before I start, I want to thank members who clued me into where Wielgie was located. Since I knew another city, which I thought was Stupadlo on an Ellis Island record, member gave me north central Poland where one of three Wielgie is located next to Tupadly! Big help! Why would the spelling of Juszkiewicz/Juzkiewicz be a bone of contention between two bros. all of their lives. Have not been able to locate third bro. who emigrated to America before either of them under either spelling..,so that I can finally end the argument. How can I locate these families in Poland...cannot navigate family search...am 84 and computer learning doesn't come easy. Any clues would be helpful!
There is also a possibility that the last name is Jóźkiewicz. There is no difference in pronunciation of Ó and U in Polish. They both sounds exactly the same.. Since the letter ó doesn't exist in English, the third brother's name could be in the Ellis Island records as Jozkiewicz. Perhaps you should search the records for that name as well..
ź sounds like very soft sz in Polish (the sound between z and sh ).
ż sound like hard sz, (like in Zhivago)
So the Polish spelling could be: Juszkiewicz or Juzkiewicz or Juźkiewicz or Jóźkiewicz or Jużkiewicz or Jóżkiewicz. All these last names exist in Polish and they all sound almost the same.
The immigrants coming to America from Poland in the nineteen century were usually very poorly educated. Many had problems reading and writing so the Immigration staff on Ellis Island was writing down the names phonetically. This could be the reason for a different spelling of two brothers last name.
