisku Siemiątkowski. Zamieszkują oni w 137 różnych powiatach i miastach. Najwięcej zameldowanych jest wWarszawa ,a dokładnie 107. Dalsze powiaty/miasta ze szczególnie dużą liczbą osób o tym nazwisku Sierpc (37), m. Płock (37),Lipno (32), m. Toruń (30), zachodni Warszawa (28), Grodzisk Mazowiecki (24), Brodnica(22), Rypin (21) i Płońsk z liczbą wpisów 20. It shows 982 people with that name in Poland. then is shows the distribution by town. i.e. 137 in Warszawa, 37 Sierpc and so on. Kuba On Mar 15, 2010, at 7:56 PM, roberta hall wrote: > Yeah, that is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't know where in Poland > they came from. I posted a query on a Polish message board and I was given > this information about the name Siemionkowski (I have a 2nd cousin who told > me this is the Polish spelling but I have not seen the headstones so I don't > know this for sure). Any way the respondent to my query wrote to say that > the Polish letter "a" had a tail on it and that the spelling could be > Siemiathowski. He then directed me to a website for Polish surnames where he > typed in the name Siemiatkowski, on this map it has 10 location where in > Poland this name is found. The largest concentration is in 2 towns: Szcytno > (15 people) and Makow Mazowiecki (14 people). I don't known if this is the > right place to look as I can't verify the spelling. Also I don't know if > these town are current day names. I need to find the town names as of 1882. > > I live in a small usually quiet town called Darien. I was born and raised > here. Darien has been in the news lately, the 3 family members shot by a > friend of the daughters x-boy friend. My daughter graduated with the girl > who hid in the closet and is the mother of the child of the now arrested > father. > > What is your family name that you are looking for? > > Roberta > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:48 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > >> Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. >> >> I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall. Like you I have >> some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so >> hard to get around. For instance, I have a great uncle who was >> hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family >> "story" about him, I have his various addresses over the years, I >> have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social >> security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and >> his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with >> a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. >> It all stops there. I've written to the records department of the >> state hospital without results. I may have to quite butting my head >> against that brick wall, but . . . >> >> I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific >> information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you >> have two problems: an exact location in Poland, and the variability >> of the surname. Two things come to mind: 1)Have you tried National >> Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? >> >> I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist >> located in Torun near Warsaw. Most of my family came from either >> Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is >> located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock >> down. And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a leg. >> >> Where are you located in Chicago? I live in Evanston. If you'd like, >> I'll send you my phone number. Like you, I am the only one in the >> family who has any interest in geneology. They are interested in the >> results but not in the process. >> >> I look forward to hearing from you. >> >> Dorothy >> >> Hi Dorothy, >> I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international >> subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 >> years, >> fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I >> have >> had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name >> changes >> over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend >> from. >> >> Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at >> that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. >> Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. >> >> I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my >> subscription >> with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for >> many of >> my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit >> for >> Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits >> thru >> the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a >> funeral card for >> my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I >> have >> located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but >> haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. >> >> It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing >> the >> actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site >> about >> 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless >> I can >> find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I >> work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center >> while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to >> get >> in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. >> >> You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into >> them. >> Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no >> matter >> how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as >> very >> helpful. >> >> Thank you, >> Roberta Hall >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> >> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> >> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM >> Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was >> >> >>> Roberta, >>> >>> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >>> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of >>> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. >>> >>> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis >>> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information >>> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >>> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. >>> >>> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) >>> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >>> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, >>> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search >>> for census records. >>> >>> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is >>> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at >>> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >>> Arrival and Departure Documents. >>> >>> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are >>> several in the Metro Chicago area. >>> >>> Happpy Hunting, >>> Dorothy >>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >>> >>> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >>> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >>> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >>> wish I knew how to speak the language. >>> >>> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >>> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >>> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >>> This is want I have: >>> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >>> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >>> >>> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >>> Household # 252 >>> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >>> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >>> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >>> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >>> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >>> >>> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >>> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >>> >>> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his >>> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 >>> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out >>> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >>> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >>> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that >>> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >>> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >>> >>> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >>> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >>> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >>> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >>> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >>> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >>> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >>> >>> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >>> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >>> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >>> >>> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >>> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >>> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >>> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >>> >>> Thank you to anyone who can help, >>> Roberta Hall >>> Chicago, Ill. >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >>> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >>> the body of the message >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >>> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Kuba Przedzienkowski

Thanks I will also try this site. I haven't found the church records yet for my great great grandparents. Although the cemetery records are on line it seems the church they attended is no longer. I've written to the cemetery it's self to see if there is anyone who can help me but it seems there is no one working at the cemetery any longer. My next move come summer time is to visit the area and see if the church records are in the county clerks office or the public library. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bronwyn Klimach" <bronklimach@gmail.com> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 6:39 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Roberta, > Finding exactly where your folk were from in Poland will be what you need > to > achieve before you can hope to locate Polish records. The surname > spellings > will vary in America, but once you are looking in the correct town or > village the Polish spelling should start to become obvious to you and > probably remarkably consistent. > Have you seen this excellent collection of pages as background reading for > Polish research? > https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Poland > Some sites for American databases rely on exact spelling so you need to > think of variations even greater than you already have. Alas Wisniewski > and > Wiszniewski are very common surnames. > My recommendation would be to try and find church records for your > earliest > family in America. If you are able to view the actual church books for > records of extended family somewhere amongst them might be more specific > information about the area they came from, which often is not included on > certificates. > Dorothy has also given you lots of good ideas of places to search and > leave > messages. > Kind regards, > Bronwyn. > > On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 4:17 PM, roberta hall <jhallvoyager@att.net> > wrote: > >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I have >> no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the American >> way >> of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only wish I knew how to >> speak the language. >> >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in December >> of >> 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on documents I have >> found >> not one person spelled it the same way. >> This is want I have: >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >> >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >> Household # 252 >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >> >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >> >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 at >> the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out Frank was >> not >> naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he filed papers to >> naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name Shenenkowfski. He >> states >> he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that he emigrated thru Bremen in >> November of 1882 arriving in New York in December of that same year. He >> doesn't know the name of the ship. >> >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, grand >> son >> Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and Regina. Along >> with >> son John Wisnicky. >> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and Mary's >> son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >> >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >> search >> difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives and >> language >> would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >> >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >> since >> passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I am the >> only >> one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I have many >> cousins >> waiting to see what I can learn. >> >> Thank you to anyone who can help, >> Roberta Hall >> Chicago, Ill. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Yeah, that is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't know where in Poland they came from. I posted a query on a Polish message board and I was given this information about the name Siemionkowski (I have a 2nd cousin who told me this is the Polish spelling but I have not seen the headstones so I don't know this for sure). Any way the respondent to my query wrote to say that the Polish letter "a" had a tail on it and that the spelling could be Siemiathowski. He then directed me to a website for Polish surnames where he typed in the name Siemiatkowski, on this map it has 10 location where in Poland this name is found. The largest concentration is in 2 towns: Szcytno (15 people) and Makow Mazowiecki (14 people). I don't known if this is the right place to look as I can't verify the spelling. Also I don't know if these town are current day names. I need to find the town names as of 1882. I live in a small usually quiet town called Darien. I was born and raised here. Darien has been in the news lately, the 3 family members shot by a friend of the daughters x-boy friend. My daughter graduated with the girl who hid in the closet and is the mother of the child of the now arrested father. What is your family name that you are looking for? Roberta ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:48 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. > > I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall. Like you I have > some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so > hard to get around. For instance, I have a great uncle who was > hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family > "story" about him, I have his various addresses over the years, I > have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social > security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and > his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with > a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. > It all stops there. I've written to the records department of the > state hospital without results. I may have to quite butting my head > against that brick wall, but . . . > > I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific > information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you > have two problems: an exact location in Poland, and the variability > of the surname. Two things come to mind: 1)Have you tried National > Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? > > I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist > located in Torun near Warsaw. Most of my family came from either > Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is > located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock > down. And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a leg. > > Where are you located in Chicago? I live in Evanston. If you'd like, > I'll send you my phone number. Like you, I am the only one in the > family who has any interest in geneology. They are interested in the > results but not in the process. > > I look forward to hearing from you. > > Dorothy > > Hi Dorothy, > I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international > subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 > years, > fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I > have > had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name > changes > over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend > from. > > Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at > that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. > Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. > > I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my > subscription > with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for > many of > my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit > for > Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits > thru > the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a > funeral card for > my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I > have > located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but > haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. > > It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing > the > actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site > about > 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless > I can > find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I > work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center > while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to > get > in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. > > You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into > them. > Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no > matter > how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as > very > helpful. > > Thank you, > Roberta Hall > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > >> Roberta, >> >> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of >> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. >> >> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis >> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information >> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. >> >> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) >> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, >> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search >> for census records. >> >> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is >> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at >> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >> Arrival and Departure Documents. >> >> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are >> several in the Metro Chicago area. >> >> Happpy Hunting, >> Dorothy >> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >> >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >> wish I knew how to speak the language. >> >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >> This is want I have: >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >> >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >> Household # 252 >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >> >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >> >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 >> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out >> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that >> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >> >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >> >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >> >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >> >> Thank you to anyone who can help, >> Roberta Hall >> Chicago, Ill. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Roberta, You might want to give stevemorse.org a try. I believe he has a search engine for Castle Garden which covers the years 1855 to 1890. If your ancestors came through the Port of New York at that time, it is most likely that they were processed through Castle Garden. Barbara On Mar 15, 2010, at 5:09 PM, roberta hall wrote: > Hi Dorothy, > I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international > subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 years, > fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I have > had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name changes > over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend from. > > Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at > that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. > Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. > > I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my subscription > with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for many of > my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit for > Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits thru > the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a > funeral card for > my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I have > located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but > haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. > > It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing the > actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site about > 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless I can > find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I > work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center > while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to get > in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. > > You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into them. > Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no matter > how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as very > helpful. > > Thank you, > Roberta Hall > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> > To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM > Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > > >> Roberta, >> >> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of >> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. >> >> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis >> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information >> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. >> >> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) >> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, >> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search >> for census records. >> >> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is >> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at >> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >> Arrival and Departure Documents. >> >> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are >> several in the Metro Chicago area. >> >> Happpy Hunting, >> Dorothy >> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >> >> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >> wish I knew how to speak the language. >> >> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >> This is want I have: >> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >> >> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >> Household # 252 >> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >> >> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >> >> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his >> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 >> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out >> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that >> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >> >> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >> >> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >> >> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >> >> Thank you to anyone who can help, >> Roberta Hall >> Chicago, Ill. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >> the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Sounds like you are eligible for the DAR. I know how frustrating it is to hit that brick wall. Like you I have some really great information but it is those dead ends that are so hard to get around. For instance, I have a great uncle who was hospitalized at a state hospital in New York. I have the family "story" about him, I have his various addresses over the years, I have letters he wrote while in the institution, I have his social security number, I have his immigration records, and I have him and his family in 1900 - l940 census records, I even have had contact with a distant cousin whose family the great uncle lived with for a time. It all stops there. I've written to the records department of the state hospital without results. I may have to quite butting my head against that brick wall, but . . . I may have missed it, but it seems that you do not have specific information as to where in West Prussia your family comes from so you have two problems: an exact location in Poland, and the variability of the surname. Two things come to mind: 1)Have you tried National Archives online? 2)How about a certified genealogist in Poland? I have obtained a good bit of Polish information through a genealogist located in Torun near Warsaw. Most of my family came from either Galicia or Bialystok neither close to where the genealogist is located, but it beats beating my head against a wall I cannot knock down. And I have a good translator who doesn't charge an arm and a leg. Where are you located in Chicago? I live in Evanston. If you'd like, I'll send you my phone number. Like you, I am the only one in the family who has any interest in geneology. They are interested in the results but not in the process. I look forward to hearing from you. Dorothy Hi Dorothy, I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 years, fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I have had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name changes over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend from. Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my subscription with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for many of my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit for Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits thru the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a funeral card for my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I have located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing the actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site about 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless I can find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to get in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into them. Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no matter how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as very helpful. Thank you, Roberta Hall ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Roberta, > > It seems you have much information that could lead to further > discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of > the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. > > Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis > Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information > there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend > conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. > > Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) > which you can search from your home computer if you have a library > card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, > search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search > for census records. > > You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is > the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at > Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find > Arrival and Departure Documents. > > Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are > several in the Metro Chicago area. > > Happpy Hunting, > Dorothy > On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: > > Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I > have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the > American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only > wish I knew how to speak the language. > > My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in > December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on > documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. > This is want I have: > 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary > Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. > > 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA > Household # 252 > Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) > Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. > Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. > Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. > Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA > > 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, > Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. > > 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his > father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 > at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out > Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he > filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name > Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that > he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in > December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. > > 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. > buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery > Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, > grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and > Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. > buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and > Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. > > The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my > search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives > and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. > > Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has > since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I > am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I > have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. > > Thank you to anyone who can help, > Roberta Hall > Chicago, Ill. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Roberta: You have a big advantage since you live in Chicago. The Polish Roman Catholic Union is located on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. They offer assistance with Genealogical Research. Their volunteers are knowledgeable in Polish and can probably assist you in determining how to spell the name you are searching for. The Newberry Library has copies of the Polish Newspapers that were published in Chicago. I believe you can access the newspapers on line at the Newberry Library website. The Chicago Historical Society may be helpful to you, too. Good luck with your research. Bonnie K. Spamer -----Original Message----- From: polandbordersurnames-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:polandbordersurnames-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of roberta hall Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 2:10 PM To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was Hi Dorothy, I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 years, fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I have had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name changes over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend from. Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my subscription with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for many of my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit for Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits thru the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a funeral card for my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I have located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing the actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site about 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless I can find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to get in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into them. Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no matter how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as very helpful. Thank you, Roberta Hall ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Roberta, > > It seems you have much information that could lead to further > discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of > the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. > > Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis > Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information > there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend > conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. > > Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) > which you can search from your home computer if you have a library > card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, > search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search > for census records. > > You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is > the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at > Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find > Arrival and Departure Documents. > > Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are > several in the Metro Chicago area. > > Happpy Hunting, > Dorothy > On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: > > Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I > have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the > American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only > wish I knew how to speak the language. > > My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in > December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on > documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. > This is want I have: > 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary > Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. > > 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA > Household # 252 > Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) > Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. > Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. > Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. > Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA > > 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, > Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. > > 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his > father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 > at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out > Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he > filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name > Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that > he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in > December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. > > 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. > buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery > Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, > grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and > Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. > buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and > Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. > > The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my > search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives > and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. > > Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has > since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I > am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I > have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. > > Thank you to anyone who can help, > Roberta Hall > Chicago, Ill. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thank you Barbara, I will give that a try. :-) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barbara Karwowski" <barbarakarwowski@comcast.net> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:23 PM Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was > Roberta, > You might want to give stevemorse.org a try. I believe he has a search > engine for Castle Garden which covers the years 1855 to 1890. If your > ancestors came through the Port of New York at that time, it is most > likely that they were processed through Castle Garden. > Barbara > On Mar 15, 2010, at 5:09 PM, roberta hall wrote: > >> Hi Dorothy, >> I have a membership to Ancestry.com, I don't have the international >> subscription though. I have worked on my fathers line for about 20 years, >> fortunately his family line has been here in the states since 1636, I >> have >> had little difficulty tracing his line. There were some slight name >> changes >> over the years but DNA has settled what part of the clan we descend from. >> >> Ellis Island will be of no help to me. My family arrived here in 1882 at >> that time Ellis Island was being used as an Ammunition storage facility. >> Ellis Island didn't start receiving immigrants until 1890. >> >> I have census records for the family starting in 1900 thru my >> subscription >> with Ancestry.com. I was able to online locate newspaper obits for many >> of >> my great grandparents immediate family. I however didn't find the obit >> for >> Frank my great grandfather. I was able to obtain a copy of these obits >> thru >> the local libraries in Wis. where my family members lived. I even have a >> funeral card for >> my great grandmother in which a family member saved all these years. I >> have >> located on line a record for my great grandparents marriage license but >> haven't been able to send off for a copy yet. >> >> It sounds like I have a lot to go on but as I have stated not knowing the >> actual spelling has caused serious brick walls. I do have an LDS site >> about >> 20 minutes from here but haven't used it in probably 20 years. Unless I >> can >> find clues on line I am unable to move forward. What I mean by that is I >> work for a school dist. and my hours don't allow me to visit the center >> while they are open. I do have time off in the summer but am unable to >> get >> in during that time as that's when everyone else flocks to the center. >> >> You have mentioned a couple of sites I haven't tried. I will look into >> them. >> Thank you for your suggestions and hopefully I will find a clue, no >> matter >> how small a clue is a clue that can only prove or disprove a hunch as >> very >> helpful. >> >> Thank you, >> Roberta Hall >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "D Petraitis" <dorothykp@comcast.net> >> To: <polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com> >> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 3:27 PM >> Subject: Re: [PBS] trying to figure out who my polish family was >> >> >>> Roberta, >>> >>> It seems you have much information that could lead to further >>> discoveries. Have you tried Familysearch.org? That is the site of >>> the Latter Day Saints. Try their International Geanealogical Index. >>> >>> Since you have the month, year and port of immigration, google Ellis >>> Island and try a stearch. Search PGSA.org. Lots of information >>> there. Join Polish Genealogical Society of America, attend >>> conferences. They have lots of worhtwhile books listed at their site. >>> >>> Your library may have a subscription to Ancestry.com (limited edition) >>> which you can search from your home computer if you have a library >>> card. Join a couple of genealogy lists (can be found on rootsweb.com, >>> search Polish, Poland, Surnames). Ancestry is a good place to search >>> for census records. >>> >>> You have a wonderful start with your current information. What is >>> the source of your current information? It sounds like starting at >>> Ellis Island would give you lots more information if you can find >>> Arrival and Departure Documents. >>> >>> Google your closest Mormon Family History Library (LDS). There are >>> several in the Metro Chicago area. >>> >>> Happpy Hunting, >>> Dorothy >>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 11:17 AM, roberta hall wrote: >>> >>> Hi my name is Roberta Hall. I am a 5th generation Polish American. I >>> have no Polish heritage left as my family has fully integrated the >>> American way of life. Only Polish I have left is in my blood, only >>> wish I knew how to speak the language. >>> >>> My ancestor's arrived in the States via the Port of New York in >>> December of 1882. Their names have been Americanized and based on >>> documents I have found not one person spelled it the same way. >>> This is want I have: >>> 1) My great great grandparents: Joseph Schemenkowski and Mary >>> Wisnovsky/Wisnewski. >>> >>> 1900 W. Kewaunee, Kewaunee Co., Wis. USA >>> Household # 252 >>> Scimenkufsky, Joseph b. Dec. 1838 in Polish, Rus. (possibly Brevier?) >>> Mary (wife) b. Jan. 1847 in Polish, Ger. >>> Anna (dau.) b. Jun. 1878 in Polish, Ger. >>> Frank (son) b. Oct. 1879 in Polish, Ger. >>> Daniel (son) b. Dec. 1883 in Wis., USA >>> >>> 2) Frank my great grandfather's marriage license is spelled Franz, >>> Sieniskowski. He married in Wisconsin in 1901. >>> >>> 3) Frank believed he was a citizen of the U.S. based on the papers his >>> father showed him. I don't have a copy of those papers but Frank was 3 >>> at the time the family emigrated to the States. As it turned out >>> Frank was not naturalized at the time of emigration so in 1913 he >>> filed papers to naturalize. On those papers Frank spells his name >>> Shenenkowfski. He states he was born in West Prussia, Germany and that >>> he emigrated thru Bremen in November of 1882 arriving in New York in >>> December of that same year. He doesn't know the name of the ship. >>> >>> 4) Generations of the family follow the Catholic religion. >>> buried at St. Hedwig Catholic Cemetery >>> Schemenkowski, Joseph, wife Mary, son Frank his wife Eva, >>> grand son Louis his wife Sophie, and great grand children Louis and >>> Regina. Along with son John Wisnicky. >>> buried in another Catholic cemetery is another of Joseph and >>> Mary's son's Daniel Sheninkosky. >>> >>> The correct spelling of the name is an obvious issue and has made my >>> search difficult. I have no experience researching in Polish archives >>> and language would be a problem and I can't read or speak it. >>> >>> Can anyone help me, I would really appreciate it. My grandmother has >>> since passed but she had 8 children resulting in 27 grand children. I >>> am the only one in the family who is attempting to find our roots. I >>> have many cousins waiting to see what I can learn. >>> >>> Thank you to anyone who can help, >>> Roberta Hall >>> Chicago, Ill. >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com >>> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and >>> the body of the message >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >>> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message