By the 1930s the number of Polish immigrants had exceeded the German immigrant in Chicago, and among them were my great-great grandparents. Since I don't yet know their exact immigration dates and the previous spelling of their names, its been difficult to find their papers, but I do know my great-grandfather's parents were from Wielopole and Kolbusowa. Unfortunately, these cities don't exist anymore, and finding their modern-day equivalents will be a challenging but rewarding chore for the next few days.
Upon their immigration to North America, my great -grandmother Pauline Juhan and her parents Nicholas and Katherine settled first in WI, but later moved with many other Poles to Chicago, in what was known as "Polonia." They lived in Chicago Ward 4, apartments with immigrants from many other countries residing in it. The same was true for my great-grandfather Edward Polek: His parents, John and Francis, moved straight to Chicago upon immigration and lived in Chicago Ward 34. From Census records in 1920, there were 4 other Polish families living in the same Ward, Lithuanian, German, and Russian being present as well. I so wish my great-grandparents were still alive to tell what they must have experienced culturally growing up as first generation immigrants.
When my grandmother was growning up, her parents had decided to stay in Chicago, but moved out of the ward into nicer apartments. She remembers going to church and the entire service being in Polish and she not understanding a single word, and her life mostly centered around the Catholic church upbringing and her other Polish relatives. She remembers having Christmas exactly like we have it today in our new generational family hundreds of miles away from Chicago. So perhaps, in a way, the cultural diversity is still there, but more dependent on the widespread locale of our family and the vastly different life experiences that have marked us.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Knowledge Gained
Before I started interviewing relatives for stories, character information, and "life as they knew it" monolouges, I really wanted to see just how far back I could trace things on my own will all certainty. I didn't get far, but I did get somewhere. I spent about 3 hours at the library initially, but after that another 2 hours making up for the information my mom kindly left out (like my grandpa Leonard's real first name).
I now know my grandma White (hereafter "Busia") is 100% Polish, her parents both immigrants in the early 20th Century. From census records of my great-grandfather's early life, I found his parent's names and all his siblings, but I didn't have a clue where to get my great-grandmother's maiden name. However, when I entered my great-grandfather's name in Ancestry.com's family tree link, I found out I'm distantly related to "The Parkers" who kindly did some research for me. I'll have to check it all all out through Busia, but I'm hoping its all legit.
As for my Busia's ex-husband, my mother's father, I've come up with nothing helpful about even him, let alone his parents or grandparents. I've avoided interviewing Busia about her parents becuase I know I'll have to interview her about her ex as well. I could just call up my grandpa myself, which I'm sure I'll have to resort to soon, but since he has a terrible and annoying hearing problem, I've been avoiding it as well.
My father's father is 100% French, but beyond that, I havn't found much. My father's mother is 100% Canadian French, and her Grandmother lived with her until she died so I have Grandma's mom's maiden name and great-great grandma's name as well.
The catch for all of my findings is the lack of immigration papers. Either they all changed their names (or at least the spelling of their names), lied on the census, or were illegal immigrants, stoways, and/or spies. I like the last array of choices better, but in all probability they probably just changed the spelling of their names or what country they were from.
Since my mother's side is so stongly Polish, this is a huge possibility. I've been doing research on webpages like www.polishroots.org and poland.pl to learn about the country's history as a democratic nation, to learn from other geneologists' journeys in tracing their Polish roots, and to learn about the culture and religion of the country. I plan on doing more research of the same type for my father's ancestors as well.
This week I'll be interviewing Busia for more information on her parents and grandparents, and I'm hoping for something fun and exciting like pictures, legal documents, and secret recipies for perogi. I'll sit down my father for some one-on-one hardcore interviewing about his childlife, and I may email his older brothers for information, but I know the well will run shallow there; things are more difficult since both his parents are deceased and the possessions of grandma Leonard's house were randomly dispersed/thrown out when she died 5 years ago.
I now know my grandma White (hereafter "Busia") is 100% Polish, her parents both immigrants in the early 20th Century. From census records of my great-grandfather's early life, I found his parent's names and all his siblings, but I didn't have a clue where to get my great-grandmother's maiden name. However, when I entered my great-grandfather's name in Ancestry.com's family tree link, I found out I'm distantly related to "The Parkers" who kindly did some research for me. I'll have to check it all all out through Busia, but I'm hoping its all legit.
As for my Busia's ex-husband, my mother's father, I've come up with nothing helpful about even him, let alone his parents or grandparents. I've avoided interviewing Busia about her parents becuase I know I'll have to interview her about her ex as well. I could just call up my grandpa myself, which I'm sure I'll have to resort to soon, but since he has a terrible and annoying hearing problem, I've been avoiding it as well.
My father's father is 100% French, but beyond that, I havn't found much. My father's mother is 100% Canadian French, and her Grandmother lived with her until she died so I have Grandma's mom's maiden name and great-great grandma's name as well.
The catch for all of my findings is the lack of immigration papers. Either they all changed their names (or at least the spelling of their names), lied on the census, or were illegal immigrants, stoways, and/or spies. I like the last array of choices better, but in all probability they probably just changed the spelling of their names or what country they were from.
Since my mother's side is so stongly Polish, this is a huge possibility. I've been doing research on webpages like www.polishroots.org and poland.pl to learn about the country's history as a democratic nation, to learn from other geneologists' journeys in tracing their Polish roots, and to learn about the culture and religion of the country. I plan on doing more research of the same type for my father's ancestors as well.
This week I'll be interviewing Busia for more information on her parents and grandparents, and I'm hoping for something fun and exciting like pictures, legal documents, and secret recipies for perogi. I'll sit down my father for some one-on-one hardcore interviewing about his childlife, and I may email his older brothers for information, but I know the well will run shallow there; things are more difficult since both his parents are deceased and the possessions of grandma Leonard's house were randomly dispersed/thrown out when she died 5 years ago.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Roots: The beginning of the epic journey
This is a new thing for me: my first blog, my first genealogical look at my family, and my first writing class at IPFW. Joy! And all in my senior year. What can I say? I've led a boring life.
My beginning goal for the project is to do a genealogical record as far back as I can go, which may be not very far at all (I explain why later), and then combine it with a theory that claims patterns of behavior are "inherited" from generation to generation like physical traits or skills or hobbies are. I'll probably just keep it in document form since I know nothing about making a web page, and somehow organize the project between the ancestral, cut-and-dry genealogy and the stories behind the facts.
So down to business: My first step was to obviously get as far as I could on my own with the family history. Let's just say it took me 20 minutes, and only because I couldn't remember my uncle Jim's ex-wife's name. So needless to say, I didn't have much to start with. My father's family is pretty much a dead end. Both of his parents are deceased, he has three brothers whom we never speak to because they are strange men and live at least 2 hours away, and my dad didn't even remember his mother's maiden name. "Dad, did grandma have any siblings?" "Ummm..ehhh..ok. I think she had some sisters." Thanks, daddy-o.
On my mom's side, she knew both my great-grand parents' names, no maiden names, though, but it was at least one generation further than dad's so it was welcome information.
So when I met with Suzanne, she informed me two things: I may dig up uncomfortable information about my family and I will need to do a lot of interviewing since I'm focusing so much on the stories. With both, I am cool, so as I get some interviews, I'll post again.
My beginning goal for the project is to do a genealogical record as far back as I can go, which may be not very far at all (I explain why later), and then combine it with a theory that claims patterns of behavior are "inherited" from generation to generation like physical traits or skills or hobbies are. I'll probably just keep it in document form since I know nothing about making a web page, and somehow organize the project between the ancestral, cut-and-dry genealogy and the stories behind the facts.
So down to business: My first step was to obviously get as far as I could on my own with the family history. Let's just say it took me 20 minutes, and only because I couldn't remember my uncle Jim's ex-wife's name. So needless to say, I didn't have much to start with. My father's family is pretty much a dead end. Both of his parents are deceased, he has three brothers whom we never speak to because they are strange men and live at least 2 hours away, and my dad didn't even remember his mother's maiden name. "Dad, did grandma have any siblings?" "Ummm..ehhh..ok. I think she had some sisters." Thanks, daddy-o.
On my mom's side, she knew both my great-grand parents' names, no maiden names, though, but it was at least one generation further than dad's so it was welcome information.
So when I met with Suzanne, she informed me two things: I may dig up uncomfortable information about my family and I will need to do a lot of interviewing since I'm focusing so much on the stories. With both, I am cool, so as I get some interviews, I'll post again.
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