Polish families from Żywiec-Zabłocie, Polska (Slaskie)

Galicia Jewish Museum, photographs, and why I think it is an important subject

2012-02-04T07:37:00.001-05:00

I was searching for books about Galicia, which was the name of the part of Poland our family was from, when Adam Sanetra immigrated to America. I bought a book I wanted to tell everyone about. The name of the book is called, "Rediscovering Traces of Memory-The Jewish Heritage of Polish Galicia." The subject of this book interested me, because it was about finding traces of Jews in the Galicia part of Poland. The book is written by Jonathan Webber, with photographs by Chris Schwarz. The information and pictures in this book are from the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow.

The first paragraph on the inside flap of book says, "Since the Holocaust, traces of memory are virtually all that remain in Poland after more than 800 years of Jewish life there. This remarkable album, published on behalf of the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, offers a sensitive way of looking at that past. Based entirely on arresting, present-day colour photographs of Polish Galicia, it shows how much of that past can still be seen today if one knows how to look and how to interpret what one sees."

The photographer Chris Schwarz dedicated his life to these pictures, trying to create an awareness from his pictures. His goal was to document and educate. I am an amateur photographer, so I had a great appreciation for his efforts. I also have great appreciation for people trying to preserve history. The author and photographer worked together for 15 years on this picture collection, interviewing many people, trying to preserve memories and get a museum started. In 2002, about 1,000 pictures were ready for an archive. A museum was opened in 2007 to show the collection and display the research efforts.

There are 74 photographs, fully captioned. With annotation and more notes in the back of the book. (book totals 186 pages) There is a picture of a beautiful library, with wall and ceiling murals, which was once a synagogue. There is also a picture of a highway sign marked "Dobra" that is marked with a red line through it, with an explanation that there is nothing Jewish left there to photograph. There is also a photograph of a German Chancellor visiting to "promote Holocaust education and foster reconciliation." as the book states. Here is a link to the book on Amazon, if you are interested to see more about the book. I bought it to learn more. I do not benefit in any way from the sale of this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0253221854/ref=oh_o03_s00_i00_details

There are two more pages in the book I wanted to mention. 1) I also found the topographical map of Galicia helpful. 2) There is also a page about place names I wanted to mention, in case it helps anyone with research. The place name page states, if you only know a place by it's Yiddish name, you may have trouble finding it on a map. The book explains that people often thought they came from a place too small to be on a map and that's why they couldn't find where their family was from. But it was really a language barrier problem, not a small town problem. The Galician map makers would have listed the towns with names in German, Polish and Ukrainian names, not in Yiddish. If you only know the name in Yiddish, I would suggest trying the Jewish Gen website to find the other name for the place. http://www.jewishgen.org/ On this opening page, you can search for a town name.

Here is a link to the museum, it is in Polish: http://www.galiciajewishmuseum.org/
Here is a link to the translated English page: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.galiciajewishmuseum.org/&ei=lQUtT_etJerX0QHiv929Cg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgalicia%2Bjewish%2Bmuseum%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DCRy%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns

I believe that whether you have Jewish ancestry or not, this subject can and should be of interest. It is amazing to me that one political group of people (Nazis) could try to wipe out hundreds of years of history, and appear to have succeeded. But records, memories, writing down those memories, interviewing, taking pictures to document, creating a museum to educate...these are all things that will keep one political group, (the Nazi's), from erasing the Jewish history that was also part of Poland's history. The more we can learn about history, the more we can prevent the history from repeating. The other side to this, is there are other good history lessons we can learn from the history of Poland, like King Kazimierz welcoming the Jews and providing a haven for them. Also the Polish people living side by side with neighbors of various religions without the prejudices seen around the world even today. (See post 16 Aug 2011. The Vilnius Lancers had Christians, Jews and Muslims in the same unit in 1938.) I think what Jonathan Webber and Chris Schwarz did with this book and museum were a great educational undertaking. The museum website said 25,000 people from around the world visit annually. The photographer died in 2007. So at least 175,000 people have already seen the photographs, about 100,000 have seen his pictures since his death. That is the start of two men trying to preserve and document memories, with the assistance of many, who also believe in preserving history, over several decades. I believe in preservation and records!

Help for information about Jewish villages that disappeared in Poland

2012-01-04T22:48:00.003-05:00

Updated 7 Jan 2012- Here is a link to the United States Holocaust museum website, listing resources. There are links about education, research, history, available in several languages: http://www.ushmm.org/education/

Posting 4 Jan 2012:
I have been reading and hearing about whole Jewish communities disappearing from Poland, during WWII. Not just damaged, because a pile of rubble would still show something was there. I mean that not a trace was left. No bricks or stones of the synagogue left. Tombstones taken away. The Nazi leaders wanted to erase the history, as if no Jews had ever been there. In some ways, the history has been erased because so many people do not know there was ever a thriving Jewish community in these places. Zabłocie had a large synagogue and Jewish community. That is all gone now. But records still exist, and that will prevent history from being totally erased. So what do you do, or where do you look, if you think you might have Jewish relatives, but the Nazi's tried to erase the history? Where are the records now? Where have the records moved to? I started asking people questions.

I'm told the best source online, is the Jewish Genealogy site: http://www.jewishgen.org/
I found a helpful, interesting video. I just bought it on Amazon and watched it this weekend. If you are looking for Jewish relatives in Poland, (Pre-WWII) I highly recommend this video. There are subtitles in: Hebrew, Russian, Finnish, Polish, Arabic and English. It won awards. This story takes place in Ciechocinek, Poland, where all Jewish traces were erased. The movie documentary time is just over a half hour long. (I am not all connected to this movie. I just bought it and think it's great.) This does show where records were moved to. I learned some new things and felt some questions were answered with this DVD.

There were two sources of information especially intriguing to me in the video. They went to an old school, and stated the old school records had as much information as a birth record. There were also school pictures, like an American year book, with group pictures. The family also knew the name of the shop their ancestor owned. In an office, someone checked books, written in Yiddish, by the resistance groups, of all that happened to the shop, or any knowledge of the people. School books and books written by the Jews about their people are still here, and not destroyed. There are amazing resources with better technology and communication today, with more opportunities yet in the future. This is where I got the DVD: "Traces" movie link on Amazon

I have also been told several times, when I ask people questions, that I need to visit the holocaust museum in Washington DC. I've been told they also help with education and research in areas such as this. I hope to visit there soon. When I visit the museum, I'll post any resources they give me.

Following the newspaper story about Stanley Sanetra

2011-12-21T09:49:00.002-05:00

The story about the train accident was indexed correctly in the Kokomo, Indiana newspaper. But Stanley's name was not indexed in the Chicago Tribune paper, I had to look it up by subject and date from what I knew from the Kokomo paper. If Kokomo hadn't indexed by name, I would never have found this story. Thank you indexers! The Chicago paper had the story as front page news, showing people bandaged up from burns. Both papers said Stanley and the other 10 people mentioned were hospitalized. The Chicago paper said that Stanley was also burned, gave his address, and that he worked for the railroad. Since my last posting in November, I have made a number of phone calls, written two letters, a few emails, and I now have the rail road pension for the Stanley Sanetra in the train accident, who was a long time resident of Chicago. I knew there was one other Stanley who had all his family in Minneapolis, and he was with his family in 1920 and 1930. I only know of two Stanley Sanetras, one born in Zyweic-Zablocie who immigrated to Minneapolis, and ours. The other Stanley, I've always seen listed as born in 1903. The Stanley on the railroad record had the birth date of June 1904. Our Stanley was April 1904, but on some school records he was listed as June 1904, so I wondered if our Stanley just stuck with what the school listed him as. The North Shore rail line and where the accident took place is right in the middle of where our family lived. Less than a few blocks of the orphanage, of where all our various family addresses were.

I got the record, and to my complete surprise, the one in the train accident was the one I call, "the Minneapolis Stanley", son of Thomas Sanetra and Jadwiga Beil. So now I know our two Stanleys are just two months apart in age! The Stanley Sanetra from Minneapolis had a younger sister Helen, who wrote Paul Sanetra believing we are relating and trying to find the connection in Poland. Helen and Paul's father's did immigrate from the same village and were born the same year. It is highly possible they could be a cousin, but we just don't know enough. We still hope to one day figure out if there is a connection to our families.

A new clue to Stanley Sanetra!

2011-10-25T22:23:00.003-04:00

There are only two Stanley Sanetras that I (or anyone I've ever talked to) has ever heard of in America, born about 1904. One is our Stanley Sanetra, son of Adam and Rosalie, born in Evanston, Cook, Illinois. (Two months after Rosalie and Adam arrived in America). The other Stanley was born about 1904, in Żywiec-Zabłocie Poland, son of Thomas Sanetra and Jadwiga Biel. Thomas, Jadwiga, all their children and Jadwiga's mother Regina immigrated in 1913 and went to Minneapolis. This Stanley, (son of Thomas) to my understanding, remained in Minneapolis the rest of his life. Since that is my understanding, that would lead me to believe that this article is about my relative Stanley Sanetra, who my family hasn't seen since the doors of the orphanage in 1919 in Chicago.

Click on the article to view full screen. This article was in the Kokomo, Indiana newspaper, Dec 23, 1950. The age matches our Stanley (both Stanleys). There was a train fire with 11 people hurt. The windows were all smashed in it. Stanley Sanetra was taken to the hospital and treated for cuts on wrists. The article said this specifically about Stanley " Stanley Sanetra, 47, Chicago, a North Shore track worker, cuts on wrists."

It says 11 injured, But James Hillquist was listed twice. The injured were:1) James Hillquist, 2) Douglas Heim, 3) Rudy Wall, 4) Thomas Kelminski, 5) Reverand Robert O'Keefe, at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, in Chicago, 6) Reverend Vincent O'Shea of the Servite Fathers, in Granville, Wisconsin, 7) Charles White, 8) Thomas Healey 9) LeRoy McKay 10) Stanley Sanetra

I imagine this was quite an ordeal. I also expect some people still living who would remember that event, or at least hearing about it. If you remember this Stanley and this event, please email me. This is the first time we've ever seen mention of a Stanley Sanetra outside of Milwaukee, after the day the kids were admitted to the orphanage in 1919. Stanley's siblings wrote everywhere they could think of for years looking for Stanley and Bronislawa. Paul (Stanley's brother) literally wrote hundreds of letters for the rest of his life trying to find Stanley and never did. I have pictures and letters the siblings wanted Stanley's family to have, to tell about us, and we wish so much to know about Stanley.

An update about familysearch and Polish records

2011-10-11T18:04:00.007-04:00

Familysearch now has 2.34 billion indexed records available, of course for free! About a million records are added to family search every month. All free, because it is all volunteers, wanting to make records accessible. This is a 3 minute video explaining how a project took place between a historical society and familysearch. The lady in the video also gives some good info on how familysearch wiki can help you in your research. This is how I believe we will start getting access to records in Poland. A few projects are already underway. This is how some of the Chicago records are already on familysearch (marriage and birth records). The more historical societies and churches that work with familysearch, the more accessible the records become. The more volunteers indexing and digitizing, the more quickly and accessible the records will become available to everyone.

Here are two pages specifically about Polish research on familysearch and wiki pages:

https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Poland_Civil_Registration-_Vital_Records
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Poland (also in my favorite links in the right column)

There are millions of records world wide being uploaded monthly. Newer collections include church records from Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Sweeden and Portugal. Familysearch is not just about US records! Here is a screen shot for a Polish project, as of today, showing a description of the project. Click on icon to view full screen):
There are 2,341,753 records in this collection. The last upload for this collection was 20 Sept 2011, with 1,002,155.

Virginia Records are about to be affected by Legislation

2011-09-25T22:09:00.001-04:00

Public comment deadline is Oct 6th. I know this is a subject about Virginia, and this is a blog dedicated mostly to subjects like Sanetra family, Polish and American records, immigration, Chicago, and or Minneapolis records. But I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this subject. This is my concluding paragraph on my Mecklenburg, Virginia blog post today:

"In conclusion, Virginia is often an example and trendsetter regarding records. 125 years of records being closed would prevent millions of American immigrants from seeing the records of their parents and grandparents. It would prevent people from knowing their roots in “the Old Country”. Record preservation and record accessibility are very, very important things to me. I normally would not put something political on my blogs. But I am making an exception this time, because we will lose access to Virginia records if we do not speak up.

My goal with this post, is to supply you with some information, so you can learn the details and come to your own conclusions. If you feel as I do, please speak up, in the little time we have. Help do our part keep Virginia records open, accessible, and in the hands of Library of Virginia and professional archivists!

Thank you! --Julie Cabitto"

For more information about the details of the bill and how it affects Virginia records, please see my Mecklenburg, VA blog at this address:
http://juliecabitto-preservinghistoryrecords.blogspot.com/

Adam Sanetra, born in Żywiec, Poland, with military pictures 1938-1939.

2011-08-16T14:21:00.005-04:00

Edward Sanetra sent me these two pictures of his father Adam Sanetra. (This is a different Adam Sanetra than my great, great grandfather.) Edward's father Adam Sanetra was also born in Żywiec, Poland, on the 29th of November 1915. This individual picture of Adam Sanetra, (with red color) was taken in 1939, while Adam was serving in Vilnus (Wilno), Poland.

The second picture is of Edward's father, Adam Sanetra, with his squadron, in Wilno in 1938. Adam is in the most bottom line, third from the right. His regiment - 13. Pułk Ułanów Wileńskich - (13th Regiment of Vilnius Lancers) was know as the only one in Polish Army which included Polish Tartars squadron - Muslims, among Catholics, Orthodox and Jews. This is a great picture of Polish pre-war society.

I thought these two pictures were beautiful, they taught me more about some Polish history, and they show Polish military uniforms in close detail. This was the first time I had seen Polish military uniforms. I really love seeing these pictures from the same time and place that my family was there. And even same family name! What a remarkable thing, that during a time when there was great religious and ethnic prejudices around the world, these Polish men of various religious backgrounds served side by side! What an amazing and admirable group of men! I asked Edward if I may post his two pictures and share the information about the pictures. I thought that other people would love and appreciate these pictures as much as I do. Thank you so much Edward, for sharing these pictures with us!

(click on image to view full screen)

Szczotka or Sotka Genealogy-resources for Cleveland, Ohio

2011-07-26T03:50:00.000-04:00

On 5 Apr 2011 Rosemary Sotka (Szczotka) signed my guest book. I have several things I can tell her, (that might interest others with Cleveland roots) so I am answering her questions here in this blog post, where I have more space.

"What a wonderful site this is. I am searching for information for surname Szczotka from Slaskie Province, Zywiec, Milowka. Poland. My Grandfather Michal (Michael) born around 1875,came to US in 1906 with his wife Katha nee Porenski and 2 daughters and settled in Cleveland, OH. He was 31 in 1906. He died around 1928-1930 in Cleveland. My Father was around 8 at the time and now has memory loss so he is unable to help. I do know that my Grandfather came to US first to stay with his brother Jozef in Cleveland. At some point they changed the name to Sotka. Any information or referrals would be much appreciated."

Rosemary, thank you for signing my guestbook! I went to check my 3 favorite databases for records: familysearch.org (free records), footnote.com and Ancestry.com, (The latter two I pay for subscriptions.) Here are some helpful things available for Cleveland Ohio, which is in the County of Cuyahoga. On footnote.com, there is a collection called "Ohio Northern Naturalizations". This is not the index, this is the actual record that I have had to send off for my relatives in Chicago! Footnote also has the Cleveland City directories from 1861-1923. These two databases are extremely valuable regarding looking for immigrant ancestors. I did not see your family in here on quick searches. I even manually went to 1907 and 1908 in the directories, then went to the "Sz" page. It doesn't mean your family is not in these collections. It just means their names are not spelled correctly in this database. I would keep searching with various spellings. Clerks may have dropped a "Z" or "S", at least. Also, the city directory should be complete, but the naturalization collections are still being digitized and not complete.

On Ancestry.com and Footnote.com, the 1930 Census is there. (click on icon to view full screen) Katha is listed as Catharina B. Szczotka. I thought it was odd she was not listed as widowed, but rather married. Yet I couldn't find her husband. Then I found Michael on the Ohio death index as dying on 28 Apr 1930. The Census was taken 15 Apr 1930, so Catharina wasn't a widow, until 15 days after this record was made. My guess is that Michael was in a hospital, with his name spelled incorrectly, or he was overlooked. Katha is on the Ohio death index for 13 Feb 1969. This Ohio death index was on Ancestry.com.

On familysearch.org, I found several immigration records. It was an easy find because Ellis Island spelled the name correctly. 8 Oct 1905, Michael immigrated and said he was going to his brothers house, Jozef Szczotka, at 1133 Clair St (?), in Cleveland, Ohio. Michael-Ellis Island 1905 Then in 8 Nov 1906, Jozef again comes through Ellis Island saying he's going to his brother-in-law's house, Marcin Zientik (?). Michael-Ellis Island link 1906 Ten days later, 18 Nov 1906, Katha arrives with their children Anna and Franciska. Katha, Anna & Franciska-1906 There is a Jozef Szczotka who arrived 17 May 1904, which I believe should be Michael's brother that arrived before him. But the name is not linked to the right page, so I couldn't read the record, just the index.

You are fortunate that Michael, Katha and some of their their children remained in Cleveland and didn't move. That will make them much easier to find. From the Ellis Island record and this 1930 record, I can tell you they had at least 5 children:
               1) Anna born about 1903
               2) Franciska born about 1905
               3) John J. born about 1911
               4) Mary born about 1919
               5) Charles born about 1921

Since the family arrived in 1906, the first Census they would be on, is the 1910 census. I recommend searching for the family on the 1910 and 1920 Census. I recommend taking Michael and Katha's death dates, and looking for Cleveland newspapers that day, (and maybe also 2-3 days later) for an obituary. That would tell about other family members. Some areas with a lot of Polish Catholics, like Chicago and Minneapolis, have obituaries in Polish, in a Catholic church newspaper. I don't know what newspaper resources are available in Cleveland. I would also take the death indexes and get a copy of their death certificates. If the informant knew, then the parents names should be listed on the death certificate. I didn't even do Sotka searches. Micheal and Katha's death records did not have their name changed, so my guess would be the next generation. But since you know there are two spellings, keep trying both spellings! If you can find the church for where your family lived, in Poland, write to get the marriage record for Micheal and Katha. Probably between 1900-1903. Their marriage record in the church will list their parents and possibly grandparents names. Baptismal records I've seen in that time and area, have parents, grandparents and godparents names on the record. So I recommend looking for a baptismal record for Anna and Franciska. I will email you a copy of this post, as well as the list of names on the Ohio death index list. Here is a link to Cleveland Genealogy help and resources, at Rootsweb.com: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/. Here is also a link to Cindi's List, for Ohio genealogy resources: http://www.cyndislist.com/us/oh/societies/. Happy searching! Hope that helps with a few ideas of things to look for, to learn more about your family.

Mary Bialek

2011-07-23T13:29:00.000-04:00

On Feb 13, 2011, Krista Rogman wrote the following on my guest book. I wanted to answer her questions here, because these are common questions we all have. My hope is by answering her questions here, it may give you some ideas in searching for your family with similar situations.
From Krista:

My grandmother was Mary Bialek who I think was born in Zywiec 1896 to Joseph Bialek and Frances Kastelink. I believe there were 8 children. Mary and her twin sister took a cattle boat to the USA and eventually made it to Gary, Indiana.
I'm not sure how to get started on how to find information about Mary's family and track if there are any living relatives. It is possible that some of them moved to Krakow.
Any ideas on how to get started?
Thank you!

My first thought while reading this, is that the Naturalization index for Gary, Indiana is on Ancestry.com. So I went to Ancestry.com and immediately saw this record:
(Click on it to view full screen.) I assume this record means her married name is Zabinski? Her residency and birth year match what we know. The important thing here, is her immigration date. I could not find her listed on indexes. Marya was not showing up in searches for Mary. So I searched for her by her date of arrival and saw her right away. Here is the image on the New York Immigration Records database on Ancestry.com.

Immigration record page 1 of 2

This page had a good amount of information. But I knew that this page looks like a page from Ellis Island record, which are usually two pages long in 1912. So I went to Ellis Island, and found this exact same record . Here is that link: Ellis Island link for Mary Bialek

Immigration record page 2 of 2

Then I went back to the image in Ancestry.com and saw they did have both pages, I just had to click the "next" button, in the viewer. So here is the second page of the Ellis Island record:

This two page immigration record shows that Mary Bialek and her twin sister did indeed travel together, to Gary, Indiana. Their father was Josef Bialek, living in Zywiec, proving what Krista was told was all true. What is very interesting to me, is that they were going to live with a brother-in-law, and a cousin traveled with them. So more family names to look for! Marya and her twin sister Josefa were traveling to Gary, Indiana, to a brother-in-law named Klemlus Mozinak? I cannot read that handwriting! If you look at the destination column, and name of relative coulmn it says: Gary, Indiana. Line two and three say "brother-in-law." The next person down, (Helena) says that relative who is Mary's brother-in-law, is Helena Ostrowska's cousin. Helena's father is Roman Ostrowski, and he was also living in Zywiec. All three girls, Mary, Josefa and Helena were all age 17, and servants.

I was thinking that I have heard the name Ostrowska before. So I just pulled up my tree. I do not have the name "Bialek" in my tree, the closest name I have is Biela. But, I do have a few Ostrowska people in my tree, living in Zablocie-Zywiec. I have not heard of Roman Ostrowski, or his daughter Helena before this record. In my tree, I have Josef Ostrowska born 1859, who married a Maria Sanetra. This Josef was son of Kasper Ostrowska and Malgorzata _________. There is also a Janina Ostrowska born in 1907 who was a daughter-in-law of a Maria Sanetra and Maciej Caputa. This Maria Sanetra is sister to Adam Sanetra, my great...grandfather, pictured at the top of this blog.

So what would I do next? I would first take this immigration record and order it from the NARA website in Chicago, through email. Then I would look for a Bialek-Zabinski marriage in Gary, Indiana to see if that is who Mary married, or try to find why that name is on her naturalization record. Then I would look for Mary and Josefa Bielek, Helena Ostrowski, and the relative they went to stay with, all on the 1920 Census in Gary, Indiana. If they are there (Gary) in 1920, I would then look for them in the 1930 Census. I would also see what else I could find, to see if the house they went to really was Mary and Josefa's sister's house. I would also try to look for when their sister immigrated to see who she went to go live with, or to see if she was the first in the family to immigrate. I would also double check the religion of these people. My guess would be Catholic. If so, I would look for records in the Catholic church in Gary, Indiana. I would also try to see how Helena is related as a cousin. There's the questions that I can think of for now. I am also curious to see if we have a connection with the Ostrowska family?

This is how you order the Naturalization record. The link to the NARA page is on my blog, right column. You send an email to this address: Chicago.Archives@nara.gov
Type up a request for the record. I typed in "requesting naturalization record for _____," in the subject line. In the email, I typed up the information on the index and stated I wished to order the record. I attached the index record to the email. The National Archives, (Chicago branch), will reply back to conform they have the record, tell you the expense and where to mail a check. The record I got this way, was seven dollars. Prices vary. From the time I emailed the request, to receiving the record was less than two weeks.
Hope these thoughts and this information may be of help to someone.

"catching up" on posts

2011-07-22T11:58:00.000-04:00

Dear readers, genealogists, family history enthusiasts, and friends,

I have stacks of papers on my desk, of things I found or wanted to ask people about. I have found answers to guestbook questions (Polish blog). I have found information I think would be interesting to others, searching for similar information. The pile of papers keeps growing, along with my impatience with myself. I regret that I am extremely delayed in getting back to people, and sharing this information I've been acquiring little by little. I have had some health problems greatly slow me down since last July. I am thankfully recovered and much healthier, but I am frustrated that it is still taking me so long to get back to everyone. I will always have little setbacks (neurologically caused), but in general, I believe my health is under control enough to resume contact with everyone again. If you have emailed me before, or signed the guest book before, and you still haven't heard back from me by September the first, I apologetically will need another email sent to me: julie.cabitto@gmail.com
I do really, really love genealogy and preserving records. It has always been my interest and my refuge from challenges. Just wanted to explain and apologize for why so many people have not heard back from me for so long, and tell you answers and replies are still coming! Look forward to hearing more from you all,

Thanks, Julie

Marianna Klosak and Jozef Wojtas

2011-07-03T16:10:00.000-04:00

I finally found Marianna Klosak Wojtas on the Census! I found it by the "fuzzy searches" on familysearch.org. That search engine looks up possible close spellings, unless you tell it to do exact searches. It is better than soundex searching. There was an Anna Wojlasz that came up on my search results, and she was the right age. It looks like the Census taker forgot to cross the "t" in Wojtas, and that the surname is really Wojtasz.
I had: Jozef born 1887, Marianna born 1892, Anna born 1910, Julianna born 1911, Rosa born 1913, and Caroline born 1915. Jozef and Marianna were born in Poland and immigrated. The children were all born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The 1920 Census has: Joseph born 1887, Mary born 1892, Anna born 1910, Julia born 1912, Rosa born 1914, and Clara born 1916. This 1920 Census was in Rusk, Wisconsin, east of Minneapolis.

Marianna Klosak and Jozef Wojtas lived mostly in the Minneapolis area. Here is a timeline, of the dates I know about:

1910 Jozef and Marianna were married in Minneapolis
1910 child Anna Wojtas was born in Minneapolis
1911 (Feb) Marianna traveled with Bronislawa Sanetra, stating on Ellis Island records she was traveleing to Minneapolis where her husband Jozef Wojtas lived
1911 child Julianna Wojtas born in Minneapolis
1913 child Rosalie Wojtas born in Minneapolis
1915 child Caroline Wojtas born in Minneapolis
1915 Minneapolis city directory: 216 3rd Ave NE
1916 Minneapolis city directory: 220 3rd Ave NE
1917 Minneapolis city directory: 222 3rd Ave NE
1917 WWI draft registration. Jozef was listed as alien, wife and 4 children, working at Waldorf Paper Mill. His address was 222 3rd Ave NE
1920 Census, Rusk Wisconsin (about 70 miles east of Minneapolis)
1923 Minneapolis city directory: 813 Marshall St NE
1923 Marianna dies of TB, address on death certificate: 813 Marshall St.
1964 Jozef Wojtas died, said he was widowed, his spouse was Mary. Address: 15 Growland Terrace, Minneapolis, MN. He is in the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) so he most likely became a citizen.

There was also a John Wojtas, married to a Maryanna Sandak 20 Jan 1913. They lived at 635 Marshall St, while Jozef Wojtas lived at 813 Marshall St. John worked at the same Paper Mill as Jozef, as stated on John's WWI draft card. I do not know yet whether John and Jozef were related. John and Marianna Wojtas had at least Anna, Stella, Joseph and Robert Wojtas. John died in 1939. The lived their lives in America in Minneapolis. On the WWI draft registration card, it said Jozef's dependants were a wife and 4 children, which would be wife Marianna, and children: Anna, Julia, Rosa and Caroline. Which tells me that Bronislawa Sanetra was not living with the Wojtas family in 1917, or the 1920 Census. Marianna Klosak Wojtas is still the last person I know of, to have seen Bronislawa Sanetra. It is surprising to me that Marianna went to Poland, leaving behind a young baby, and while expecting another baby. I assumed traveling was very expensive and not a lot of going back and forth for young married women with young children. Even though the passage there and back could be done in under a month, it is still surprising to me that a young mother brought our relative Bronislawa Sanetra to America.

Adam Sanetra family linked together today, on Footnote.com

2011-06-21T13:11:00.001-04:00

The Footnote Pages on Footnote.com are free pages for everyone to see, no subscription needed. If someone was in the SSDI (Social Security Death Index), they automatically have a Footnote Page. You can also create a page. I created some pages so that I could link everyone (Adam Sanetra's family) together. I really like the Footnote pages and what it can do visually with tagging, annotating, timelines, showing relationships, marking places on maps etc. Once someone has a footnote page, I can link records and family members to them. For example: I created this page for Alfreda Mazurkiewicz. I connected pages of her sister Anna, her nephew Kazimierz Bazarnik, her husband Adam Sanetra, her daughter Jadwiga Sanetra. Then I added in Paul and his siblings, listed her as a "step mother", the technical term. Then I uploaded Adam Sanetra's naturalization record. She is on that record, listed as Adam's wife. So I connected the record to her. If you see someone on the Census, you can connect it to their Footnote Pages. I also like that relationships are stated. For example, it will say under connected pages: "Paul Sanetra is the sibling of Ervin Sanetra." You can also click that you are related and state how.

I created pages for Adam Sanetra, Rosalie Wandzel, Alfreda Mazurkiewicz, her sister Anna Mazurkiewicz. Anna's husbands Mr. Bazarnik, and Ignatz Baranowski. Also her son Anton Bazarnik who stayed in Poland. I also created pages for Bronislawa, Stanley, Bronislaw, Jozef, and Jadwiga Sanetra, all children of Adam Sanetra. Paul and Ervin Sanetra already had Footnote pages. All seven siblings are linked together, and they are linked to their parents. I will add more records to connect to the family soon.

If you would like to see this family linked and connected together, here is a link to Alfreda's Footnote Page. (I'm not sure why the picture of Alfreda and Adam looks so light on footnote, I'll have to work with the colors and re-post that picture.)
Alfreda Mazukiewicz Footnote page

A letter to a Carpenter Union in Chicago

2011-03-23T10:40:00.000-04:00

I thought this was an interesting idea Paul and Catherine Sanetra had! Paul was a carpenter, and he was in a carpenter's union, which was a great protection for immigrants. Paul knew and remembered that his father Adam Sanetra was a carpenter. He assumed it was highly likely that his brothers became carpenters too (like Ervin and Paul). Note: Paul does not list his brother Ervin in this letter, because he knew where Ervin was, they kept in touch.

This is what Paul knew at the time, in March 1957. He did not know whether his father had died in the epedemic or not. He also didn't know they had left the country. Adam, and the youngest two sons, our family called Bennie and Joe, (Bronislaw and Jozef) went back to Poland. But to this day, our family still does not know what became of Stanislaus Sanetra.

The answer to this letter was that there was no record of any of these people. This is a mimeograph copy, on thin paper like rice paper. I adjusted the contrast to try to make it a bit more visible. Click on image to view full screen.

blog update

2011-03-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

My apologies I have gotten way behind on my blog, replying to your emails, and replying on the guest book. I hope to catch up with answering everyone over the next week. I usually do much of that on weekends, and the last few weekends came and went too fast!

I just renewed my PGSA membership and ordered a few records from them. I am working on some future posts. The next few posts, I will post some things my grandmother got from writing letters to various places in Chicago.

Kazimierz Bazarnik

2011-02-06T19:44:00.001-05:00

Kazimierz Bazarnik picture and signature

This is a picture of Kazimierz Bazarnik with his naturalization record. Now I realize why I had a hard time tracing him. He didn't have any children, and he sometimes changed his name. On the 1920 Census, Matilda Malinowski was in Chicago with her mother (her parents were divorced). Her father Felix lived nearby. On the WWI draft registration papers, it stated his name was Kazimierz Paulik, name changed, so he could keep his job. He was a machinist. Kazmierz was in Detroit on the WWI draft papers and filed his naturalization paperwork in Detroit in 1919. So I believe this is Kazimierz on the 1920 Census (icon to the right):

1920 Census

Matilda and Kazimierz married in Gary Indiana 22 Aug 1922. I tried to find Matilda and Kazimierz together on the 1930 Census and could not find them. I cannot find anyone close to Matilda's age, born in Poland. So I wondered if maybe he lived in Detroit and sent money to her in Chicago? I think I found Kazimierz and I think Matilda may have been accidentally omitted. I found a Kazimierz on the Census, as the last entry on the page. Half the page was crossed out, with a notation in the margin that this information was being moved to another enumeration district on page 16A. So I looked at that page too. Both Census pages are attached here. After both pages, it was a new enumeration district, so Matilda was not on the next page. Both these 1930 pages and the 1920 pages do not have the surname Bazarnik. But I believe Kazimierz kept using different surnames to keep his job. (Note sure why he did that yet) The age, occupation, marital status and immigration year are correct on these Census pages for Kazimierz. On the 1930 Census, he is listed as married, on 1920 single. Both Kazimierz and Matilda received citizenship in Chicago.

Kazimierz was born in Krakow, Poland. He had blue eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, was 5 feet 6 inches and 126 pounds. He immigrated to the United States with his mother Anna Baranowski (married to Ignatz Baranowski, already in Chicago), and his aunt Alfreda Mazukiewicz. (Anna's sister, who later married Adam Sanetra). (Alfreda's picture, top left of this blog.) They arrived at Ellis Island 1 Feb 1914. Kazimierz left behind a brother, named Anton Baranowski in Poland. Kazimierz lived in Detroit and Chicago. Possibly also Gary, Indiana. He married there, and it is his last address listed on the Social Security Death Index. At the time of the WWII draft registration, Kazimierz citizenship, and Matilda's citizenship, they lived at 2555 W. Cortez St. (click on picture icons, to view full screen),

1930 Census page

1930 Edited Census Page

WWI draft Registration card

National Archives-Chicago branch website (and a few notes about the Naturalization index)

2011-01-25T23:23:00.000-05:00

I discovered an immensley helpful website, that I want to tell everyone about. I found an index for a naturalization in 1940, so I knew it was in a different place than where I got Adam Sanetra's naturalization. The place where I got Adam's record, only has records until 1929. So I didn't know where to get the record from 1940. This 1940 index card said citizenship was granted in the Chicago US Federal Court. So I called the court and asked where records were stored for 1940 naturalizations. They told me the National Archives. I told the clerk that I had read that the archives in Washington DC didn't have Chicago naturalizations. He told me there was a National Archives branch in Chicago, which was the branch I needed, and he gave me the phone number and web address. Later I read more about the database on Ancestry.com. If I had selected "read more about this database" I would have read how the record was at the Chicago NARA branch and would have spared myself some confusion.

I was so amazed when I saw the resources available on this site! I looked through page after page, thinking about what great information there was for such a diverse variety of subjects. I spent a half hour and hadn't even seen all the resources available on that website. Then I remembered I was distracted, and wanted to call to ask about the naturalization record. The person I spoke with was very helpful, and asked if I was comfortable with email. I said "I love and prefer email", so I was asked to send my request by email. This address is also on the site: chicago.archives@nara.gov I typed up my contact information, the index information I had, and asked about the fees. I was told the charge for the record was 7.50 and they would send me a letter with the bill when they found the record. Just a week and a half later I got a bill for 7.50 saying my record was found and ready. So good, friendly, helpful, and quick service!

Today I was looking at the form and it said "Our office does NOT have non-Federal court records, such as county court naturalization records." So I called NARA again to ask them to help me understand better. I have an index card, for Adam Sanetra, but it is the same index card system as I just ordered the 1940 record from the NARA Chicago branch. Then I wondered if there was two records for Adam Sanetra, one in Chicago and one in NARA records? The woman I spoke to was very helpful. She said the index was done by NARA, but not all the records are kept by NARA. I asked about Adam Sanetra's index card I had. She asked what court it stated. I told her and she said that was Chicago court, so his record is only stored in Chicago. So just one record, and only stored where I already got a copy of my record.

I'd also like to point out something which might be confusing or possibly misleading. On Adam Sanetra's index, it says, "date he was naturalized." He was NOT naturalized. The date listed was actually the date the court denied him citizenship, because he was already out of the country and didn't show up to court.

So here is the index card for Adam Sanetra I talked about. It is the index done by NARA-Chicago. I got this index record from Ancestry.com. I ordered this record from Chicago courts. See posting: 12 September 2009 (or click on tag "naturalization" in right blog column for multiple examples)
Here is the actual record, which matches "date naturalized" on the index, (but he is actually denied). I think it would be more accurate if the index said "court decision date." Click on images to view full screen.

On this NARA site /http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/ There's great resources available like:
-how to care for your own family records
-learning how the National Archives can help with family history
-WWII picture collection
-lesson plans and ideas for teachers
-view a scan of the original, and a typed-text version of documents like: the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights

There are two main index databases: ARC (68% complete today 25 Jan 2011), and AAD. Here is a direct link to the http://aad.archives.gov/aad/ AAD (Access to Archival Databases) page. It includes things like 227,000 electronic telegram records on foreign policy files, WWII Army Enlistment records, and many military/serviceman information records. The ARC (Archival Research Catalog) has information and images of things such as: maps, science and environment, application for enrollment into Native American Tribes, Fugitive Slave cases, military personel records, and naturalization records. I saw an interesting page where this guy was issued his visa for a fourth time, and part of the court transcript was included in the index search results. Here is a direct link to an ARC search page: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/topics/genealogy/

There are many interesting things which are part of our county's history, on this website. Enjoy exploring the NARA resources available! I am!

guest book

2011-01-09T23:29:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note that I updated my guest book today. I replied back to all the posts since the last of Aug. I usually try to reply within a day or two, then send a copy to the email address provided, so you know I replied. Life is calming down a bit for me, so I hope to be able to keep up with the blog and guest book better now.-Julie

Julia Matuszek and how I met her granddaughter.

2011-01-08T23:58:00.003-05:00

Julia Matuszek

Bronislaw Sanetra

Julia was the daughter of Franciszek Matuszek (a Pole) and Paulina Bürger (Austrian). She married Bronislaw Sanetra. Julia and Bronislaw had four children: Apolonia, Liliana, Adolf, and Henryk. The youngest, Henryk, only lived about a month.

Bronislaw Sanetra was 5 years younger than his brother Paul Sanetra. Julia and her children wrote Paul a few times. But about the time they started writing each other, Paul's wife started having major health issues and then passed away. Then Paul lost touch with his family in Poland.

Apolonia Sanetra, Poland

Paul's son Richard, paid a genealogist to go to Poland to find our family. Richard sent a few letters Paul had received, with the genealogist, so family would know who we were. The genealogist gave us the addresses of Jozef and Julia's family. We wanted to start writing letters to Poland. But it was a challenge, because we only know English and they probably only knew Polish. So we were going to look for a translator. Meanwhile, Richard moved and retired. My house had a major electrical fire, and writing got delayed another year from that. I went to visit my grandpa after things settled down for us. We looked at the letters and pictures his father Paul had received from Poland, in the 1960's. Richard let me borrow the letters and pictures so I could digitize them and put them in archival safe materials.

Liliana Sanetra, Poland

We knew about Ervin's family. Ervin and Paul found eachother as teenagers. We knew about Jozef's family, and the genealogist met his son Adam. We knew about Bronislaw and Julia's family a little, from a few letters and two addresses the genealogist gave us. But we still didn't know hardly anything about them. We only had one letter from Bronislaw since Paul had seen him last, in January 1919. We still don't know anything about Paul's siblings Stanislaus (since January 1919) and Bronislawa ("Bessie") (since Feb 1911). We also hadn't heard anything from Paul's sister Jadwiga except the letter in 1963. (In my previous post 9 Dec 2010)

I wondered, if I typed messages on the Internet, could family around the world recognize what I wrote and find me? I had posted on genealogical message boards with no response. I needed an easier way to get my message out to more people, for free. I wondered, if I created a blog, posting pictures and stories, would it be easier for family to find me? I didn't know anything about blogs, but I had seen one, and thought the blog format would help me. I spent a few days reading blog help menus and technical pages, to learn about formatting. I created my blog. A few months later, I learned how to post a picture image instead of a title that was just text for the blog title. I created a collage of pictures into a single image for my blog title picture. I put in the title picture, a picture of Adolf Sanetra, hoping someone from his family might recognize the picture and know that my family was looking for them. I also put other pictures in the title picture, hoping Paul's other siblings or their descendants might recognize the pictures.

Adolf Sanetra, Poland

Soon after posting this picture of Adolf, I got an email. The email was from Jolanta Piecuch, Adolf's daughter. She had recognized the picture of her father (To the right of this paragraph) on my blog. And she lived in America, not Poland! It was so amazing we found each other! This was the whole purpose for creating my blog, to find more family!! Thankfully, Jolanta knows English very well, so I didn't need a translator to talk to her. We emailed eachother regularly for several months. I had an opportunity to travel close to where Jolanta lived. So I went to meet her. My grandparents met me there too. Jolanta made us some wonderful traditional Polish dishes, fed us delicious produce from her garden, answered questions we had about Poland, and grandpa told a little about his family. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to do all the visiting we all would have liked to do. But we decided this was just the start of our friendship.

Another amazing thing happened. We Skyped to Adolf Sanetra in Poland! We got to see family in Poland! Jolanta translated for us. It was really neat to see Adolf and his family in Poland, as close as face to face as we could get, through Skype. I don't know if I've ever seen my grandpa smile so big for so long. He was talking to his first cousin Adolf, in Poland, seeing his cousin for the first time. Seeing family in Poland was a dream Paul always had, but was never able to do. So we were able to continue Paul's dream of finding family and talking to family in Poland.

I am so grateful that technology helped amazing things happen. It is rather remarkable, all that had to happen to lead to the Skype session between Poland and the USA. First, Adolf sent the picture to Paul about 1965. Then the picture went to Paul's son Richard. Then I borrowed the picture from Richard. Then I created a blog and posted the picture. Then Jolanta found the picture and contacted me. Then we continued to correspond and became friends. Then we met. Then Jolanta coordinated a time we could speak with her father. Then, during our visit, we Skyped to Poland. Then Jolanta translated for us. In a way, it seems a miracle that everything lined up just right for us to meet, talk, and understand each other. It is impossible for me to put into words, how grateful I am for this day (in September 2010) I met Jolanta's family.

I continue working on this blog, in the hopes that we will find more family. I also write, in case it may be of help to others looking for their family.

Note: I will share more stories about Julia and her family soon.

I am thankful to Jolanta Piecuch for sending me the pictures in this post. I am also thankful to family who sent pictures to her. Click on images to view full screen.

Jadwiga Sanetra's letter- looking for family and working through tough economic times

2010-12-09T16:22:00.010-05:00

The following is a letter written from Jadwiga (in the area of Lebork, Poland), to her brother Paul in Arizona, in May 1963. Paul was orphaned at age 12. From that point on, the only sibling he had seen was his brother Ervin. Paul's father (Adam Sanetra) placed the boys in a Chicago Catholic orphanage, with the plan to re-marry and return to get them. He married Alfreda Mazurkiewicz and returned to pick up his children as he had promised them, but the orphanage had lost Paul, Ervin and Stanley. Adam, Alfreda, Bronislaw (our family called him Bennie) and Jozef returned to Poland. Then Alfreda and Adam had Jadwiga. Paul Sanetra was 58 years old when he received a letter from Poland, and the family started to find each other again! He and his family had been looking for each other for 46 years! Paul was also 58 years old when he found out he had a sister he had never met. The first few letters he received were about how his father had been looking for him, and had tried to keep his promise after all. Jadwiga did not write with punctuation or paragraphs. I am very thankful to my friend for giving me an English translation. Paul at one time had a translation but it had gotten lost over time. Note: The picture is of Alfreda, Jadwiga, Bennie and Joe. The baby pictured is Jadwiga the writer of this letter. This is the only letter I have that tells about how life was for a family member during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

Dear Brother,

In the beginning of my letter I would like to tell you how happy my mom and I are for the fact that after so many years we have found each other. As a family we haven’t known each other until now, so I would like to ask you to send me your picture, and a picture of your family. I assume you do have a family. Please, tell us as much as you can about your life, and the life of a second brother.

Mom asks if you found brother Stanley and sister Bronka. We can already congratulate you on finding us, and brother Bennie, since our search [for the family members] hasn’t brought any results. Our father, before he left America, was looking for all of you for a long time. Unfortunately, he hadn’t found anyone.

I was born in Poland, and I was four when father died. Mom worked, so did Bennie and Jozef. After some time they got married, and had their own families, so then mom and I were alone. We have not heard from Bennie since about 1941.

During German occupation I was still young, [but] and worked in the factory. We lived in the city. Food rations were so small, and work hard. I thought that I would not survive if anything would not change. But somehow all that passed.

I was very sick, and in a few years I had again a surgery for a duodenum ulcer (of the liver).

After a few years from the surgery I got married. We do not have children. We have bought a small farm, we still have some mortgage to pay, and the [farm] buildings are in bad shape. My husband commutes to work to get extra income, but it is not worth his effort since commuting takes a lot of time, and no one pays him for that lost time.

My mom is with me. She is now 79 years old. Her health is not good, but I’m happy that she is alive. We miss father all the time. But what could one have done? The disease was incurable. Father wanted so much to live. He left America in hope that his health would improve, but he died within one year [of returning to Poland]. He was always very sorry that he wasn’t able to find you.

Dear Brother, please do not loose contact with us. I would like to write to brother Ervin too. I only wonder if writing to me isn’t too much trouble for you. I am sure none of you can read or write in Polish. You went to English [language] school. I do not know English because I went to Polish school. But I think that all that shouldn’t be an obstacle in keeping in touch.

I am finishing this letter now. My mom and I send you all the warmest greetings. Please, write back [to me].

Bronislaw Marzowski

2010-11-28T23:51:00.001-05:00

Debbie Marszowski posted these questions on my guestbook, in Oct 2010. I want to post her questions here in case anyone can help:

"I am looking for my Fathers family...I believed he was born around 1926 and lived in Krakow, Poland. He mentioned he had a brother Nicholas, who was a pilot during the war. His father apparently was a post master and a tailor. He was in a concentration camp and that is all I know. He never mentioned anything else and has recently passed. I would love to find our relatives if I could but believe I don't have enough information. He did mention he had a sister and other siblings but was vague. He said his name was Bronislav Kashmir Marszowski (not sure of the correct spelling) there are no legal documents. Thank you"

I did some searches and found these things in the US, in case he or other family moved here. Here are some similar sounding spellings you may want to keep in mind while searching for your family.

**An Anthony Smarzowski married Anna Sikora, in 1895, in Holy Trinity Church . (an "S" added to the beginning of the name.)

** No Marszowski names in the PGSA marriage database. (USA & Poland marriages) (Search done Oct 15, 2010.)

**There are some Marszowskis on the 1930 Census and on the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) in Chicago. (See attached Census record. Click on image to view full screen)

**There is a Bronislaw Marzowski from Natrona, PA in Haller's Army. Volume 439 pg 54, form type C. (Got this on PGSA database index)

**I found an immigration record for a Bronislaw Marszewski. He was a butcher and immigrated before your Bronislav was born.
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.

**I do know much about research in Poland yet. If your family was Jewish, here is a link to some pictures and historical information about Krakow. Also on this page is a slide show, of lots of older pictures. http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/krakow/default.asp.

Through this site, I found the index to a microfilm for some Jewish birth & marriage dates for Krakow. I hope to find a similar set of records on microfilm for Catholic records of the same time period. I ordered the microfilm last week. It has multiple years on the film, but I was specifically looking for a birth record in 1886, in Krakow.

I hope that may give you a few ideas. If any of you reading this post recognize this information, or have an idea for Debbie, please email me or post a comment to this message.

Guest book

2010-11-28T22:41:00.000-05:00

My apologies I've not kept up so well with my blog & guest book. A few things got the best of me, temporarily. Now I'm ready to start up more researching, blogging & answering the guest book.

St. Florian church information: Żywiec-Zabłocie, Poland

2010-10-10T22:46:00.003-04:00

On the left column of this blog, I have a church pictured, called St. Florian church. It is where a lot of my Sanetra family records are kept. I found this site with pictures, and a nice video clip about the church's history. It is of course, in Polish. But it is visual enough that even if you don't know Polish, you can know what the church looks like. This site is maintained and copyrighted by the Catholic Church.
St. Florian Church video clip
Unfortunately I can't get a direct link to the video to work. So follow these three steps:
1) Click on the above "St. Florian Church video clip."
2) Go to the brown boxes with words, click on "historia parafii".
3) Scroll down to and select "zabacz film o parafii"

A friend and relative watched this clip. She told me about what was said and shown. Here are some things she told me about, that I thought you might find interesting in this video clip:

* Prior to 1895, people in Zablocie were part of The Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Zywiec. In 1895 citizens of Zablocie created the St. Florian organization, dedicated to building their own church.

* The building of this church started in 1935.

* During the war, a national resistance group called Armia Krajowa (AK) hid weapons and printed resistance literature at the church. The priest in charge had to hide from the Nazi's because of this.

* Pope John Paul II often visited this church, sometimes annually.

I hope you'll check out this great visual site, the Catholic Church made available, about the history of this church.

Auschwitz-Jewish and Catholic records available on-line

2010-08-29T17:11:00.003-04:00

I find it challenging to try to find out if some of my ancestors were Jewish or Catholic. I have read stories about Christian-Jewish marriages. Not easy or popular, but it did happen. I find a record, yet it still doesn't tell me which religion they were. I found surnames like Mazurkiewicz and Wandzels in holocaust databases. Yet these names are also in Catholic parish records. Now I think I know the biggest source of my confusion. My discovery, is that being in a concentration camp didn't necessarily mean they were Jewish. And I don't mean someone who might have been considered a political threat or who protected Jews. I already knew those people were in camps.

I told a friend that I haven't found any Sanetras in holocaust or concentration camp records, but I know these records are just starting to go online. He sent me this link to Auschwitz records. I don't know who these Sanetras are yet. But the name Sanetra is not very common, and they lived near my Sanetras. My first reaction was shock. I was stunned at how many Catholics were in Auschwitz! This list (60 thousand) was about half Catholics and half Jews. I never knew it was like that. When I asked other people if they knew it was this bad, (this many Polish Catholics in addition to Polish Jews were killed), they were stunned like I was. I just had no idea the Poles were targeted this severely! I asked a Polish friend some questions, and she was surprised we didn't know. So today, I write about what I learned this week, in the hopes we may go learn more history and know this part of our history a little better.

I knew that besides Jewish, there were others in the concentration camps, like: gypsies, Russians, and anyone deemed a political threat. Then I wondered, how was it "justified" on paper if they weren't Jewish? Was everyone not Jewish (in Auschwitz) labeled as a political threat? Were Poles targeted because Poland had been a haven to Jews for hundreds of years? I know we can't really understand the insanity of those who murdered millions of people. I was thinking in terms of record keeping, but even that is beyond what I can comprehend.

Wikipedia states 146,000 non-Jewish Poles were estimated to have died in Auschwitz. Wiki also quotes:

German Nazi planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction" of all Poles. "All Poles", Heinrich Himmler swore, "will disappear from the world".

It then went on to say that about 3-4 million Polish would be left in Poland to serve as slaves to the Germans. Nazi planners even wanted to kill people who spoke the Polish language. It also said that all Polish (and other Slavic nations) were deemed "non Aryan" by Nazis. Wiki articles went on to say German planners decided not to target Poles to the same scale as Jews because of timing, and possible complications in the future, such as reckoning with neighboring countries. The footnote source for this information was given as: Gellately, Robert (2001). Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press. pp. 153–154.

There are now four places I've seen records for Auschwitz, and they're all a little different. The Auschwitz foundation page explains that when Nazi's knew the troops were coming, they started mass destroying records. But multiple records were kept. The Auschwitz Foundation is collecting any record relevant to Auschwitz. They have received other records for other concentration camps in this process. The foundation is working on a way to archive and make those records accessible too.

1) Here is the link I was sent, where I first realized how many Catholics were there too. (Orthodox and Roman Catholic notated). This link is set to the "S" page, for a Sanetra search. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can see the alphabet and go to other surnames. This database is about people who died at Auschwitz, with a death certificate issued by camp doctors. (free record search)
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2007/03/56679.php

2) My friend sent me this link to the Auschwitz foundation page. http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/
The site is available in Polish and English. (free record search) This site lists birth, marriage and death information in "the prisoner search" database. There are informational pages on collections, preservation, restorations, goals and finances. It is a well done site that I highly recommend reading through. There is a page about Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton pledging 15 million dollars on the behalf of the United States and encouraging other countries to do so (last month). Art work done secretly by prisoners is posted on this site. The thing I thought most impressive, is that they stated the reason for doing this was to preserve the concentration camp and records. As proof that it happened, so it can never happen again. I was so impressed reading how extensive the preservation efforts were. I believe that a worldwide interest in preserving history and records is so important and so awesome!

3) Footnote.com has 12 holocaust databases. (subscription paid for records) There are also some amazing historical documents about the camps. Including pictures of a camp Hitler had set up for propaganda. Pictures were staged and taken. Then sent out to show how the Jews were being "cared for". One of the databases are War Crimes Records. Here is my Jan Wandzel image I got from Footnote.com. (click on it, to view full screen).

4) Ancestry.com (subscription site) contains 18 holocaust databases. There are 45 Jewish databases on Ancestry.com. Including these 5 databases for Poland listed as free: Jewish birth, death and marriage collections. The Bedzin Jewish Census of 1939, and Jewish Survivors from the Keilce district 1945. All of the non-United States Jewish databases are listed as free. Ancestry.com's site says this information is all free, in cooperation/partnership with the Jewish Gen site.

If you have relatives that you can't find any family information about, and they were in Poland during WWII, I highly recommend checking these records. No matter the race, age, or ethnicity. Then remember to check back again periodically. These records are just at the beginning of being released online. Right now, records available are counted in the thousands. But millions of people will be accounted for with these records.

2 family pictures: Lugwig Sanetra's wedding picture and an unknown family picture from Ludwig's family

2010-08-22T14:46:00.000-04:00

A continuation and update of postings 26 Feb 2009 and 14 Jun 2009. Or click on Ludwig Sanetra tag.

I am thankful that Dirk Varnholt saw my blog this week, and identified this picture on my blog that I had titled "unknown Sanetra wedding picture". He identified the people in this picture as part of his family, and the picture as the wedding of Caroline Strzawi and Ludwig Sanetra. These pictures come from his family, and we somehow got a copy. There was Polish and German writing on the back of the picture, which actually identified the people in the picture. I did not understand the writing, because I only know English. I am very grateful to know who's wedding picture this is. Dirk and I are both searching for people who know about Ludwig's family. Like my Sanetra family, his family was separated during the war. He is trying to figure out who his relatives and ancestors are. We hope to find the relationship between Adam Sanetra and Ludwig Sanetra. If you know of this Sanetra family (or any other Sanetra family), please contact me. Comparing some information with Dirk, we know a little about Ludwig's family. I write this information, in hopes someone may recognize it. Ludwig Sanetra's siblings were separated.We know from some records that they were born in Zywiec, Poland. Some family went to Germany, some to Hungary, some to the United States, and some to the Czech Republic.

Ludwig had a sister name Franciszka Sanetra that married Karol Nasluchasz. He also had a sister named Marianne (Dirk's family) who married a Mr. Stachon. Franciszka and Ludwig immigrated to the United States. They each married in Chicago. Marianne remained in Europe. Ludwig, Franciszka and Marianne were the children of Jozef Sanetra and Regina Wojcik.They may have had more children.
The picture on the left and right of this paragraph are Ludwig Sanetra and Karoline Strzawi's marriage picture. Ludwig is also written on records as Ludwik or Louis Sanetra.

We wonder if this next picture could be Ludwig, his parents and a brother? We are also wondering if Micheal Sanetra that was in Chicago may be related. The Michael Sanetra in Chicago married Stella V. Mathuszewska and had 8 children that I know of. There was a Michael Sanetra who was the godfather to Agnes Sanetra, (Marianne Sanetra's daughter). Does anyone from the Micheal and Stella Sanetra family know if Michael was part of this family and was he the same Michael who was godfather to Agnes Sanetra? Also, does anyone from the Michael Sanetra family know if anyone in this family picture has a family resemblance to the Michael Sanetra in Chicago?

If you know of any other siblings of Ludwig, please email me or sign my guest book. If you know anything about the Ludwig or Michael Sanetra families in Chicago, or anything about these pictures, please email me or sign my guestbook.Thanks!

Adam Sanetra and Alfreda Mazurkiewicz marriage record

2010-08-07T22:12:00.001-04:00

This is Adam Sanetra married to his second wife Alfreda Mazurkiewicz. This picture is believed to be taken when they married.

Marianna Klosak married Jozef Wojtas-their family (And John Wojtas family)

2010-08-04T21:33:00.001-04:00

Note: see posting 22 Feb 09 or tag "Wojtas"
I found on the PGSA website today, that Marianna Klosak married Joseph Wojtas in 1910 in Minneapolis. And Marianna had her first child, Anna in 1910. This census entry was enumerated 25 Apr 1910, see (22 Feb 09 posting) . I would expect that to be married and have a child in the same year, that Marianna and Joseph married the early part of the year, and had the baby Anna later in the year. So I don't think the 1910 Census I found, could be right for my Marianna who traveled as Bronislawa Sanetra's aunt in 1911, because of the marriage and baby in 1910. So instead of being Marianna Klosak on the 1910 Census, I now expect to see her listed as Marianna Wojtas, newly married. But this also means Marianna would have left a young baby to go get Bronislawa Sanetra from Poland. This Marianna Klosak on the 1910 Census is the right age, and has the right father's name, Joseph Klosak. There is a single Mary Wojtas in 1910, and that is her maiden name. That's all I've been able to find in Minnesota so far. So I don't think I'm seeing the right Maryanna on the Census yet. On the PGSA Minnesota birth records database, there two men the same age showing up with the surname Wojtas in Minneapolis. Several Wojtas families are in Chicago, but we know our Wojtas were in Minneapolis. It is John and Joseph Wojtas. Possibly brothers? They both married a Mary. But it seems our lady seems to stay consistently Marianna, except on her death certificate it is shortened to Mary. I spent some time tracking the two men on City Directies, familysearch pilot record search page, looking on the 1910 and 1920 Census, and the PGSA site. For Joseph Wojtas and Marriana there were these children listed: Anna 1910, Rosalie 1913, and Caroline 1915. For John and Mary Wojtas (married 1913) there was Anna 1913, Stella 1915, Joseph 1921, and Robert Edward 1925.
see this link on PGSA site. Type in "Wojtas" and select "start with", instead of "exact". This is the Minnesota Births database: http://pgsa.org/polmarindex/RysBir.php

(Click on image to view full screen.) It says Joe Wojtas has 4 children. My big question is, did they have another child not on this Minnesota birth index? Or are they counting Bronislawa Sanetra as their fourth child? I really wish I could find them on the Census. I manually looked up the 222nd Ave NE address on the 1920 Census, and they were not at that address. I have the following addresses for Joe, Jozef or Joseph Wojtas, all in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

1911 February-When Bessie & Marianna immigrate, on Ellis Island, Jozef Wojtas is listed as 222 3rd Ave
1915 Minneapolis City Directory: Joseph Wojtas, porter, r 216 3d Ave NE
1917 Minneapolis City Directory: Joseph Wojtas, lab r 222 3rd Ave NE
1917 WWI draft card, gives address as r 222 3rd Ave NE
(No Joseph Wojtas on the 1919, 1921, or 1922 directories)
1923 Maryanna's death certificate, gives the address as 813 Marshall St NE
1964 Joseph's death certificate, gives address as 15 Growland Terrace, Minneapolis

Note, John Wojtas was on the 1920 Census and several Minneapolis City Directories at the address of: 965 Central Ave.

Rozalia Wandzel, Jozef Sanetra's birth record in Chicago, and Maslonka surname

2010-07-25T19:29:00.001-04:00

Note: 3 Aug 2010. I did order the microfilm. I should see it 2-3 weeks. Then I will update this post.

Today I was looking on the PGSA website again. I saw something I had seen before, but a notation was added since I last looked at this information. So this web page shows Jozef Sanetra was born in Chicago, 25 Sep 1912. Jozef is pictured in the top right corner of my blog, standing in the doorway of a house he built for himself. He is listed with the middle name of Michal. This birth record is at Holy Trinity Church, in Chicago. It is located on film number 1703799, item 2, page 120, volume 10, enumeration #837. I will try to get this microfilm to get this actual record, because of it's unique notation. The index says Adam Sanetra was the father and Rosalie Wandzel was the mother. The note that stood out to me, I now have to find out what it means! It says under notes, "mom was Maslonka". So I started trying to think what this could mean. Could she have been married before she married Adam Sanetra? No, she was pretty young. So I went to recalculate how old she was when she married Adam Sanetra. She was only 14 and a half! So that was very young. Then I worried I had made a mistake on the dates. I looked at Rosalie's death certificate and our parish records and family letters again. They all show that Rosalie was born in Aug of 1885 and married Adam Sanetra in Feb 1900. I guess I just never did the math before, to realize she was so young! Rosalie died at age 33, having had 6 children. So Rosalie was born Wandzel, then was Sanetra from the time of marrying Adam in Feb 1900 to her death in Oct 1918. So then why would she be listed as Maslonka? and when? Her death certificates, her children and the parish records all said and knew her maiden name was Wandzel. (sometimes written as Vondzel).

I tried to brainstorm ideas with my mom and grandma. We know other people who have married this young, but it is much less common. Grandma asked what was going on politically, religiously then. My only theory that could make sense, is that I have been told the name Wandzel sounds Jewish. Whether it is or isn't wouldn't have mattered so much. What mattered is what people assumed. And assumptions often led to persecution if their name sounded Jewish. So could Rosalie have used the name Maslonka to sound more Catholic? Could she have married young, because marrying a man (Adam Sanetra) known to be Catholic with a Catholic sounding name offered protection? This is the only possible theory I can think of. If anyone has any other possible theory, please let me know. Right now, we know Rosalie Wandzel married Adam Sanetra in a Catholic church in Zablocie Poland. Her parents and grandparents names are listed on the registry record. We know the names of Rosalie's siblings, but that is all. So we do not know for sure yet whether Rosalie was born Jewish or Catholic. We just know for a fact that she married Adam in a Catholic church. I am still looking for Rosalie or her family on any record that would tell us their religion. I have found Wandzels from Zywiec and Zablocie on Concentration camp records. But that does not mean they are Jewish either. This is just all new information for me and I don't really know how to find records to prove religion yet, so I know where the rest of the family records are. Rosalie's family is not in the same parish records as Adam Sanetra's family. So was she in a different parish? Or was she another religion? I hope to know one way or the other some day. I did find someone with the name Wandzel from Zywiec, and his family was Catholic. But it looks like records can go either way for Rosalie Wandzel's family.

naturalization and citizenship records-some things that helped me, multiple sites and records

2010-07-18T23:45:00.002-04:00

Note added 25 Jul 2010.- I asked my grandma why Kasimierz Bazarnik seemed to be an exception to the rule. We brainstormed ideas. Grandma remembered that men got citizenship during WWII. Kasimierz is on the WWII draft card, not listed as alien. So this is a very likely possibility, of why Kasimir doesn't have his naturalization number written over his immigration information on the Ellis Island manifest.
Note: Click on the images in this posting to view full screen.
There is a new database on Ancestry.com that has been very helpful to me. It is still in the early stages. I keep finding new people each time I search it. I was told that the numbers written on the Ellis Island manifest, were a naturalization number. Now I have found a record to show this is true. I'm going to give two examples, one of a person who became a citizen and one who did not. This first database I want to tell you about, is a database called, "Selected U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1966 (Indexed in World Archives Project)" The following record groups are in this database: 1) Connecticut 2) Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa (where my Chicago records have been found) 3) Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont 4) New York 5) Rhode Island

This is the source info on Ancestry.com. Here is the link to the full information page about this database. http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1629 It is being done by volunteers. Here's a paragraph from this page with the embedded links: Ancestry.com. Selected U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1966 (Indexed in World Archives Project) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors in partnership with the following organizations

Illinois State Genealogical Society

Polish Genealogical Society of America

Jewish Genealogical Society of Southern Nevada

This first example is my great, great grandfather Adam Sanetra. Here is his index card in the database I just discussed above. Next is Adam's actual court papers. He started it, but then his wife Rosalie died, 3 children (Paul, Ervin and Stanley) got lost by the orphanage, and one daughter Branislawa ("Bessie") got lost during immigration. Then Adam made a big mistake. He left the country, and he wasn't supposed to, during the time awaiting citizenship. After his wife died and he'd now lost 4 children out of 6, he didn't want to loose any more family. So he took his new bride Alfreda Mazurkiewicz and his two sons Bronislaw ("Bennie") and Jozef back to Poland, and lived by his sister Maria, in Zywiec. Then he came back soon after, in 1923, to try to finish his citizenship. But he was denied. He signed an oath (when he applied) that he wouldn't leave the country. And his story about loosing his children probably wouldn't have been believed by immigration officials. After being denied citizenship and not being able to find his children, he went back home to Poland the remainder of his life. Alfreda never came back to the US, and you can see no numbers next to her name on Ellis Island. She traveled with her sister Anna Baranowski and nephew Kasimierz Bazarnik.

Here are the two links for Adam Sanetra immigrating to the United States, through Ellis Island. They correspond with the dates on this record:
First time, with Rosalie in 1904:
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=102494110099&ANNID=276098
Here is the second time, in 1923:
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&pID=602107080077&show=\\192.168.100.11\images\T715-3328\T715-33280131.TIF&origFN=\\192.168.100.11\images\T715-3328\T715-33280131.TIF&fromEI=1

If you notice, there are not any numbers by Adam's name. Now here's something that confused me. On the index, it says Adam Sanetra was naturalized on 9 Apr 1926. But he was not. If you look at the fourth page, right above this text, you will see on the 9 April 1926, the court denied him citizenship. Maybe that field really means the date the court decides whether he is a citizen or not? Even if someone is denied citizenship, you can still apply for the application. And you can see from these 4 pages all the important information on this record. There is a number written by Adam, but I'm not sure what it means, on the 1923 record. It is 3-4713. I don't see that number on the index or naturalization paperwork.
**************

Next example is Matilda Molinowski, Kasimierz Bazarnik's wife. Here is Matilda's card, from the Ancestry.com database. I love that the birth date is given on the index. http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&pID=101358050209&lookup=101358050209&show=\\192.168.100.11\images\T715-1490\T715-14900412.TIF&origFN=\\192.168.100.11\IMAGES\T715-1490\T715-14900411.TIF
So if you look at the index card, upper right corner, there's the number 11-264467. Then if you look at the Ellis Island link of the ship manifest, look at Matilda, which is line 11...after her name, there's 4 smaller boxes, then in the next bigger box is the matching number 11-264467, followed by the date 17 Sep 1940. The index card says date of naturalization was 21 Mar 1941. Maybe the September date was the court date, and the certificate was written and awarded in March? One thing we can see from this record, is that only Tekla, Felicia and Matilda in this family were naturalized. And we have their file numbers. I don't know Tekla and Felicia's married names or marriage dates yet, but I might find them with this number. Although on the 1920 Felix is living with his daughter Felicia and her husband which looks like Lucyan Borejszo, which is how it is indexed. Yet if you look close at the witness on Matilda's record, there is a Felicia living at the same address as Matilda, so she may be the sister remarried? I will keep looking through records to find more on that. On the Ancestry.com database, I was doing searches by the year 1910, when Matilda and her family immigrated. It doesn't show up on the cards, but on the text index (in search results), on Ancestry.com, I searched by the name Felicia, in 1910. I saw several, but none of them had the immigration date of 30 May 1910, which was when Felicia immigrated. This is still a very new database, so I will check back soon.

This is another place naturalization records are listed for Chicago: http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/NR/default.aspx, Adam Sanetra is in this database. The Bazarnik's are not. There is a lot of helpful information on this site about the process of naturalization.

There is one thing that throws me off though. It appears Matilda's record and index matching was typical. But there may be exceptions. For example, I didn't see a number on Kasimierz Bazarnik's manifest page. Here is the link to Kasimierz' Ellis Island immigration:
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&pID=100390050179&show=\\192.168.100.11\images\T715-2256\T715-22560407.TIF&origFN=\\192.168.100.11\images\T715-2256\T715-22560407.TIF&fromEI=1

There is no number by Kasimierz on the ship manifest, but there is next to his mother Anna. Anna's husband Ignace Baranowski started his naturalization. But he died before the process was finished. At that time, when the husband applied, he applied for everyone in his family, spouse and children under age. Anna did not finish the naturalization. I believe she died about the same time her husband did, in the flu epidemic, or else I think she would have identified and had a funeral for her husband. Yet I know from the death certificate she did not. And Kasimierz was on the SSDI (Social Security Death Index), so I would expect he became a citizen. So maybe they meant to write this number next to Kasimierz, instead of his mother? Here is Kasimierz card from the database on Ancestry.com. There is no number in the upper right corner. Maybe that was done on later records, after 1940? Or maybe it was accidentally omitted? Maybe Kasimierz applied 24 Dec 1935 (date on the manifest), and became a citizen 19 Mar 1940 (date on index card) ? That is my best guess for now.

Footnote.com is another site I love and search a lot. It took me a month, paperwork to fill in, and over 20$ to get the record for Adam in this posting. But footnote has these records digitized and available by searching the database. I like footnote's way better! I have seen records in New York and Ohio on footnote.com. They may have more.
I hope this may be of help to someone searching for their ancestors naturalization/citizenship records. There is a lot of valuable information on these records. If you don't find your family in these records, keep checking back. These databases are brand new, and just in the beginning stages. Footnote.com, Ancestry.com, familysearch pilot page (the best for searching Ellis Island records, with direct links to the manifest pages) http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0, are all regularly updating their databases by the millions. The pilot page just added 30 million records last month. The Chicago link I put above is also still in beginning phases.

Kazimierz Bazarnik married Matilda Malinowski - Gary, Lake, Indiana

2010-07-18T13:17:00.000-04:00

I kept searching and searching for a Matilda, since I saw she was listed as Kazimierz wife on his WWII draft card. Finally found her this weekend! I decided to do another search on Gary, Indiana genealogy, since the SSDI (social security death index) lists Gary, Indiana as Kazimierz last place of residence. I saw something new to me. This PDF compilation of marriage records by the Lake County Historical Society (In Indiana). It said marriage book index 1837-1920. Kazimierz and Matilda were married in 1922, yet they were on this list somehow. Here's the link: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~innwigs/Archives/MarriageIndex-Lake-Groom/Lake-Marriages-Groom-B.pdf
Open the link. Then in the "find box" type Bazarnik, and the name will be highlighted for you. So this record says: book #46, page # 257, license # 064056, application record 189, groom: Kasimir Bazarnik, bride: Matilda Malinoski, application date: 12 Aug 1922, return date: 5 Sep 1922, marriage date: 12 Aug 1922, marrying official: Howard K. Kemp JP (justice of the peace), Herbert L. Wheaton clerk.

Now that I had a maiden name, I wanted to see what I could find for her. I believe her name may actually have a "W" in it. Much more records show up if I type "Malinowski" instead of "Malinoski". Next I went to search Ellis Island records. I found her immigration. Her is the link to the annotation page. You can click to see the manifest from here: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=101358050209&ANNID=288058

I have Matilda's naturalization index and her family on the 1920 Census. I'll post that in the next posting. More on Matilda and her family in my next post, within the next day or so...So far I still can't find Kasimierz on the 1920, or 1930 Census. He lived in Chicago, was in Detroit on the WWI draft card, then married in Gary, Lake, Indiana in 1922, was at the 1058 Marshfield address in 1923, then in the 1940's living at 2555 Cortez St (on WWII draft & both Kazimierz and Matilda's naturalization records.). Then Kazimierz' last address on SSDI was Gary, Indiana.

Adolf Sanetra pictures

2010-07-05T13:30:00.001-04:00

Adolf Sanetra is son of Bronislaw Sanetra and Julia Matuszek. A special thank you to him for these pictures. He is also pictured at the top of my blog, bottom center, in uniform. Adolf has kept homing pigeons most of his life and has entered them in flight competitions. They fly as far away as Germany and Belgium. Adolf also enjoys gardening. I find these things fascinating! Posting with love, admiration and best wishes for my Polish cousin. -Love, Julie

Ignace Baranowski information & Ignace's death certificate

2010-07-04T22:14:00.003-04:00

Cynthia at Genlighten (as "chicagogenealogy") helped me find this record. http://www.genlighten.com/profiles/chicagogenealogy I was just stumped looking for Ignace, and was very grateful she found this for me. I thought this death certificate was about a year too late to be my Ignace, but I couldn't find anything remotely close, so I kept it until I could figure things out better. My first thought when I saw it, was, "how sad, no one came to claim him, they kept him for a month to be identified." I figured that meant lots of his family died in the flu epidemic. Then with all the unknowns listed, I thought, "that sounds like my family, everything unknown." So for several months of searching, I have not been able to find anything more on Ignace or his wife Anna. And Ignace Baranowski is a pretty rare name in our country. In fact, the only Ignace Baranowski I've found records for, is my Ignace. I can't find hardly any of my Chicago Sanetra's in 1920. Possibly because of the missing, but later added Census records. And those Census records aren't on Ancestry.com, footnote or familysearch. I see Paul Sanetra, on the farm he was sent to. I see Bennie and Joe in the orphanage. I see Karol Janik, Julia and her 3 boys at 1058 Marshfield. But no Adam, no Alfreda, (and they married that year), no Ignace, no Anna, no Kasmierz. None of Adam Sanetra's other children: Stanley, Bessie or Ervin. So today I drew out a timeline for Ignace, and I am now convinced this death record is my Ignace Baranowski. I had thought the draft cards were in 1919, but now that I see these were in 1918, the record does fit.

Ignace Baranowski & Anna Mazukiewicz timeline:

1881- Ignace is born 9 Apr 1881 in Poland (Anna is born abt 1876)

1913- About March, Ignace marries Anna Mazurkiewicz

1913- 16 Aug 1913 arrives in the United States

1914- 31 Jan 1914 Anna, her son Kazmierz Bazarnik & her sister Alfreda Mazurkiewicz arrive in the United States. Living at 518 Osbourne Ave in Chicago.

1915-1916- City directories list him at 518 Osborne Ave.

1918- 15 Jun 1918 Kasmierz Bazarnik lists his mother Anna as his person of contact at the Marshfield address. He is working in Detroit under an assumed name to keep his job.

1918- 17 Jun 1918 Filed naturalization record. Living at 1058 Marshfield Ave with Karol & Julia Janik.

1918- 12 Sep 1918 World War I draft card-living at 1058 Marshfield Ave with Karol Janik. Anna is listed as living with Ignace on both the naturalization and WWI record.

This draft card is the last record I can account for either Anna or Ignace.

On the 1920 Census, Ignace is no longer with Karol and Julia's family. I have Karol on the Census with the Marshfield address. Ignace is no longer on city directories. He did not finish his naturalization. Rozalia Wandzel (Adam Sanetra's first wife) died in Oct 1918 of the big Chicago flu epidemic. So I figured it was highly likely Ignace and Anna died in the flu epidemic about the same time. I am now convinced this record is the death certificate for Ignace Baranowski, Adam Sanetra's brother-in-law. (Adam and Ignatz lived at the same 1058 Marshfield address.) I'm still not sure about Anna. It is possible she remarried, but I find it highly unlikely, or I would think she would have identified her husband's body. Click on picture to view full screen.
The cemetery listed is Oak Forest Cemetery, in Chicago. Also known as the Cook County poorhouse cemetery. I will try to find a phone number to confirm Ignace is in the cemetery records and see if by chance there's a record of Anna here too. I know he's not in a family plot, but they may have died about the same time, since he was not identified. I'll add the information I find to this post later. See this link about the cemetery: http://ssghs.org/oak_%20forest_%20hospital_%20cemetery.htm

Picture of Bronislaw Sanetra

2010-06-21T12:47:00.000-04:00

This picture is from Adolph Sanetra, the son of Bronislaw Sanetra. I am thankful that he shared this with our family. I am the great grand daughter of Paul Sanetra, Bronislaw's older brother.

Franciszka Sanetra Nasluchacz's brother was Ludwig Sanetra

2010-06-03T23:38:00.001-04:00

Note: See postings 26 Jul 2009 and 2 Aug 2009, or click on tags Nasluchacz and Ludwig Sanetra.
This link shows the annotation for Ludwig Sanetra that lived in Chicago. You can click on "see manifest" to view the manifest. I was searching today on Ancestry.com, and saw Ludwig Sanetra under a naturalization index. It gave the date he arrived in the United States. So I searched the NY Immigration database on Ancestry.com because I can search with less fields. I searched only for a "Ludwig" immigrating in the year 1912. Then I skipped to the "S" names. I saw a Ludwig for the exact date the naturalization record stated, and he was listed as Ludwik Sancha. Because the "T" in Sanetra wasn't crossed. So then I saw the ship name on the Ancestry.com page and looked it up on Ellis Island, manually, under the ship search. Even though I could see the record on Ancestry.com, I still wanted to look it up on Ellis Island to save it to "My Ellis Island file" and to annotate the correct surname. Also, so I can share it more easily. This Ellis Island record states he is leaving behind his mother Regina Sanetra in Zablocie, Galicia (Poland.) It also states he is going to his brother in laws house Karol Nasluchacz on West 12th Street in Chicago.

Franciszka Sanetra Nasluchacz' death certificate says her parents were Jozef Sanetra & Regina Wojcik. Unfortunately I don't know who this Regina & Jozef Sanetra are yet. But I do know of a Regina Sanetra in Zablocie-Zywiec who was a midwife listed on a number of baptismal records for my family about this time period. Franciszka's death certificate is attached here:

I went to footnote.com & created a Footnote Page for Franciszka and Ludwig to connect them as siblings. And to connect each of their children to them, and to each other. Here is Franciszka's link, and you can see Ludwig's link there: http://www.footnote.com/page/111387028_franciszka_sanetra/
ttp://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=100932120123&ANNID=286701http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=100932120123&ANNID=286701

Alfreda Mazukiewicz family group record

2010-05-31T15:50:00.007-04:00

Click on image to view full screen and zoom in.

Paul Sanetra pedigree chart

2010-05-31T15:23:00.003-04:00

Click on image to view full screen and zoom in.

Karol Janik, Julia and Joseph Kwiatkowski

2010-04-24T14:50:00.002-04:00

I am still on my quest to prove whether or not Julia, married to Karol Janik was the sister of Alfreda Mazurkiewicz. My hope was if I found Julia's obituary or death certificate it would state her maiden name or something more about her family. These records did not. See posting on 28 Feb 2010. Under Julia's father's name it just said "Pantera". So then I set out to see if I could find a certificate for one of Julia's sons, to find her maiden name. I found a listing in the Chicago death indexes for a Joseph Kwiatkowski who died 14 Jul 1952. I ordered the death certificate to see if this was Julia's son. It was! This Joseph Kwiatkowski lived at 3451 W Hirsch St. He was a glass blower at a glass factory. He was buried by his mother Julia in St. Adalbert's cemetery. His father is also buried in the family plot. Karol Janik is also in the plot. And another Julia Janik that died in 1928 is in this plot. (I have no idea who she is, but wish I did.) His parents were listed as "Walter Kwiatkowski and Julia Pontera," His wife Stephanie was the informant.

So I did searches in multiple databases. The surname Pontera or Pantera show up as Spanish or Filipino names, or as immigrants from those countries. But Julia was Polish. So now I have another surname to search for, but am still at a loss for proving or disproving Alfreda and Julia, or Alfreda and Karl or Adam and either Julia or Karl could be in-laws. Still trying to figure out these family relationships.

If you know this Kwiatkowski family, or any Kwiatkowski family from Chicago, I'd love to hear from you.

Paul Sanetra's godfather: Albert Zader (and George Sanetra)

2010-03-21T11:21:00.001-04:00

Paul Sanetra (my great grandfather) was baptized in St. Nicholas church 2 Jul 1905, in Chicago. He was the son of Adam Sanetra & Rosalie Wandzel. Albert Zader was the godfather & Nellie Steiner the Godmother. I do not know yet if there was any relationship between the godparents.

I found Albert Zader on the 1910 Census, in Chicago, with a son John Zader, born in 1886. Click on image to view full screen. Albert Zader was listed as immigrating in 1905, & his son John came in 1909. They lived at 2505 Clyborne. Adam Sanetra gave the address 1769 Clyborne a few times over the years as his address. This Census is all I can find on Albert Zader.

The surname isn't very common. There is one other Zader family I found. A Herman Zader married to Albertyne. They had a daughter Lilia that died at age 5. She was buried at St. Lucas 27 Nov 1918.

I also wanted to notate that the household above the Zaders. I believe that is a Sanetra family, even though that first letter doesn't look like an "S". So that is George Sanetra, a tailor, wife Mary and daughter Josie born about 1904. Mary & Josie immigrated in 1910, & the Census was in May. So they probably immigrated between January & May of 1910. George immigrated in 1906.

If you know about Zaders in Chicago, or this George Sanetra, please email me, post a comment or sign the guestbook, Thanks!

Peter Drechny and Walerya (Valerie or Viola) Lientarska's family

2010-03-06T22:40:00.002-05:00

Peter Joseph Drechny was born 27 Jun 1866 in Poland. He died 24 Oct 1933. Peter married Walerya Lientarska. Peter arrived after the 1880 Census, there's no 1890 Census, but here are the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 Census. Click on images to view full screen. Also attached is Stanislaw's birth certificate, found on the LDS familysearch pilot page, at this link: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#surname=drechney;p=recordResults;searchType=standard. Note on the 1930 Census: Walerya died 9 Jan 1926, and in 1930 Peter is remarried and listed with Julia Mazurkiewicz.

Peter and Walerya had the following children that I can find:
1) John Harry Drechny: born 19 Jan 1889
2) Stanislaus Aloysius Drechny: born 30 Apr 1891, died 9 May 1892
3) Boles C. Drechny: born 9 Feb 1893, died Jun 1975
4) Stephen Drechny: born 3 Jul 1894
5) Angela Drechny: born about 1895, died before the 1910 Census
6) Jennie Drechny: born about 1897
7) Sebastian Drechny: born about 1910

Peter Drechny and Julia Mazurkiewicz-Kwiatkowski-Janik-Drechny

2010-02-28T10:02:00.003-05:00

Attached images are the 1930 Census with Peter and Julia. Also Julia's death certificate. Click on them to view full screen.
I went to the PGSA website (Polish Genealogical Society of America), and looked at the obituaries index in the Dziennik Chicagoski newspaper. I found so much helpful info that I joined the society. I saw someone listed as as "Julia Kwiatkowski Janik-Drechny". I wondered who that could be and figured they had to be related with the names Kwiatkowski and Janik. I received the obituary last week, and to my surprise it was my relative Julia Mazurkiewicz! But unfortunately her maiden name was not in the obituary. I was also surprised the obituary was written in Polish, but I'm glad there was a Catholic Polish newspaper in Chicago. I knew this was my relative because it said Julia had the address of 1058 N. Marshfield. I didn't know what the Drechny name was from. While I was waiting for the obituary to arrive, I did searches on the surname Drechny, and I only saw one Drechny family in Chicago. It was Peter Drechny and Viola. I looked at the Drechny's address on the Census, plotted it on my Sanetra map and it was about 2 blocks from our family at 1058 N. Marshfield. So then, since I knew this Julia was ours, I ordered a death certificate for Julia Drechny. Sadly, her maiden name was not on her death certificate either. I was really hopeful to get something off her death certificate, like maiden name or parents names. Although the word "Pantera" is listed in the father's field-space for Julia, and I don't know what that means. I looked up "parent" and "father" in the Polish dictionary and Pantera does not equal either word. I'm finding lots of fields left "unknown" on records for my Polish relatives. Well, on Julia's death cert it does say her husband was Peter Drechny. So then I checked the IL state death index and saw Viola died in 1926. My next posting will be info on Peter and Viola, including Census and birth records I've already found.

So here is a time line for Julia Mazurkiewicz:
*** 7 Aug 1875 Julia is born in Poland
*** abt 1893 Julia married Wladyslaw Kwiatkowski
*** 5 Aug 1902 Julia arrives in the US with her 3 sons Joseph, Teddy & John, to join her husband Wladyslaw Kwiatkowski, in Chicago.
*** 20 Mar 1910 Julia's husband Wladyslaw Kwiatkowski died in Chicago
*** 1 Jul 1910 Julia married Karol Janik in Chicago
*** 31 Jan 1914 Julia's sisters Alfreda Mazurkiewicz and Anna Baranowski and Anna's son Kasimir Bazarnik arrive in the US
*** 28 Dec 1920 Julia's sister Alfreda married Adam Sanetra
*** 6 Jun 1922 Alfreda and Adam Sanetra return to Poland, being denied citizenship. In 1923, Adam Sanetra comes back to the US and lives with Julia and Karol Janik for a year. (Karol is from same town in Poland as Adam-Zywiec) Alfreda never returned to the US. Adam went back to Poland after about year.
*** 30 Apr 1928 Julia's husband Karol Janik died.
*** between 1928-1933 Julia married Peter Drechny. (After 1928 when Karol died but before 1933 when Peter died.) Peter became a widow in 1926.
*** 24 Oct 1933 Julia's husband Peter Drechny died. Julia returned to the 1058 Marshfield address where at least one of her sons still lived. Peter owned a home on the 1930 Census, but on his death certificate, his address says 1058 Marshfield Ave. So he and Julia moved there together before he died.
*** 7 Jun 1947 Julia Mazurkiewicz died, and was buried in St. Adalbert's cemetery (Catholic) by her husband Wladyslaw Kwiatkowski and Karol Janik. (Not sure about Peter Drechny yet, but he was buried in same cemetery.)

PS. I discovered from Julia's obit, that her son John Kwiatkowski changed his name to John Flowers. A posting soon on that after I get more info. I did find him on SSDI with the Flowers surname.

PS. Peter Drechny's address has been added to the Sanetra map at the bottom of the blog.

Adam Sanetra's brother-in-laws: Karol Janik & Ignace Baranowski's Naturalization

2010-02-09T19:32:00.004-05:00

Here is Karol Janik's Naturalization record. Click on picture to view full screen. I was disappointed though that there was only the Declaration of Intent. This was as far as Karl & his brother-in-law Ignace Baranowski went. They're both living at that 1058 Marshfield address. It's interesting to me that Karol is listed as blond with fair skin. All the family I knew of had very dark hair. Also Karol says he's from Zablocie. I can't help wondering if Adam & Karol knew each other back in Zablocie before going to the US. Adam did live with Karol in 1923.

I had looked and looked for Ignace's immigration. I'd tried every spelling variation with soundex & wild card searches I could think of. No results, in Aug 1913 as the Naturalization index online said. So today, I got the Naturalization record, it said he was on the ship called "Main". So I went to Ellis Island, to the ships, chose the Main, then saw the Aug date. And sure enough he was there! But he was indexed as "Barowowski" & I guess that wasn't close enough to my searches on soundex & fuzzy searches. Well, glad I finally found him. I saved it to my Ellis Island file & annotated it. Here's the link to the annotated page & you can see the manifest link on the page.: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=102917070141&ANNID=281837

Here again is Karol Janik's Ellis Island link :
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=105345010014&ANNID=281509

Zywiec and Zablocie are today in the Slaskie province

2010-02-02T17:44:00.002-05:00

I couldn't find Zablocie and Zywiec close to eachother on a current day map, and I'd heard they were near each other. I found multiple places named Zywiec and Zablocie. I saw Zablocie was part of Krakow and thought I'd been told we were from there. I really wanted to be able to mark where we were from on a current map, & to know where to look for records. I went to the PGSA website to the gazateer. http://www.pgsa.org/Maps/PolGaz8809.php
I typed in Zywiec and got 4 entries very close to each other, within a degree or so. Zywiec said: 49degrees 41'N 19 degrees 13'E, province in 1988 Bielsko, province in 2009 Slaskie, UTM grid CA70, map NM34-07. I typed in Zablocie and there were 21 entries. But one was very close to Zywiec: Zablocie, 49degrees 55'N, 18degrees 47'E province in 1988 Bielsko, province in 2009 Slaskie.
So I figured it was very likely my family was from Slaskie, but wanted some confirmation.

So I went to Ancestry.com to the Slaskie, Poland message board. I posted a picture of the two pictures of the churches (on my blog, top left column) and said they were from Zywiec and Zablocie. I asked if anyone could anyone confirm if they were in present day Slaskie. Someone thankfully did confirm, and told me the names of the churches. I knew the names were correct, because of the name on the parish records we had. But I wasn't sure which picture was which church, before the posting. The message posting also said Zablocie was a separate village which became part of Zywiec abt 1950. So I am very happy to know my family is in the province today known as Slaskie!

I marked a Google map with where my family was from in Poland, and put it at the bottom of the blog, above my Chicago Sanetra addresses map. I updated that Chicago map today too. I realized the local church/parish for Adam Sanetra when he placed the boys temporarily in the orphanage was St. Columbkille, at 1648 W. Grand Ave. When I plotted in on the map, I realized Adam and Alfreda lived within two blocks of that church. Then the boys were transferred to St. Hedwig's orphanage, in a different parish. Possibly because there wasn't an orphanage at St. Columbkille. On the 1920 Census, there weren't orphans listed at St. Columbkille.

Finally found our Karol Janik's immigration!

2010-01-31T22:16:00.000-05:00

My annotations on Ellis Island:
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=105345010014&ANNID=281509

Manifest, line 14: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&pID=105345010014&

I was doing more searches on Karol Janik. There were 5 Karol Janik's with this exact spelling. Then I was going to try fuzzy searches. I set to ruling them all out. And then this last one, I realized it fit perfect. It's the very day he says on his naturalization record, that he immigrated, & he's a tailor just like his record says. Julia was a tailor too. Also, we knew Karl was married once before, because of the notation on the Catholic index, but had no idea to who. So this record shows, he was widowed when he came to this country. So his first wife didn't live in the United States.

So here's the part I'm most intrigued with. He says he's coming to live with his cousin Andrew Gowin in NY, on Losington (?) Ave, NY. I didn't consider this record before, because I thought Karol went straight to Chicago. But because this info matches the naturalization for Karl exactly, with the Marshfield Ave address, it has to be him. See posting 28 Dec 2009. So the part about Karl's cousin being Andrew Gowin....I always thought there had to be more of a connection between Karol & Adam. And this may be it. Adam Sanetra's mother is Franciska Gowin. Adam & Karol are about the same age. Adam's mother had a brother named Andrew Gowin, but I don't know if he immigrated or not yet. So that'll be my next search.

Agnes Sanetra in Chicago

2010-01-31T19:40:00.000-05:00

I found this record for Agnes Sanetra. It's all I can find on her. Can't find her on a Census yet, and she should be on the 1910 Census. It's kind of sad to me, that so much is unknown. I guess it means she was the last of her family in The United States, since no one could tell anything.

So this Anna died at age 44, so she was born abt 1867 in Poland & immigrated abt 1906. She lived in Chicago the whole 5 years. It is unknown whether she was married or not. Her address was 2564 Ashland Ave. (I'm sure it was North Ashland which would put her right next to all my family.) I added her address to the Sanetra map at the bottom of the blog.

So my searches for Anna Sanetra: I can only find one Anna on a Census, and that is the 1920 Census (after this Anna dies) and that Anna was daughter of Thomas Sanetra & Jadwiga Biel, in Minneapolis. On immigration, I can only find two Anna Sanetra's, but neither match. One immigrated on 13 Mar 1906, but she was age17, 22 years younger than the Anna in this death certificate. The only other Anna I could find was the same Anna who was daughter of Thomas Sanetra, in Minneapolis, age 4, immigrating 2 years after this Anna died. I looked up the address 2564 N. Ashland on the Census maps, but Agnes was not at that address on the 1910 Census. I can't really read the cemetery name, just that it starts with a Du & ends in Y. Maybe something like Dunway? I'm sure she's buried in a paupers grave, since only the hospital was the informant.

Anna is within blocks of Michael & Stella Sanetra. She's also close to Jozef & Rozalia Sanetra who I'm still trying to learn about. She's also living by Clybourn Ave, where Adam Sanetra kept giving his address. If any one knows anything of this Agnes, I'd appreciate hearing about her & who her family was. Thanks.

Help for the Chicago street changes in 1909

2010-01-09T15:23:00.001-05:00

I was talking to my friend Anne, saying I wish I could figure out how to calculate the difference in Chicago addresses. If I have an address after 1909, what was it before 1909? And what about vise-versa? I was trying to figure out more addresses to compare with the Census maps, so I could look them up by address. I have found that most of my Polish relatives I can find easier by looking up Census maps rather than by trying to guess a soundex that doesn't really work for Slavic names. (See message posting 10/1/09 or details how to do this, or label tag "Census maps".) http://www.chsmedia.org/househistory/1909snc/start.pdf Anne found this link for me. So if you are looking for Marshfield Ave, you go to the left and click on "M" then scroll through for your address to convert. This PDF is 180 pages, very detailed. It is so great I wanted to share it with everyone. Thanks Anne! And thanks to whoever posted this form!

More info on our Karol Janik

2009-12-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

I went back for my weekly check on the Chicago naturalization site, & finally Karol was there! Recently Ignatz Baranowski showed up there. So I plan to order the naturalization records for both men (brother in-laws), living at 1058 Marshfield. In 1923, Karl was living at this address & Adam Sanetra came to stay with him, & said Karol was his brother-in-law. It is very helpful, when having similiar names, to know you can ID someone by their address. Here is the link again, to search for naturalizations. New records are regularly added. http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/NR/default.aspx
Here's the info on this page for Karol Janik. Note, this record gives his birth year as 1870, & his death certificate gives his birth year as 1878.

Record Details for Volume 355

Page Number:	276
Declaration Number:	175476

FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	OCCUPATION
KAROL	JANIK	TAILOR

BIRTH CITY	BIRTH COUNTRY	BIRTH DATE
ZABLOCIE	POLAND	11/28/1870

CURRENT ADDRESS	CURRENT CITY
1058 N. MARSHFIELD AVE.	CHICAGO

DEPARTURE LOCATION	ARRIVAL DATE	DECLARATION DATE
ANTWERP, BELGIUM	5/16/1906	7/6/1926

Frank Sanetra, born in Poland, died in Chicago

2009-12-21T21:29:00.003-05:00

I got the death certificate for Frank Sanetra today. He was born abt 1866, & died 4 Mar 1935. He was buried in a paupers grave at St. Gabriel cemetery in Bremen, Cook County, Illinois. One thing I noticed that could be very helpful on Chicago death certificates (if it was filled in), was if a person wasn't born in the US, how long had they lived here? So Frank Sanetra lived in the US for 15 years. But he lived in Bremen 2 years, 4 months & 16 days, according to the death certificate. So he probably immigrated to Chicago about 1920 & then moved to Bremen area about Nov 16, 1932. The death certificate also says he was a widower. So we know he was married, but not much else. I have exhausted every search possibility & name variations I can think of. And this record is all I can find. I can't find immigration or census info & he should at least be on the 1930 Census. I would look him up by census maps, but I can't find his address on current maps. In 1935 at his time of death, the address was "1533 Tell Place" in Bremen. But Frank wasn't in Bremen until 1932 which was after the 1930 Census, of course. I called St. Gabriel cemetery and they did confirm he was buried there, in a paupers grave, no tombstone. And no further info on him. A family letter said Adam Sanetra had an uncle Frank Sanetra that lived in Chicago, so I expected this to be the uncle. And I had hoped to find out how he was related. This is the only Frank Sanetra I've seen. So attached is my only proof a Frank Sanetra lived in this country. I hope someone recognizes this info.

Ignatz Baranowski, records, family connections and addresses

2009-12-13T12:08:00.003-05:00

I went to the Chicago Naturalization page to see if any new names were added. I found Ignatz had been added since my last search! Thankfully his information is very consistent so it's easy to match up his records. Here's the naturalization link: http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org
To see his full info, type in "Ignacy Baranowski". He is listed at 1858 N. Marshfield Ave (should say 1058). He's a cabinet maker; immigrated, arriving 16 Aug 1913, departed from Bremen, Germany; declaration date 17 Jun 1918; born Karasica, Poland-Russia, on 19 Apr 1881.

So then I looked on Ellis Island, not seeing him on indexes, so just searched for any Baranowski in 1913. I found him in 31 Mar 1913. He is single though. When Anna came in 31 Jan 1914, she was married to Ignatz. So I guess Ignatz was married 10 months after arriving. Maybe he went back to Poland to marry Anna & then came back in August? The writing on this record is very hard to read, & a big black line is run through his entire record. Only one other record is that way on this page. And the word "admitted" is not next to his name. Only 4 people have the stamp "admitted" next to their name.
Here is a link to Ignatz at Ellis Island manifest, on my annotations page. You can view the original manifest from this page: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&LNM=BARANOWSKI&PLNM=BARANOWSKI&CGD=M&SYR=1913&EYR=1913&last_kind=0&town_kind=0&ship_kind=0&RF=51&PID=100588160206&ANNID=279510
Attached is also Ignatz WWI draft card. See also postings: 9/15/09, 10/1/09, 10/23/09, or it is easier to click on the Baranowski tag that will show all these postings together.

I have two addresses for Ignatz in the USA, both in Chicago. First, 518 Osborn, and he is there from at least Jan 1914 when his wife Anna arrived, to 1916 on Chicago city directories. Then on June 1918 (naturalization filed) & Sep 1918 on WWI draft card he's at 1058 Marshfield. Then on the 1920 Census Karol & Julia Janik are at this address, and Karol is listed as Adam Sanetra's brother-in-law. On the 1923 city directory I cannot find Ignatz, but Kasimierz Bazarnik is listed at this Marshfield address. So I do think Julia Alfreda & Anna are sisters. So this WWI draft card is the last record I can find for Ignatz Baranowski. And so far I'm not seeing him on death indexes, but I estimate he died between Sep 1918-1920.

Adam Sanetra on UK Ship registry-Adam's various travels between US & Poland

2009-11-30T19:05:00.001-05:00

Click on images to view full screen. If you click on the plus it will magnify one more setting. If you still can't read it, send me an email & I'll send you the PEG image. I got an email from Ancestry.com, saying they had a possible match for Alfreda Mazurkiewicz in my tree on Ancestry.com. So I thought I'd check it out. And I was amazed at what I saw! These two records are a good example of immigrants returning home. I read in the database description that in later years, a "t" was put next to a person's name for "tourism".

So Adam traveled around a lot in the 1920's. Adam Sanetra came from Poland to the US with his wife Rosalie Wandzel and arrived at Ellis Island 5 Feb 1904. Alfreda Mazurkiewicz immigrated with her sister Anna Baranowski & nephew Kasimir Bazarnik. They arrived at Ellis Island 31 Jan 1914. They all went to Chicago. Adam filed for citizenship 25 Jun 1918. Rosalie Wandzel died 13 Oct 1918. Then Adam married Alfreda Mazurkiewicz 28 Dec 1920. Paul, Stanley & Ervin Sanetra got lost from the orphanage. Bennie & Joe were still there, and were pulled out by Adam. Adam looked for his children, couldn't find them, so took his family back to Poland. We knew it was abt 1922, now we know they arrived back in England en-route to Poland on 6 Jun 1922. Alfreda had Jadwiga Mar 1923. On 13 Jul 1923, Adam arrived back at Ellis Island, and went to live with Julia & Karl Janik at 1058 Marshfield Ave. Adam says Karl was his brother-in-law. Adam worked to send money home, look for the boys, and tried to continue getting US citizenship. I guess Adam thought he wasn't going to get citizenship so he went back home and arrived in Southampton England, en-route to Poland 7 Sep 1925. He was denied citizenship 9 Apr 1926. Adam died 27 Apr 1927, in Zywiec.

The image with the brown looking paper edge, is the one in 1922, of Adam, Alfreda & Bennie & Joe going back to Poland. They are line 77-80. The other image is Adam returning home for the last time, in 1925. That image is line 133. This is from the UK incoming passenger lists 1878-1960. It is only available on Ancestry with the world records subscription. I think this is going to be a great resource for trying to find immigrant ancestors! I was pretty excited to find these records, so wanted to share.

More info on Janik and Kwiatkowski family in Chicago

2009-11-26T08:23:00.011-05:00

Karol Janik was buried in St. Adalbert's cemetery. I called to see if his wife Julia was buried beside him. She is. So then I saw (on death cert) Julia's first husband Wladyslaw Kwiatkowski was also buried in St. Adalbert's. So I called to ask for the lot number for that. When I heard the lot number, I commented out loud that both of Julia's husband's are in the same family plot. I was told there wasn't a Mrs. Kwiatkowski with him. I said Julia Janik was Wladyslaw's wife. I was then told there's two Julia Janik's in the plot. One died in 1928, and the other was buried 11 Jun 1947. This family is in Lot 349, sect 19. Karl is in plot 1 & Julia plot 3. I asked if Wladyslaw was plot 2 & I was told no, he was #4. Julia was originally in a term grave (renters) and then moved to this plot when the family could afford a plot. No other info given due to the cemetery's privacy policy.
I think the Julia married to Wladyslaw & Karol is the one that died in 1928. Because I can't find her in the 1930 Census, but yet her son's family lives at that Marshfield address. At first I thought the other Julia Janik was Julia's daughter-in-law, but then I remembered her daughter-in-law would've been Julia Kwiatkowski, not Janik.

I showed a friend Karol & Julia's marriage certificate. She tried to look up something on the church name & found this marriage record resource. We know Julia has a second marriage, because she's listed as Mrs.-But from this other index, we now know both Karol Janik & Julia were widowed. I can't get a direct link to work. So go to this link. Type in Janik, then go to pg 3. He's after the "K"'s because of the widower notation. http://pgsa.org/CzuchMar.php So now I wonder if Karl was Adam Sanetra's brother-in-law from his first marriage or second marriage? And did Karl have children from his first marriage? I cannot find any Julia Janik of any spelling on the IL state death index except one, and she died in Aug 1948. But yet there's two Julia Janik's in this family plot with Karl in 1928 & 1947. I am trying to find something. I really want to know if this Julia married to Wladyslaw & Karl had the maiden name of Mazurkiewicz. Attached is the WWI draft card for John Kwiatkowski. It lists the 1058 Marshfield address and that his mother was Julia Janik. This John also married a Julia & I haven't figured our her maiden name yet either. Here's a link to the posting I did on findagrave:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=44779823
Julia is linked to both husbands.

Missing 1920 Chicago Census records

2009-11-20T19:14:00.010-05:00

I discovered something I thought was a pretty big deal, so wanted to share in case it might help you too. I was viewing the Census maps to look for someone by their address. I found that the address I was looking for was Ward 14, and the district my address was in, comparing the census map to a Google map was district 834. So then I went to Ancestry.com, and tried to look it up manually, selecting the state, county, then ward...And I couldn't find my district! The number just wasn't there to click on. I thought that was really odd. So I went back to the Census map page to double check, and saw there was an asterisk next to the number 834 district. I read the note by the asterisk and it said in Ward 14, enumeration districts 819-839 were missing. They are not included in the NARA film descriptions or on Ancestry.com. These records were later discovered and an addendum microfilm was made. They are included on NARA roll T 625-323 (part 11).

I did some searching, to see if it was possible to find these records without special ordering the microfilm. A friend of mine has Heritage Quest. She checked for me, and the Census images were in the Heritage Quest database. Also, on the pilot familysearch page, the 1920 Census is partially up. If you haven't checked the site, I highly recommend it. Many Chicago records are there, with amazing search engine power, and you can download the images. All totally free. New records are posted daily. (Including 1920 Census images.) Here is the link to the free familysearch pilot page:
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0

I would also like to point out the site that I learned about where these Census images are. I posted about this site before, and I am truly grateful for the people who created this site. It has been an immensely helpful resource for helping me find my Chicago Polish families. This specific link takes you to ward #14 so you can see the microfilm footnote:
http://www.alookatcook.com/1920/1920Cwd14mapLtif.gif

Rosalie Wandzel-found through death permits

2009-11-06T23:11:00.001-05:00

I found a website that did Chicago lookups for small fees. http://www.genlighten.com/profiles/chicagogenealogy Cynthia (chicagogenealogy) looked up several records for me through the web service Genlighten. I liked that I could use paypal, and post messages. Cynthia was very helpful & very quick. I will continue to request records from her. She had a great resource I hadn't heard about, the Chicago death permits. A great grandmother of mine, Rosalie Wandzel died in the flu epidemic in Oct 1918. She was Catholic & we heard she was buried in a Catholic cemetery. For years our family looked for her death certificate or which Catholic cemetery she was in. I asked Cynthia to look Rosalie up in the burial permits. She found a name very similar & had the right month & year. So then I asked Cynthia to look up the death certificate to see if it was our Rosalie. It was the right one!! For years we were told death certificates weren't issued during the epidemic, people were told to stay home to not spread the disease. But I heard recently that was true, but delayed death certificates were filed. And if all else fails, now I know, you had to file a burial permit in 1918. A really nice resource. So attached is the record we found. It really isn't too far off from Sanetra. But just enough off that all the various record requests over the years did not think this record was ours. But we know it is, because her husband was Adam Sanetra. I called the Bohemian Cemetery to confirm Rosalie was buried there and she was. They said she was buried in a renters grave. The Bohemian Cemetery had this large area, where people were buried several layers deep. And you had several years to pay for a plot to move the body somewhere else. If you did not pay, then someone else was buried over the relative. Rosalie's son Paul searched for years for her grave and wanted to make sure she had a tombstone. By the deadline to pay, Adam was already back in Poland, denied citizenship, and passed away in Poland. So if you can't find a relative during the flu epidemic, try the burial permits, done alphabetically, and also check the Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago (many ethnicities and various religions buried here) to see if they're buried in the renters graves. Attached is Rosalie's record. I named my oldest child after this Rosalie. This is the link to the Bohemian Cemetery Rosalie is buried at:
http://bohemiannationalcemeterychicago.org/information.html

Sanetra addresses marked on Google map

2009-10-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

I started taking addresses I found (regarding Sanetras), and started marking them on a Google map. I have posted that map I marked & created, near the bottom of this blog page. You can scroll the map, zoom in, and even view it full page through Google maps. So several of the recent postings with addresses discussed are marked on this map. The map is a work in progress & will get frequent updates.I have a few more addresses to plot. I try to list the address, person there, and what year they had this address. If I have all that info, it is posted with the tag.

I also added a guest book. Even if you aren't related, you are still welcome to sign the guest book & tell about your Polish/Slavic ancestors. Maybe it'll help all of us with questions about our roots, since we're all looking for similar info. I believe this way, more of us can see who we're each looking for.
Comments on message postings and questions you may have are also welcome.
Thanks! Julie

Kazimierz Bazarnik-Poland, Chicago, and Indiana

2009-10-23T08:54:00.008-04:00

Kazimierz has been very hard to find, because it's a challenge to guess how his name was spelled. Kazimierz was born in Krakow, Poland, 16 Feb 1897. He immigrated to the United States, leaving from Hamburg Germany on 21 Jan 1914, and arriving at Ellis Island 31 Jan 1914. He traveled with his mother Anna & her sister Alfreda Mazurkiewicz. His passage was paid for by his step father Ignatz Baranowski (or Baranovski) living at 518 Osborne, in Chicago. He left behind his brother Anton Bazarnik, living in Krakow. In 1915 & 1916 on the Chicago city directories, both Ignatz & Kazimierz were listed as living at 518 Osborne. In 1923 there was a Kazemia Bazerrnick, laundryman, living at 1054 Marshfield Ave. On the WWI draft registration in 1918, Kazimir's step-father Ignatz was living at 1058 Marshfield, and on the 1920 & 1930 Census, Kazimierz' aunt Julia Janik's family (Kwiatkowski) is living at that address.

I found Kazimierz' WWI & WWII draft registration cards, which I've attached. I also found Kazimierz on the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) which said he died Sep 1972 in Gary, Lake, Indiana. The WWII draft registration card says his wife is Matilda.

I am wondering if Alfreda Mazurkiewicz & her family may have been Jewish. (Including Kazimierz) There are multiple reasons why I think this. Adam Sanetra was Catholic. I have been looking for records to prove or disprove the idea that they may be Jewish, but have not yet found them in Jewish records. But I also have no experience with Jewish genealogy. I do know that the surnames Mazurkiewicz, Bazarnik & Baranovski do show up in Jewish voter & concentration camp records. But I don't know about my relatives. I am not prejudice at all, and love people of all race and all religion. So if you know something of these families, please let me know. Through comments or email.

On Kazimierz WWI record, it states he is using the alias Kazimir Paulik to keep his job. I have asked several people why he'd have to change his name in 1918, and the answer I got was "If he was Jewish and his boss was prejudice." So that is a theory. This is all I know of Kazimierz but wish to know more. Here are links to Kazimierz on Ellis Island Manifest, and his footnote page that was created by Footnote.com:

Here is the link to the annotations I made to Kazimierz record. Near where the blue background stops and the cream color begins, you can view the original manifest.
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ca_viewAnnotations2.asp?MID=16227133940260322368&PID=100390050179&ANNID=276100

Here is a link to his Footnote Page:
http://www.footnote.com/page/39465285_kazimierz_bazarnik/

The Karl Janik that's our family

2009-10-17T08:45:00.007-04:00

Finally found some things to show which Karl Janik was our relative. The address 1058 Marshfield helped. On Ellis Island, in 1923, Adam Sanetra said he was going to live with his brother-in-law Karl Janik, at 1058 Marshfield Ave. The Karl at this address was married to Julia. I believe this Julia is a Mazurkiewicz for Karl to be a brother-in-law. Also, Anna & her husband lived at this 1058 Marshfield address in 1918, and Anna is a Mazurkiewicz.

So Julia was first married to Wladyslaw Kwiatkowski. He died in March 1910. Julia then married Karol (Karl) Janik. Attached is the 1920 Census, Karl & Julia's marriage cert & Karl's death certificate. You can click on each image to view it full screen. Note: Karol was born in Zywiec, where Adam Sanetra was from.

Ellis Island video clips

2009-10-12T19:08:00.009-04:00

http://www.history.com/content/ellis-island/ellis-island-video
Here's a great website, to really give you a feel for Ellis Island. This is History.com's website. There's a video clip called arrival at Ellis Island, where you feel like you're on the boat, seeing things as the new immigrants would. There's video clips of the inside of Ellis Island, old pictures, old video footage, and stories from immigrants in the 6 different video clips. I've never been able to visit NY or Ellis Island. So if you haven't either, I recommend checking out these video clips. It is amazing what some of our ancestors went through to be US Citizens & to try to start a new and better life!

Here is another link on this site with more Ellis Island history information.
http://www.history.com/content/ellis-island/ellis-island-tour

Great Chicago resource website:Census maps & Anna Mazurkiewicz

2009-10-01T09:16:00.010-04:00

Correction 17 Oct 2009: Anna did not marry Karl Janik. They had the same address, & I believe that Anna & Julia were Mazukiewicz sisters. Trying to get Julia's death certificate to show her maiden name. See updates to info on Karl & Julia on posting dated 17 Oct 2009.

I find it very challenging to guess how census takers would spell our family names & then how someone would index that name. Adam Sanetra said on Ellis Island, in 1923, that he was going to live with his brother-in-law Karl Janick, at 1058 Marshfield Ave. Adam's wife, Alfreda Mazurkiewicz, had a sister Anna Mazurkiewics that married Ignatz Baranowski. His WWI draft registration card gave his address as 1058 Marshfield Ave. ~~So this would appear Ignatz died, and then Anna married Karl Jannick~~. So we have Anna living at 1058 Marshfield Ave from at least 1918-1923, which includes the 1920 Census. I wished there was a way to look up the address and see who was there. And I didn't know how old Karl was or what spelling variation was used. I found a way to look people up by addresses that isn't too hard or tedious.

I found this immensely helpful website. (link below) It has Census maps for all the Chicago Census from 1870-1930. So take your address, then look at a Google street map for what streets are closest to your address. Keep the Google street map setting handy to compare with the map on this site. Then find nearby streets, and you can see your ward and enumeration district. I know on Ancestry.com you can go to the census, then go straight to the ward, then district, and search manually. Not sure about other sites. When you can get these numbers it's only abt 15-20 pages to search through. Here's an example:

I was looking for 1058 N. Marshfield Ave in the 1920 Census. So I went to this site (link below), then selected the 1920 Census map. Looking at the major roads, I saw that ward 15 looked like it covered my address. So I clicked on the number "15" which had a hyperlink to open ward 15's map. Then I clicked "zoom" icon, and could see the streets in ward 15, and see which district my address was at, which was district #894.

Then I went to Ancestry.com, selected the 1920 Census, selected ward #15, then selected district #894, and a few pages later I saw Marshfield Ave in the far left column, in the margins. Then I looked for house #1058, in the first Census column. There was Carol Janik & his wife Julia. Karl was spelled Carol, which I could see with Karol being a common spelling. ~~But I was expecting to see Karl & Anna. Maybe she's Julianna? Julia is the same age as Anna. I'll have to investigate more. But~~ this is definitely the right Karl Janick because he is at the specific address. I have not been able to find Karl Jannik of many spelling variations on the 1923 Chicago City Directory at Footnote.com. And I manually went through starting at "Jan___". So glad to see proof of Karl at this address. Attached is this Census page I'm referencing. I'm not sure who the other people are, but I'm happy to finally find this page. And now I have some more things to work on and think about.

Also on this site is info about the street changes of 1909 & 1911. Branislawa Sanetra immigrated the year of the second street change names. The address she gave for her father Adam was at least 30 blocks away from where Adam actually lived, and they never found each other. I wonder how many other people that happened to, because of changes and not able to get word to the family member immigrating in time?

Another really great resource on this site is the 1928-1929 Polk criss-cross directory. So you can look up an address, organized alphabetically by the street names, then look to your house number. I am really grateful to the people who worked on the resources for this site. I just discovered this site yesterday and already have found a few things I'd been looking for. These resources help make it easier if you have an address, and don't know how the Census taker spelled the names. Posting in case it can help others in their searches.
http://www.alookatcook.com/

Alfreda Mazurkiewicz and the Baranowski family-Hamburg & Ellis Island

2009-09-15T07:54:00.025-04:00

Correction 17 Oct 2009: I have found out Kasimir did keep the Bazarnik name in the US (didn't use the name Baranowski) & spelled his first name Kasmierz.

Note: 24 Sep 2009: Correction to this posting. The marriage record for Kasimir Baranowski & Regina Gordon is a different Kasimer, the same age as ours. The Kasimir that married Regina Gordon was the son of Kazimierz Baranowski and Stanislava (Stella) Mieczkowski. A relative of Regina Gordon's told me this, and I agree with their records.
_______________________________________________________________________
I finally found Alfreda's immigration record! I went to the Humburg ship registry on Ancestry.com, and just typed in the first name "Alfreda". Only 16 Alfreda's in the whole database, and only one started with the letter "M". I'm not sure why it wouldn't pull up before, because I did search the way it was spelled. I saw she left Hamburg, Germany 21 Jan 1914. So then I went to Ellis Island and searched for all Alfreda's in the year 1914, and found her! Alfreda arrived at Ellis Island 31 Jan 1914, just 10 days after leaving Hamburg. They left of the "r" in Mazurkewiecz, on the index.

Alfreda is listed as: Alfreda Mazurkiwicz, age 28, single, female, servant, able to read & write, Austrian, language Polish, from Galicia, born in Krakow, came from friend (nephew) Anton Bazarnick living in Krakow Galicia. Going to Chicago, IL. Single, paid her own passage, never been in US before, going to brother-in-law Ignace Baranowsky at 518 Osborn Ave, Chicago IL. 5' 6", blong, gr eyes, no ID marks, born in Krakow, Galicia.

Alfreda also travels with her sister: Anna Baranowska, age 38, married, wife, leaving son Anton Bazarnik in Krakow, Galicia. Going to Chicago, IL, passage paid for by husband, has 50$ (for her and son), 5'2", blond, gr. eyes. Going to husband Ignace Baranowsky at 518 Osborne Ave, Chicago, IL.

Alfreda also traveled with her nephew Kasimir Baranowski, the son of Anna. He was listed as: Kasimir Bazarnick, son of Anna, age 16, laborer, brother of Anton Bazarnick in Krakow Galicia. Going to Chicago, IL. Passage paid for by step-father, 5'2" blond, gr eyes. Going to see step father Ignace Baranowsky at 518 Osborne Ave.

I found Ignatz Baranovski on the city directory listed as living at 518 Osborne, in the rear of that house. (See note correction) Kasimir married Regina Gordon 24 Feb 1919, at St. Hedwig's church, in Chicago. He was only 20, so his mother gave her consent. (Men needed to be 21 then without consent.) Which suggests Ignatz may have died by then. I have the WWI draft card for Ignatz, written in 1918. I cannot find him in city directories after 1918. He may have died in the flu epidemic or WWI. The address Ignatz gives on his WWI draft car is 1058 Marshfield, Chicago. When Adam came back to the states in 1923, he states he's going to his brother-in-law's house, Karl Jannick. And Karl's address is 1058 Marshfield, the same address Ignatz gives in 1918. ~~So I believe that Ignatz died, and Anna then married Karl Jannick between 1918-1923~~. I haven't found a marriage record yet. Or a death record for Ignatz yet. I did a search on the surname "Baranovski" and found several databases with the surname and the men were from Minsk, which is where the Mazurkiwiecz are supposed to be from. I also found & Stephen Carynski- Frank Mazurkiwicz lawyer team, just a few blocks from Roman Karolewski's saloon. So I'm thinking they may be related and will keep looking into that. Attached are Ignatz WWI draft card (from Ancestry.com) and Kasimir's wedding certificate. (from LDS pilot familysearch records page) You can click on the image to view full screen.

Adam Sanetra's Naturalization record

2009-09-12T21:35:00.014-04:00

I got Adam Sanetra's Naturalization record this week. Adam's signature on the Declaration of Intent (1918) & the Petition for Naturalization (1925) are at the top of this blog in the title. It took a month from the time I mailed the letter requesting the record, until I received the record. In 1918, Adam was listed as age 39, race white, complexion light, height 5' 6", 165 pounds, gray hair, brown eyes. Adam filed his Declaration of Intention, in Chicago, on 25 Jun 1918. There is a waiting time to file the Petition For Naturalization. I believe 1 year to 18 months. Well, by that time, Adam's wife Rosalie Wandzel had died (4 months after filing), three children were lost while in the temporary care of the orphanage, (Stanley, Paul & Ervin) and he had married a second time to Alfreda Mazukiewicz. Adam took his new bride Alfreda, & his children Bennie & Jozef to Poland. Alfreda soon after had Jadwiga. Then a few months later Adam Sanetra went back to the States 13 Jul 1923 through Ellis Island. That record said Adam planned to stay indefinitely. That's when Adam filed his Petition For Naturalization. During the Chicago flu epidemic, you could put your children in a temporary part of the orphanage, and you had 6 months to come back for them. Single parent immigrants often couldn't care for their children, so they often put their children in an orphanage (the temporary part) while they tried to remarry. Adam did come back in time, but only two of his 5 boys remained. Stanley, Paul & Ervin had been farmed out and could not be found.

Jozef explained in a family letter that Adam was so upset about 3 of his children getting lost, that he took Alfreda and the two boys left in the orphanage, (Bennie & Jozef) and put them where he felt safe, in Poland. Then Adam went back to the States to (1) look for his three boys, (2) see if he could find Bronislawa "Bessie" (She got lost in immigration) (3) Send money home, and (4) get US Citizenship. Then he would send for Alfreda & the children in Poland. For 18 months Adam looked for Stanley, Paul & Ervin & never found them. Then he was denied citizenship, so he went back to Poland for the remainder of his life, which was only 2 years later. Adam died in 1927. From the time Adam filed to the time he was denied was 7 years time.

One big thing I learned from this record was that Alfreda was born in Poland. So I expect she was born in Kolbuszowa as Jozef stated that's where she was from. ~~So there should be an immigration record for her, but I have not been able to find it yet.~~ So neither Adam nor Alfreda were US citizens, but were married at the Chicago courthouse and there is a US marriage record for that. In 1916, I could not find Alfreda in the Chicago City Directory. She was 34 when she married Adam in 1920, and had not been married before, so I expected to see her in the City Directory. I have not yet been able to find Alfreda on a US record except for her marriage record to Adam Sanetra.

Two Chicago research links-free searches

2009-09-06T12:49:00.009-04:00

I have been searching and finding very helpful info on two Internet resource pages. I wanted to write about them case it might help others in their searches. There is the IL state archives page. It is still a work in progress, not complete. So keep checking back. The link I provided is to the database page featuring the links to close to 60 databases through the state archives website, including many court and military info. Here are a few specific databases I found helpful searching for my Polish relatives:
1) Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900
2) Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre–1916
3) Illinois Statewide Death Index (1916–1950)
You can search any of these databases by just surname. You can search by the whole state or just Cook County for Chicago. You can do a global search with just the surname and it will tell you what databases that surname is in. If you have a more common surname, you can enter a first name too. I did searches 6 months ago on this site and did not see any Sanetras. Now I have found several Sanetras in these databases. I found that it was easier for the Slavic names to just search by surname, because you don't know if the first name on the record went by Micheal or Mikel, etc. It's also good to see who else has the surname. And it's already hard enough to guess how the surname was spelled, so to have to guess at the spelling of a first name and a last name can be daunting!
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases.html

The other helpful site I found is the Cook County clerk page regarding naturalization/citizenship.
http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/NR/about.aspx
You can do free searches and see the index listing. Then if you wish, you can purchase the records on-line. Records are down loadable immediately in a zipped file. (vital records) I never knew Adam Sanetra became a citizen until I saw this database last month. He left and went back to Poland within a few years of becoming a citizen. I did have to send in a request by mail for that record though. I highly recommend reading the info on this site. One piece of info I found helpful on this page was that pre-Sept 1922, women didn't usually file for citizenship. Unless widowed or unmarried (spinster). The man, who was head of household filed, and then his wife and children became citizens through his citizenship. To see more about that and other helpful citizenship & naturalization info, check out the Cook County link. I should be getting Adam Sanetra's citizenship records any day now and am really looking forward to that! I hope you may find something helpful about one of your ancestors on on either of these links.

book: The Trumpeter of Krakow, by Eric Kelly

2009-08-22T19:18:00.010-04:00

Today I just finished reading "The Trumpeter of Krakow". I really enjoyed it. I was in my public library looking for a good book to read, and saw this book on display. I saw the Newbery Medal picture on the cover. I wondered if it was Krakow, the place in Poland, so I picked up the book to see. It was! It was written in 1929 and received the Newbery Medal that year. I remember one family letter where Jozef Sanetra mentioned there was a childrens book about Krakow written in the 1920's, so it must've been this book. I love historical fiction books. There is a forward in the copy I borrowed, explaining Eric Kelly's love of Poland, his experiences with learning and teaching about the Polish culture in the US & in Poland. It was also neat to read in the forward that the Polish government loaned the author a trumpet to show people in the US about the Krakow trumpeters. This book uses real things in Polish history. Explaining some legends, mentioning a real king, and real places in the 1400's. The trumpeters watched for fires and invaders. Even the complex relationships between the Ukraine & Poland were explained some. This book was written while Adam Sanetra was still alive in Poland. I'd like to think I read a story that he might have read too. I really enjoyed the book, and recommend it to anyone who wants to read a little about Krakow in a fun, adventurous story.

Here is a wiki link about the book, so you can see pictures of places described in the book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trumpeter_of_Krakow

Roman & Emil Karolewski - the Godfather of Stanley Sanetra

2009-08-14T23:48:00.017-04:00

I am looking for anyone who can tell me about Roman Karolewski. He was born 5 Aug 1871 in Sulmiorzyec, Poland, and died 26 Jun 1952, in Chicago. Or if anyone knows any Karolewski family in Chicago.

We can not find Stanley Sanetra on paper after his admission to St. Hedwig's orphanage in either Jan or Feb 1919, in Chicago. A family letter said "Stanley's Godparents ran a saloon or tavern and were good friends with Adam & Rosalie Sanetra." So I wondered if maybe Stanley's godparents got him out of the orphanage? At that time, (flu epidemic) if you needed a farm hand or helper, you could just get an orphan pretty easily from the orphanage. Paul Sanetra was taken & raised by a family this way. He was sent to a farm from St. Hedwigs. So we wondered if maybe Stanley's Godparents might have needed a hand in the saloon, and knew where Stanley was. We wondered if maybe Stanley changed his name, or if a Stanley would show up in the household. So far I haven't seen Stanley with Roman.

So I did searches to find Stanley's Godparents. I could not find the name as transcribed on the parish record (attached), "Emil Karulewski & Hedwig Monska." I looked for anyone with either of these surnames on the Census, especially on the 1910 Census, because that was the first census Stanley was alive on. I started trying fuzzy searches, and I could not find these surnames anywhere. I tried to do a Google search on just "Karulewsi", and no search results appeared at all. But the question was asked "Did you mean Karolewski?" I thought I'd try it. I found only one person with that surname, born before 1904, the year Stanley was born. And that person was Roman Karolewski. He showed up on the Chicago City directories on Footnote.com for the years: 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, and 1911, as a saloon owner at 156 W. Chicago Ave.

So I typed in the address on my Adam Sanetra addresses map. Well, this saloon is 3 blocks from Louis Sanetra, and about 2 miles exactly from where Adam Sanetra listed his address when coming back to the States in 1923. No Emil anywhere that I can find, but Roman is on city directories and the Census, right near our family. And Roman ran a saloon as my family remembered. So, I think Emil & Roman are the same person. I believe that Roman is Stanley's Godfather. Maybe Emil is the first name and Roman the middle name? I feel pretty sure Emil & Roman must be the same person but wish to have more evidence.

I have attached the following images in case it help's anyone to recognize Roman: 1910, 1920, & 1930 Census, & the passport page for Roman. It says Roman's father was Joseph. I wonder if this picture of Roman was his mother? These images were from Ancestry.com for which I have a subscription. You may click on the small picture to view them full screen. I also believe that Hedwig Monska was not married to Emil Karolewski, but instead was another friend of the Sanetra family. So far I cannot find the surname Monska in record searches. But it appears to be a part of a name and we're missing a prefix. Roman Karolewski was married to Martha Walkowiak, 24 Aug 1896 in Chicago. If you know of either of these godparents, please let me know. They are the last people that we know of who knew of Stanley Sanetra and his father Adam Sanetra.

A Franciszka Sanetra married Karol Nasluchacz in Chicago, IL

2009-08-02T10:03:00.016-04:00

I found that there are two Franciszka Sanetra's from Zywiec, Poland, close in age. One is the daughter of Anna, and the sister of Branislawa Sanetra who married Rudolph Sanetra. This Francis arrived at Ellis Island 11 Jun 1912.

The other Franciszka Sanetra states she immigrated in 1909. And she married Karol Nasluchacz in Chicago, IL 25 Jan 1910. They had 3 children:
1) Daughter: Antoinia Nasluchacz lived 5 Jun 1910 to Jul 1982
2) Son: Frederick F. Nasluchacz lived from 14 Sep 1911 to Jun 1966
3) Daughter: Aloisa Patricia Nasluchacz lived from 17 Mar 1914 to 4 Jan 2003.

Antoinia & Aloisa are listed by their maiden names on Social Security Death Index, so assuming that means they did not marry. But some Polish women kept their maiden names even in the United States.
Note the marriage record spells the name: "Naslukaz", but on my sources for this family the name is always spelled Nasluchacz. My sources for this family include: Karol's Ellis Island info; Karol, Franciszka and Aloisa's obits; the 1930 Census; Chicago birth and death record indexes, and Karol & Franciszka's marriage record. It is attached. You may click on the picture to view full screen. Downloaded from: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0
This family is all listed as buried in Christ the King Cemetery, in Wonder Lake, Illinois, United States.

Karol Nasluchacz arrived at Ellis Island 5 Aug 1907. The Ellis Island Manifest states he was from Zywiec, Galacia (Poland's name at that time). He was age 23, single, laborer, going to Chicago to see friend Karl Durej that lived on Lincoln St in Chicago. Karol was 5'5", fair skinned, blond, gray eyes, good health, port of departure Breman. He also states his father was Wojciech Nasluchacz living in Zywiec.

Louis Joseph and Caroline Sanetra in Chicago-from Zywiec

2009-07-26T07:54:00.013-04:00

See posting 20 Aug 2010 for updates and further information.

Attached are the WWI and WWII draft card for Louis/Lewis/Ludwig Sanetra. You may click on them to view full screen. I have a note from my grandma, that she called this family in about 1970. She wrote that Caroline's maiden name was Strzawi. Also that this family still corresponded with their family still in Poland. I'm wondering if that name is missing a vowel? I found the following sources for this family: WWI draft card, WWII draft card, 1920 and 1930 Census, Chicago birth and death indexes. On the 1930 Census, it says Ludwig can't speak English but his wife Caroline can. From these records, I see 5 children for Ludwig and Caroline, but will not list their ages, in case they are still living: Francis (female), John, Carl, Anna, and Mary. The WWII draft card states that Ludwig was born in Zywiec, Galatia, which was the name for Poland at the time. I took a Google map and plotted on it all the addresses Adam Sanetra lived. Then I plotted addresses of Ludwig Sanetra, and another man named Michael Sanetra, who was married to Stella Mathuszewska. All three men are Sanetras, from Zywiec, (sometimes stated Zablocie) all close in age. I only know Adam Sanetra's siblings. I don't know any uncles or cousins. Could these men be cousins? I just don't know enough about these other two Sanetra families. But to have the same name, and be from the same town, and in 1910 Adam lived a half a block from one family and then in 1923 he lived 3 blocks away from the other family, I am convinced they had to know each other! My grandma Catherine Stowe Sanetra talked to children in both families and they didn't know. But I'll bet the previous generation knew each other. They at least had to attend church together. I know life was tough and much of the time was spent working long hours to pay the bills, but I'll bet they still knew each other. I don't see how they couldn't know each other! I just have this circumstantial evidence and wish I had some real proof to show they were related and how. If you know of this family, please email me and/or post comments here.

A Bronislawa Sanetra marries Rudolph Cender

2009-07-17T23:15:00.014-04:00

I did some searches on ellisisland.org for "Sanetra". I noticed a Franciszek Sanetra immigrated 11 Jun 1912. It said her brother-in-law Rudolph Cender paid her passage. So then I was curious who Rudolph's wife was. So I went to the familysearch pilot record search page (see my favorite links) which has the full index of Ellis Island records. I did a search on Cender & Cinder. I found Rudolph's wife was named Branislawa listed as age 25, and his son was Raymond, age 3 1/2. The record stated that Branislawa Cender's husband was Rudolph Cender, and that her mother was Anna Sanetra, in Zablocie. That's where our Sanetra's and Cenders are from, but I don't know how they're connected to our family yet. So I am really curious what the connection is, and figure there must be a connection.

Rudolph Cender's WWI draft card stated he as born 18 Apr 1883 in Austria (Poland). They lived on John St, in Richmond, New York, -which was what the Ellis Island, WWI draft card & 1920 Census all said was their address. In 1920, on the Census, it says Rudolph immigrated in 1906, and that they are all Polish. It also said Rudolph was age 33, a laborer in the ship yard, owned a home (mortgaged), Branislawa was 31, and they had 5 children: Raymond 12, Rudolph 5, Wilhelm 3, & Rozalia 1 5/12. Not seeing them on the 1930 Census yet.

Maria Sanetra (my gr..grandpa Adam Sanetra's sister), the daughter of Jozef Sanetra & Franciszka Gowin, married Maciej Caputa in 1888. Their daughter Katarzyna Caputa married Juliusz Cender, the son of Jozef Cender & Regina Urbanska. The curious part for me here, is that on Ellis Island records, our Branislawa Sanetra (Adam Sanetra & Rosalie's daughter) traveled to the US in 19 Feb 1911 (a year before Branislawa Sanetra Cender). Ellis Island records said that our Branislawa left her grandmother which looked like "Regina Urbanska", and was going to see her father Adam Sanetra in Chicago. But our Branislawa's maternal grandmother was Regina Zulawska & paternal grandmother was Franciszka Gowin. I don't yet see a relationship between our Branislawa & Regina Urbanska who was Juliusz Cender's mother. Juliusz Cender's relationship to our Branislawa Sanetra would be first cousin's husband. (Husband of Katarzyna Caputa) I just don't know very much about the Cenders yet, but would like too. One thing I do know from family letters, is that Maria Sanetra's family (including the Cenders) stayed close to Adam Sanetra. Maria Sanetra & her daughter Katarzyna (Caputa) Cender were with Adam Sanetra when he died. And we do know Adam and Rosalie had to leave Branislawa behind with family. So maybe she did stay with the Cenders. I wish I knew how to learn more about these Cenders.

Anita Lobel: No Pretty Pictures- A Child of War

2009-07-12T05:30:00.017-04:00

I read a book this week, called: No Pretty Pictures, A Child Of War. By: Anita Lobel. I really wanted to write about it on my blog, in the hopes maybe a few others will be interested in reading it. Anita Lobel is an artist, who immigrated to the United States after WWII. Her family was Jewish, and she lived a comfortable life in Krakow, Poland, before the Nazi's invaded Poland. I found a copy at my public library. You can see the story, and where you can purchase copies, at Google books. (Most copies are under 7$).

I thought this was a truly amazing story! And very well written. Anita was about 10 years old when the invasion started. Her parents separated for safety. The Nannie who was not Jewish, kept Anita and her brother safe and hidden for about 5 years. Then they were discovered, and the children spent time in multiple concentration camps. It is absolutely amazing how she and her brother were able to stay together through all of it. It is amazing how her mother was able to stay safe through the war. And even more amazing that after the war her mother and father were reunited together and then reunited with their children. And it is also truly amazing that they survived in a camp without children. (Only adults were aloud to live in those camps, children were killed.)

I really like this story, because it is told from a child's perspective. It isn't sugar coated, but it isn't so scary and awful that you won't be able to sleep at night. Instead you're left to ponder this amazing story with a good ending. Stories that were sometimes hard, but then stories of people trying to be helpful and caring. Like the Nuns, all the people trying to help Jews restore their health, people helping the Jews search for family and try to help reunite families after the war. I think Anita does an excellent job explaining the situation, how she felt, and how others around her felt. She really explains and helps you get a good feel for how it felt to live in Poland during that time period. Various social classes, various types of people and backgrounds are explained. From life in peasant areas, to the cities, to the ghetto, and to the quiet countryside. I loved the story of how they kept the matzo balls safe!

On a personal note, thinking about what little I know about my family in that time period...Anita's father and some other Jewish men left early to try to escape. Because at that time, men were rounded up and killed first. During their escape, the men were captured by Russians. Anita's father was in a camp for about a year, then just released and able to work on his own and live (it sounded like) pretty independent with some freedoms. He was aloud to sell things. (He was a merchant in Poland before the war.) He probably lived better and safer than he could at that time in Poland. After the war, the Russians just let him go home. I was amazed because of what I've heard about the Gulag camps in Russia, where so many did not survive. And I was surprised because for a long time Jews in Russia were so persecuted they sought refuge in Poland. So it was almost the reverse for Anita's father. We were told our relative Stanley Sanetra (a US Citizen) was captured by Russians on a visit to see the relatives in Poland. He was captured because he was a bridge engineer. No one in our family ever heard from him again. We hsven't yet been able to find anything to prove or disprove this story. Also Bronislaw Sanetra (Known as "Bennie" by our family) went to Russia about the same time Anita's father went as a Jewish refugee. So I am amazed that Anita's father was just allowed to go home, but I am very happy that her family was able to be reunited together.

After Anita was in concentration camps and away from her parents for over a year, she was rescued from the concentration camp and taken to recover in Sweden. It was wonderful to read how well they cared for her and her brother. She was content to never leave Sweden and their hospitality to her. She learned the language well. She went to school. And an art teacher introduced her to watercolor which she was very good at, right from her first try. I was so impressed with how much Anita learned. -Not just life lessons, but multiple religious ways, multiple languages, customs, etc. She was a hard working student, truly appreciating her chance for a formal education. I know I say "amazing" a lot here, but I can't think of how else to describe my feelings about it. I highly recommend reading this amazing and miraculous story!

How Jozef searched for family post WWII

2009-07-05T08:45:00.006-04:00

Jozef Sanetra tried to find his siblings and Alfreda Mazurkiewicz after WWII. He told us his source for information: He wrote letters to the Red Cross and the "Warsaw Board of Inquiry".
I wonder if anyone has preserved these letter requests, like Jozef sent? I also wonder if this information still exists: The information that the Red Cross and Warsaw Board of Inquiry had to share with families in the 1950's to 1960's that helped reunite families? I'd never heard of the Warsaw board of Inquiry until I read Jozef's letter. Have any of you ever heard about it?

Jozef Sanetra kept rebuilding-literally and figuretively

2009-06-27T11:18:00.047-04:00

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

2009-06-16T15:08:00.028-04:00

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

2009-06-14T09:58:00.006-04:00

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

2009-06-12T17:33:00.011-04:00

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

2009-06-06T21:07:00.008-04:00

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.

A newer resource for Polish genealogy

2009-04-20T21:15:00.007-04:00

A friend showed me a great site. It is the familysearch wiki. The Poznan marriage project is included and linked to this page. Poznan is in Poland today, but it is in an area where boundaries changed a lot. You can search through 388,000 marriage names. You can search by groom, by bride, or just by surname to see what search results there are. Here is the Poznan project link:
http://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/project.php

Here is the page for Poland on the familysearch Wiki. There is contact information for people working on archiving projects in Poland. This is an amazing resource I highly recommend searching, for any one with Polish roots. There is information on history, boundary changes, cemetery information, social life and customs, educational articles....I wish you much success in finding some resources that will help you find out more about your Polish roots!
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Portal:Poland

Grandma Catherine and Grandpa Paul Sanetra kept bees-1951

2009-03-31T17:38:00.005-04:00

Genowefa Sroka, Parkinsons without medicine

2009-03-14T20:00:00.038-04:00

Genia Sroka married Joseph Sanetra, in Zablocie. Joseph and Genia wrote Paul and his wife Catherine Sanetra for the rest of their lives.
Later in life, doctors discovered Genia suffered from Parkinson's disease. The part that amazes me, is they couldn't even get medicine! I understand it was in Eastern Europe after years of war, but I didn't realize supplies were still so scarce in the 1960's.

Good Polish genealogy resource

2009-02-22T09:28:00.006-05:00

Here is a site I found, that I find amazingly helpful. Just wanted to spread the word in case it can help someone else.
http://polishgeno.com/
There are a few translation helps, information on names, newspaper resources, information on specific Polish people (like a lady who helped hundreds of Jews escape), handwriting helps, how to write to Poland,...I have spent hours on this site and not even seen all the many wonderful resources it offers. A truly wonderful resource!

Ellis Island immigration

2009-02-22T09:03:00.017-05:00

Note: 7 Feb 2010-changed spelling of surname from Loch to Lach

I discovered while searching the familysearch pilot program web site, that there were more Sanetra's in that database than the ellisisland.com database. The LDS church did the indexing for the Ellis Island records, but the Ellis Island site doesn't have the complete index posted yet.
Here is a link/address to the pilot record search page, which has the complete database. You can search by just the immigration records, and there are some amazing search features on this page. This database will remain free. If you have not accessed the Ellis Island page before, it will ask you to register to see the images, and it is free to register. The pilot record search page will link you to the images on Ellis Island's web page. :
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

I have started to create a chart following the Sanetra's and who they married, from Zablocie, Poland. And whether they settled in Chicago, Minneapolis or elsewhere. I will see if there's a way to post that chart. In the meantime, some names I have been charting are: Sanetra, Klosak, Wojtas, Keller, Wandzel, Biel, and Lach. My goal was to see when people came, who they were going to see, and who they left behind. I thought Adam Sanetra was the first in his family to immigrate, but I see from these records he actually came to see relatives I haven't heard of yet. So now we know others paved the way for him to come to America. By creating this chart, I saw a lot of people I'd never heard of who were listed as relatives. Now if only I could figure out how the clerks and census takers decided to spell my relatives names, so I could find the records!

Marianna Klosak married Jozef Wojtas

2009-02-22T07:40:00.016-05:00

Note added: 4 Aug 2010- see posting 4 Aug 2010 for updates and commentary to this post.

Marianna is listed as the daughter of Joseph Klosak and Regina Waloszek. Marianna died relatively young, at age 31 from TB (Tuberculosis). Her death certificate says just Mary, but immigration says Marianna. I found what appears to be her on the 1910 Census. This is the only Mary or Marianna Klosak I could find, plus the dates are pretty close, and her father's name matched. I did a search on just Klosak's in Minneapolis, and this is the only entry close to a Mary. Here's my notes there:
Marianna is listed as Mary, single, age 23, immigrating in 1909, not able to read and write, from Austria Poland. She's living with her widowed father Joseph, who's 51, immigrated in 1890, and his occupation is a sewer. It's faded but it looks like he might work as a sewer in the paper factory, listed as part of the logging industry. His house is listed as owned free and that it's a house, not a farm. They live in Minneapolis, the district name is faded and illegible.
In 1911, Marianna immigrated and was listed as married, and age 21. I started asking around and it appears, some younger people in this time period, while they were single, went back and forth taking family members across. So someone with knowledge of the area, and the family, could help other family members on their journey. Marianna could have married just after this Census, the immigration record where she was listed as married was almost a year after this census page. Ages weren't always written on records correctly with language barriers.
I'm still not sure how this Marianna is an aunt of Branislawa Sanetra. But it seems she was here in The States, and then went back to get Bronislawa to bring her to her family.

Helen Sanetra

2009-02-19T14:45:00.010-05:00

Helen Sanetra
A Helen Sanetra wrote my grandmother Catherine Stowe Sanetra a few times in the mid 1960's. Helen's family was from Zablocie, then settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Helen was the daughter of Thomas Sanetra and Jadwiga Biel. (from Zablocie) Thomas, Jadwiga, her widowed mother Regina, and (Jadwiga and Thomas' children): Aneila, Stanislaus, Anna, and Antoni immigrated in 22 Dec 1913. Then Jadwiga and Thomas had Helen and Joseph, who were born in Minneapolis. I just reread their letters, and unfortunately neither Helen nor my grandmother were ever able to find out how they were related. But here's some things that stand out for me: Branisalwa Sanetra, (called "Bessie" by my family) Adam Sanetra's oldest child, had to immigrate separately. When Bessie did immigrate, she traveled with Maryanna Wojtas, listed as her aunt. Maryanna and Bessie could not find their family in Chicago, so they (probably) went to Minneapolis, to live with Maryanna's husband, Jozef Wojtas. The address on Helen's letter was only about 3 blocks away from where Maryanna's address was on Maryanna's death certificate in 1923. Maryanna, Bessie and Helen's families were all from Zyweic-Zablocie. And they all lived in the area called St. Anthony's Parish, in Minneapolis. I hear that today, mass is still given in Polish at St. Anthony's church. Also, Marianna Wojtas maiden name was Klosak, and we have several Klosak and Biel relatives. We just don't know how they're related yet. I'm hoping one day someone will recognize some info I'm posting and help me figure things out.

Goal

2009-02-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

Our Polish relatives were separated by war & it's tragedies. It took over 50 years of writing and working with genealogists, for Paul Sanetra to find his youngest brother. Other siblings he never saw for the rest of his life. So trying to use some newer technology to find more relatives, and to preserve what little history we know. So we can remember what our ancestors lived for and loved.