New Book, French Immigration to North America

My new book, French Immigration to North America, is now available at Amazon as a print book and eBook at Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. It is also available as an eBook at many libraries through Hoopla.

Description

This is a fantastic resource and a must-have when writing your French family history. When did your ancestors immigrate, where did they leave, why did they leave, and how did they get here? The author hopes you find the answer to some of these questions. The book will give insight into the immigration of your ancestors. They played a critical role in the growth of North America. Do not underestimate their contributions!  Find their stories!

Christmas Presents for a Polish Genealogist

Do you need a Christmas gift list for the family genealogist? You may want to consider genealogy-related books, a subscription to a genealogy database, or a DNA test kit.

Books are great gifts. There are many sources for Polish genealogy books on the Internet, but I suggest starting your search with Polish-related webpages such as PGSA.org, the Polish American Journal bookstore, and the Polish Art Center. Here are some books that I found helpful.

Books on Research and Translation
• Polish Genealogy: Finding the Polish Records by Stephen Szabados (2023) – The book outlines a simple process that will help identify where your ancestors were born and where to find their Polish records.
• In Their Words: A Genealogist’s Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian documents (4 books (2003, 2007, 2013, 2017) – each covering a different language) by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman – Four separate books covering the languages found in Polish records. The books discuss documents and extracts from American and European sources, as well as a glossary of genealogy terms to help translate the documents.
• Going Home – A Guide to Polish American Family Research by Jonathan D. Shea (2008) – Another great guide discussing where to find U.S. and Polish records for your ancestors.
• The Study of Obituaries as A Source for Polish Genealogical Research by Thomas E. Golembiewski (2009) – This book provides information on deciphering and using Polish language obituaries.
• Haller’s Polish Army in France by Paul S Valasek (2006) – An excellent reference for information if your ancestor was part of the Polish Army in France, aka Haller’s Army, aka the Blue Army (only available on eBay).
• Slownik Geograficzny by Filip Sulimierski, Bronisław Chlebowski, Władysław Walewski, and others, Warsaw, multiple volumes published between 1880 and 1902 – available on DVD from Polish Genealogical Society of America (PGSA.org)
• A Translation Guide to 19th-century Polish-Language Civil Registration Documents: including birth, marriage, and death records by Judith R. Frazin. Great translation guide for Polish records found in the Russian Partition.
• First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins & Meanings by William F. Hoffman and George Wiesław Helon (1998) – This is an excellent reference to decipher the correct first name for your ancestors.
• Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings by William F. Hoffman (2012) – This is a must-have reference to determine the proper Polish surname for ancestors.

Books on History, Culture, and Customs
• Polish Immigration to America by Stephen Szabados (2016) – This book gives excellent insights into the emigration and arrival in America. A must-read for the family historian.
• Daily Life in Immigrant America 1820-1870 by James M. Bergquist(2019) – This book will give us great insights into the lives of our ancestors who arrived in the 1800s.
• Daily Life in Immigrant America 1870-1920 by June Granatir Alexander (2009) – This book will give us great insights into the lives of our ancestors who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
• Jadwiga’s Crossing: A Story of the Great Migration by Aloysius A. Lutz, Richard J. Lutz (2006) – Must read to gain insights into the challenges of crossing the Atlantic on a sailing ship in the 1800s. It will change your perspective of your ancestors.
• God’s Playground: A History of Poland: In Two Volumes by Norman Davies (2005) – Best and most accurate Polish history book.
• Polish Customs, Traditions, and Folklore by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab (1996) – Must have to learn more about your Polish heritage.
• Forgotten Doors, The Other Ports of Entry to the United States edited by M. Mark Stolarik (1988) – Not all immigrants arrived through New York. This book covers the history and describes coming through the other major U.S. ports.

Subscriptions
• Ancestry.com – One of the premier resources for U.S. records.
• MyHeritage.com – Their databases may overlap with other resources, but Europeans tend to use their family trees and DNA databases. I have found multiple 2nd cousins using MyHeritage who have shared information and helped extend my family history.
• Newspapers.com – one of the largest collections of searchable newspapers. Check their inventory to ensure it includes newspapers from the areas where your ancestors lived.

DNA Test Kits
Are you contemplating buying a DNA test kit for yourself or a family member as a Christmas gift? However, before purchasing a test, it would help if you answered a few questions about how the results can be helpful and whether you are ready for the type and limitations of information it shows.

The test results give two types of information. The first set is a list of diagrams showing the possible areas their ancestors left, implying these are your roots! The second data set is a list that matches your DNA to other submitted samples. This set gives a range of relationships, such as 2nd to 4th cousins, 3rd to 5th, and more. Promotional ads suggest that the test results magically produce a complete family tree and point to a location on a map. Unfortunately, this magic does not happen. The DNA test results will only give clues, not the solution to your questions. Detailed research and analysis are required to finish the job. Have you done any research, or are you ready to start?

DNA testing is not magic. It is a science and a tool that may give you clues to your family history. Genealogy research also is not magic. It is detective work where you need to apply sound and detailed research to be successful. You will have to commit to many days and nights of work uncovering your family history. Please don’t jump into DNA testing without knowing why you are doing it. It can lead to fantastic information, or it may be a waste of your money.

Your genealogist should love all of the above suggestions. However, be prepared! Genealogy may be considered a hobby, but for many, it is a fun addiction. Listen to the stories and have fun with them.

Wesołych Świąt

My new book – Writing Family History for the Nonwriter

My book on writing family history is no available on Amazon.com. Its focus is to help everyone overcome their fear of writing and save the stories of our ancestors to bring them back to life.

Book Description

With the growing number of writing groups in genealogy societies, this book should serve as a guide to help overcome some of the roadblocks some genealogists experience with their writing skills. This book is about writing family history with special examples to help the nonwriter get started. It outlines a simple process that will aid your research and create pages of information that can be read and understood by all family members. The process has a dual focus. First, it makes research more efficient, and then it creates a readable family history. As a result, your research will become faster and more accurate, and your family can enjoy the family history.

 A family history can be a great treasure to you, your family, and future generations. It can help us understand our heritage both in the U.S. and the “old country.” It lets us gain knowledge and appreciation for our ancestors and their lives.

Writing a narrative of your family history is crucial because genealogy research should go beyond finding documents and filling in charts. The stories found within your research are what the family wants to read, and this helps keep the memory of your ancestors alive. We all have family stories that give insights into the lives of our ancestors. Some are entertaining, others celebrate our cultural heritage, and others are more historical. We need to save all of them. So they can accurately pass them down to future generations.

If you are interested in telling your family stories, the materials in this book will help you overcome your fears of writing, and you will commit your family story to the written word. Although I show how getting started with brief biographical summaries can make writing easier and overcome your fears of writing. The book covers simple methods for organizing summaries that can stand alone and later be combined into a larger document that becomes your family history.

Don’t be afraid to begin. Concentrate on finding one story and then another by doing the research. You will find small pieces first that will make the task easier. Eventually, the small pieces will begin to fit together, and the overall story of your family history will appear. Do the work and get the details to organize and save it for future generations.

Celebrating Easter with Our Ancestors

I remember the Dominican Sisters at St Patrick’s Grade School teaching us the religious importance of celebrating Easter. My specific image is Sister Valentine marching us first-graders to a pew in the church on Ash Wednesday to receive the ashes on our foreheads. Over the next few years, religion classes taught us the symbolism of Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. However, I also realize Easter is a significant family celebration as a Polish descendant, with memories of attending these masses with my family, especially my Polish grandmother. Now I am writing down these memories to pass them along to my children, grandchildren, and their descendants.

Our focus during Easter should go beyond the merrymaking of Mardi Gras or Carnival. Or celebrating Fat Tuesday with abundant Paczki. Instead, reflect on the essential tenets of our faith during Lent and as we celebrate the masses. But also, it is crucial for us to consider our family memories before we lose them. Easter was an important celebration for our Polish ancestors, and I find it exciting when I feel I have found a way to connect with them.

I try to bring back memories by reflecting on how our family followed Lenten traditions. For example, did grandma change the menu for her family meals? What did you and your siblings give up for Lent? Of course, candy was always on my list and my fellow grade-schoolers, but I also added daily mass, the Stations of the Cross, and specific good deeds as I matured in high school.

My memories of Easter identify Lent as a private time. The general emphasis of Easter relating to my family memories starts with the end of Lent and the arrival of Palm Sunday. What traditions did your Polish immigrant ancestors follow after Palm Sunday? Did they use the palms they received from their local parish in America or sought out the willows they used in Poland? Did your grandparents hang the palms or willows in their homes and barns (if they lived on a farm)? This tradition was to encourage good health and the protection of the house.

The week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is a flurry of memories of attending mass on Holy Thursday and Good Friday and watching the rituals associated with these days and evenings. Sometimes I am in a pew with my family, in the choir loft, or as one of the altar boys attending the priests. This week culminates with listening to the extended reading of the gospel on Easter.

The crucial time for our family history gathering is the family feast on Easter Sunday. Do you remember what was on the menu? Of course, you do. Were traditional Polish foods available? Are we saving grandma’s recipes? Today my favorites are Polish sausage and pierogis, but these were unavailable in central Illinois when I was young. My grandmother usually found a Polish ham instead. What is the schedule for the day? Who attended the feast? Who were the storytellers? This gathering is the best time to make new memories and the best source to collect the family stories that need to be saved.

Did you have an Easter egg hunt for the children? Did the eggs have traditional Polish designs or only solid colors? The egg symbolized fertility and played a critical role in many Polish celebrations. In the 1800s, the Poles gave elaborately decorated and ornamental Pisanki eggs as gifts.

How are you capturing your family stories? Taking notes or putting a recording device on the table destroys the moment’s atmosphere. Also, recording a family member without permission is a no-no. One method I use is to write down notes as soon as I get home. I write the narrative within a few days and then send a copy to the storyteller for corrections. Everyone knows I am writing the family history and seem to expect they will appear on its pages. Stories about the Easter celebrations of my Polish ancestors give me a different perspective of them, and my visions of them seem to come alive.

Always celebrate our Polish heritage on traditional holidays. Capture the stories and let our children and grandchildren learn about their ancestors.

Considerations about buying a DNA test kit for Christmas?

Are you contemplating buying a DNA test kit for yourself or a family member as a Christmas gift? I believe many people may be weighing this option after seeing the holiday ads thinking it would be a unique gift. In addition, I think people may be asking if they should take advantage of the Christmas sales and buy a kit for themselves. However, before purchasing a test, it would help if they answered a few questions about how the results can be helpful and whether you are ready for the type and limitations of information it shows.

The test results give two types of information. The first set is a list and diagrams showing the possible areas their ancestors left, implying these are your Roots! The second data set is a list that matches your DNA to other submitted samples. This set gives a range of relationships, such as 2nd to 4th cousins, 3rd to 5th, and more.

Another thing to consider before purchasing is how you will use the results. Your answer may influence which company you should consider purchasing your kit. Some ads suggest that the test results magically produce a complete family tree and point to a location on a map. Unfortunately, this magic does not happen. The DNA test results will only give clues, not the solution to your questions. Detailed research and analysis are required to finish the job. 

So, should you buy a test kit, and if you do, what company? My recommendation depends on how you plan to use the results. If all you want is to see your ethnic origins take the test from any of the four major companies (Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage, and FamilyTree DNA) and review your results. However, this set of data may cause you confusion because your results may show origins in places, not in your family stories. Also, your results may not match samples submitted by a sibling or cousin. These two confusing situations happen because companies use different base data and label geographic areas differently. I have not found data that points to one company’s results being more accurate than the others.

On the positive side, companies regularly update their base data to improve their accuracy. Recent updates to my test results gave me clues that helped resolve some brick walls in my family research. With that said, the results I received did not point to any specific village where my ancestors were born, but they did help provide a general idea of where to look.

The last point to consider is how long you have researched your family history. If you are beginning your research on your family history, DNA testing should not be your first step. You must first collect family stories and documents and compile a family tree showing at least four generations before submitting a sample for DNA testing. This early research will help you better understand your test results. In addition, the DNA results will give clues to your roots and suggest how you relate to other people. It is a potent tool, but it is best to use it with other genealogical tools.

DNA testing is not magic. It is a science and a tool that may give you clues to your family history. Genealogy research also is not magic. It is detective work where you need to apply sound and detailed research to be successful. You will have to commit to many days and nights of work uncovering your family history.

Please don’t jump into DNA testing without knowing why you are doing it. It can lead to fantastic information, or it may be a waste of your money.

If you are ready to begin your journey, find the details, do the research, and have fun.

Saving Our Polish Heritage for Our Grandchildren

Now is a time for us to celebrate our Polish heritage, and the story of our immigrant ancestors is the foundation of that Heritage.

I spent much of my early life with my Polish grandparents, and my genealogy research began because I wanted to learn more about their lives in Poland. The success of my early research shifted my goal to saving my discoveries for my children and grandchildren. I decided that I could best do this by compiling a written Family History that is a narrative and contains stories, photos, maps, and documents. I envision my family histories as greatly enhanced scrapbooks focusing on the narratives that explain the images, maps, and documents. I also describe my family histories as collections of summaries of individual ancestors that I have organized into one large document.

I started my research by collecting family photos, family papers, and oral history and quickly moved on to census, naturalization, passenger, and marriage records. These records led me to identify their birthplace and more documents for my Polish ancestors.

I found accounts that described Polish life in the places where they lived. I also found vintage pictures of the town, church, and homes. Polish relatives also gave me copies of the family members who stayed. I included all of this information in my family histories as it was related to my ancestors.

As I compiled my family history, these steps started to bring my grandparents and their ancestors back to life. Note that this process did not happen quickly or with one significant revelation. Instead, the vision of my ancestors came together one piece at a time and over many years.

Capturing the immigration story is an essential step in honoring our Polish Heritage. Envisioning the challenges that our Polish immigrants faced on their journey to America is another critical aspect. Identify the port they left and the size of the ship. Review the passenger manifest. How was life on board the ship? What was their destination? Link the information in the documents and find the stories.

It was not easy to immigrate to America. Leaving home was a very emotional decision. Those who left saw immigration as their only chance to escape the poverty of their life in Poland. Not only were they leaving their family and friends, but the emigrants were leaving their beloved homeland. Some may have been excited about emigrating, but there was also fear of the unknown — most left home with tears in their eyes.

Try to describe their lives in America. Look through old pictures in family albums and also history books of the local area and neighborhoods. Pictures of their homes, neighborhood, and their church are vital. Next, identify where they worked because this would have been a significant part of their lives. Finally, look at their overall experience in America. How did they enjoy their new life? Did they do anything outside of work? Did they have a hobby? Were they active in a fraternal group? Did you find pictures of family gatherings? How was their life here better than what they would have had in Poland?

We will not find answers to most of these questions. However, asking the questions and doing the research will give us a perspective of what our ancestors may have experienced and better understand their character and our Polish Heritage.

Our immigrant ancestors were heroes, and they are the foundation of our roots in the United States. Do not underestimate their contributions. They may have left us some material wealth, but their most significant contribution is their role in the factories and farms of the United States. Their names will not appear in history books, but their efforts impacted American history, and without their sacrifices, our country would not have developed as it did. Their lives were the building blocks in the growth of their new country, and their immigration influenced the quality of our lives today in the United States. Remember that they made many sacrifices for you and helped build the United States.

Be patient. Keep asking questions and looking for records and stories. Then, write down the stories and organize them in family histories.

Save the stories for your future generations

Have fun, and enjoy your Polish Heritage.

The Importance of  Polish Immigration Story to Polish Research

Taking your first step in finding Polish records can be very challenging. At the beginning of my research, I found it essential to review the history of Polish immigration to America: when, why, where, and how. Understanding this aspect of Polish history was critical to my success because knowing the immigration story helped me find the seemingly hidden records for my Polish ancestors.

Poles in America

The first Poles arrived in America at Jamestown in October 1608. They were among the craftsmen the Virginia Company hired to produce materials such as export glassware and make tar and resin needed to repair arriving ships. In addition, our history books mention Polish military leaders Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko and banker Haym Saloman having crucial roles in the American Revolution. Finally, although I have not found any reference of other Poles in Colonial America, there were probably small numbers of Polish workers, intellectuals, and sons of noblemen who immigrated.

The first significant events that affected Polish emigration were the three partitions of Poland between 1772 and 1795 when Prussia, Russia, and Austria carved up Poland, and it disappeared from world maps. However, few Poles fled  Poland after the partitions, and generally, the refugees who could afford to leave went to European countries. The farmers, who made up the large waves of later Polish emigration, could not leave because the nobles would not allow it. However, pressure to leave grew as the new rulers of Polish partitions did not treat their Polish subjects as full citizens and gradually enacted policies that had significant adverse effects. Accordingly, their policies helped build the Polish national unity that we see today.

The first wave of Polish emigration began in the 1850s when Poles left Silesia to settle in Texas, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Their documented histories listed that they left due to the harsh poverty, high taxes, military conscription, and social discrimination at the hands of their Prussian rulers. Poles also began emigrating from other Prussian areas in the late 1860s after the German Empire enacted the Kulturkampf Laws meant to eliminate the Polish culture in Prussian-controlled lands. The laws banned the Polish language from schools and newspapers. In addition, traditional Polish songs and dances were forbidden. In 1886, the Prussian Colonization Policy forced Poles to sell their lands to Germans recruited to re-settle in these new “German” lands. Polish farmers were now day laborers and could not find steady work. Emigration was the only solution to their growing poverty. Records show that over 400,000 Poles left between 1869 to 1899 from German-controlled Poland. Passenger lists indicate most left in family groups.

Polish emigration in the Russian and Austrian partitions began in earnest in the 1880s and generally affected the younger generation because of a lack of jobs. Investors did not build factories in the Polish partitions because they had seen the past uprisings by the Polish people and had fears of future turmoil. Farms could not be sub-divided when the father died. Only the oldest son inherited the land. Owning land became the key to economic stability. Without jobs or land, the younger sons had to leave. Also, fathers had to find the “right husband” for their daughters, someone with the prospect of inheriting the family farm. The other alternative was sending them to relatives in America to find work or a husband. Passenger manifests indicate that most Polish emigrants from the Russian and Austrian partitions were single men and women. This mixture differed from the family groups leaving the German partition.

With the lack of opportunities in rural Poland, and growing unemployment in the cities, emigrating to the United States became an attractive alternative. Letters from earlier immigrants and advertisements circulated by the shipping companies further fueled thoughts about leaving.

Once in America, Polish men worked in the mills and factories that were driving America’s economic growth in cities and areas such as Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Milwaukee, and New England. They worked at the hardest jobs that nobody else wanted. Single Polish women also worked in the factories or as servants until they found a husband. Also, some Poles were able to buy farms in America.

Many emigrants left Poland to earn money in America and then returned home to buy Polish farmland. As a result, almost a third of the Polish immigrants returned home after a few years in America. Nevertheless, the majority of the Poles found it hard to abandon their new home once they saw how much better their life was staying in America. These are the immigrants who are our ancestors.

Learn your ancestor’s immigration story. Identify their challenges. Write and preserve their family stories to honor your Polish heritage for future generations.

CAGGNI – GeneaQuest-2022

CAGGNI is offering an exciting conference schedule at their GeneaQuest-2022. You can attend in-person in Schaumburg or virtual. Click on the link for more information and registration. https://caggni.org/GeneaQuest-2022

An Example of Mapping Your Ancestor’s Migration

Below is how I traced the migration of my fourth great-grandfather Peter and his family from his arrival until my grandfather Roy moved to Bloomington, Illinois. I used family stories, land transactions, census records, marriage records, death records, county histories, and other documents to mark the dates and points on the map.

Here is the documentation of the map points

  • Family historians believe Peter Whittinghill arrived in the colonies about 1770. He was married to Catherine Gabbert in 1775 in Augusta County, Virginia, before the birth of their first child. However, we did not find any documents to confirm these dates.
  • The first record of Peter in Virginia was in the minutes of his 1778  Continental Army court-marshal, which happened in Augusta County. Peter served in the Virginia Riflemen, 2nd Division, Virginia Militia. The history of this military unit included the battle of Yorktown and the surrender of General Cornwallis.
  • On September 4, 1781, land records indicate Peter purchased land along the James River in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The river location adds to the story that he was a miller.
  • I could not find Peter’s 1790 Census record.
  • On April 5, 1796, county records indicate Peter sold his land and left from nearby Amherst County with friends and family on the migration trail to Kentucky. The group traveled south on the Great Valley Road to Blacksburg, where they found the New River. The river was the nearest migration route through the Appalachian Mountains to  Kentucky. The group followed the New River north to the Kanawha River and then to the Ohio River. At the growing settlement of Gallipolis, they built a raft and floated down the River to Maysville. From there, they trekked overland to Fayette County, Kentucky, where Lexington is today. This portion of their migration took three to four weeks.
  • On January 26, 1798, Mercer County land records list Peter and Catherine purchased land on Mud Creek, where he farmed and ran a grist-mill.
  • Peter’s 1800 and 1810 Census records indicate he lived in Mercer County, Kentucky.
  • Four of their child married in Mercer County – John (1803), George (1805), David (1805), and Mary (1810).
  • The 1800 and 1810 Census records also listed some of their neighbors from Virginia, and Catherine’s siblings were also residing in Mercer County.
  • A Mercer County deed dated January 3, 1814, stated Peter Whittinghill of Ohio County, Kentucky, sold his 100 acres. The documents indicate that sons John and David moved to Ohio County sometime after 1810, and Peter joined them with the rest of the family in 1813.
  • Their other four children married in Ohio County – William (1814), Sarah (1814), Elizabeth (1816), and Jane (1818).
  • Son David had moved across the Ohio River and into Warrick County, Indiana, where his son Pleasant was born in 1815.
  • The 1820 Census records indicate Peter living in Spencer County, Indiana. However, the census also lists that his daughter and their spouses had moved to Spenser County or neighboring Warrick County.
  • Peter’s son and my third great-grandfather John stayed in Ohio County.
  • John’s grandson and my great-grandfather Burrill married Elizabeth Pate in 1882 in Hancock County, Kentucky, and the 1900 Census listed him living in Lewisport, Hancock County, Kentucky.
  • The 1910 Census indicates Burrill lived in Glen Dean, Breckinridge County, Kentucky.
  • Grandfather Roy married Lula Mae Powell in 1914 in Hardinsburg, Breckinridge County, Kentucky.
  • Roy was also living in Breckinridge County on his WW I draft registration and the 1920 Census.
  • In 1922, Lula’s brother Joe moved to McLean County, Illinois, farming near Lexington in the 1930 Census records.
  • Lula and Roy followed Joe to McLean County in 1924, where Roy worked construction and rented farmland outside Bloomington.

Find the records for your ancestors. Map where they lived, and mark their migration route. Then, try to find accounts showing their life and what historical events affected them.


Find their story, write about it, and save it for your future generations.

Virtual Genealogy Class at Harper College

I am excited to present my beginning genealogy course through Harper College Continuing Education. This virtual course will be given at 7 PM for the next three Mondays: March 1, 8, 15. Each class will run 2 hours. Use the link below to sign up if interested.

LAA0011 – Genealogy: Start Your Family History

Genealogy: Start Your Family History

Learn a process to help start research and get hints to make your research successful. Before spending countless hours doing unproductive research, learn about a proven success that will guide you to the genealogical information you’re looking for. You will learn about DNA research and the various tests that are available. Discover research methods to make your efforts more efficient and create documents to share with family. Students gain hands-on experience in using the internet for research. LAA0011-004 ONLINE – Live Meetings 03/01/21-03/15/21 MO 7:00 pm-9:00 pm Instructor: Stephen Szabados TUITION & FEE: $75.0