Common surnames in Poland NOT of Polish origin ?

There's a marriage record from Cuyahoga, Ohio, which lists a Rebecca Froudist:

familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3AFroudist~

@TheOther
Thank you for this. Yes we had come across Rebecca Froudist. Your link has provided us with a bit more information which is terrific.

Can you tell as a little bit more about your parents? Where did they live in Poland? Warsaw? Were they Jewish, catholic or protestant? That's very important if you want to ever find your ancestors.

My father I have only recently learned was Jewish ! Dad lived in Warsaw. My mother lived in Novogrodek. My mum is still alive and is Catholic. Dad converted to Catholicism because of Mum and became a devout Catholic.

There is also a listing of Refugees from the Vilna Refugees Archive which we recently came across. #1339 Froudist Mirjam-Margarette Korenberg 1902 Michalin and Froudist Chaskiel Warszawa 1902 Warszawa. My father was born in 1902 (not 1901 as I previously had stated). We haven't a clue who this Mirjam-Margarette is ?

Yes we do... she would be my father's first wife.

Could it be that there was a typo in the refugee listing of the Vilna archive and the maiden name of Mirjam-Margarette was Kronenberg or Kronberg(er), or that her first name was actually Miriam?

Here's one Miriam Korenberg (and there's another one mentioned in the record):
familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3AMiriam~%20%2Bsurname%3AKorenberg

@TheOther
This is the only reference we've ever read regarding my father's first wife. We just don't know if the spelling is correct or not. Thank you for taking the time to do your own research. It's very much appreciated.

Have you seen this already?

yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?itemId=6680943&language=en

@TheOther

No I have not seen this website. It's in the process of being completed, so no way to start doing a search. I have added this link though to our ever growing list. I

If he is a person of interest to you, also look for him under the name Henryk, his other given name, as well as Chaskiel. He is the first Froudist listed on TheOther's previous link, using the initial H:-

polishresettlementcampsintheuk.co.uk/passengerlist/dorsetshire1951sep.htm

@Chemikiem
Yes we've seen that. Thanks anyway. That list shows my Father and Mother and two older sisters and a brother. My older siblings were born in the what was called the Belgium Congo. Then they left that settlement (my father was in charge of a Polish refugees at a camp in Koja) and sailed to Liverpool England, before resettling here in Australia. We just can't get any solid information about my father's family before the second world war. The name Rebecca Froudist that has suddenly appeared in 1928 in Ohio marriage records is now a new lead. But between 1928 and WW2 there's nothing and before 1928 nothing. Where on earth has this Rebecca Froudist come from ??? She was listed as the mother of Paul J Dorfman who got married in 1928. Which means Rebecca was probably born late 1800's as her son Paul J Dorfman was 27 in 1928... this wedding was in Ohio !!

If I'm right she came from Poland and was born in 1879. Have a look at these entries on familysearch.org for her son Paul J Dorfman.

familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3A%22paul%20j%22~%20%2Bsurname%3Adorfman~

The second listing shows the marriage of Paul J Dorfman to Vera Kaplan in 1928, and lists Rebecca Froudist as the mother, and Hyman as the father. No surname is recorded, but it would have to be Dorfman I'm guessing! Birth year is estimated for Paul and his wife.

familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2Q7K-8TL

I don't like to second guess anything regarding genealogy, but I don't think the first entry on that list can be ignored. It is from the 1930 Census, two years after the 1928 Ohio marriage. It lists a Paul J Dorfman as living in Chicago, with a father named as Hyman Dorfman, a mother named as Rebecka Dorfman, and a Vera Dorfman listed as daughter-in-law to the head of the family Hyman. If it is not them, then it would be one hell of a coincidence having all three relevant names in 2 different families.

The record gives Rebecka as being born in Poland and her age as 51, which would give an 1879 birth date. Hyman is listed as being born in Romania. Immigration year is given as 1910.

familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSGK-KFD

You may already have seen my next link which is in regard to Henry Proudist, but I thought you might find it interesting if you haven't. One of his paintings is up for auction in Australia. At the bottom of the page is a link to more of his work. The painting comes from the Miriam Stannage estate ( well known Australian artist who died last year ). I read a little about her, and it appears she went to evening classes with Henry.

invaluable.co.uk/auction-lot/henry-froudist-untitled-meeting-ink-and-water-137-c-bad4ed5872

I have also found a 1952 passenger listing for Froudist ( presumably Henry ). Location given is Fremantle, Western Australia.

search.findmypast.co.uk/search/united-states-and-canada-records/passenger-lists-leaving-uk-1890-1960?shipname=largs%20bay&o=firstname&d=asc&page=1

Oh thank you so much. My mind is all over the place now with so many new bits of information. My father was a very well known artist here in Perth, Western Australia. Miriam Stannage, my mother's dearest friend, passed away last year. She had some of my fathers work. She always made reference to my father in her books and exhibitions as she credits dad with so much of why art was so important to her. He taught and mentored many very highly respected artists here in Australia. He has permanent pieces exhibited at the Art Gallery of WA. He was also commissioned to do a portrait of one of our Prime Ministers (John Curtain) which has been on display at Parliament House for decades now.

Chemikiem
I really appreciate the time you have spent helping us. I will slowly sift through all the information. It's now becoming really like we might find some connections to extended family. We always sort of felt like orphans. I had only ever known my aunty (deceased) (my mums sister) and Grandfather (deceased) (my mums side) and that's it. No other family members other than my siblings and my immediate cousins. So many questions left unanswered and out of respect to my father we have made it a life long ambition to find some of his lost family. DNA might then be the next step.

I hope you will be successful and fortunately your surname is rare, but I don't think it's going to be easy.
So far everything hinges on the Rebecca Froudist found by TheOther being an actual relative. Given the rarity of the name and that she was born in Poland, it seems likely, but it's also possible there is no connection.

I found the 1940 Census record which lists Hyman and Rebecca along with two boarders, but no mention of Paul and Vera, who presumably were living elsewhere by that time.

familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KW17-4LW

If you click on 'view original document', Hyman is listed as a sailor under the occupation heading. His language is also listed as Russian, and in another original document, his country is listed as Russia and not Romania. I think mistakes on documents were quite common at that time. I viewed the other original documents, but found only that Paul is listed as a merchant on the marriage listing.

The 1950 Census is not yet available unfortunately.

The immigration date for the family is 1910, but so far I haven't found anything. The problem is where they emigrated from and where they arrived. At that time, the two ports of Gdańsk and Szczecin were involved in mainly shipping freight and not passengers. Poles at that time commonly travelled by rail to Germany and departed from German ports, primarily Hamburg and Bremen. There are no surviving passenger listings for Bremen, and I couldn't find anything under the Hamburg passenger lists. Of course, they may have travelled from somewhere else other than Germany. I also checked the Ellis Island records but found nothing there either. Of course they could have arrived at other US destinations. Even if passenger listings were found for them it doesn't necessarily mean that any further information might be gained but sometimes home addresses etc were included.

I'm hoping that TheOther will post again on this thread. He may well have more ideas regarding passenger records than me, as he is quite often active on genealogical threads, and has more experience in researching than me I think.

I don't really know what else to suggest, but if I find anything further I will post it here.

Chemikiem

Thank you so much for spending so much time on this. The family are thrilled with what you and TheOther have found for us.

Oh, there are: deutsche-auswanderer-datenbank.de/index.php?id=535&L=1

Unless you have the opportunity to visit the museum in Bremerhaven, you will have to pay for the research. Shouldn't be too much, though.

It says page not found unfortunately.
As regards the Bremen passenger lists, I had read that prior to 1905 records had been destroyed due to lack of space in the Bremen archives, and that records from 1905 to 1914 were destroyed in WW2. That would include the year of interest in this case ( 1910 ). After checking some more, you are right, some records have been preserved from 1920 - 1923, and from 1925 - 1939, and these are at the Handelskammer Archiv in Bremen. There are also a few records kept on emigrants at Bremerhaven state archives.

Try this one, and then click on the English flag. Their database seems to change the page ID automatically with every visit:

deutsche-auswanderer-datenbank.de

@Chemikiem

Sorry, forgot. Did you see that a man named Teodor Labenski was looking for the Chaskiel Froudist listed in the Yad Vashem record I linked above? Maybe he thought that Chaskiel was killed in the Holocaust when he actually survived. Another relative?

Yes the other link works thanks.


I did see that but stupidly didn't think much of it at the time, but yes, it's possible he is a relative. I clicked on his name and he submitted 9 names to the site, all from Warsaw where Chaskiel was born.

yvng.yadvashem.org/index.html?language=en&advancedSearch=true&sln_value=Labenski&sln_type=synonyms&sfn_value=Teodor&sfn_type=synonyms

Wondering how long ago that info was submitted by him.

@Chemikiem @The Other
yes we did see the entry from Teodor Labenski... we don't know who this is. Maybe he was in the Belgium Congo with dad at the Camp in Koja ? Dad was the Superintendent in charge of this camp. Dad ran art classes there. He was with a very well known artist Julian Stanszak, who was a central figure of Op Art Movement in NYork. He has just recently passed away. My mother has one of his watercolours that he gave to her while they were in Africa after the war. We have kept in contact with him and his wife Barbara.

Are Annis and Barra Scots emigrants to Poland?

Annis may be derived from names like Anna or Hanna but that's also a Greek surname.

Barra may be derived from protoslavic bariti-fight, barac-resist, reject, German Baer-bear or names like Barbara or Bartłomiej.

Hi all, I am Dorota's neice. I think we have discovered that Teodor Labenski was a colleague of my grandfather. I believe the ran a photography business together.

Is zresustek a ruthenian name and is it Slovak Czech rus Ukrainian or Hungarian in origin