Searching for the meaning and possible location of the name: Pelafker from Galicia

I am searching for the name Pelafker which is my Grandfather's name born 1869 who moved to London and had a large family.

On the UK census of 1911 he was living in Stepney London and had 7 children.

He died in in 1935 and I have applied to get a death certificate to find if we can see any more information about his exact birthplace.

On the Census form he wrote that he is from Galicia Austria.

Any ideas about this name and we know from maps that Galicia was a huge territory in its day but we believe he was actually Polish by modern standards and guessing from we have seen that it could be from near Krakow.

We cannot find this name, anywhere in our research in Poland - only in the UK Census and UK archives.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards

Alan

I'm sure you have probably seen this information, but unless 2 children died, there are more than 7 children.
On the 1911 Census, there are 8 children listed:-

familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWPW-1PS

On the 1901 Census, there was a daughter, Jane, listed, but as she doesn't appear in the later Census, I'm presuming that maybe she died.

familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9ZW-52Q

I cannot find any fiurther information on the surname either. I have looked at a Polish site, and there are no people listed as resident in Poland with that surname. I tried alternative spellings based on pronunciation in case the surname was originally misspelled , but found nothing.

The only thing I am wondering is whether he was Jewish because 3 out of the 4 sons christian names are Jewish, Abram, Nathan and Isaac. If that is the case, you may find information through Jewish record sources.

Good luck with your search and sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I guess the name is a variant of Plafker or Plawker. In Polish 'w' is pronounced as /v/ so Plawker and Plafker sound similar.
There's a rescue story of Jankiel Plawker saved by the Kozłowski family ( Righteous Among the Nations) in Kolbuszowa which was part of Galicia. However, it's hard to say if you're related.

Hi Chemikiem,

Yes they were Jewish so how do we find records in Jewish Organisations please?

Thanks in advance

@Bigalas, these people have access to records: jewish.org.pl and help people searching for their roots.

Thank you jon357.

I will look now.

Very kind of you.

This site might also be helpful:-

jewishgen.org/databases/poland

Hi Chemikiem,

But this database want $100 to use it !

Did you know that ?