Jozef Sanetra kept rebuilding-literally and figuretively

revised 31 Mar 2010
(Note: Click on pictures to view pictures full screen)
Jozef returned to Zywiec, Poland with part of his family in about 1922. Soon after, in about 1924, there was a "money change" where their money became worthless. His father Adam died in 1927. Then in 1939, the Nazi's invaded and literally took everything people owned including pictures and records. During and after the war, it was hard for most people to find work. Then about 1960 there was a major flood that filled Jozef's house with water waist high, and the house collapsed. So Jozef rebuilt his house. Jozef found his brother Paul while rebuilding his house. And then Paul told Jozef where Ervin was. They were so happy to find family after being separated for about 40 years! Jozef couldn't just go to the hardware store. If he wanted to make a door, he often had to find scrap wood to put together to create a door. He made his own doors, his own windows, everything. I believe the only thing he ordered was glass to go in the windows. Paul loved to get these letters, because he was a builder and he too had built his house from the ground up, after a difficult financial time for himself. I had a major fire last year from an electrical short. I had insurance and it was still exhausting and a lot of work to get back into my house. I can't imagine having to do all we did plus actually have to rebuild our house without a hardware store! I'm grateful we had insurance and people to rebuild for us. It gives me that much more appreciation for Jozef's sacrifice and hard work.

Alfreda Mazurkiewicz was from Kolbuszowa, Poland - and Karol Janik

Original posting in June 2009, Revised 30 Mar 2010:
I read in a family letter from Jozef Sanetra (dated 1961), that Alfreda Mazurkiewicz was from Kolbuszowa, Poland. From what little I have seen about Kolbuszowa, it was a Jewish settlement, and heavily destroyed during Nazi occupation. After the war, in abt 1956 (as a widow), Alfreda left Zywiec, and moved back to Kolbuszowa, then later to northern Poland. I do not know if Alfreda was Catholic or Jewish. I only know that the Sanetra's were Catholic.
I have struggled to find anything on Alfreda's family. Her marriage certificate to Adam is the only proof I have that she was in the United States. (Have since found her immigration into and out of the country)  And then in 1922, Alfreda and Adam went back to Poland, and bought a house in Zywiec. Adam opened a joinery shop and was a finish carpenter. But they lost all they had when there was a money change about 1924-1925.
On the Ellis Island manifest, in 1923, Adam states he is going to live with his Brother-in-law Karol Janik 1058N. Marshfield Ave, Chicago, IL. None of Adam's sisters married a Janik, so I figured Julia is probably the sister of Alfreda.

Sanetra wedding and unknown pictures

See posting 20 Aug 2010 for updates and further information. Picture is of Caroline Strzawi & Ludwig Sanetra
I found a PDF file of this wedding picture and family picture. The front and back were scanned. I copied the pictures into Adobe and separated them into separate JPEGS so they'd be viewable on the blog and in a message. I do not know anything about these pictures, other than what you see in these pictures. And I don't really know what any of the writing means other than the pictures were taken in Zywiec. I will re-post when I find out more about these pictures. If you click on these pictures inside this message, they will be visible full screen.

Mazurkiewicz website

Dolores and Ken have created a Mazurkiewicz website, searching for people related to Ignatz Mazurkiewicz and Moses Mazurkiewicz. The page is available in English, Polish and Russian. I do not currently see a connection between Alfreda Mazurkiewicz that married Adam Sanetra, and this family. But there is still so much unknown that I will keep this site in mind. The Ignatz Mazukiewicz family is from a place called Minsk, which is in present day Belarus. This site has a wiki link to Minsk to tell more about it. A family tree is also viewable on this page. This Mazurkiewicz web site also gives these variations on the name: Mazurkiewitz, Mazurkewicz, Mazurkewitz, Mazurkevich. Other surnames included on this website are: Stefanowicz, Sajkowska, Kazakewicz, Bogdanowicz, Twerian, Rybacka, Kowalewski, Krivit, Sawicki and Grusha.
The time period is the typical time period of many Slavic immigrants: 1890 to 1915. So check out this site and see if you recognize any one. Here is the link to the site:

http://mazurk.net/

Here is a link to the Wiki page about Minsk:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minsk&oldid=295696936

Polish genealogy book and obituaries

I just bought a copy of the book: "Polish Roots", by: Rosemary A. Chorzempa. I have felt so encouraged reading this! I felt so limited in what I could find because I do not know much about Poland, it's customs, it's language or how to find records in Poland. Most of my experience with genealogy has been with Virginia and North Carolina records in the United States. And Polish records are very different! I'm only on chapter 2 and I can't believe how many resources I've already read about that I'd never heard of before.
Here are two specific resources I wanted to pass along. On pg 6, the book tells about :
1) The Polish Museum of America, 984 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60622. The book states there is a large collection of Polish American newspapers from various cities there, which may help you find obituaries.
2) The Polish Genealogical Society has published books with obituary indexes. One of which is titled "Index to the Obituaries and Death Notices Appearing in the Dziennik Chicagoski. By: Thomas L. Hollowak and William F. Hoffman" (A Polish daily newspaper.) Dates range from 1890-1929.