Category: Weekly

CategoriesSaturday Genealogy FunZalewski

SNGF: Who is Your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor?

Posted on 18 June 2011by Brian Zalewski

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for this week is to:

  1. Determine who your most recent unknown ancestor is – the one that you don’t even know his or her name.
  2. Summarize what you know about his or her family, including resources that you have searched and the resources you should search but haven’t searched yet.

My most recent unknown ancestor is actually on my ZALEWSKI line. I am not sure about Frank J Zalewski’s parents’ names. Frank married Anna LINDNER in 1885 somewhere in German Poland, though I’m slowly cracking down this wall. Frank and Anna had 9 children, 2 boys and 7 girls. Just recently I have good feelings about tracking down the origin location of Frank and Anna before they emigrated to America. I have tracked this to a place called Gottschalk during the late 1800s which is probably now called Gocza?ki in present day Poland.

No records that I have searched including census, passenger lists, death records, or church records have named Frank’s parents. I did, in the last few years, connect him to his brother Jacob Zalewski who came over to America a few years later and also settled in Milwaukee.

That reminds me to check back with the Family History Library. I ordered the church records from the Gocza?ki area last time I was there and I sort of remember that they were supposed to arrive sometime in May. The FHL was supposed to mail me a postcard letting me know that they arrived. Either they forgot, or I put down some wrong info and the records didn’t arrive. These records will be my next research opportunity to hopefully extend my tree further back. I actually do not know Anna Lindner’s parents either, but I do have a little more possible info for them, including names.

 

 

CategoriesIrishMoranWay Back Wednesday

Way Back Wednesday: Moran Family

Posted on 30 March 2011by Brian Zalewski

Charles Moran Family

This is a photo of my wife’s great-great-grandparents, Charles & Emma (DIETER) MORAN, and three of their children. The child on the left is her great-grandfather, Fred MORAN, born in 1891. Basing the date off of the children, this photo was probably taken in about 1900. The other two children are probably the twins, Alma & Allan. Charles was one of the first Moran children of Robert & Dorothea (COOK) MORAN to be born in Wisconsin. The rest were born in Quebec, Canada as Robert & Dorothea must have immigrated there from Ireland and later married. There were a lot of Irish immigrants in that specific area of Quebec.

CategoriesMilitary Monday

Military Monday: Joseph Zalewski

Posted on 28 March 2011by Brian Zalewski

I have a bunch of military documents, so I thought I’d put up some posts in the Military Monday theme.

This the WWI Draft Registration for my great-grandfather, Joseph Zalewski, who did end up participating in the war overseas.

Joseph registered on (I think it says) June 5, 1917 at the Ward 13, 2nd Precint draft office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, he was 24 years old, having been born on 21 May 1893 in Milwaukee. He was living at 900 Fratney Street, which is where his parents also lived. His occupation at the time was a “Shoe Maker” at Weyenberg Shoe Co. in Milwaukee. He was not yet married. According to the document, he had “gray” eyes and “light brown” hair.

Joseph Zalewski WWI Registration
"World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 March 2008), Joseph Zalewski, order no. 286, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, NARA microfilm publication number M1509; roll 1674886.
CategoriesFollow FridayGermanPolish

Follow Friday: Polish

Posted on 25 March 2011by Brian Zalewski

Since I’ve done a lot of Polish/Prussian research this week, I’m going to point at some helpful resources and blogs.

Al’s Polish-American Genealogy by Al Wierzba

This one has been on my blogroll for awhile, since Al posts useful Polish information and interesting tidbits on his blog. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also researching mainly in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. I visit it frequently. I actually just went there to copy the URL and got lost in some other posts. Keep up the good work, Al.

Steve’s Genealogy Blog by Stephen Danko

This one has also been on my blogroll for awhile. Steve mostly posts original family documents, but a lot (or maybe all of them) are Polish and he usually also posts translations and other useful information. It’s interesting to browse the documents and learn about the different areas and records.

Kartenmeister

Kartenmeister is a must bookmark for anyone with German/Polish/Prussian roots. According to its front page it’s “the most comprehensive database of its kind in the world. It contains 88,334 locations with over 38,691 name changes once, and 5,500 twice and more.” Using the site, you are able to search place names by German version or Polish version, get much information about the location and even other researchers looking for ancestors in these places. This is how I found the (hopefully) current location of my ZALEWSKI ancestors using the German name of “Gottschalk.” There is no equal.

Free Research Courses at FamilySearch

There are more than just Polish research classes here, but I really enjoyed the “Intro to Polish Research” course I watched the other day. It was very informative, easy to follow, and it helped me try some new things. I am currently watching the next video, “Advanced Polish Research.”  The presenter of the class, Ceil Wendt Jensen, was very well-versed in the subject matter and easy to listen to.

Germans to America (1850-1897) search tool by Steve Morse

While this search tool is helpful by itself, it’s much more powerful if you have access to Ancestry’s passenger lists. You can search by name, origin, destination and then use those results to find the corresponding passenger list image. I found my great-great-grandfather Frank Zalewski’s brother’s passenger list this way. There are also many other useful search tools on his main site, stevemorse.org.

CategoriesSurname Saturday

Surname Saturday: TROKA

Posted on 19 March 2011by Brian Zalewski

This week’s surname is from my paternal Polish ancestors. I’ve heard it pronounced both Troh-kuh and Truck-uh. The TROKA surname first shows up in my family tree with my great-grandmother, Emily (TROKA) ZALEWSKI. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1896. Her father, Joseph TROKA, was born in 1871. I have traced his birth to the Lipusz area of what was then West Prussia. It is now located in KoÅ›cierzyna County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. He immigrated in about 1888 or 1889, either by himself or with his family. I have not tracked down his parents in the US, but have seen note of his brothers and sisters here. His parents are listed as Michael & Joslyna (GRABOWSKA) TROKA on his marriage certificate. Joseph married Clara SZULTA at St. Hedwig’s Church in Milwaukee in 1894.

According to the map below, courtesy of World Family Names, the surname is most popular in the Polish county mentioned above, KoÅ›cierzyna.

Troka Surname
Public Profiler Worldnames. (2010). Surname Troka Polish Map.Retrieved March 18, 2011

 

CategoriesTombstone Tuesday

Tombstone Tuesday: Where Did He Go?

Posted on 15 March 2011by Brian Zalewski

For years I had lost track of my 3rd-great-grandfather, Peter MUHM. He and his wife, Ida (SCHAVANDIE) MUHM, lived in Wisconsin for many years. I tracked Ida to Langlade County, Wisconsin in 1934 where she finally rests at Elmwood Cemetery in Antigo. Where was Peter? Good question. I also couldn’t find them in the 1900 Census records.

After some deep searching, I ran across an newspaper article in the Antigo (Wisconsin) Daily Journal from May 1933 about Mr. and Mrs. MUHM. It says:

For five years Mr. and Mrs. Muhm farmed with only a grub hoe, pitchfork, and hoe. Grain and hay were carried from the field to the barn on the pitchfork. Sometime after beginning their clearing, a cow and a few chickens were bought, and with other additions, little by little, they soon had a prosperous little farm. At the beginning fish, wild game, and deer afforded the only meat the family had. Mr. Muhm had shot 99 deer before he sold his farm in 1902 and went to Portland, Oregon. As a pioneer he built many of the first houses and barns in the county, and also made coffins for the dead.

Three years after moving to Portland, Mr. Muhm died as the result of a fall he suffered when a scaffold collapsed. Mrs. Muhm continued to live there for sixteen years, then returned here to make her home with her daughters, Mrs. Joe Narlow, and Mrs. Fred Van Atter. Another daughter, Mrs. Peter Van Price lives in Port Washington; a son Edward in San Francisco, and an older son, George, in Portland, Oregon.

(Full Transcribed Article Text on my wiki)

Tada! There is the information I needed. Peter and his wife moved to Portland, Oregon (reasons still unknown) and he died after falling from a scaffold in 1905. I also had found an “Ida MUHM” in the 1910 Census in Oregon that now made sense. Then, on a whim, I ran “MUHM” through the Find-A-Grave search system in Oregon and what do you know, I found his headstone located in Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery in Portland. A nice volunteer by the name of VDR had photographed it sometime in late 2010. Aren’t volunteers wonderful? She was very nice and transferred ownership of the memorial to me so I can now update it and add it to my list.

Peter Muhm
Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, Portland, Oregon
CategoriesMilwaukeeWay Back WednesdayZalewski

Way Back Wednesday: Troka Family

Posted on 2 March 2011by Brian Zalewski

Troka FamilyThis is a photo from my paternal Milwaukee line. I don’t know the names of everyone in the photo, but there are a few I know. My great-grandmother, Emily (TROKA) ZALEWSKI, is at the top-left. Her mother, Clara (SZULTA) TROKA, is right below her. Clara’s mother (and my 3rd-great-grandmother), Nepomuncena (SYLDAKT) SZULTA, is to the right of her. The only other name I know is that of Nepomuncena’s son, John SZULTA, in the middle of the back row. The remaining people are either part of the SZULTA family or TROKA family. I have other photos from this day that include other family members. Click photo to enlarge.

CategoriesSurname Saturday

Surname Saturday: SHANNON

Posted on 5 February 2011by Brian Zalewski
Nathaniel Shannon
Nathaniel Shannon's Headstone in Boston.

The SHANNON surname first appears in my wife’s family tree at her maternal great-grandmother, Marie R (SHANNON) BANNACH. From the looks of it Marie didn’t have a very good start to her life. Her mother, Mary (DAKINS) SHANNON died when Marie was only four years old. Then, as far as we can tell, her father, George Washington SHANNON, up and left as she is next found in the 1905 Wisconsin State Census living with her grandparents (Mary’s parents.) I have not yet been able to track down George, but some signs point to him dying in Colorado in about 1930.

George’s father is Nathaniel SHANNON, born in 1816 in Gilmanton, Belknap Co., New Hampshire, where the SHANNON family lived for many generations. If naming conventions had been used, his name should’ve been Nathaniel Shannon VII. From this point on my wife is descended from seven Nathaniel Shannon’s straight back to her 9th-great-grandfather Nathaniel SHANNON who was born in about 1655 in Ulster County, Ireland. The seventh Nathaniel also had a son named Nathaniel, but we have not traced it any further. The original Nathaniel Shannon is somewhat famous, at least in death, as he is buried in the famous Old Granary Burial Ground in Boston, Massachusetts with the likes of Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams. According to his headstone (to the right, click to bigify), he was also a Naval Officer of the Port of Boston. This is as far back as we can currently trace the SHANNON line in my wife’s tree, though from this line is where my wife theoretically connects to the Royal Line via the second Nathaniel SHANNON’s wife Abigail VAUGHAN.