Brothers in America - Wordless Wednesday

(Original Image and Text, Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette)  This is a photo of my grandfather Adolf Szerejko and his brother Aleksander Szarejko.  Note the different spellings of the last names. The brothers left Poland together.  I don't know the history of this photo.  My guess is it may have been taken to send to their parents back in Warsaw to let them know that they arrived safely in America.


Other Posts You Might Like:

A Polish Magician and Dating a Clipping - Amanuensis Monday
(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: A Couple of Swells
Meditation: The Strength of Ordinary Women
Veteran's Day: The Life of a Dough-Boy, 1918

A Comedy of Errors: My Family in the Census (Part 1 of 3)

Antoni Bulak, August 1938

(Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette)

My Apologies to Shakespeare

I love the U.S. Census. I love other sources too, but whenever I look at a census record I feel like I'm looking through a window back in time, one that offers a glimpse of life on one particular day in my ancestors' lives. You know what's really cool? I even know which day! The census tells me. I can see who was living in my ancestors' home, who their neighbors were, where they were living, where they worked, how many children were still at home, and so on. I'm also amazed at how much information is, for lack of a better word, wrong.

My Bulak family is a perfect case study on errors in the census. My grandmother and her family lived together as a family unit in the U.S. by 1897. I have found them in all of the census records in which they should appear--1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930. I also know the basics of my grandmother's family so I can discriminate what's right, what's wrong, and speculate as to why some of the information was recorded incorrectly. I pity the researcher who finds a census record without knowing, "the rest of the story" as veteran newsman Paul Harvey use to say. Context is everything. So with apologies to William Shakespeare, I'd like to present my version of...

"A Comedy of Errors: A Play in Four Acts"

 ~ Act I: 1900 Joliet, Illinois ~

Overall, the 1900 census was the most difficult census in which to locate my Bulak family. It took me a couple of years of searching on and off before I finally found them. Why? Nineteen hundred was a transitional year for my family. The Bulak family was supposedly living in Chicago in 1900 but moved to Worcester, MA the same year after being displaced by a fire. The family could have been enumerated in Chicago or Worcester, or missed the census altogether if they were in transit and somewhere in between. Another reason, my great-grandfather's name, Antoni Bulak, was seriously misspelled by the census taker. I found him listed as Tony Bolak. I also discovered the family was living in Joliet, IL not Chicago.

The 1900 census lists Tony Bolak (33), his wife Eva (27) and daughters Helena (5), and Antonina (4). Antonina was my grandmother. The family had two boarders living with them--Adam Bolak (Adam Bulak), my great-grandfather's brother and another boarder. The census was enumerated on 05 Jun 1900. Despite the spelling of the name, the rest of the information seems accurate. How did Antoni Bulak end up as Tony Bolak? My great-grandfather was never called Tony. My best guess is when the census taker asked his name, he no doubt responded in a heavy Polish accent with an emphasis on the second syllable.

~ Act II: 1910 Worcester, Massachusetts ~

Let's fast-forward in time. Antoni Bulak, who was Tony Bolak in 1900 Joliet, has now become Anthony Bolack in 1910 Worcester, MA. Are you still with me? You might want to take notes as there will be a quiz at the end. According to the census enumerator on 11 May 1910, Anthony Bolack (43) was living in Worcester with his wife Eva (38), daughter Helen (15), son Anthony (14), and four boarders. You noticed it too, didn't you? My grandmother Antonina has now become a son, Anthony. The years of immigration have changed for the family as well. In the 1900 census my great-grandfather is listed as immigrating in 1895 and my great-grandmother and her two daughters as immigrating in 1897. In 1910 Antoni-Tony-Anthony is listed as immigrating in 1896 and the women in 1898.

~ INTERMISSION ~


A Comedy of Errors: My Family in the Census (Part 2 of 3)

A Comedy of Errors: My Family in the Census (Part 3 of 3)


Other Posts You Might Like:

What's In A Name? (An Ongoing Series): Razideiwicz
Tuesday's Tip: A Tale of Two Indexers
The Stories My Grandmother Told Me
What's In A Name? (An Ongoing Series): Chenette

What's In A Name? (An Ongoing Series): Radziewicz

Is it just me, or do you love when you have one of those, "A ha!" moments? That happened to me two nights ago. I've been looking for information on an ancestor I've been recently tracking, Victoria (Szerejko) Radziewicz. After much hunting I finally found her in the 1900 U.S. Census.

Radziewicz is another one of those names for which spelling variations are endless. Doing a Soundex or "sounds like" search hasn't been helpful because any kind of a "sounds like" search returns too many results. Very frustrating. Victoria was related to my grandfather Adolf Szerejko somehow. My best guess is that she was either his aunt--the sister of Adolf's father Leonard Szerejko--or a cousin. Two cousins, both fellow genealogists, and I are currently trying to figure out how Victoria and Adolf were related to then trace our family origins back in Poland.

I have Victoria's marriage record from the Schuylkill County Courthouse. According to the certificate, Wiktorja Szarejko married Stanislaw Radziewicz on October 15, 1891 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Apparently Radziewicz is a fairly common name, and their were lots of Radziewicz's living in Shenandoah around 1900. Until now I haven't been able to find Victoria in the 1900 census. I did find her in the 1910 census. In 1910 Victore (Victoria) Radziwicz was living in Dudley, MA with her children--Helen age 16, Alex (Alexander) age 14, Stella age 12, Vera age 9, and Charles age 6. Also listed are Victoria's daughter Mary (Maryanna), age 18 and her son-in-law Dominic Pasky (correct spelling Piascik or Piasczyk) age 21. All of Victoria's children were listed as born in Pennsylvania. What happened to Stanislaw? The notation on the census is unclear, but may indicate Victoria is a widow at this point.

If Victoria was married in Pennsylvania and her last son Charles was born in Pennsylvania in 1906, it makes sense to me that they were probably still living in PA for the 1900 census. I searched Heritage Quest, Ancestry, and the Family Search pilot. I tried Radziwicz, Radsavage, Radzewicus, Ruscavage--all variations on the Radziewicz theme. The spelling for Radziewicz was probably so mangled by the census taker I'd never find it by the last name. I decided to try searching by first names. I tried Stanislaw, Stanislav, and Stanislow. I tried Stiney, Staney, and Stanny. How about Victoria, Wiktoria, or Wiktorja? Or Victore or Vickie or Stan? On the verge of a Dr. Seuss moment I gave up. I was exhausted. I needed a cup of tea.

Then on Tuesday night it happened. I found them! Bingo, just like that! Well almost just like that. I had a brilliant thought. I decided to try searching for Victoria's kid's names. First I tried Stella on the Family Search pilot. No luck. Then I tried Alexander. No luck again. Then I tried Alex. Bingo! There they were, the Radzavoge family, and they were living in Shenandoah! Listed were Shiney (Stanislaw), Amelia (Victoria), Mary (Maryanna), Ellen (Helen), Alex (Alexander), and Astella (Stella). All the other particulars were correct so I knew I had the right family! I did learn one new piece of information. The immigration date for both Victoria and Stanislaw was listed as 1883. Up until now, my cousins and I believed they immigrated in 1891.

From what I've read about Shenandoah, at the turn of the century there were more people people in Shenandoah per square mile than New York's Chinatown. My guess is that some poor overworked census taker, with little or no knowledge of Polish and Polish names, went from house to house. Whatever a name sounded like, by the resident answering the door and with a heavy Polish accent, is what was written down. It was the census taker's best guess so to speak.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to have finally found Victoria and Stanislaw, or Amelia and Shiney as I now like to think of them. I'm currently trying to find Victoria in the 1920 census, so far she has remained elusive. I'll keep trying though. Victoria, Wiktoria, Wiktorja...

Surname variation in my records include: Radziewicz, Radziwicz, Radsavage, Radzavoge, Radzewicus, Ruscavage.

What's In A Name? (An Ongoing Series): Chenette

No offence to William Shakespeare, but a name means plenty if you are a genealogist. I like to say I come from a long line of misspellers. My last name, Shenette, should be spelled Chenette. I've corrected people trying to spell my name the "correct" way dozens, if not a hundred times over the years.

My father had five brothers and two sisters, eight in all including my dad. Some of the siblings spelled their last name beginning with C and some with an S. How did this particular spelling debacle come about? I was told a couple of different stories. One was that my grandparents were illiterate when they first came to Vermont and then Massachusetts from Quebec. They were dependant on the clerk at Worcester City Hall to fill out the information on the birth certificate. The other was that the name was misspelled when some of the "boys" joined the military during World War II.

At any rate, misspelled surnames seem to to proliferate in my family. In various records--including census information, city directories, birth and death records, and cemetery records--I've found a long list of misspellings. I've found Shenette, Chenette, Chenet, Sinnett, Shinett. My paternal grandfather, Frank A. Shenette, started out life as Francois Hormidas Chenette. In the 1881 Canadian Census he is listed as Hormidas Chenette. Over the years I've found him as Francis, Hormidas, and Frank. He eventually seemed to settle on the name Frank Amidos Shenette. I've always wondered where the middle initial A came from on his death certificate and what the A stood for. The mystery was solved when I reviewed his World War I draft record. There he was, listed as Frank Amidos, with what I'm guessing to be a phonetic misspelling of Hormidas.

To add to the confusion my great-grandfather's name was also Francois. He was the father of 25 children (Yes you read that correctly. I'll deal with that issue in a separate post.). Apparently great-grandfather Francois really liked the name Francois. No less that three of his sons were also named Francois. I always joke that it reminds me of the characters on the old Bob Newhart show, "Newhart"--Larry, his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl (My great-grandfather Francois, his son Francois, and his other son Francois...). Sometimes the Francois went by their middle name, sometimes by Francois, sometimes Francis, or in my grandfather's case Frank.

What's a poor genealogist to do?

Surname variations for Chenette in my records: Chenet, Chenett, Chenette, Chuette, Schennette, Shenett, Shenette, Shinett, Shinnette, Sinnett.