Trying to build Polish Family Tree... Too Many inconsistencies.

Evening Forum,

In an effort to try and build my Polish Family Tree (From Me)... Going backwards.... All I seem to find are too many inconsistencies with my families genealogy.

My Parents were born here in the United States (Father 1917), (Mother 1918).

The problem I come across on my Mother's side of the Family Tree is variances of the spelling of here Last Name... I've come across Iwick (the version I grew up knowing) as well as find Iwic and even Iwuc in my research. Another problem to my Mother's side... I have the actual obituary for my GrandMother (her Mother) stating the maiden name to be Peksar when trying to find my GrandMother... I don't find Peksar but rather Popiel. Which is actually the maiden of my GrandMother from my Father's Side.

Now for my Father's side. I find two (2) records for my GrandFather.
1. Wladyslaw (I'm guessing Polish for Walter) and the last name of Kozlowski (1894)
2. Walter Koziol (1893).

Is it two (2) different people? OR an error in my GrandFathers records?

The Names for the Great GrandParents from my Father's side is as Follows:
Great GrandFather: John Kozlowski (GrandFather's Dad).
Great GrandMother: Annie Ostrowska (GrandFather's Mother).

Great GrandFather: John Popiel (GrandMother's Dad).
Great GrandMother: Annie Suchoerwska (GrandMother's Mother).

The only reference I have as to location for anyone states Russia / Poland.

Sorry for the novel.

Thank You

Alan

Alan, have you checked the regular sources already? Social Security Death Index, Naturalization and Census records, Ellis Island ship manifests, the LDS database? Many Polish records (both church books and civil registration) are available online; especially from the areas that were part of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.

Here are a few links:

metryki.genbaza.com/genbaza,list,4,1
genealogiawarchiwach.pl
szukajwarchiwach.pl

You'll need to enter Polish town names to get results.

Hi TheOther,

Thanks for the suggestions... some I will follow-up with... But a majority of what you listed, I have already gone down that avenue only to run into a wall.

Part of what I uncovered though... My GrandParents did NOT come through Ellis Island BUT rather through Boston Massachusetts... Which kind of makes sense for where I live.

The LDS databases seem to be my drawback that's where I'm coming up with all the inconsistencies.

I just checked the Poznan Project (poznan-project.psnc.pl). Their database came up with the following:

Catholic parish Środa Wielkopolska [Schroda]
entry 20 / 1837
Joannes Kozłowski (22 years old)
father: Jacobus, mother: Marianna Chlebowska
Antonina Ostrowska (18 years old)
father: Joseph, mother: Theophila Węsierska +

Mirek Paliszewski (e-mail: mirke@o2.pl):
Jan h.Jastrzębiec Kozłowski *1815 + ca 1870 dz.Dulska k.Inowrocławia
[syn Jakuba i Maryanny h.Poraj Chlebowskiej]
x 23.10.1837 Kijewo
Antonina h.? Ostrowska *1819 +20.07.1892 Środa Wlkp.,poch.Góra k.Inowrocławia
[córka Józefa 1788-1839 i Teofilii h.Bylina Węsierskiej + przed 1837]
było Potomstwo,patrz Karczewski Kozłowska
2v Antoniny 1873 Leon Chlebowski,patrz Chlebowski Kozłowska
(04-08-2009)
Wielka Genealogia Minakowskiego:

(13-11-2013) - sejm-wielki.pl/b/sw.21426

Are these your folks by any chance? Note the spelling!
Don't trust the LDS datasets too much. They contain many transcription errors and always have to be cross checked with original documents.

Antonina h.? Ostrowska *1819 +20.07.1892 Środa Wlkp.,poch.Góra k.Inowrocławia

The above line.... from your previous post has me wondering.
Antonina could be Annie. Is the 1819 a year of birth? Is the 20.07.1892 a death date?

Because, if it is... Antonina passed away before my GrandFather was born.
So,I'm probably guessing NOT related

I'm almost certain that the spelling of the first and last names of your ancestors were altered when they entered the U.S. . That's a common problem. If I were you I would search the usual sources for name variations.


Looks like. The e-mail was only added as a comment to the Poznan Project dataset.

One problem with that statement about my Great GrandParents names changing.

They never came to the United States. Only the GrandParents

Well, replace "great grandparents" with "grandparents" then... :)
Sorry, my bad.

Have you searched the LDS database already? There are quite a few datasets and documents for Wladyslaw Kozlowski/ Walter Koziol (born in 1894) there. The first one looks promising.

familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3AWladyslaw~%20%2Bsurname%3AKozlowski~%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1894-1894~

Kozioł and Kozłowski are two different surnames. Would he have changed one Polish name to another?

Referring to few posts above. A little cross next to the date means the date of death. This is still used in Poland today when writing about the deceased (+1892) means died in 1892.

To try and cover the last 2 responses / posts.

My problem seems to insufficient records from Poland forward.
I have found records from my Grandfather that states Birth years from 1893 to 1895.
The records also show the same Family members.
1 record shows him as Walter Koziol the other as Wladyslaw Kozlowski.

Were the names changed due to pronunciation or shortened for processing purposes?

Thank You terri. So, that clarification helps eliminate 1 of the records found that was in question.
Because, if the Great GrandMother died 1892 how could the GrandFather be born 1893 or later.

Alan, what does the naturalization document of your grandfather say? Family name, date and place of birth? If it's Wladyslaw Kozlowski, check out the dataset I linked to in post #8. That one seems to be promising.

Here's the marriage record of your grandfather (no. 10):
familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6P74-3LX?i=406&cc=1469062

Name changes happened all the time because immigration agents and other government employees couldn't handle/ understand the foreign spelling. They simply americanized the names.