I'm looking for any information on my two great grandfathers. My Mother is now deceased and I'm trying to find info to pass long to my children and to my surviving relatives.
Here is what I know....one of my Great Grandpa's name is John Kuras born 1861 and came to the US in 1872 and settled in Toledo, Ohio. His name could have been Josef or Janek maybe even something else. He is listed as Austrian/Polish on census records. I've researched old map and studied the backgrounds of the areas and understand why it was listed this way but need to narrow the location down more.
My other Great Grandpa was John Gulch(Joannes Gulczynski) who also came from Poland in 1872 and settled in Toledo, Ohio. I have no idea where he came from at all.
I would like some leads on websites or more, please help:)
Have you tried the closest census records that are available to the time frame that is available for Toledo? The reason I suggest it is there might be something in it that might point you in the direction as to where they may have entered the states. Also, there might be some old records from the city from that time frame that could also indicate from where they may have lived before. Because of his age being 11 or so he no doubt came with his parents. So by starting with the census and city directoriesfor that time frame should get you started. Also, use the microfilm of the various local papers for death notices for their parents. Chances are, the death notices may be similar to ones of today and indicate where an individual immigrated from if they were not born locally.
rootsweb...google it...can search most of the site for free. Knew a little about my relatives, but traced back to my great-great-great grandparents all the way to Danzig. Make sure you search rootsweb, not the ancestry side, if you want a free search to initially try things.
What I did was enter my great-great grandfather's name, as I was certain of this, then you can go from there by clicking on other relatives.
May also try familysearch. Another free service where you can find actual records (birth, death, army, immigration, church, etc.) of relatives.
There is a John "Jan Gulczynski" Gulch buried at Calvery Cemetary in Toledo. If you look on findagrave.com he is listed with his wives and children. You can also go to the public library or local vital records and look up
birth and death records to find this info. If you have time on your hands and live close to his records this is perfect. Start from where you are and trace back. Public library may have obits that give info also. John Kuras' father is Michael. Good luck.
Name: John Gulcz Age: 58 Birth Year: abt 1862 Birthplace: Poland Home in 1920: Toledo Ward 10, Lucas, Ohio Race: White Gender: Male Immigration Year: 1873 Relation to Head of House: Head Marital Status: Married Spouse's Name: Victoria Gulcz Father's Birthplace: Poland Mother's Birthplace: Poland Home owned: Own Able to read: Yes Able to Write: Yes Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age John Gulcz 58 Victoria Gulcz 42 William Gulcz 21 Matthew Gulcz 20 Bernice Gulcz 19 Josephine Gulcz 18 Helen Gulcz 17 Hedwina Gulcz 15 Clara Gulcz 12 Anna Gulcz 11 Leo Gulcz 9 Florence Gulcz 4 Max Gulcz 1
says he was naturalized in 1882 according to the cencus 1920, my thoughts are that you could try to find the original papers via that local office. Naturalization Records All naturalization records of persons naturalized in this Court prior to 1967 are stored at and are available through:
National Archives and Records Administration Great Lakes Region 7358 South Pulaski Road Chicago, Illinois 60629-5898
National Archives Website
To confirm dates of naturalization or obtain copies of name changes since 1967, contact the Clerk's Office Naturalization Clerk:
Phone: (216) 357-7014
Email: Naturalization@ohnd.uscourts.gov
Contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services at 1-800-375-5283 or view their website for information including:
I guess the older records are in chicago, I was able to get my grandmothers from our local office, but I havent tried my grandfathers
But you can get alot of information off the naturalizations, I am not sure about the year for your grandfathers cause that was really early, but its worth a try.
it might give you some good information to lead you to the town he came from.
Name: John Kuras Age: 28 Birth Date: May 1872 Birthplace: Ger. Poland [Germany;Poland] Home in 1900: Toledo Ward 8, Lucas, Ohio [Lucas] Race: White Gender: Male Immigration Year: 1888 Relation to Head of House: Head Marital Status: Married Spouse's Name: Francis Kuras Marriage Year: 1895 Years Married: 5 Father's Birthplace: Ger. Poland Mother's Birthplace: Ger. Poland Occupation: View on Image Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age John Kuras 28 Francis Kuras 25 Helen Kuras 3 Regila Kuras 11/12
for john per the 1900 cencus says he was born in 1872 and came in 1888 I will look again, see if there was another john can you match up the names of the family? is this the right John?
Dear Sir or Madam Blample, Concerning the Gulczynski family in Toledo: I have much information about this family, who later changed their surname to Gulch. Maciej (Matthias) Golczynski was born about 1830 and married in 1855 in Izdebno, Poland. I am the author of Korzenie Polskie: Polish Roots (written in English), and Matthias is one of the 300 families in my First Families of Toledo, Ohio database, available online at the PGSA members-only website. I would like to send you more information, but privately by email. This is the first time I have used this forum, and am not familiar with such. If you can, please contact me by email. I see there is a box below this message (that I have checked) that will hopefully allow us to correspond via regular email.
Patricia.....Thank you so much....I have a lot of the info you included but you gave me so much more to research in respects to the offices to contact. I'm going to look into and will post more when I find out more. I'm so grateful and appreciate it.
Blample
Thank you Rosemary C....I'm going to look into the PGSA website and membership. I hope I'll find that information that you were referring to on that site.
