The twenty-first ancestor in my 52 week challenge is my great-great-grandmother, Anna (LINDNER) ZALEWSKI. I didn’t get a post up last week since I was out for the holidays and didn’t get a chance to write it. Anna is the husband of who I like to call my “primary” ancestor, Frank ZALEWSKI. Frank, and his family, are the ancestors that I spend a lot of my research time on. I want to figure out where Frank came from. It’s probably mostly due to the fact that this is my surname line.
Anna was born 15 August 1865 in what was Schwenten in Graudenz, Westpruessen, Germany at the time. The town is now called Święte in Grudziądz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. Her parents are Johann and Eva (Sońefeld) Lindner. I found their names at the same time that I finally tracked down the marriage of Anna and Frank. Anna and her family were from Schwenten, but unfortunately Frank was not.
Anna married Frank Zalewski (or Salewski in the record) on 2 Nov 1884 in Schwenten. Their first three children, Martha, Angeline, and Elisabeth were born in Schwenten before the family made the long, hard trip to America in 1889. They made their way from Balitmore to Milwaukee and are recorded there in 1892. My ancestor, and their first son, Joseph was born in Milwaukee in 1893.
Anna’s parents had more children and a lot of them also settled in Milwaukee according to Milwaukee church records. This is a helpful line of research since they may have traveled together.
On 11 Apr 1939, Anna passed away in Milwaukee at the age of 73. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery with her husband Frank and her youngest son, Frank, Jr.
This post is 21 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.
