My problem is that I don't know a lot about my family's history. One side I have never met, nor do I intend to other than to find out the basics like genealogy, family medical history, etc... The side I am interested in is my mother's. It is the German surname Petke. From what I know they came from the the town/city of Lipno. My great grandfather was a Prussian/German and married a woman with the last name of Netzel (the spelling could be wrong). I just found out that she was most likely Polish but I cannot prove this either.
What I am asking is if anyone can help me find out the meanings of the surnames Petke and/or Netzel, and if anyone knows how I may obtain town records or information about my family when they live in Lipno, Poland. I have found a couple websites on Lipno, but they are either about the Jewish (which I am not) or in Polish (which I cannot read).
Try to find out the confession of these people. Then try to contact the church in this town...with luck the old "Kirchenbücher" are still existent. Every birth, marriage, and death of the members is there noted.
Later the Rathaus overtook much of that duties.
There are lists online where genealogists gather. Many are specialized for several territories and towns. There you can find support and even help for translation...
I answered on your other thread with a few hopefully useful tips. Generally, German names ending in "ke" show they are from Eastern Germany and had a lot contact with Poland. Many German names eventually became completely Polonized as various migrations of German settlers became absorbed. Lasko often became Laskowski. Names like Rode (red) became Cerwinski, etc. Might have my Polish spelling wrong. Your name probably is from a later migration, not fully Polonized. My ethnic German grandmother's name was Witzke. My father was ethnic German and my mother was Polish.
To Bratwrust Boy....Lipno is in what was once called Dobriner Land. There were mostly ethnic German settlements there until after WWII. They were free villages that were established in the 1700's. Nobles invited them there to drain the marshes and they were rewarded with land and the abililty to continue to worship as Lutherans and speak German. Their langauge was the low German spoken now around Bremen
So I just was told that it is possible that even though my family is German (surname Petke) they could possibly had a Polish version on the name (Petka) since they were living in Poland.
Can anyone give me possible explanation as to this and if Petka is actually a Polish name?
Surname Petka is very common in Podkarpackie (Rzeszów) probably because of the Austro-Hungarian influence in that region, Possibly it’s Serbian (Saint Petka) not sure about that.
In case anyone needs the address of the main Polish Archive, this is probably still current:
Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwó Państwowych Dział Współpracy z Zagranicą ul. Długa 6 00-950 Warszawa
And I think the local archive for Lipno would be either Toruń or Włocławek. I have their email addresses, but it would be good to write and ask whether to request them directly, or send it through the Warsaw main archive.
Oh, I am happy to hear that! And you will tell us???
Maybe this is not the right place, but I want to say that inspite of all the clamor on some of the threads about Germans vs. Poles, and who is more at fault or guilty of what, that most of the ethnic Germans that I know personally really loved Poland, and still do. Yes there were Germans who got ugly when Hitler came into power and took control of Poland. They were wrong and deserved to be kicked out. But hopefully everyone knows that there are good and bad people in every country and nationality.
I do feel that Poland got a bad shake in most things with two very powerful and agressive neighbors and that the allies did not do enough to help her. My heart bleeds for the country of my ancestors, but is also proud that despite all the tragedy, Poland exists. It is a miracle that being divided into German, Austrian and Russian for so many years, the peoples could come together as a country.
And while Poland after WWII became a very homogenized country, it is also a credit to her that at one time she was very multinational and lead the way to tolerance and acceptance. I wish that rather than everyone getting ugly about history, we could educate people about what happened, but also let wounds heal. The past cannot be changed, but maybe a few lessons learned.
I am half Polish and half ethnic German from German colonists in Poland that were invited to be there at one time. It is sad to me they could not stay, but I understand.
I feel for all that Poland suffered and I love my heritage and I love Poland. I almost hyperventilated flying over the country for the first time and cannot wait to go back someday. I encourage you to embrace your family history, but love the land your ancestors chose to make their home, at one time.
Sorry it has taken so long to reply back. My computer had to be replaced and I lost all my links.
From what I am told Petke means Mountain. Although I recently was playing around with some online translators and found out that "petke" means "fives" in Slovenian. lol
Softsong: I agree with you about the Poles v.s. Germans. I have nothing against the Polish people or their land, and to find out that I have a connection to there no matter how remote. Where I grew up, the town was heavily German. The next town over was heavily Polish. So I have been lucky enough to have been exposed to both from little on.
Netzel is obnviosuyl of German origin (Netz is German for ent), hence it migth have originated to mean netman - someone who made a living making or mending nets for fishermen.
There are around 150 Netzels in Poladn today and more than 550 who bear the Polonised version Necel. Petke, like most (maybe all?) German surnames ending in -e, it is of Slavonic origin. Example Lipke from lipka (no meani, in German, little limetree in Polish).
Petke could have originally been Petka, one old hypocoristic (endearing diminutive) of Piotr. Of course, etymology is not necessarily tantamount to nationality. There are countless Germans named Kowalski and numerous Poles named Szulc and Szmid, some of whom have retained the original German spelling: Schultz/Schulz and Schmidt/Schmied.
Gruzlewski Family: My grandmother was born in Cicero, ILL in 1904, her name was Joanna Gruzlewski and her parents were Szymon Gruzlewski and Marcyanna. They had 13 kids that I have been able to find. Kids were Martha Netzel, Sophia Gruzlewski, Catherine Gruzlewski, John Gruzlewski and Rose Pilarski. Some of the girls changed their name to Leske. I know nothing of the family neither does my dad and am looking for any help of connections to find them. My frandmother changed her name to Jane Leske by 1922.
The Polish spelling would be Szajngros - an Ewa Szajngros is listed as a Holocaust survivor, for example. I guess Scheingros or Scheingros (or even Scheingross) would be possible, too.
My name is Daniel Netzel, from what I understand my father Carl, grandfather Clayton, and great grandfather Theodore were German, until I found out that Poland was a divided country initially and there is strong leanings toward us being Polish/German. I'm doing my best to retrace our genealogy but not getting very far on Ancestry.com any resources would be greatly appreciated.
@dannetzel Start with what you can access in the US. Who was immigrated from Poland. Check ship manifests etc.
They might have been Germans living on the territories of present day Poland or Poles. Since Clayton doesn't sound Polish or German, start with Theodore. There are some results for Theodore Netzel on familysearch. Check the birthdates etc.
