A-Z Blogging Challenge - The letter W is for Wojtkowski!

In 2017, there was a challenge. I heard about it from jillballau blog and more information can be found out about it on the A-Z Blogging Challenge (which was at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/) page itself. However, as I was testing links I found the A-Z Blogging Challenge link is no longer working *frown*

Many people had done this challenge in April 2017, but I’m a rebel and do things when I have time, so I’ll do mine now. I’ve been working on it over many days, and was hoping to get it all done before posting BUT it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected. I’ll do a few posts now and work on the rest. 

I know I have about ½ of this challenge done in draft format, so not too bad.  J

What can I say – I’m an original. So, here I go…

The letter W is for Wojtkowski!

My paternal grandmother's was born a Wojtkowska which is female form of Wojtkowski in Poland. Her father was Adam Wojtkowski. 

1930s picture of my great grandfather Adam in front of his store in NJ. Credit: J. Fitzgerald

My great grandfather visiting his wife's grave in 1940s. Credit: J. Fitzgerald

Adam was a great man from everything I've heard. He was born in Wojtkowice Dady, Poland. He found his wife, Maryanne - later called Mary - and they married in Nur, Poland in 1905 under Russian occupation. He loved Mary so much he had wedding banns called in his church and her church before they married. I believe the way the document is written they were married in each church as well. This is because where they lived was on the boarder between 2 counties. 

1906 wedding certificate of Adam and Marianna. The other is a translation of the old Russian Document. Credit: Archives and FB Translations

By this point, he is in early 20s and his father is already dead. His mother owns a mill. This is according to their marriage document I found. 

My father recently told me he was taken from his home by the Russian army and was forced to serve in their army. If he didn't, he would have been killed. 

WW 1 Registration card. Credit

In 1910, he welcomed my grandmother into their lives when she was born. He adored both his wife and daughter, but knew things in Poland, even in the Russian occupied areas, was getting bad. 

By December 1912 he and a few others, who were all had last names of Wojtkowski due to the name of the town, left for Germany to sail to the USA. They left during the winter months which would have been brutal and probably traveled at night so they wouldn't get stopped too much. 

1913 Ship Manifest showing Adam. Credit: Ellis Island.

However, by February 1913 they arrived in the USA.I can tell by the letters and people vouching for him and his daughter in their immigration papers, the group mainly stayed together for support. 

Statement from my grandmother's naturalization file.

Another statement from my grandmother's naturalization file. 

World War 1 breaks out and its too late to get his wife and child out of Poland. Communication is cut off or very limited. He must be very worried about his family even with them being left with his wife's family. 

1920s census showing Adam with other Polish people. Credit

Families he knows who are coming from the same small town as he was born,Ciechanów, he has them stay with him while get gets enough money to start up his own business and save up travel for his family. Eventually he's able to get something through and pays for their travel for his family from Danzig. 

In September 1920, he arrives at Ellis Island to receive his family into their new country. He takes them home to their new house and they meet up with others from the same small town who still live nearby. 

1920 Ship manifest showing his wife and daughter on their way to US and where they will be staying. Credit: Ellis Island

In October, my grandmother starts school like all other children in the United States. His wife and him have a business. 

Certificate showing where they were living in 1920.

Soon they have two sons, Stanley and Alfred, arrive to finish their family. However, with the ups come the downs. In the late 1920s, the Roaring 20s, with the stock market crash came Adam's crash as well. He lost basically everything worth money. This meant he had to start again with rebuilding everything manually. 

1931 Business listing showing where Adam was working in NJ.

He had property which he had to sell, the stocks he had - stack of them I've been told - were all crap because of the stock market. He ended up having to close his business and getting a job in a plant working to keep a roof over everyone's heads and food in their belly's. My grandmother went to work to help him too. 

By the time the 1930s came, things were starting to swing around again. They had the business back and had a house and thriving children. They were all happy. 

In a family picture in front of their store in Bayonne, NJ. 

My grandmother married and had my father, their grandchild, before long. 

However, in 1939 Mary died. He took great care of her in death as well. He bought burial plots for them all - Mary, him and one for each child. He had a huge headstone and metal piping put around their spot, to protect them against people walking on them. 

Adam and Mary's graves. Credit: J. Fitzgerald

Adam and Mary's graves close up. Credit: J. Fitzgerald

He would go and see Mary as well as keep on raising their two sons. 

Soon both sons would go off to fight in World War 2 and to help Poland. 

Once both sons were back home, he found he had cancer of the stomach. He worked up until a few months before he died. He only claimed 2 or 3 social security checks before he passed away. 

1954 Business Directory showing Adam had died. Credit 

Even though he's gone, he lives on within his children. His youngest child, Alfred, even named a son after him. 

Each one of us and future ancestors should be very thankful to him because if he didn't go to the USA, chances are we wouldn't be here today. 

A-Z Blogging Challenge - The letter V is for Viking!

In 2017, there was a challenge. I heard about it from jillballau blog and more information can be found out about it on the A-Z Blogging Challenge (which was at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/) page itself. However, as I was testing links I found the A-Z Blogging Challenge link is no longer working *frown*

Many people had done this challenge in April 2017, but I’m a rebel and do things when I have time, so I’ll do mine now. I’ve been working on it over many days, and was hoping to get it all done before posting BUT it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected. I’ll do a few posts now and work on the rest. 

I know I have about ½ of this challenge done in draft format, so not too bad.  J

What can I say – I’m an original. So, here I go…

The letter V is for Viking! 

My father has a father that came from Germany and a mother from Russia Poland or Poland. I started to dig back using last names and found there were others with the name, including Nur where I found their marriage entry,  and it started following the Bug River up to Dansk or Danzig as the area has gone by both names. 

Upon doing a tiny bit of research, I found there was a link to the Vikings and this area of Poland.

The link from Poland to the area. Credit

On my maternal side we have a Larsen which comes from Denmark which was probably viking land, but I haven't gotten that far in my research. 

Alrup or now Aarup in Denmark where my great grandmother says she came from. Credit: GoogleEarth

However, my father has done his DNA and what shocked us was when Norway came up on his DNA. Its light but its there. We couldn't figure it out because as far as we know we had his father come from Germany and his mother from Russia Poland. 

My father's link to Norway and the Vikings.

However when I did a search, we found there IS a link. Way back in the eighth century if you can believe this web entry which I posted above.

In some researching looking for my paternal grandmother's ancestry, I found one of the last names/surnames follows up one of the rivers, which shows they were merchants which used the river for selling. Due to this, I can believe my father's ancestors, on his maternal side, can go right back up the river to Danzig or Ddansk. 

As you can see by the yellow dots the line was going up river. I had more but lost it when I changed computers. Map credit: GoogleEarth

Add this to where the Vikings were, I can believe they found the land and did trade and/or pillaged towns there. I wasn't sure of the DNA and Vikings side but following up paperwork which matches makes it hard to question history doesn't it?

A-Z Blogging Challenge - The letter U is for USA (Wojtkowski/a, Jagodzinski, Ostryski,Schmitz, Gauquie, Larsen)!

In 2017, there was a challenge. I heard about it from jillballau blog and more information can be found out about it on the A-Z Blogging Challenge (which was at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/) page itself. However, as I was testing links I found the A-Z Blogging Challenge link is no longer working *frown*

Many people had done this challenge in April 2017, but I’m a rebel and do things when I have time, so I’ll do mine now. I’ve been working on it over many days, and was hoping to get it all done before posting BUT it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected. I’ll do a few posts now and work on the rest. 

I know I have about ½ of this challenge done in draft format, so not too bad.  J

What can I say – I’m an original. So, here I go…

The letter U is for USA (Wojtkowski/a, Jagodzinski, Ostryski,Schmitz, Gauquie, Larsen)!

The United States is a melting pot and I'm a perfect example of it. 

I have Polish, Russian, German, Belgium, French, Danish and more. The ones I've listed are the places I've traced each of my 2x great grandparents, great grandparents or even grandparents back to. 

My DNA says the same things but actually shows more Finland which I wasn't expecting. 

My DNA Map from FTDNA.

Each of these ancestors of mine have come through Ellis Island after week's long sea voyages. Some manifests I've been able to find and others I haven't. This doesn't mean I've stopped looking for them. 

My great grandfather's page 1 of arrival in NY USA. Credit Ellis Island

My great grandmother and grandmother's cropped page 1 of arrival in NY USA. Credit: Ellis Island

My 2x great grandfather page 1 of arrival in NY USA. Credit Ellis Island

My 2x once removed great aunt of arrival in NY USA. Credit Ellis Island.

All these ancestors came for different reasons I think can be categorized as:

• Safety
• Health and Food
• Freedom of Religion
• Land of Opportunity

Most of my ancestors came for the first two reasons, due to what little information I have gathered in their home countries due to war and famine. The last two reasons I think only a few of my ancestors came for which is because they felt in their home countries their religion and opportunities in the USA outweighed staying, so they left. 

Can we ever be sure of these reasons? No. Not unless someone recorded someone asking that question. However, by were they came from, I get the feeling they were basically forced to run or else it would have meant their lives. 

The 2 I felt were different were the Gauquie's and Schmitz. I think in the Gauquie's defense King Leopold II was in charge and things were not looking good due to the fighting there among people. 

With my grandfather, which is the Schmitz, I think it was economic due to the inflation of the German mark and the rise of Hitler and employment. My gut tells me its also he had a falling out with his father which was the last straw and took off to the US to be with his Aunt and Uncle. 

My grandfather's page 1 of arrival in NY USA. Credit: Ellis Island

However, each had their own reasons why they gave up their home country. 

It makes me think of today's refugees. Could it be they are feeling the same way my ancestors did and had to give up their home country? 

I'm in immigrant in Australia. However, for the most part, I wasn't fleeing from any of the stuff I've listed. I fell in love with someone in another country and one of us had to give up their home country. We looked at it from a logical standpoint and found we would get more if we live in Australia with more time off and easier to get and pay for a house than anywhere else. This and my husband's family was much closer than my own. 

However, since the current political attitude, I've been bullied harassed and called names. I have even been told I should give up my American citizenship because I was out of touch. 

Those of you who have called me names including liar can kiss this. Credit

Well, they can kiss my big butt I'm not giving anything up. I'm more American than most. Just because some people use phrases which mean one thing but to someone else another. This was after someone using the phrase snowflake which I hate especially after finding someone in my extended family died in the Nazi death camps. My generation don't understand history and using phrases like that are just WRONG. 

Again, they can kiss my big butt. 

A-Z Blogging Challenge - The letter T is for Timberger!

In 2017, there was a challenge. I heard about it from jillballau blog and more information can be found out about it on the A-Z Blogging Challenge (which was at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/) page itself. However, as I was testing links I found the A-Z Blogging Challenge link is no longer working *frown*

Many people had done this challenge in April 2017, but I’m a rebel and do things when I have time, so I’ll do mine now. I’ve been working on it over many days, and was hoping to get it all done before posting BUT it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected. I’ll do a few posts now and work on the rest. 

I know I have about ½ of this challenge done in draft format, so not too bad.  J

What can I say – I’m an original. So, here I go…

The letter T is for Timberger!

My sister married into the Timberger family. Yep, all 3 of my nieces were born Timberger's. 

Their father, Jack, was married to my oldest sister for about ten years. Then my sister got custody of them. 

Jack in a family photo in the 1970s

Jack comes from a big family. His mother Dorothy, or Dot, and father, Percy, or Doc, were his parents. They are both passed away now.

From my research, Doc was employed by the railways. From what I was told he fought in World War 2, but I can't be sure. However, when he got back from there, he went back to the railways but drank heavily. Eventually, he retired and was home all the time. 

I only knew him the last handful of years before he passed away, but he was not a nice person and I felt sorry for Dot. 

Dot at her home in the 1980s. Credit J. Fitzgerald

Dot was a hard worker. She raised all her kids and then went off to work in the butchers part of a 

supermarket called Shoprite. She was there until she was able to retire. However, the years of smoking caught up with her and she passed away. This was a sad time for many of us because her house always had an open door policy about it. However, now she's long gone and no one lives in the house any longer. 

The house is where my sister and Jack were married.  Also, after my youngest niece, April, was 2, we had to hold most my nieces' birthday parties there until they were married. 

This is the area in 2016. Credit Google Earth. All pictures I had taken and could find were too blurry.

I have started some small research into their past but the thought I'd better stop only because its not really my line. 

My niece's 2x great grandfather. Credit: Marlborough NY Southern Ulster Pioneer 1963 Jun-mar 1964  

This is for my niece's and that side of the family to check into if they want.