For the last six months or so I have been using most of my free time to work on my Polish ancestors, specifically the Wozniak side of the family. I was going to attend a family reunion in LaCrosse, Wisconsin the beginning of May and wanted to share (and of course try to add to ) the information I had gathered over the years. I admit I really didn't have too much research done on this side of the family. So, for several months I devoted quite a number of hours at my favorite FHC in Chicago Heights reviewing reels and reels of microfilm. I found a few more facts that I immediately added (and CITED!) to my family tree. Two facts in particular indicated that two of my grandfathers older brothers, John and Frank were indeed here in the Chicago area at the beginning of the 20th century. Finding out that was a big milestone in the family genealogy, for these two gentlemen were mere whispers--I can't seem to find out any real concrete evidence of their lives here in the Midwest.
Of course, reviewing reels and reels of microfilm was not the only resource I investigated. I acquired the naturalization record of my grandfather's sister Agnes Modrzejewski from the City of Chicago Archives at the Circuit Court records downtown. It was easy to use Ancestry.com and get the Naturalization card but I wanted to see the actual record which is stored in the archives. The record indicated specifically that Agnes Modrzejewski, nee Wozniak was born in Warszawske, Gubernia, Poland. Best of all was a physical description of Agnes. She indicated she was 5'3" tall (taller than myself), weighed 115 pounds, (okay, I weigh more than that), she had fair complexion (me too), brown eyes (oops, mine are hazel), and brown hair (well, my natural color I suppose is a version of brown). The naturalization record also mentioned her date of arrival to the United States as being in 1904, although I clearly found a record of Agnes and her mother Mary arriving to the US in 1894. I think perhaps the family went back to Poland for a visit. Four more children were born to Mary and her husband Joseph here in Chicago between 1901 and 1906 so it is hard to imagine that Agnes actually immigrated in 1904, more likely it was 1894. Hmmmm.
One of the biggest genealogical discoveries I found was while searching the naturalization records on Ancestry.com for the last name of Wozniak. I came across a naturalization record for a Casey Wozniak. Casey was my grandfather's youngest brother born in 1910 in Wisconsin. He would have been a US citizen by birth so what was the naturalization record? Upon further research I discovered that Casey and his wife Eleanor adopted a little girl and it was her naturalization record that I was actually looking at. Who knew? What a find. Not only did that information add more names to the family tree, but I was able to find some more information about the family through Google and other internet resources.
My Wozniak family tree is certainly growing. Anyone out there know anything about a Frank or John Wozniak, born to Joseph and Mary Wozniak? If so, please contact me! Thanks.
Like branches on a tree, we grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one. Each of our lives will always be a special part of the other. Author Unknown
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The Family
The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck
Genealogy Pox, author unknown
WARNING: GENEALOGY POX IS VERY CONTAGIOUS!
SYMPTOMS: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates and places. Patient has a blank expressions, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses.
Has a compulsion to write letters. Swears at mailman when he doesn't leave mail. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote desolate country areas. Makes secret night calls and hides phone bills from spouse. Mumbles to self. Has strange, faraway look in eyes.
NO KNOWN CURE!
TREATMENT: Medication is useless. This disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse. Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and be given a quiet corner in the house where he/she can be alone.
REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is that the sicker the patient gets, the more he or she enjoys it!
SYMPTOMS: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates and places. Patient has a blank expressions, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses.
Has a compulsion to write letters. Swears at mailman when he doesn't leave mail. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote desolate country areas. Makes secret night calls and hides phone bills from spouse. Mumbles to self. Has strange, faraway look in eyes.
NO KNOWN CURE!
TREATMENT: Medication is useless. This disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse. Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and be given a quiet corner in the house where he/she can be alone.
REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is that the sicker the patient gets, the more he or she enjoys it!
1 comment:
I do not have the relations you are referring to, but I do know a family of Wozniaks, As far as I am aware they are not involved in genealogy, but I am going to send them a link to this page to see if it is of interest to them. Wouldn't it be ironic?
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