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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: heiserca on Friday 01 December 17 19:41 GMT (UK)
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Stefan TOMON or Stephen TOMAN or Steve THOMAS, died at or near Newark, New Jersey, between 1930-40.
He was born 1889 in Poland, immigrated in 1913 as Stefan TOMON, then registered for the draft in 1918 at New York as Stephen THOMAS.
He married a woman named Regina, surname unknown, before 1920; children were born at Newark, New Jersey, shown in records as Anthony J. TOMAN, Joseph A. THOMAS, Casimir P. TOMAN, John S. TOMON, Edward J. TOMAN, Mary C. TOMAN.
1930 census showed Steve THOMAS, wife Regina and children at Newark.
1940 census showed his wife called Virginia TOMAN, a widow. She died in 1965, buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover, NJ, called Regina TOMON but all the children shown as TOMAN.
Looking for:
(1) maiden surname of Regina or Virginia,
(2) date and place of their marriage,
(3) death of Stefan / Stephen / Steve between 1930-40.
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It's on a subscription site, but I can see a snippet of what appears to be Regina's obituary here - http://www.rootschat.com/links/01l4k/ It looks like it lists her maiden name as Suiciak.
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Wow,that was fast! Thank you. I will pass it on to family in Poland who've been searching for any scrap of information about this couple.
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The 1937 Newark city directory lists Stephen, but Virginia is listed as a widow in the 1938 directory, so his death was probably somewhere in that time frame.
It looks like an obituary for the last of the surviving children is here - http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx?pid=169108168
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I found Stefan listed in the 1915 New Jersey state census, still single, lived with another family. So marriage must have been between 1915-20, when the first child was born.
This census said "can't read, can't write", which explains the confusion with his name.
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This may be Regina on a passenger list - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJ5B-PP5 It looks like she & the person above her were travelling together to Elizabeth, New Jersey.
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I don't see the WWI draft registration card, but that should give some indication on whether he was married or not.
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FIND A GRAVE oops - you have that info.
Regina Tomon - September 1964 - Gate of Heaven Cemetery East Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97225589
Sandra
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He arrived at New York on 27 Sep 1913 on the ship "Lapland" from Antwerp.
Draft registration card, 15 June 1917 at New York, shows Stephen Thomas, a steel worker, if this is the same person.
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I don't see that draft registration card, if it is him.
Social Security applications for sons Edward & Anthony and a Pennsylvania marriage record for Edward have Regina's maiden name as Siciak.
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The New Jersey brides' index shows that Regina Sucak married Stephen Tomon in 1918 with certificate # as 32635. https://ia800800.us.archive.org/2/items/NJ_Marriage_Index_Brides_1915-1919_R-S/Reclaim_The_Records_-_New_Jersey_Marriage_Index_-_Brides_-_1915-1919_-_R-S.pdf There is also an entry for the same certificate number for Regina Siciak and Stephen Tomcej, so maybe one of them contained their birth names and the other had names that they were known as?
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Thank you for all of this! Still nothing about a death or burial for Stefan, Stephen? His grave would answer many questions.
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There's nothing comprehensive online for New Jersey deaths from that time frame, so it may require ordering the record from the state.
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Thank you but how can I order a certificate when I don't know date or place of death? All I can do is guess: about the time of those directories, 1937-38, give or take a year, probably at Newark where they lived. Censuses showed the name as Tomon, Toman, Thomas, Tamas. Neither he nor his wife could read and write, so that was up to others. How to order a certificate? I'm not in the U.S.
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It seems likely that he died in New Jersey, so you could try ordering from the state of New Jersey. http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/order-vital/genealogical-records/ Alternatively, the state archives has death records up to 1940, & you could try to find someone who would visit there and do a look-up. http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/
Otherwise, since genealogybank.com has a lot of Newark newspapers and offers a 30-day free trial, you could try searching further there.
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Thank you, Shelly. The system seems designed to be costly and difficult. In order to find out the date of his death... relatives must know the date of his death! And without knowing that date, they have to pay and pay and pay for searches. The name was spelled so many different ways, it becomes bafflingly complex. I will pass on this information to his relatives in Poland. Sounds like they are out of luck.
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I imagine if you made a request from the state, you could explain that the name may have been spelled in two ways. It sounds like Thomas was just a mistake on the census.
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The change from Tomon to Thomas wasn’t just a census error: there was a movement, for foreigners to blend-in. Tomons in the U.S. changed to Thomas. Babiarz became Barber; Jurkiewicz became York. French-Canadians in New England named Le Blanc were encouraged to change it to White. Try to sound less obviously foreign.
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Yes, I'm aware of that, but considering that others in the family used names other than Thomas on their gravestone, I'd be inclined to think that they stuck with those names legally.