Posts by kcarnley

kcarnley

11 Jul 2016

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

Using some recently digitized records I was able to add a few more generations to my grandfather's Polish ancestry. Moving into the 18th century records I made a curious discovery; the family name changed. Suddenly the name I had been researching, Turkiewicz, was no longer appearing in the birth/marriage/death records. However, a new name appeared that didn't exist in the 19th century records for the village, Turkiniak. Comparing the families bearing the two surnames it is evident they are the same people. So what happened?

The Turkiewicz name appears in neighboring parishes and I find no other instances where it was changed. Was this something done by the priest? Did Bazyli just decide one day that he didn't want to be "the little Turk" anymore and declared before the church congregation that from now on he would be "son of the Turk"? His brother, Marcin, must have made the same declaration since he was born a Turkiniak and died a Turkiewicz as well.

This has stirred up a lot of questions that will probably never be answered without resurrecting some dead relatives. Has anybody experienced a similar change in surnames?

kcarnley

28 Oct 2014

Genealogy / Turkiewicz Ancestors from Poland / Parobek [5]

What part of Ukraine is Papiernia located? My searches only find several towns in Poland. The Turkiewicz name was once found in Dobropole, Ossowce, Bielawince, Bobulince, Huta Nowa near Buczacz. There was a Roman Catholic priest in Monasterski in the late 1800s that had the Turkiewicz name. Most of the Poles from this area of Ukraine resettled in southwest Poland after WW2. My mother is a Turkiewicz. Her family emigrated to America prior to WW1. I am in contact with some cousins still living in the ancestral village in Ukraine.

kcarnley

31 May 2013

Genealogy / Turkiewicz, Czajkowski - Looking to connect with people with ties to Dobropole [13]

I do recall my grandfather saying his grandfather, Josef Czajkowski, was considered minor nobility. That is the extent of my knowledge on that subject.

I've seen various documents with members of the same family being referred to as ethnically Polish and Ruthenian/Ukrainian. My grandfather always considered his people Polish but due to the area they came from they spoke a dialect of Ukrainian that was heavily influenced by Polish. They seemed to be comfortable communicating in both languages. What little I can recall from my youth I know they always used the Polish words for various foods rather than Ukrainian.

kcarnley

31 May 2013

Genealogy / Turkiewicz, Czajkowski - Looking to connect with people with ties to Dobropole [13]

My great grandparents were Wladimir Turkiewicz and Anna Czajkowski. They were born in Dobropole, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. Today Dobropole is in Ukraine, between Tarnopol and Buczacz. They both immigrated to the United States in 1912. After immigrating Wladimir went by the given name Walter. The families were in Baltimore (Curtis Bay), Maryland and Vandergrift, Pennsylvania before settling in Hamtramck, Michigan in the early 1920s.

Other surnames related to my family in Dobropole include Witwicki, Oracz, Chomicki, Bohun, Bartoch, Kruszelnicki, Blauciak, Monastyrski, Wegrzynowski.

I recently hired a researcher in Ukraine to investigate my family and his report added many names to my tree. In addition it created a lot of questions. The Czajkowski name is prolific in Dobropole and found in both in both Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic records. I would like to know how all of these names tie together, who were some of the first settlers, when did they come to Dobrople, and where did they originate?

I would like to hear from anybody related to these families, hear their stories, and learn any history about Dobropole or the area in general.

Keith