Genealogy / Poland Genealogy Resources [130]

I have found the treasure trove of church records online.

It is szukajwarchiwach.pl/

It seems to be a collection of all of the official archives from around Poland.

Use this szukajwarchiwach.pl/o_serwisie

If you know what town or village your ancestors came from enter it in the search box.

If you get a result, see if there are any digital copies available.

More records are to be released in June

Genealogy / Where in Poland is the town of Laka? [20]

I checked the the Ellis Island website and found 3 Palcowski listings:

in 1901 Walenty Palcowski from Lukawiec arrived New York , destination Johnstown Pennsylvania to brother Josef Palcowski. He was traveling with Stanislaw Raminski. Josef Palcowski is listed as his brother in law. His last name might be Kaminski , it's hard to tell from the handwriting. My maternal grandfather was a Kaminski, also from Lukawiec and also originally went to Johnstown upon arrival in New York.

in 1904 Franciszek Palcowski from Trzebownisko arrived New York , destination West Seneca, New York to brother in law Andrzej Pietzonka ( Pieczonka?). That part of West Seneca later became the city of Lackawanna, my home town.

I checked the current local telephone book but could find no Palcowskis listed.

in 1913 Wojciech Palcowski from Trzebownisko arrived New York, destination DuBois Pennsylvania to a step brother whose name I can't read. Traveling on the ship with him was Andrzej Tomaka also from Trzebownisko who was going to Buffalo New York to his brother Wojciech Tomaka.

My paternal grandfather came from Trzebownisko and went to Dubois Pennsylvania first , then came to Lackawanna New York . There seems to have been a migration of people from Trzebownisko to Dubois first and then to Lackawanna in hope of getting a job in the huge steel mill that was being built in Lackawanna at the time. There are still many Tomakas in the area and I know some of them. I did a Palcowski internet phone number search and could not find any located in Pennsylvania. So it is possible that these Palcowskis may have returned to Poland with the money they earned in America, moved to another state or they died with no male children to carry on the Palcowski name.

you can email me if I can help in any way.

A check of the Social Security Death Index shows that Frank ( Franciszek) Palcowski was born 26 September 1889 and died in October 1970 at the age of 81. He was a retired railroad worker.

His place of death is listed as Buffalo New York 14218, 14218 is the postal code for the city of Lackawanna.

Genealogy / Where in Poland is the town of Laka? [20]

Ellie,
Regarding "Szwilisa" , there is a village named Świlcza in Rzeszów County. It is the seat of Gmina Świlcza and lies approximately 5 miles north-west of the city of Rzeszów. It's not very far from £ąka.

Ellie, a further update,
If Maryanna Wros is who you looked up on Ellis Island, the original ship's manifest looks like she came from the village of Turza. You can't just go by what the transcriber put on the text version of the manifest. Sometimes you have to stand on your head and squint real hard to make out what the original manifest says. Turza would also match where Ludwiga Wros came from. Turza is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Rzepiennik Strzyżewski in Tarnów County . It lies 19 miles south of the city of Tarnów, and 55 mi east of the city of Kraków. This would have been part of Galicia. Hope this helps.

To add further confusion , also from Turza are several passengers named Wrosz & Wrzos on the same manifest. So that might indicate that Turza is the ancestral village you're looking for. But then there's a S..an Woros from Smilcza, which looks like it might be a Szymon from Swilcza on the original manifest.

Genealogy / Where in Poland is the town of Laka? [20]

Greeting fellow ethnic Polish Galician-Americans. I came across this website while surfing the net. My grandfathers came from the Trzebownisko and £ukawiec.
The Friends of Trzebownisko has a website " Nasze Trzebownisko" ( Our Trzebownisko)
naszetrzebownisko.wist.com.pl/index.php?action=1
(Make sure you put the three w's and the dot before the above link. This site made me remove them before posting this message.)

It's in Polish but with the help of the Google word translator you can decipher what it says. There are articles about the history of the area and people who played some part in its history.

Gmina Trzebownisko contains the villages and settlements of Jasionka, £ąka, £ukawiec, Nowa Wieś, Stobierna, Tajęcina, Terliczka, Trzebownisko, Wólka Podleśna and Zaczernie.

I supplied the website with some information about immigration to Lackawanna, NY from the Trzebownisko area. Many immigrants from that area settled in Lackawanna including numerous Tomakas. So many of the family names mentioned on the website were familiar to me, that after a little reseach, I was amazed by the number of people from my old neighborhood who came from there.

Ken W.