The Spiraling Chains: Kowalski - Bellan Family Trees
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Surname Saturday: Golonka, Southern Poland

7/18/2014

4 Comments

 
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:
Picture
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.
Picture
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


4 Comments
Michael Harris link
7/21/2014 01:53:51 pm

That is great information. I have a lot to do on my Polish relations past 100 years ago.

Reply
dayton amundson link
5/7/2015 04:51:20 pm

I am complete facitated by your website. My great grandfather's name was Joseph Golonka. He was born in 1871 or 1872. I believe that his naturalization papers list that he is from Dombrowa, Poland. ( Galecia) I am traveling to Poland in a few weeks and am convinced ( from your website info) that I need to visit and Ancestry.com that I need to visit some cemetaries in Nowy Sacz. Even if it is just to find any headtsone with Golonkla on it. I am very hopeful that i could connect my Joseph Golonka to your Joseph Golonkas with the hope that the youngest is his father but I am lost. Do you think I should keep looking? I can't seem to find my great grandfather's parents or sibling names. Do you have any ideas? FYI....I am a resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin and my mother was Violet Golonka and born in Sobieske, Wisconsin. My grandfather was Bernard Golonka also born in Sobieski. Thank you for reading this!

Reply
Emily Schroeder
5/8/2015 03:26:04 am

Hi Dayton. Glad you found my page. I googled the town of Dombrowa, Poland and wikipedia says that that could be the German name of Dabrowa Gornicza. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a microfilm for this area that you can order to look for your great-grandfather: https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=66144&query=%2Bplace%3A%22Poland%2C%20Katowice%2C%20Go%C5%82on%C3%B3g%20(D%C4%85browa%20G%C3%B3rnicza)%22&subjectsOpen=613368-50 I am not aware of any of my Golonka ancestors coming to America (they may have, but I haven't found them yet), but all of my Polish relatives settled in Cleveland, so I sort of doubt there is any close relation between your Golonkas and mine. Thanks!

Reply
Marilyn Uzemack
3/3/2019 06:29:42 pm

I have Golonka relatives from Zaborow, Poland going back to the late 1880's. I have been there and seen graves in the cemetary. I have pictures of relatives from the early 1900's. My relatives settled in Chicago. I would like to do more research as I am going back to Poland this fall. I would truly appreciate any help as to where I can get more information about Golonka's before 1900 who lived, died and married in Poland

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    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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