Family Stories: The Nawodylo Family

Family stories are an important part of your family history. But always take the stories for what they are -- memories that have been passed down from one generation to the next. The memories might be hazy and the stories might have been embellished over the years. The family story may be mostly true, but the details may be incorrect. Still, stories are what make genealogy interesting because they make your ancestors come alive. It's important to write them down to share with others. They also offer clues for genealogical research. It's great when you can back the stories up with hard evidence. 

Today I want to introduce another family in my family tree - the Nawodylo family. 

Agatha Frankowski and Gzregorz "Harry" Nawodylo

THE NAWODYLO FAMILY STORY

(This is the family story that was told to me by my mother who asked her uncle Jack Pine (aka Leon "Jack" Nawodylo) about his parents. Jack was the son of Gregorz and Agatha Nawodylo. He changed his last name to Pine because he "liked it better." Through my genealogy research, I found that some of the facts in this story are incorrect. I will address those inconsistencies in another post.)

Agatha was Polish.
Harry was Ukrainian.

They were both rent-out children. Their families were very poor and couldn't take care of their kids so they rented them out to people with more land (for gardens -- farms). Those people clothed the kids and fed them and the lived with them too.

They were working for 17 years in Germany (near Bremen) but Uncle Jack didn't know what they worked at. Buscia (the Polish word for grandma) and Dziadzia (grandpa) met in Germany.

They left Germany when they could get out (Uncle Jack thought it was 1909) and came to U.S. on a boat. It took a whole month and everyone was very sick on board. Uncle Jack thought it was a sailboat. He remembers them (Buscia and Dziadzia) talking about Philadelphia or Ohio when they came to the US but he doesn't know for sure.

They knew a family named Biela in Chicago. They stayed there for a few weeks -- were married and then went to Canada. They had a homestead -- 3 cows, 1 steer, 2 oxen, no tools except an axe. Raised cattle -- maybe had 27 head. You paid $10 for a homestead of 160 acres. After one year you had to have a cabin. By the second year you had to have a barn. Then a hay loft. They sold the cattle to a man (Buriko/Bureiko) but Dziadzia had no place to cash the check from the man. The storekeeper didn't have that much money, so Dziadzia kept the check 3 months. By the time he went to a bank, the man had withdrawn all his money and left for Chicago. Dziadzia got his gun and was going to go to Chicago to kill the man because the family lost almost everything because of the bad check.

The Nawodylo Family
(back row, from left) Anthony  (aka Tom Nash), Agatha, Gzregorz (aka Harry), Leon (aka Jack Pine)
(front) John, Mary, and William

Dziadzia came to the US (Chicago) finally in 1924 and left the "ranch" behind. Dziadzia offered it to Uncle Jack and Uncle Tom (aka Anthony "Tom" Nawodylo or Tom Nash) but they didn't want it. They would have had to pay 4 years back taxes (not much money really) but it was in the woods and Uncle Jack said, "What would he do there with no tools, no tractor, etcetera?" 

It was too hard to write Gzregorz all the time and someone called Dziadzia "Harry" once so he called himself Harry after that. Uncle Tom had to apply for citizenship papers too because he was born in Canada but Uncle Jack was born in the US.


Dziadzia worked for the Great Northern Chair Company -- not a railroad. He stoked boilers and was a watchman at night. He separated bales of cotton for 2 years too. The cotton was on fire on the outside for some reason, so it had to be separated from the good inside part. This took 2 years to do.

Dziadzia also worked at St. Constance (church in Chicago). He was a janitor and he rang the bells. This was sometime 1948--1951.


He worked at Stewart Warner Company as a security guard (not sure if he meant this was before or after he worked at St. Constance). Uncle Jack got him the job. He got to carry a gun and all. Jack asked how he liked it and he said, "What?"  He said that all he did was set the clocks and check the place, walk around, then go sit down again. He didn't think it was much of a job.

Uncle Jack said he never knew Dziadzia or Buscia's parents' names. Kids were to be SEEN and not heard and they never mentioned their families. 

Buscia's sister's daughter (her neice) was in Deep Dale Saskatchewan, Canada. Uncle Jack didn't even know she had a sister. He didn't know the sister's name nor does he remember the girl's name.

Thankful Thursday: Finally Finding My Great-Grandfather's DI

Today I would like to give thanks for my latest genealogy find. I've been searching for my great-grandfather's naturalization papers for years and years. I wrote to all of the courts in Chicago where Konstanty Gonszewski could have filed his papers, but I failed to find anything. Then the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court created a database of its more than 500,000 Declarations of Intention. The only thing was, I still could not find Konstanty Gonszewski's papers.

I thought his name might have been misspelled. There were a few candidates with similar names but the birth dates were wrong. I kept thinking his birth date should be the same as the one I had found in several documents, so I did not try to order any of the possibilities. Turns out it was a good thing I didn't.

Even though the database was searchable, it was still in the process of being compiled when I first searched it. After reading all the information available on the website (always a good idea), I learned that researchers were encouraged to check back if they could not find their ancestor. It was hard not to give up hope. I had even had the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services look for the record to no avail. I thought they would have had a copy of the record even if it had been filed in circuit court.

Much to my surprise, I searched the database again recently and I found it! I found Konstanty's online index record. Already, this provided me with an important detail that had been eluding me all these years - Konstanty's birthplace. This record cited it as Stanislawowo. All the other documents I have for him only list Poland, not a specific city. I just have to figure out which Stanislawowo this is, since there is more than one in Poland. But I think it may be the one near Bialystok because the census records list Konstanty's birthplace as Russia Poland. The record also notes that Konstanty arrived in the US on Nov. 15, 1897. I still haven't been able to find his ship manifest, even when I put this arrival date into the Ancestry search engine, but maybe I will find it one day. You never know, the records I get might have an arrival record included.

Now I just have to send in a form and payment and wait to get the records. Maybe they will tell me more. Thank you Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Archives!

Record Details for Volume 405
Page Number:	122
Declaration Number:	206822

FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	OCCUPATION
KONSTANTY	GONSEUSKI [GONSEWSKI]	LABORER
BIRTH CITY	BIRTH COUNTRY	BIRTH DATE
STANISLAWOWO	POLAND	3/10/1879
CURRENT ADDRESS	CURRENT CITY
1030 W. IRVING AVE.	CHICAGO
DEPARTURE LOCATION	ARRIVAL DATE	DECLARATION DATE
BREMEN, GERMANY	11/15/1897	6/15/1929

Debate This: Are These My Gonsewski Great-Grandparents?

In the mood for debate after the presidential debate last night?

Debate this: Is this or is this not the 1900 US Census for my great-grandparents, Konstanty & Apolonia Gonszewski?

I located this census page from Scranton, Pennsylvania after finding them (or I think it is them) in the marriage index for Scranton. I will tell you more about all of this tomorrow. But for now, look at Constantine Gaska and his wife Apolonia Gaska on Lines 42 and 43:

The couple was living at 303 E. Elm Street in Scranton.
Constantine's birth is listed as Feb. 1878, yet all other records show Konstanty Gonszewski's birth date as March 10, 1879.
It also lists Apolonia Gaska's birthdate as Feb. 1879. This could be correct, since her ship manifest says she was 20 years old when she came to the US on June 2, 1899.
This census page was filled out on June 1, 1900 and it says that the couple had been married just 5 months out of the previous 12 months. So they may have been married in February.
 They both claim to have entered the US in 1899 and to have been in the country for one year. We know that is accurate for Apolonia.
Constantine is a day laborer and that would be accurate for Konstanty.

In an upcoming post, I will discuss the reasons why I think this may or may not be my great-grandparents.

Konstanty & Apolonia in the 1900 US Census

How about Hamburg?: Ship Manifests & Apolonia Gonsewski (Born Wykowska)

In addition to finding a ship manifest for ancestors who came to the US through Ellis Island or other ports, if you think your ancestor may have departed from Hamburg, Germany, you can search for their passenger list online at Ancestry.com or by going to a Family History Center (The LDS Church) and ordering the appropriate microfilm. Although the Hamburg Passenger List may not offer any new information, it is good to use it for comparison. It also may lead you to the correct Ellis Island manifest because it contains a departure date and the name of the ship. This can come in handy when ancestor's name is misspelled in an index. The Hamburg Passenger Lists are written in German, but if you use the Ancestry database you will find a page of translated information before you click on "view original record."

My last post included a ship manifest from the SS Pennsylvania that listed my great-grandmother Apolonia Gonszewski (maiden name Wykowski. Wykowska is the female form of the last name. In the ship manifest it is spelled Wicoska) as well as a photo of the ship. Today's post includes the Hamburg Passenger List for Apolonia.

*Hint: To get a close-up view of the ship lists or other images I post, just left click on the image and then right click on it when it opens up and select "open in a new tab." Once it opens in a new tab, you should be able to zoom in and out to be able to read anything written on the image.

Hamburg Passenger List for Apolonia Gonszewski (maiden name Wykowski)

Ship List Information (Hamburg Passenger Lists):

Name: Apollonia Wicoska
Departure Date: 21 Mai 1899 (21 May 1899)
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1879
Age Year: 20
Gender: weiblich (Female)
Marital Status: ledig (Single)
Residence: Kubi,
Ethnicity/Nationality: Russland (Russian)
Ship Name: Pennsylvania
Shipping line: Hamburg-Amerika Linie (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft)
Ship Type: Dampfschiff
Accommodation: Zwischendeck
Ship Flag: Deutschland
Port of Departure: Hamburg
Port of Arrival: Boulogne-sur-Mer; New York
 
Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 103
Page: 838
Microfilm Roll Number: K_1760

Anchors Away!: Apolonia (Wykowski) Gonsewski's Journey

I often wonder what sailing across the ocean to a new life in the United States was like for my ancestors. I have read about it, but it is still hard to imagine. Leaving family and friends behind, each one embarked on a journey to "the new country."

In 1899, my great-grandmother Apolonia Wykowski (you can see a photo of her in my previous post) first had to travel from her birthplace, Stara Kubra (which means Old Kubra), in northeastern Poland to the port of Hamburg, Germany. The Polish ports of Gdansk (Danzig) and Szczecin (Stettin) were primarily freight ports, so most Polish emigrants traveled by train to Hamburg or Bremen, Germany. Once there, Apolonia boarded a ship, the SS Pennsylvania, and departed on May 21st for the two week voyage across the ocean. She arrived in the port of New York on June 2nd, coming in to the United States through Ellis Island.

Ship image of the SS Pennsylvania

I found the ship list for Apolonia by using the Ellis Island database. Sometimes names are not indexed the way you would think: for example, I had always been told that Apolonia's first name was Pauline. This is actually the American translation of her name. I also thought Wykowski was the only spelling of the name at first. Then I learned that Wykowska is the female version of Wykowski. Another good online resource to search for your ancestors' ship manifests is Stephen Morse's One-Step pages for searching the Ellis Island records. I like to use the gold form. Make sure that you register for a free account on the Ellis Island website first, so you can sign in and see the ship manifests once you do a search. If you are a paid subscriber to Ancestry, there is another one-step form that you can use that will take you into the Ancestry website to see your search results.

I have included an image of Apolonia's ship list from Ellis Island below.

*Hint: To get a close-up view of the ship lists or other images I post, just click on the image and then right click on it when it opens up and select "open in a new tab." Once it opens in a new tab, you should be able to zoom in and out and be able to read what's written on the image.

Ship manifest for Apolonia Gonszewski (maiden name: Wykowski)

Ship List Information (NY Passenger Lists, see line #21):

Name: Apolona Wicoska
Arrival Date: 2 Jun 1899
Birth Year: abt 1879
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Last Residence: Kubri
Ethnicity/Race­/Nationality: Russian (Polish)
Port of Departure: Hamburg
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Pennsylvania

Since it says she is 20 years old, her birth year may have been 1879. Her occupation is listed as "none." It states that she can read and write. Her nationality (Polish)  is written lightly and then "Russian" is written in a darker pen because Poland did not exist at the time. Her "last residence" is listed as Kubri (which we figured out is Kubra - her birthplace was Stara Kubra, meaning Old Kubra). She arrived in New York but her "final destination" is N. Millport (most likely New Millport, Pennsylvania). It also is noted that Apolonia did not have tickets to her final destination, that she she paid for her passage herself, she had $5 in her possession, and she had never been in the U.S. before. Finally, it says that she was going to her cousin. His name is difficult to read, but it might say Eric Ptak, 116 Logan Street. (This cousin's name may give us a clue in the future when we try to trace her roots in Poland.)

Finding a ship manifest can be a great clue to your ancestor's town or village in Europe. Unfortunately, I have not found manifests for all of my great-grandparents. But I have found several of them. The Ellis Island web site only has manifests of ships that came in to New York. Ancestry's web site is a good place to search the other ports such as Baltimore.

Picturing Grandma: Apolonia (Wykowska) Gonsewski & Her Kids

My father saw his grandmother Apolonia Gonszewski for the first time last week. She would have been 131 years old this year, so he didn't see her in person. Instead, he saw a picture of a framed portrait of her that a long-lost cousin sent me via a text message to my iPhone. Our story is just one more example of how technology is making it easier to connect with family members and trace your roots.

Apolonia Gonszewski (maiden name Wykowski) was born in Stara Kubra in northeastern Poland. 

I first found my second cousin Melanie, the daughter of my dad's cousin Barbara, a year or two ago through Ancestry, a family history website that most people are familiar with now that they advertise on television. I didn't even know Melanie existed because my father had lost touch with her mother over 50 years ago, but she had a small family tree on the website that connected with mine because we both knew the names of our  great-grandmother (Apolonia) and great-grandfather (Konstanty) and their five children. My dad's father Eugene and her mom's mother Melania (also known as Mildred or Millie) were brother and sister. Once we connected and exchanged e-mails, we also "friended" each other on Facebook so we could see photos of each other's children and keep in touch.

Thanks to Facebook, Melanie remembered that I would probably want to see Apolonia's portrait when she saw a post from me. We were visiting Charlotte, North Carolina, and Melanie had just visited there the weekend before that! Too bad we have never been in the same place at the same time and met in person yet, but maybe we will one day .... Melanie had helped her father move out of his house several weeks ago and had found a large framed portrait that her mother, who passed away in 2007, had kept in the house. I don't know if it had been put it up in the attic or had been on display in the house, but this was the first I had heard of it. It turns out that Apolonia's name was written on the back of the portrait along with something that had taken me years of searching for documents to find out for myself - her birthplace. It noted that Apolonia was born in Stara Kubra in northeastern Poland. I am so happy that this fact is now verified :)

My father had lost touch with Melanie's branch of the family way back when he was in high school in Chicago. His father had a falling out with his sisters Mildred and Stephanie (according to my mother who started dating my dad at that time) because he was an alcoholic and they did not want him to come around anymore. Also, it makes sense that my father never saw a photo of his grandmother (or does not remember if he did) because she died in 1924 when his father Eugene was 16 years old.

Apolonia Gonszewski (maiden name Wykowski) was usually called Pauline once she came to the United States. She arrived at Ellis Island on June 2, 1899 at the age of 20. She married my great-grandfather Konstanty on Feb. 14, 1900 in Scranton, Penn.They had their first child there (Bronislaw, who was called Bruno) in November 1901. Family stories tell us that Apolonia and Konstanty left Scranton because Konstanty was injured in a mining accident,although I have not found any documents to back that up. They moved to Chicago sometime before having their second child Boleslaw

Boleslaw (which translates to William) was born in Chicago in January 1904 . The rest of the Gonszewski children were also born in Chicago: Walter in May 1906, Eugene (my dad's father) in August 1908, Melania (Millie or Mildred) in October 1910, and Stefania (Steffie or Stephanie) sometime in 1912 (she is the only one that I have not found a definite date of birth for yet).

Sadly, Boleslaw died of diphtheria in November 1910. How I learned about him and what he died of will be the subject of another post. I had only been told of the five surviving Gonszewski children when I started my genealogy research. I have never seen a photo of Boleslaw, but I did finally get to see a a portrait of the five Gonszewski children for the first time last week, thanks again to cousin Melanie.

We think that this portrait was probably taken in 1912 or 1913 because the baby in the picture is Stephanie. My dad's father Eugene, sitting to the right of the baby, is dressed in a young boy's suit with a full lace collar. He is about 4 or 5 years old. Mildred is about 2 or 3 and the two older brothers, Bruno and Walter, dressed in suits with bow ties, are about 11 or 12 and 6 or 7 respectively.

Children of Konstanty and Apolonia Gonszewski: (From left to right) Bruno and Walter (standing), Melania, Stefania, and Eugene (sitting). Circa 1912-13 

Unfortunately, we also do not have any photos of my great-grandfather Konstanty even though he died much later than Apolonia. Konstanty (who also known as Gustav, at least that was the name listed on his death certificate) was born March 10, 1879 in Stanislawowo (as per his Declaration of Intention, most likely the town by that name that is near Bialystok in northeastern Poland) and died on June 5, 1940 in Bremen Township (Cook County), Illinois after battling pulmonary tuberculosis for 6 months.

Perhaps one day soon we will see a photo of Konstanty. But at least now we can finally hold a picture of Apolonia in our hands.

How to begin?: The Hunt for Your Family History

Ever wonder where you came from? If you're like me, with immigrant ancestors who came to the US in the early 1900s, finding out might be harder than you think.

When my first daughter was born I suddenly wanted to know everything there was to know about our family history. I suppose I knew that I'd better start digging for information if I wanted to be able to tell her where she came from when she was old enough to ask .

Searching for my family history turned out to be as frustrating as hunting for a needle in a haystack, but also as exciting as digging for buried treasure - especially when I actually found something. Over the past 18 years, I've been bitten by the genealogy bug many times and searched for information in between having four children, writing for an Army newspaper, and teaching at a school for dyslexic children.

I've learned a lot about genealogy. Now I want to pass that knowledge on to others who might be starting their own quest for information about their families. I also want to present my own family with all that I've learned and will continue to find about my ancestors. This genealogy blog is dedicated to sharing all the data that I've collected so far (as well as how I found it) with family members and anyone else who might be interested in gleaning a little information on how to find their roots.

So now I want to share everything with you. The only problem is, where to begin? I have so much information that I am not sure how or where or what to begin with. I've decided to "just do it" (to use a line from the old Nike commercials), start with myself (as most genealogists know works best), write about how I got interested in genealogy and then go from there.

As a mother of four growing children, I haven't had the time or the money to pursue my roots (or my husband's roots) as often or to dig as deeply as I have wanted. Our ancestors were all Eastern European, believe it or not, so records have been hard to come by. Early on, I researched records on microfilm in libraries and at our local Family History Center at the LDS Church (now there is FamilySearch - a website with an online catalog and a searchable database with links to many digitized records). Although I couldn't do it all at once, I found out that that's okay. Now, with more and more online genealogy resources and databases becoming available every day, my family tree is growing and growing.

So begins my genealogy blog "Genea in a Tree." I thought of calling it "Genea in a Bottle" because I would really like to have a genie who could help me find my way back in time to discover my ancestors and learn about their lives. I also would love to discover a message in a bottle full of interesting information that one of my great-grandmothers wrote down about the family and sent off in hopes of reaching me right about now. But my son Nick came up with "Genea in a Tree" and I liked it. So thanks, Nick, for naming my blog!

Now imagine me cracking a bottle on the bow of our flagship genealogy project to christen it. And anchors away!