Searching for Wasikowski and Papczynski Family History

I am now living in Georgia, USA and searching for Family Tree info concerning Wasikowski and Papczynski families born and raised in South Bend, St Joseph County, Indiana.

Wasikowski Family:

Patricia, daughter of Edward Wasikowski and mother Evelyn Papczynski.
Edward was son of John Joseph Wasikowski and mother Helen Cholewczynsk
John Joseph was son of John M.(?) Wasikowski and mother Agnes Strozewski

This is as far as I've been able to trace family. 1930 US Census says John M. was born in Annapolis, Maryland, however 1900, 1910 & 1920 Census says he was born in Poland/Ger, which I assume was Prussia. I have no information about family past this point. This dates back to John born in Poland 1862 and died in 1944 South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana.

Papczynski Family:

Patricia, daughter of Edward Wasikowski and Evelyn Papczynski
Evelyn, daughter of Alexander (Alex) Papczynski and mother Genevieve Wroblewski
Alex, son of Frank Papczynski (1869 - 1939) and mother Prakseda (Sadie)(Anna) Taberski (1874 - 1957). Did she later marry Anthony Sowinski and have 4 children?

I have no more information on Frank Papczynski family, however Anna Taberski I do.
Prakseda(Anna), daughter of Martin Taberski and Katazyna (Catherine) Taras.
If you have any info to help trace further, I would appreciate. If I can help with more
information on these families, let me know.

WĄSIKOWSKI: root-word wąsik (diminutive of wąs = moustache); topo nick from some place like Wąsice or possibly patronymic tag for the son of somebody nicknamed Wąsik (Whiskers).

PAPCZYŃSKI: ideal topo nick from Russian locality of Папчино (Papczyno); or possibly linked to baby talk papu (food), papciać (eat), papka (thin gruel fed to babies).

CHOLEWCZYŃSKI: root-word cholewa/cholewka (shoe sole); humorously of a shoemaker but probably topo nick from Cholewy, Cholewianka or some such.

STROŻEWSKI: root-word Old Polish stroża (guard, watch - modern Polish straż); probably topo nick from Stroża, Strożyska, Stróżewo, etc.

WRÓBLEWSKI: topo nick from Wróblewo (Sparrowville)

TABERSKI: From taber (modern Polish tabor) - military encampment or Gipsy camp

SOWIŃSKI: topo nick from Sowina (Owlton).

For more information on the above family names please contact me

Merged thread:
Wasik (Wasikowski) Family- Looking For Family Information on John M. (?)Wasikowski

I am doing family history and looking for any information concerning birth of John M.(?)
Wasik (Wasikowski)

1930 USA Census says he was born in Annapolis, MD in 1862 and died 1944 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. He married Agnes Stroza (Strozewski) born 1860 in Poland and died 1952 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. Don't know date when they were married. They put an M as his middle initial.

1900, 1910 and 1920 USA Census says he was born, Aug 1862, in Poland/Ger (which I assume was probably Prussia in 1862). They have no M as middle initial.

1910 USA Census spelled his name Jan Wasikawski, and also says he arrived from Poland/Ger in USA at age 7 (1869), but no Immigration Records available as to port entered from.

Children of John M (?) Wasikowski and Agnes Strozewski:

1. Son - Frank - born 1884, no other information available
2. Daughter - Mary - born 1884, no other information available
3. Son - John Joseph - born 06 Mar 1887 in South Bend, Indiana USA, married Helen Cholewyznski 01 Oct 1910, died 23 May 1972, South Bend, Indiana, USA. This is my ancestor.

4. Antonina - born 1890, no other information available
5. Jadwiga - born 1893, no other information available
6. Leykadya - born 1900, no other information avaialable

If anyone has information prior to 1900 concerning John M(?) Wasikowski, immigration to
USA, or dates of other family members that would be helpful, I would appreciate any feedback. If he was in Annapolis, MD prior to 1900 that would be helpful too. Thank you in adavance for your feedback.

Polonius3 gave me good information about the root word meanings of many family members names. Grandpa had always said that Wasikowski literally meant "man of moustache"!! They confirmed the root name Was, means moustache!! Thank you for your insightful information.

You can respond to this Thread or reach me at: dman46064@hotmail

Can give you some info on Frank Papczynski, born 1869 Germny/Poland, immigrated from Poland in 1883 first counted on a Jun 11 1900 census employed as a meatcutter. He was my great great grandfather. I have him listed as married to an Anna Toberski, born Oct 1874, died 1945. I have a lot of stuff from Frank and Anna to present, but nothing much further back, they were the furthest I have been able to go so far. I know that Anna was employed as a farm as of the May 6, 1910 census in Southbend, Ind. My grandmother says that her father's mom's family owned a farm on Oak Road and a slaughterhouse in Crumstown. If you have any more info on Prakseda, daughter of Martin Taberski and Katazyna Taras tracing that line any further back, I'd be happy to trade for anything I might have of use to you.

1. John M. Wasikowski b - August 1862 in Annapolis, MD d - 1944 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
+ Agnes Strozewski b - about 1861 in Poland Germany d - 1952 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
2. Frank Wasikowski b - 1884
2. Mary Wasikowski b - 1884
2. John Joseph Wasikowski b - 6 March 1887in South Bend, St Joseph, IN d - 23 May 1972 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN m - 1 October 1910
+ Helen Cholewczynski m - 1 October 1910
3. Edward Wasikowski b - after 1910 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
3. Hildegard G. Wasikowski b - 5 March 1915 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
+ Marion A. Szymanski b - about 1921
3. Irene Genevieve Wasikowski b - 5 March 1915 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN d - 18 March 1992 m - 7 November 1937
+ Ferdinard Henry Steinbunner b - 5 March 1913 in Fort Recovery, ?? d - 22 December 2000 in South Bend, IN @ Cardinal Nursing and Rehabilitation Center entombed @ Resurrection Gardens Mausoleum, South Bend, IN

3. Richard J. Wasikowski b - 12 March 1917 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
3. Arthur Ernest Wasikowski b - 11 March 1920 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
2. Antonia Antoinette Wasikowski b - 31 September 1890 m - 24 October 1911
+ Stanley Jozwiak b - 8 July 1889 m - 24 October 1911
2. Jadwiga Wasikowski b - 1893
2. Leykadya Lillian M. Wasikowski b- 24 April 1900 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN d - 11 January 1985 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN m - 13 October 1920
+ John F. Lisenko b - 24 February 1893 d - August 1974 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
2. Stanley C. Wasikowski b - 31 August 1901 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN d - 30 June 1993 in South Bend, St Joseph, IN
+ Anna Woloszyn

Are you still searching for information on the Papczynski Family?

@WasikPapczy
Hi...My name is Lorie Ann Jackson, I was born to Ricardo Montalvo Sr. and Winifred Nowaczewski (Losicki) in El Paso, TX and my brother was Ricardo Montalvo Jr. who died in 2013.

I have some information that I know about the PAPCZYNSKI from my family.

My Great Great Grandmother was Anna Taberski ( born as Prakseda Taberski.) She married Francis Papczynski. Anna's parents were Martin Taberski and Katazyna (Catherina) Taras.

Now, Anthony Sowinski was Anna's second husband with one child by the name of Sylvester(Sal or Sallie) Sowinski. My Great Great Uncle Sal ....we do not know too much about... my mom thinks he had 4 children 2-boys and 2-girls not sure (Tony (youngest son) and Tom. We do not know the girls at all)

It's my understanding from my grandmother (Margaret) that her grandfather abandon her grandmother with 13 children with a woman and they went to PA. My grandmother is 95, so the memories are not so clean now....but I believe this information is pretty correct for the most part.

My Great Grandmother was Lottie Nowaczewski born 1901 in South Bend and her parents were Francis & Anna Papczynski (Taberski) My Great grandmother had 13 sibling.
*Her sister Hattie Papczynski, she married Clem Lenytch....not sure about the spelling on that sur-name but her spouses first name was Clem and we believe they had 3 children (Clem Jr, Jimmy and one more. I also know that my Busha, Lottie had another sister by the name of Bernice Papczynski and she married John Paidle. The Paidles are 3rd cousins to me.

My Great Grandfather who was married to Lottie Papczynski was George Nowaczewski.

My Grandmother was born Margaret Nowaczewski daughter of Lottie & George Nowaczewski ....her siblings are George, Mary, Michael, Stanley (Stasiu), Brother Leonard (birth name was Victor.) My grandmother had 3 children. Winifred Nowaczewski (Losicki), Patricia Losicki, and James Losicki. My grandfather who adopted my mother was Harry Losicki.

Most of my Great Uncles are dead but their children live in South Bend, IN and the surrounding area. My Great Uncle Stanley is still living in South Bend

*My Great Uncle George Nowaczewski was married to Angelina and their children (I only know Robert, Patricia and Shirley ...sorry) my mom said that Patty died at birth or shortly after birth.

*My Great Aunt Mary Nowaczewski was married to Lloyd McNeil (children Mary Ellen, Patrick, Lloyd Jr., plus maybe 2 others but not sure of this brew) We believe Mary Ellen is still alive in South Bend, IN. We are not sure about Patrick but Lloyd Jr. has passed away and not sure when.

*My Great Uncle Michael was married to Virginia Losicki (sister to my grandfather Harry.) They had 2 children Vivian and Michael Jr. I know, Vivi lives in Indianapolis, In and I think Mike lives in South Bend.

*My Great Uncle Victor went to the church and was known as Brother Leonard.
*My Great Uncle Stanley Nowaczewski is still living in South Bend, In

This is as much as I know and I hope this helps you.

We have had a hard time with Hattie...Lottie's sister....I think we are spelling the sur-name wrong

Lorie...we are very much related!..My mom is one of the last living nieces of your great grandmother Lottie! My grandfather was Frank & the brother of your grandmother. My mom talks very fondly of Aunt Lottie. And when I was born, I was the 70th great grandchild of grandma Anna. My mother is Virginia Papczynski Zaworski. can you send me your e-mail so I can send you some things I have. Ask your mom if she remembers, Virigina, Frank, Loretta, Rita, Ruth , Ed or Richard Papczynski...these are all my mom's siblings. So great to find another cousin!

@polonius3 Hello polonius3 and hello to everyone else here in the forum, who can read my message. First of all I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year if this post shoulnd't be read by anyone until then.

I'm posting here because I want to ask some questions regarding a variant of one of the family names mentioned in the second post of this particular thread made by (you) polonius3, namely the surname CHOLEWCZYŃSKI.

Before I go into any further detail concerning my questions, I want to point out the fact that this is my first time posting here and my knowledge refering to genealogy and especially in regard of polish surnames and their origins as well as their composition (suffixes and such) is rather amateurish, resulting from a few instances of interest towards this topic and not going into any further and deeper research based on the information and archives/websites I found at these times (at least in comparison to the body of knowledge some users in particular and the average user in general seems to posses here). With that said I want to beg you pardon in advance if I'm about to commit certain mistakes regarding assumptions, generalisations, etc. relevant to the topic at hand, violations of forum regulations (links, questions, adressing other users, thread rules, etc.) and of course if my halting english articulation itself (not being a native-speaker and not having but rare occasions to use it in word and speech) seems to erroneous in grammar, spelling and punctuation ( so it appears to be unintentionally funny at times).

With all of that mentioned and aside, I want to state my questions. My real surname corresponds with my user name (Cholewka) and thus I would want to know, in the light of the information I found through my sporadic research (including skimming some threads in this forum):

1. Why (you) polonius3 (as well as my parents at one time) mentioned that cholewka actually means shoe sole, while searching for it in the internet generally and in online dictionaries/translaters results in the outcome/meaning of "vamp", (leather) "upper" (of a shoe) or Oberleder (in german) for high boots? (examples: dict.cc/?s=oberleder ; glosbe.com/pl/pl/Cholewka ; de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung?q=cholewka&l=depl&in=&lf=de (weirdly only the german translations gives multiple results ( smalić cholewki , for instance) whereas the english translation only results in "upper")

2. Refering to 1., should I understand Cholewka and Cholewa as actual synonyms regarding the surnames origin? (I'm asking this because I read something about a polish heraldic line, coat of arms named Cholewa including 113 families including Cholewa, Cholewicki, Cholewiński, Cholewski but not Cholewka (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholewa_coat_of_arms), from which I deduct that while Cholewa and Cholewka can interchangebly describe someone or his/her ancestors being a maker/producer of this particular part of boots or being a shoemaker in general (not being tied to the heraldic line at all), it can't be that someone named Cholewka would be a descendant of this heraldic line (because of the missing family name in the listing)

3. Refering to 2., that it would be correct assuming all of the above because there is no -ka suffix in the polish language (cholewka rather being a noun of itself anyway) so that a "renaming" of one of my ancestors (from cholewa to cholewka I mean) inside of polish state borders (since my paternal grandfather was a Góral from Andrychow and his ancestors before him most likely poles themselves) is high unlikely and actually out the question if I understood everything right? (With Cholewa and Cholewka having an accumulation in similar/near by spots in Poland, but actually not the same (examples: nazwiska-polskie.pl/Cholewa ; nazwiska-polskie.pl/Cholewka (Andrychow being south of Katowice and west of Krakow), indicating at least to me that they can, but don't have to be families with the same ancestors in the rather distant past)

4. I'm rather right to believe that, Cholewka being a noun in itself, there are no possible or at best highly unlikely connections to places in Poland like Cholewy or Cholewianka?(like mentioned in the second post of this thread with the name of CHOLEWCZYŃSKI, since therer are no suffixes which indicate something like "estate of" or "son/descendant of")

5. That by going back to 1. I should assume more likely that my family name back then was used to describe someone making only certain parts of shoes (the "upper") or these parts especially good, or that this name was rather used as a colloqiual reference to someone being simply an average shoemaker for everykind of boots?

6. How good are my chances to actually find/pinpoint some more distant ancestors of mine with onlyknowing of my paternal grandfathers biographical facts and dates if I would invest some serious time and energy/resources in genealogy and what I should not except of it? (or shouln't I except actually that what I mentioned right before? (pinpointing))

I know I'm asking a whole lot and if that all above should read itself like a awful mess I must ask for forgiveness a second time.

I hope you can work with that post of mine and would be very happy if even some of these questions could be answered in a profound and competent way (of which I have no doubt of) if that doesn't make produce any inconviences for you.

Many Greetings by cholewka D

Cholewa/cholewka - upper part of a boot around the calf - bootleg.
Cholewka is also a regional name of a mushroom.
The surname might be derived from both meanings.
There's also a Cholewa coat of arms with numerous families using it listed on the wiki page.
Merry Christmas to you, too.

kaprys, thank you for your fast answers. I too remember reading about it being a name for a local mushroom, I just forgot about it. Thank you for reminding me of that.

As for the surname, if your ancestor was a góral, I somehow doubt he was a noble man. Also if he was, you would probably know it.

Suffix -ka does exist in Polish and it's often used to form dimunitives.

As for your ancestors, you can try looking for their vital records at szukajwarchiwach. Some church books have been digitalised. You need to know the year of birth and the parish, though.... and have good luck as you can't find all books online.

Again, I have to thank you for your helpful information, kaprys. I would like to make a serious attempt at retracing my descent to the farthest roots possible. Regarding that undertakings potential and realistical outcome however, I don't see any big chances to reveal something about my family history what I don't know already or could learn from research within my own family rather easily. (my opinion being in accordance with what you tried to imply in your final paragraph of your last post, I guess). Anyway, once again I wish you a Happy New Year.

Many Greetings by cholewka D