Category: Poland

Surname Saturday: Golonka, Southern Poland

7/18/2014

I have recently been working on uploading to my family history website all of the baptism, marriage, and death records that I collected on my recent trip to Salt Lake City (SLC) a few months ago. One of the families that I spent a lot of time researching was that of Michael Bodziony, who was my paternal grandmother's father. According to his 1883 baptism record from the town of Świniarsko, Poland, his mother was named Sophia Golonka, son of Joseph Golonka and Anna Bawotek. (Aren't these Polish baptism records wonderful - names of the parents AND grandparents!)

Through FamilySearch.org's online search engine, I was able to find an indexed record from the nearby town of Brzezna, Poland that was likely Sophia's baptism record. I confirmed that it WAS her baptism record when I was able actually look through the microfilm and found Sophia's marriage record to Michael's dad, Joseph Bodziony (also in Brzezna), in which her parents are also listed.

Fortunately, the Golonka family had been in Brzezna for a few generations, so I was able to use the same microfilm to trace back that line to Sophia Golonka's grandparents, Thomas Golonka and Petronella Iwanszczonka (or Iwanska), who would be my 4x great-grandparents! Not bad considering that I started out my genealogy journey not even knowing who Michael's parents were!

Here is the present day distribution of the surname Golonka in Poland today, according to Moikrewni.pl:

According to that site, there are about 4,400 people in Poland today with the surname Golonka, so it's not terribly common. You can see that there is a heavy concentration of the name in southern Poland, in an area that was called Galicia when my great-grandfather was born. In fact, Nowy Sącz County, where both Świniarsko and Brzezna are both located, has the second-highest concentration of the name, behind the county of Limanowa, which is just to the west.

'Golonka' literally means 'knuckle' in Polish. The word is used to refer to the Polish dish of ham hocks, which technically aren't pig knuckles, but instead are the animal's ankles. In any case, my love of pork products can now be attributed to genetics - it's literally in my bloodlines. :-)

A native Polish speaker also suggested to me that the name might carry the meaning of shaving or of being shaven. The Polish verb for 'shave' is golić, so the surname might have the same root.

Golonka

Family members, the link to the new and updated Golonka ancestor page is here. The link to Michael Bodziony's paternal Bodziony ancestors is here. I am still working on acquiring some additional records, so check back and let me know if you have any questions!

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Wedding Wednesday: Joseph Bodziony and Sophia Golonka

6/3/2014

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During my recent trip to the Family History Library, I was able to find some family records for part of the Polish side of my family. The image below shows a marriage record for Joseph Bodziony and Sophia Golonka, who were my great-grandfather Michael's parents. They were married 22 Sep 1863 in the village of Brzezna, which was also Sophia's place of birth. (Click for larger image.)

Marriage Record of Joseph Bodziony and Sophia Golonka, parents of Michael Bodziony

The record lists the name of the bride and groom, as well as the names of their parents, including their mothers' maiden names. (Can't ask for much more as a genealogist!) The groom, Joseph Bodziony, age 31, was the son of Vincent Bodziony and Marianna Janor. The bride, Sophia Golonka, age 18, was the daughter of Joseph Golonka and Anna Bawotek. In the last column, the record states that the male witnesses were Joannes (Jan in Polish or John in English) Mordarski and Mattheus (Matthew) Iwanski.

As you can see, there is Polish writing underneath the names. Notes like these were not present in every marriage record on the microfilm, so I naturally wondered what it meant. I posted the image in the 'Polish Genealogy' group on Facebook, and asked if anyone could help me read and translate it. A very kind member did so, and I learned that the statement is basically the father of the bride, Joseph Golonka, consenting to the marriage. I also learned from one of the translators that the age of consent in Galicia in the 1860s was 21 years, so Sophia was too young to formally consent on her own.

Below is a map showing the location of Brzezna, in what is now southern Poland. After their wedding, Joseph and Sophia went to live in the nearby town of Swiniarsko, which is where all of their children, including my great-grandfather, Michael, were born.

As a quick but related aside, when I first started researching this line of my family a few years ago, the only thing I knew about my great-grandfather was his name, Michael Bodziony. Through naturalization papers and his immigration ship manifest, I was able to trace his birth back to Swiniarsko. Thanks to these highly informative baptism records listing both parents AND grandparents, I've been able to trace this line back a couple more generations. I am VERY thankful for the Family History Library's microfilmed records, and even MORE grateful for some of the indexing they have done on these records. If not for the indexing, I would have had to look through records for all the little towns and villages around Swiniarsko one-by-one; BUT, because they were indexed, I was able to find Joseph Bodziony and Sophia Golonka right away in Brzezna. Thank you, indexers!

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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The Photo I Gave To My Grandfather

4/27/2014

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Today, the Catholic Church is canonizing Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. In 1997, when I was 18 years old, I was fortunate enough to visit The Vatican City and attend the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, at which Pope John Paul II presided. Somehow, as our group was filing into the seating rows in St. Peter's Basilica, I managed to get an aisle seat. I was literally close enough to touch him and I was able to take some great photos.

After the trip, I gave this particular photo to my Grandpa Kowalski. I think my mom gave him a little frame for it and it sat on one of his TV room side tables for the rest of his life. My grandfather was the son of Polish Catholic immigrants, so you can imagine the pride he felt in having a Polish man as the head of the Catholic Church.

Photo I took of Pope John Paul II and then gave to my grandfather. ©Emily Kowalski Schroeder

Here is the "ticket" we were given to be admitted to the Mass that morning.

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Surname Saturday: Bodziony

4/11/2014

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Bodziony was the maiden name of my paternal grandmother, Veronica Bodziony Kowalski. She was a child of two Polish immigrants, Michael Bodziony and Sophia Krupa, who settled in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1883, Michael Bodziony was born in the village of Świniarsko, a few kilometers away from the larger city of Nowy Sącz (see map below). At the time of his birth, this area, which has been ethnically-Polish for centuries, was part of the Austria-Hungary Empire.

When you first read the name 'Bodziony,' I don't think you immediately think of it as a Polish or even a Slavic surname. Even today, it's not a terribly common name in Poland, and the highest concentration of the name is still found in and around Nowy Sącz County, Małopolska Voivodeship, which is on Poland's southern border with Slovakia. The map below was generated by the website Moikrewni.pl, which literally means "my kin" in Polish. It shows the relative distribution of the surname Bodziony throughout modern-day Poland. According to Worldnames Public Profiler, which compiles surname data from modern telephone directories and voting registers, the surname Bodziony has a frequency in Poland of 42.8 per million. For comparison, the surname Kowalski, which is a very common surname, has a frequency of 1847 per million. Not surprisingly the frequency per million in America is only 0.47.

Distribution of the surname 'Bodziony' in Poland (Image Source: Moikewni.pl)

So, what does the surname Bodziony mean? According to good old Google Translate, the Polish word bodziec is a noun which means 'stimulus' or 'incentive.' I asked the native Polish-speakers in a Facebook group, and one person told me that the name has the same root as the word bóść, which is a verb meaning 'to gore.' I think its relative infrequency tells me that it probably doesn't describe a profession, as a lot of surnames all over the world tend to do.

The surname could possibly be a reference to a place name. There is a town by the name of Bodzanów about 70 kilometers to the northwest of Świniarsko. (There are actually several villages with this name around Poland, but this one is the closest.) There is a also a town farther away in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, (north of Małopolska Voivodeship) known as Bodzentyn, which has been around since the 1300s. So, it's possible that the family name originated as a way to tell other people "this family is from Bodz... village."

I do have evidence that the name was NOT changed when Michael came to America - the name shows up fairly frequently in the 19th century Roman Catholic Church records of the Diocese of Tarnow.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Sophia Krupa's Birth and Baptism Record

8/28/2013

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My great-grandmother, Sophia Krupa, immigrated to America in 1910 and married my great-grandfather, Michael Bodziony in November 1911. According to her naturalization papers, she was born in Skrudzina, Poland, a small town that was, at the time of her birth (1888), part of Austria-Hungary. When I first learned of her birthplace a couple of years ago, I went to FamilySearch.org to see if they had a microfilm that covered this geographic area and time frame. I saw that they DID have microfilmed records for Skrudzina, but I did not order the film at the time because I had no time to go to my Family History Center and look through the reel. So instead, I ordered a copy of Sophia's application for a Social Security number. Since this form was filled out directly by Sophia herself, it's first hand knowledge of her birth date and parents' names. On it, she lists her birth date as 30 Mar 1888, which is exactly the same birth date as what is listed on her naturalization documents. Her parents are listed as Joseph Krupa and Katherine Mourdas.

Fast forward to about six weeks ago. Some of the birth records on the Skrudzina microfilm have been indexed and are now searchable on FamilySearch. I find two Krupa families in Skrudzina that are having children around the time Sophia is born:

1.) Joseph Krupa and Catharina Czyrpak, House #16: Children born 1883, 1884, 1885 (none named Sophia)

2.) Paul Krupa and Sophia Hejmej, House #51: Children born 1886, 1890, 1892 (all boys)

So, there IS a Joseph and a Catharine there; Catharine's maiden name is different than what I was looking for, but no baby in 1888. Apart from these families, there is one more 'Krupa' birth record from Skrudzina that I find in the index:

Indexed Baptism Record for Sophia Krupa, FamilySearch

The child's first name and birth date match exactly from what I have found in other sources. Her mother's first name matches the Social Security application and her last name matches my great-grandmother's. But no father listed. I requested a copy of the record through FamilySearch's photoduplication service. Here it is, record #4:

She was illegitimate and no father is listed. Her mother was Catharina, daughter of Jacob Krupa and Mariae Kotodziej. Also, Catharina lived in House #51, which is where Paul Krupa and Sophia Hejmej also lived at the time. Paul and Sophia Krupa were likely related, but how? And were there any other Krupas living in Skrudzina (other than those of child-bearing age)? I need to order the microfilm and look through the whole thing carefully.

I did a quick search of Jacob Krupa and Mariae Kotodziej, and found six indexed baptism records for their children, ranging from 1843 to 1865. However, none indicated the name of Catharina or Paul. The family lived in Obidza, Poland, which today is just a 20 minute drive from Skrudzina. These records are on a different microfilm, so I have a feeling I'll be ordering that one, too.

Did Sophia live her life believing that her parents' true names were those she listed on the Social Security application? Perhaps she was raised by the Joseph and Catharine Krupa in House #16 and she genuinely thought that they were her biological parents. Or maybe she knew the complete truth. That's probably something I'll never find out, but hopefully ordering these microfilms will help me learn more about her mother and the other families in Skrudzina and Obidza.

©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Casimir Pulaski Day and Fort Pulaski National Monument

3/4/2013

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Casimir Pulaski

Today is the official observance of Casimir Pulaski Day. Casimir Pulaski was a decorated Polish soldier who fought with the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Among his many accomplishments during the war, he played a pivotal role in the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, perhaps saving the life of George Washington in the process. He was an experienced war horseman and is credited with greatly improving American cavalry forces during the war. In October 1779, he was mortally injured during the Siege of Savannah. In 2009, Pulaski was granted an honorary U.S. citizenship, an honor which has been given to only seven people.

Casimir Pulaski Day is a major holiday in places with large Polish-American populations, such as Chicago. I really like this holiday, not only because I'm descended from Polish immigrants, but also because it makes me feel like "my people" were truly a part of America's fight for freedom. (I do not have any genetic ties to patriots who fought in the American Revolution, which I've already discussed here.) Plus, my grandfather's name was Casimer, so the holiday makes me think of him, too. :-)

In the 1830s, a military fort was built at the mouth of the Savannah River on Georgia's Coast. It was named Fort Pulaski in honor of Casimir Pulaski. Today, it is a National Monument and focuses on educating visitors about the Civil War. We visited the fort in 2010, so I thought I would post some photos from our trip. Mr. Bub loved the canons! Little Girl was also there, too, just in my belly! If you are ever in the Savannah area, we highly recommend visiting!

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My Great-Grandmother and her Feminine Surname

10/22/2012

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When I was first starting my family tree research, I ran into a bit of a roadblock when searching for information related to one of my paternal great-grandmothers. At first, all I knew was that she was a Polish immigrant who lived in Cleveland, and who died when my grandfather was a young child. All my dad and his siblings knew about her was that she went by 'Lottie.' I was able to piece together some clues through other family documents I found: I knew she had died by 1920 because my great-grandfather was listed as "widowed" in the 1920 census. My great-uncle's obituary listed her name as "Lottie Gacka," so all right, I thought, now I have her maiden name. I searched the engines on various genealogy sites for Lottie Kowalski (her married name) and Lottie Gacka, but I couldn't find any records that I could definitively link to my great-grandfather. In fact, as I was scrolling through the many records returned by the search engines, I soon realized that 'Lottie' was a common nickname adopted by Polish immigrant women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

So, at this point, I feel like my only choice is to scroll through and check ALL of the records returned by the search engines, even those with names that would not initially seem to be a match, in the hopes of discovering some clue that would lead me in the right direction. I was doing this on FamilySearch.org and came across a 1919 death record for a woman by the name of 'Władysława Kowalska.' The record also listed her father as 'Stanisław Gacki.' Hmmm, 'Kowalska' and 'Gacki' are close to 'Kowalski' and 'Gacka,' but, again, I had NO idea if this really was her first name, so I couldn't be sure it was her. I printed it out, though, and hoped that it may be an important clue.

Now, when I initially found this record, FamilySearch had not yet uploaded the actual image of the death certificate, so I couldn't learn anything else from it. Fast forward 6-8 months. I went back on FamilySearch to examine the record again and found that they HAD uploaded the actual death certificate:

"Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8L9-NC9 : accessed 04 Nov 2012), Wladyslarva Kowalska, 1919; citing reference fn 52304, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.

And there he was at the bottom - Informant: Dominik Kowalski - my great-grandfather. Now, I KNEW without a doubt that it was her. And then I was a tad angry with myself for not realizing that Poles traditionally spell surnames differently depending on if you are a man or a woman. I have read enough Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in my life to know that this is true in Russia, but I suppose I had never been exposed to it as part of Polish culture. This explains the 'Kowalska' instead of 'Kowalski' and even the 'Gacka' instead of 'Gacki.' Even though she had been in America six years, she maintained her female surname, even if she did adopt a more "American" first name.

And then of course AFTER I went through all of this with the death certificate, I found my great-grandfather's immigrant ship manifest on which he listed Władysława as "nearest relative in country from whence (he) came." If only I had found THIS document first - then I wouldn't have had to go through the whole mystery with the death record and trying to figure out her real name. Ah, but we all know that researching family history isn't always that simple. :-)

Source Citation: Year: 1912; Arrival; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 1850; Line: 8; Page Number: 76. Source Information: Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Because she died quite young, these are the only two documents I have found that reference Władysława. I am still on the hunt for her immigrant ship manifest; she came over about a year after my great-grandfather with her three sons ages four, two, and eight months. (I can't even imagine doing that on my own - she was obviously a very brave, a very strong woman.) By the way, the name 'Władysława' is the female equivalent of Władysław, which comes from the Russian name of Vladislav. It means "to rule with glory."

***STOP THE BLOG PRESSES! UPDATE!***
Ok, so literally right after I typed that sentence above about being on the hunt for her immigrant ship manifest, I went to Ancestry.com. Because I knew she was traveling with her sons, I tried searching for the manifest using the name 'Jan Kowalski,' who was her eldest son. I had previously discovered his immigration application papers, so I knew the exact date they entered the country and the ship name. I had to scroll through quite a few pages - 'Jan Kowalski' is literally the Polish equivalent of 'John Smith,' so there were a lot of records - but I found the manifest! Here is Władysława with her three sons, Jan, Stanisław, and Josef, all listed with her surname of 'Kowalska.' And her father, Stanisław Gacki, is listed as next of kin, so that matches the information on her death certificate.

Source Citation: Year: 1913; Arrival; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2194; Line: 25; Page Number: 43.
Source Information: Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Wait. Great-Grandpa Was Born WHERE??

10/14/2012

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When you are studying your family's history, some of the most exciting documents you can come across in your research are immigration-related papers: Ship manifests and applications for citizenship. Not only do they tell you exactly where and when your ancestors entered the country, but they also contain important information about where your ancestor was from, which is absolutely vital if you want to start researching family lines in other countries.

I was excited when I found these sorts of documents belonging to my great-grandfather, Michael Bodziony. I had already known that he was ethnically Polish, obviously spoke Polish and settled in a very Polish community in Cleveland. However, nobody in the family knew where exactly he was from. I found his name on a 1910 ship manifest and looked across the sheet from his name to the three columns that read, "Nationality (country of which citizen or subject), Race of People, Country (of last residence.)" And in these columns is listed, "Austria, Polish, Austria." Ok, now I'm not an expert in 19th central European history, but I vaguely remember learning in history class about the extent and longevity of the Austrian Empire, so I am not surprised. I then was able to find Michael's citizenship papers. Here is his 1929 Declaration of Intention:

I also found a reference to Galicia as Michael and Sophie Bodziony's place of birth in the 1920 U.S. Census:

Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Cleveland Ward 14, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T625_1366; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 272; Image: 37. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

I do NOT remember learning anything about Galicia at any point in my schooling, so I was curious. Wikipedia to the rescue! The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was part of Austria-Hungary from 1772-1918, so my great-grandfather WAS technically born in Galicia, Austria and it WAS still part of Austria when he immigrated to America in 1910. (By the way, the name of his birthplace was spelled incorrectly - it should have read, 'Swiniarsko.') Here are Galicia's borders overlayed on a modern map of the region, and that red dot is the location of Michael's hometown. (Map from http://www.germangenealogist.com/2011/06/03/3331/)

Map from www.germangenealogist.com.

Now, by the time Michael took his Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. in 1933, the area in which his birthplace was located had become part of the sovereign nation known as 'The Republic of Poland', which you can see on this form:

I enjoyed solving this little mystery for myself, probably because it involved looking at maps, which I love to do. Trying to understand the history behind all these name and border changes was a little more difficult, but I would like to someday read a (good) history of Poland. And I intend to write more blog posts in the future about how historical events in Europe may have influenced my and my husband's ancestors to make the decision to immigrate to America.

©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Surname Saturday: Golonka, Southern Poland

Wedding Wednesday: Joseph Bodziony and Sophia Golonka

The Photo I Gave To My Grandfather

Surname Saturday: Bodziony

Sophia Krupa's Birth and Baptism Record

Casimir Pulaski Day and Fort Pulaski National Monument

My Great-Grandmother and her Feminine Surname

Wait. Great-Grandpa Was Born WHERE??

Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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