I really don't know a whole lot about my great grandfather, here is what I do know. He was born in Slobdka Poland around 1871. Lived in Johnston City Illinois in 1920's. Was married to Julia Zawadska. Divorced and moved to Fayette West Virginia. Then moved back to Johnston City Illinois where he died. He had a daughter Jennie who was my Grandmother.
Merged: Zawadska
This is what I know about Julia Zawadska. She was born in Poland around 1888. She married and divorced Tony Racilla. She lived in Chicago for a while. Then she moved to Johnston City Illinois where she later died.
Try the usual suspects:
- Social Security Death Index (familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535)
- Ellis Island database (libertyellisfoundation.org)
- Naturalization records (archives.gov/research/naturalization/naturalization.html)
- LDS (familysearch.org)
Your ancestors didn't come from Poland, by the way.
RACI££A: It looks like his could be a Polish name, possibly a Polonised version of an orignally Lithuanian one; there are surnames such as Raciłowski and Racilewicz which could have been patronymic tags meaning "son of Raciłło". There is a locality in Romania (across the mountains from Poland) called Racila which could have been a toponymic source of this surname.
ZAWADSKI: only a handful of people in Poland spell their name this way, the normal spelling is Zawadzki. It orignated as toponymic tag inidcaitng an inhabitant of (the village of) Zawada.
