Tag: Zalewski

CategoriesWay Back Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday (Now With Words)

Posted on 3 February 2010by Brian Zalewski

I’ve decided to start putting the descriptions with my Wordless Wednesday posts instead of posting them the next day. I feel it’s sometimes confusing and more work to post the same thing twice rather than just saying it all on one day. I will still call it Wordless Wednesday, since that’s the name that everyone uses, but it will have words. Sue me.

Click for larger

This is a photo of my great-great-grandother, Clara (Szulta) Troka and her two daughters, Francis & Emily. Emily is my great-grandmother who married Joseph Zalewski. Francis was better known as Sister Mary Clarentine when she joined the convent. There is no exact date written on this photo, but if I would have to guess I would say it was taken around 1910-1911 since Francis looks very young.

CategoriesTell Me Thursday

Tell Me Thursday: Troka/Zalewski Wedding

Posted on 28 January 2010by Brian Zalewski
Click for larger

This is one of the new photos I found this weekend when looking through my grandmother’s collection. This is the best photo that I have of my great-grandmother, Emily (Troka) ZALEWSKI. She passed away pretty young in 1941 at the age of 45, so there are not a lot of photos of her. This is her and my great-grandfather, Joseph ZALEWSKI on their wedding day in about 1919, since Joe had recently returned from World War I. I have yet to get the exact date of their wedding. I guess it’s one of those things I keep forgetting to dig for.

The other people are mostly unknown to me. The only other person that was labeled was the 2nd man in the back, Leo TROKA, Emily’s younger brother. The other three are not labeled. Though, strangely, there was a 1998 obituary taped to the back of the photograph inside of the frame for an Agnes (Binczak) MAJESKI, who seemed to have lived in that area of Milwaukee according to census records. The obituary was not specifically pointing at any certain individual, but it is possible that this woman is one of the women in the photo.

There are many more wonderful photos in this collection, so besides getting a treasure trove of great family photos, I shouldn’t run out of Wordless Wednesday/Tell Me Thursday posts for awhile.

CategoriesBig NewsFamily Tree

A Little Help From My Friends and Family

Posted on 25 January 2010by Brian Zalewski
Richard Zalewski
Richard Zalewski, Miami, Florida, Sept 1941

This weekend I picked up the mother lode of photos, documents, and information on my grandparent’s families. My aunt and uncle were holding on to my grandmother’s heirlooms, which included my grandfather’s stuff after he passed away. I knew my grandmother had a few photo albums since I previously borrowed them and scanned some photos. I was pretty surprised at all of the other items in the boxes. There were old documents, death certificates, baptism records, funeral cards, old Navy photos, and even film/video from the 30s and 40s (fortunately, on VHS.)

I only scanned a few things so far, but I have a lot of work ahead of me. I’d like to get everything scanned just as a way to digitally back it all up. I also happen to have a VHS-to-DVD machine that I bought to transfer my parent’s home videos to DVD as a Christmas gift one year, so that makes backing up the video pretty easy. One problem there, I can’t find the remote control for it and it has a lot of little important buttons on it. One of the cats probably stole it and made a bed out of it or something.

That does bring me to a question for somebody out there. My paternal grandfather served in the Navy during World War II. He didn’t see combat overseas, but he was stationed “overseas” in Hilo, Hawai’i. From what it sounds like from stories, photos, and some news articles is that he was there for the 1946 Hilo Tsunami and helped rescue people. Along with his Navy stuff, he has dozens of photos of fellow Navy men, including their last names and which group they served in. What would be the best way to go about possibly scanning these photos in and getting them to family members? Is there a “Navy Veterans” message board or something similar? I think it’d be very nice to get copies of the photos to some of these people’s families.

Along with that, a very helpful fellow Polish researcher sent me some copies of the baptism record of my 3rd-great-grandfather, Ignatz Szulta, from 1849 and also his marriage record with Nepomuncena Syldakt in 1875 that he happened to run across. Ignatz’s parent’s names are listed on his baptism record, which is new to me. I now just need to try to transcribe it. Those were extremely helpful and very interesting to read. Thanks, Al.

CategoriesSurnameSurname Saturday

Surname Saturday: SZULTA

Posted on 23 January 2010by Brian Zalewski

Today’s surname is another one from my Polish side. SZULTA is presumably pronounced like SCHULTA. This surname first shows up in my ancestry with my great-great-grandmother, Clara SZULTA, who was born in Poland (or Prussia or Germany, I’m not sure yet.) I can only trace it back to Clara’s father, Ignatius SZULTA, who brought his family to America from Europe.

Ignatius SZULTA was born 1 Feb 1849 in Poland (Austria, as it’s noted.) He married Nepomuncena “Annie” SYLDAKT (I’ve also seen it written as SOZAK) in 1875. Together, they had 9 children with the first 3 born in Poland; Clara, Valerian, and Martha. These three children are listed on the passenger list along with Nepomuncena. Ignatius probably came over first, but I have yet to find his record. They settled in Milwaukee. I first find an “Ignats Szulta” in the Milwaukee City Directory in 1883 living at 943 Sobieski St.

Clara was born in Poland 6 Jan 1876. She married Joseph TROKA at. St. Hedwig’s Church on the east side of Milwaukee on 29 Jan 1894. They had 4 children, including my great-grandmother, Emily M TROKA, where it finally connects to my ZALEWSKI family. Ignatius passed away 25 May 1922 and Annie shortly thereafter on 22 Dec 1925. They are both buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee. Clara lived until 19 Jul 1959, only a few years before her husband was killed by a drunk driver on New Year’s Day in 1962.

It’s one of those surnames that is somewhat uncommon, so finding ancestors is usually simple. I search and if I find results, it’s usually a family member. I do run into some issues when it shows up under SCHULTA or SCHULTE since it usually groups names like Schultz and Schulz along with it, which makes it hard to browse. Googling SZULTA usually just brings up links to my sites and a few general Genealogy surname sites. It doesn’t seem to be very common. I have another researcher that I am in contact with that has been researching this family, as she is descended from one of Ignatius and Annie’s children. One of those lines that I get a lot of searches from is the URMANSKI family that branches out from their daughter Leocadia “Lilly” and her husband, Ignatz URMANSKI. That one seemed to spread out pretty far from the SZULTAs.

I need to spend some time searching these names but replacing SZULTA with either SCHULTA or SCHULTE and see what I get, though most sites include those using Soundex.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: January 17th – 23rd

Posted on 18 January 2010by Brian Zalewski

Hey, I’m back again. Been a bit busy and had to put genealogy on the back-burner.

January 17th

1902 – Born – Agnes Irene ZALEWSKI – Agnes is my great-great-aunt on my father’s side. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Frank & Anna ZALEWSKI. She married Chester WALCZAK in 1924. She passed away on 29 Jan 1989 at Cedarburg, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried near the rest of her family at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

1908 – Died – Fredericke C HENKE – Fredericke is my 3rd-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 4 Jul 1836 in Germany and married Herman RATHKE before immigrating to Wisconsin. She passed away in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried at Union Cemetery in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co.

January 18th

1825 – Born – Jean-Baptiste LAURENT – Jean-Baptiste is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born at Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Wallon Brabant, Belgium to Constant & Marie LAURENT. He married Olivine Marie ST. LOUIS in 1857 and they had 9 children. He passed away on 31 Jul 1886 at Phlox, Langlade Co., Wisconsin and is buried nearby at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Norwood.

1980 – Born – ME! Happy Birthday to me! Also, Happy Birthday to my wife, Darcy in 1981.

January 19th

1860 -Died – Thomas MCCANN – Thomas is my 4th-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born about 1797 at Longford, Ireland. He and his wife, Mary CRONIN, immigrated to Canada with their family. He passed away at Uptergrove, Ontario, Canada.

January 21st

1874 – Born – Pieter Franciscus VAN PARIJS – Also known as Peter Van Price, he is my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born at IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands to Charles & Johanna VAN PARIJS. His family immigrated to Wisconsin right after he was born. In 1895, he married Minnie M MUHM and together they had 6 children. He passed away on 22 Sep 1962 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried there at Union Cemetery.

CategoriesZalewski

Smile for the Camera, 19th Edition

Posted on 8 December 2009by Brian Zalewski

The word prompt for the 19th Edition of Smile For The Camera is “Gift.” It is the holiday season and a time for giving. So give Smile readers the gift of sharing, sharing a family photograph. It can be a gift given or received, it can be the gift of talent, it can be the gift of having the photograph itself. The interpretation of gift is yours. Admission is free with every photograph!

Frank Zalewski & Family - 1909
Frank Zalewski & Family - 1909

I think of this photo as a gift. This photo was the first family history photo that I saw. I see it as a gift of the genealogy bug (it’s not always a bad thing, right?) To this day, I am still working on Frank’s family history trading emails with his possible great-nephew.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: Nov 22nd – 28th

Posted on 22 November 2009by Brian Zalewski

November 22nd

1774 – Born – Friedrich Ernest MUHM – Friedrich is my 5th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born in Schwbendorf, Landkreis, Maurburg, Hessen, Germany. He married Gertrude OPPERMAN in 1795. He passed away on 24 Jan 1850 in Schwbendorf, Landkreis, Maurburg, Hessen, Germany.

November 23rd

1869 – Died – Sophia Elizabeth STRASSMAN – Sophia is my 4th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born on 23 Jun 1809 in Wahmbeck, Hanover, Germany. In 1844, she married Friedrich MUHM and settled in Washington County, Wisconsin. She passed away at Germantown, Washington Co., Wisconsin and is buried nearby at Christ Evangelical Cemetery in the small town of Dhiensville.

1930 – Died – Martha ZALEWSKI – Martha is my great-great-aunt on my father’s side. She was born 10 Sep 1885 in German Poland/Prussia. She immigrated with her family to Milwaukee in 1889. She married John STRELKA and passed away in Milwaukee. She is buried near her family at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

November 25th

1835 – Died – Joseph LAURENT – Joseph is my 5th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He married Marie Catherine MOUREAU and passed away at Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Wallon Brabant, Belgium.

November 26th

1756 – Died – Georges QUINET – Georges is my 8th-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born about 1689 and married Catherine GENAVOIS in 1711. Together, they had 9 children, including my ancestor Pierre Francois QUINET. Georges passed away at Haute-Saône, Franche-Comté, France.

November 28th

1841 – Died – Constant Joseph LAURENT – Constant is my 4th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He married Marie Josephe BERO in 1809 and had 4 children, including my ancestor Jean-Baptiste LAURENT. He passed away at Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Wallon Brabant, Belgium.

CategoriesFamily TreeFeaturedSiteZalewski

Everything I Know About Frank Zalewski

Posted on 9 November 2009by Brian Zalewski

I have a new site to show all of you. But, first, how it all came to be.

While I was searching for more information on a passenger ship from one of my ancestors a few months back, I ran across a site called “Everything I Know About Hyman Victor.” The site is basically one man’s story about his great-grandfather. It shows off all of the vital records, memories, and information about Mr. Victor.

I was very impressed by both the idea and the layout of the website. Since I noticed the site was built using WordPress, just like this site, I emailed the owner of the website and asked him about how he put it together. He was a very nice guy and said that he would send me some of the files I would need. Recently, I received these files and started putting together a site for my great-great-grandfather, Frank Zalewski.

I wanted to do this for a few reasons. First, I wanted to create a nice site dedicated to Frank and his life. Secondly, going back over a lot of this information may bring me new discoveries. Sadly, I didn’t find anything new, but now all my information is better organized.

I can’t take too much credit for the site, since most of the work was done by Elliot Malkin at Everything I Know About Hyman Victor. Thank you Elliot for the help. Though, I did tweak a few things for my own use.

Without further delay, I bring you Everything I Know About Frank Zalewski.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: Nov 1st-7th

Posted on 2 November 2009by Brian Zalewski

Happy Día de los Muertos! Ok, I’m back. I didn’t have any time for genealogy research, so I fell behind on everything.

November 2

1901 – Born – Leon Joseph DEBROUX – Leon is my great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born in Phlox, Langlade Co., Wisconsin to Joseph & Mary Philomene (LAURENT) DEBROUX. He married Mildred VAN PRICE in 1921. He passed away on 15 Sep 1982 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried there at St. Mary’s Cemetery.

1976 – Died – Frank Edward Zalewski, Jr. – Frank, Jr is my great-great-uncle on my father’s side. He was born October 1899 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not much is known about Frank, Jr. He seemed to have never married and is buried with his parents at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee. I have heard that he may have had a drinking problem, which may have made his life difficult.

November 5

1806 – Born – Marie DesAnges MANSEAU – Marie is my 4th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born at Baie-du-Febvre, Yamaska, Quebec, Canada to Antoine & Catharine (CLOUTIER) MANSEAU. She married Ephraim Gadious dit ST. LOUIS in 1831. She passed away on 16 Oct 1895 at Florence, Florence Co., Wisconsin.