Looking for any information/ possible leads on family or possible birth records for my Grandfather, born Stanislaw Glowniak, November 14 1894 in Oleśnica, Podkarpackie, Poland.
According to family history .His father fell to his death from a church steeple in around 1901. .His mothers name was Julia, maiden name unknown .He had three brothers and two sisters, some immigrated to the US with him. Other stayed behind in poland, survived the war and kept in contact with him till he passed in 1961.
ive hit a brick wall trying to locate family or information in Poland, I completely understand that much was destroyed.. Hoping this post may get me some more leads..
G£OWNIAK: root-word is głowa (head) or głownia (stove log, kindlewood) but most likely this originated as a toponomic nick for someone from such places as Głowno or Głowin.
My great grandfather was Ludwik Glowniak. I believe he was from Oleśnica, Kielce, Poland. The Kielce Voivodeship no longer exists, and I think this would now be Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, which is just northwest of Podkarpackie.
While I do not have much knowledge of the geography of Poland. Wikipedia indicates that there are 8 places named Oleśnica:
Oleśnica, Poddębice County in £ódź Voivodeship (central Poland) Oleśnica, Wieluń County in £ódź Voivodeship (central Poland) Oleśnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (south-west Poland) Oleśnica, Lesser Poland Voivodeship (south Poland) Oleśnica, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (south-central Poland) Oleśnica, Masovian Voivodeship (east-central Poland) Oleśnica, Chodzież County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland) Oleśnica, Słupca County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)
Are you sure of Podkarpackie? Are our ancestors perhaps from the same place? Or maybe related?
I would check the Ellis Island records at w w w.ellisisland.org for his entry in the US. Many times a relative in Poland is listed, and that may give you a starting point. Where did your grandfather settle in the US? I have a marriage record of a Stanislaw Glowniak in Detroit. You may try finding your grandfather's marriage record.
The LDS Church has several records from Poland, but I think most that still exist are held by each Voivodeship.
Well my grandfathers Ellis Island Information does list Oleśnica, near Kielce, Poland.
My grandfather Stanislaw Glowniak, born to Michal and Julia glowniak came to the USA in 1913 and traveled initially to Ohio. He's listed as going to a brother Pawel Grochowski, but we have no idea who that was. I know for sure he was traveling with a first cousin named Michael Jakubowski who was on the very same boat.
In 1915 he went to Detroit Michigan where he had family, got married and moved back Dunkirk NY where he passed in 1961. He had three brothers and two sisters, brothers were Bronislaw and Piotr i believe from old letters and family pictures.
On the Ellis Island records, when it says Kielce, I think that means in Kielce, and not near Kielce. Back then, Kielce was the name of the state (Voivodeship) as well as the name of a city. So, Olesnica, Kielce is like saying Detroit, Michigan. At least that is my interpretation. Either way, I believe (without solid proof), that this is the town being referred to:
Olesnica is a rather small town, and Glowniak is not a very common name, so I would guess that we are related, but I do not know how as the information you gave above does not match the limited information that I have. Ludwik Glowniak was born in 1892 to Tomasz Glowniak and Francisca Ambroza. He came the US in 1909, and ended up in Detroit, Michigan.
In my research I have come across Stanislaw Glowniak, son of Joseph and Francisca Plewins, who married Eva Zowisza in Detroit. I don't know of a relationship to my family, and it does not sound like a match to your information either.
Assuming your grandfather was Roman Catholic, the church could hold records of interest (to both of us). Olesnica was part of the Stopnica deaconate in the diocese of Kielce. My belief is that any records would be in one of these cities. Stopnica was essentially destroyed during the war, so let's hope the records are in Kielce.
I think these types of records are held by the state archive. w w w.archiwa.gov.pl/en/news.html There is a state archive in the city of Kielce. I have not been able to verify that that is indeed where Olesnica records are held, or if any still exist. It looks like there is an effort to digitize these records. See genealodzy.pl/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-9884-postorder-asc.phtml There are also a few records that have been indexed at geneteka.genealodzy.pl They have an index for a Michal Glowniak born in Kotuszów in 1857. I don't speak or read Polish so I depend upon Google Chrome to translate, and it doesn't always make it easy to understand.
There may be some Russian records may exist as well, since at the time of your grandfather's birth, Poland was part of Russia.
I wish I had more precise leads for you as it would help me as well as I think we are looking for the same thing.
I think this is the web site for the parish in Olesnica: w w w.olesnica.republika.pl Somewhere is says that they only have records at the parish post WWII.
There is at least one Glowniak family still in the area, as young Dominik Glowniak came in second in the bible study contest.
It looks like my link to Google Maps was deleted. Here is the town I was referring to:
The LDS Church has civil transcript of Roman Catholic parish register of births, marriages and deaths of Oleśnica from 1875 to 1884 on microfilm. I have not rented these films. They do not appear to be online yet.
It may be that this this is all of the vital records (BMD) left after the war.
Assuming your grandfather was Roman Catholic, the church could hold records of interest (to both of us). Olesnica was part of the Stopnica deaconate in the diocese of Kielce.
My Farther was also born in Olesnica, and indeed parish records were destroyed in the war. However I was able to obtain a copy of his birth cetificate from the archives kept in Stopnica town hall.
There was a small charge of 6zl per copy and I needed proof of kinship and a valid reason for obtaining these. The whole process didnt take a hour but I was there in person.
Thanks for the information. At least I won't continue to search for records from the parish that no longer exist. Do you know what years are available at the Stopnica town hall? To push back another generation, I would need marriage records around 1890 or earlier, or alternatively birth records roughly between 1850 and 1870.
I was finally able to track down my grandfathers exact town, it was Oleśnica, Busko-Zdrój Poland. Now I just need to figure out how to get records from the parish there.
Aburkhart2014 , I can guarantee you we are related then. I've done extensive research on the Glowniak family and have been to Poland numerous times now since my original post.
PM me and ill send you links to all the information I have.
