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.
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:
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' 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
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
