mateuszw1990
9 Apr 2011
Genealogy / Martin Kotwila [5]
I am looking for more information about my old ancestor Martin Kotwila who emmigrated to the United States around 1914. He settled in Greenfield, MA. Obviously he changed his name which in original was written as Marcin Kotwiła. He was born in 1890s. I found that there was a Polish parish in Greenfield and a Polish cemetery. So I pressume there a some sort of Polish community there.
Marcin Kotwila originated from a village (Otfinów but could be wrong) near Tarnów (Austria-Hungary in those days) He left his wife and two children there. However he got married for a second time while in the US. I have no idea about his new family. Any facts are totally unknown to me. I was looking on the internet there are quite a few people in Chicago with this surname. And generally in the area of Illinois too. Who knows, maybe it's just a coincidence.
Last letters from him can be dated as far as late 1950s. He also supported his wife and children for some time with moderate amounts of money. But as I said. Pressumably he died or got ill or didn't wanted to keep a contact any longer. He never went to Poland again. I can remember one of my family members saying that he didn't wanted to visit Poland because of communism. Maybe it was just an excuse
Any help or tips will be deeply appreciated
I am looking for more information about my old ancestor Martin Kotwila who emmigrated to the United States around 1914. He settled in Greenfield, MA. Obviously he changed his name which in original was written as Marcin Kotwiła. He was born in 1890s. I found that there was a Polish parish in Greenfield and a Polish cemetery. So I pressume there a some sort of Polish community there.
Marcin Kotwila originated from a village (Otfinów but could be wrong) near Tarnów (Austria-Hungary in those days) He left his wife and two children there. However he got married for a second time while in the US. I have no idea about his new family. Any facts are totally unknown to me. I was looking on the internet there are quite a few people in Chicago with this surname. And generally in the area of Illinois too. Who knows, maybe it's just a coincidence.
Last letters from him can be dated as far as late 1950s. He also supported his wife and children for some time with moderate amounts of money. But as I said. Pressumably he died or got ill or didn't wanted to keep a contact any longer. He never went to Poland again. I can remember one of my family members saying that he didn't wanted to visit Poland because of communism. Maybe it was just an excuse
Any help or tips will be deeply appreciated