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Research in Other Countries => Immigrants & Emigrants - General => Topic started by: Duneane on Saturday 15 May 21 14:29 BST (UK)
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Hi there...
I have a Polish ancestor Stanley Zyke, who was born in Russian Poland (1911 census) on the 21st May, 1878 (1939 Register). I also have his marriage certificate, Church Marriage Register entry and death certificate. None of these records tell me whereabouts in Russian Poland he was born. I’ve approached the Police Museum to check any Alien Registers and also the Coroners Office for details of his inquest when he died - none of them give his birth details. He was also in the R.F.A. (#5080) during WW1 but there is no service record that I can find.
Can anybody think where else I could look, to find his region or town of birth?
Thanks for any help.
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Hi!
Are you sure the name of Zyke is correct? I don't think so. It might have sounded like Zicke. Stanley is the equivalent of the Polish name Stanisław. There are too many unknowns here to help you. Do you have any document where his name is written?
Greetings
Jozef
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Hello Jozef. May I ask you a question please? :)
With Polish surnames are you able to identify a region that people with that surname are likely to have come from?
(This can be done to some extent with English surnames - you can sometimes get a very rough idea where a family originates based on their surname because they are often regional.)
Duneane, have you looked for records of naturalisation (if these exist). Was his wife Polish too?
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Hi - on his marriage certificate both him and his wife can’t write. They both mark with an ‘X’ and the registrar has written their names as ZYKE and WIZODSKI.
On the 1911 census, his family entries are written with an ‘i’ as ZIKE and his signature is spelled as Zike... but it looks exactly the same handwriting as the Enumerator, so I’m guessing he still couldn’t write and it was filled in for him.
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I’ve also checked naturalization records for him and his Polish wife ‘Lizzie Wizodski’, but can’t find anything.
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Wizodski is the male form of the surname, female is Wizodska.
Assuming Lizzie is Elizabeth - Elżbieta in Polish, Ela for short.
Tony
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Hello Jozef. May I ask you a question please? :)
With Polish surnames are you able to identify a region that people with that surname are likely to have come from?
(This can be done to some extent with English surnames - you can sometimes get a very rough idea where a family originates based on their surname because they are often regional.)
Duneane, have you looked for records of naturalisation (if these exist). Was his wife Polish too?
You can find out by name someone came from in the region only on the basis of databases.
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Wizodski is the male form of the surname, female is Wizodska.
Assuming Lizzie is Elizabeth - Elżbieta in Polish, Ela for short.
Tony
The problem is that in Poland there is no such surname as Wizodski or Wizodska. You have to look for a surname that sounds similar.
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I think this name could have sounded like Wysocki.
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Hello Jozef. May I ask you a question please? :)
With Polish surnames are you able to identify a region that people with that surname are likely to have come from?
(This can be done to some extent with English surnames - you can sometimes get a very rough idea where a family originates based on their surname because they are often regional.)
Duneane, have you looked for records of naturalisation (if these exist). Was his wife Polish too?
You can find out by name someone came from in the region only on the basis of databases.
Thank you Jozef. :)
I don’t want to take over Duneane’s thread, so is it OK if I contact you via PM with a couple of questions about availability of Polish records?
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Ok, no problem.
Greetings
Jozef
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It seems to me that these two names will be: Zych and Wysocki. However, it will be difficult anyway. We miss details such as the region. The term Russian Poland fits half of the territory of Poland. It might be difficult.
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It seems to me that these two names will be: Zych and Wysocki. However, it will be difficult anyway. We miss details such as the region. The term Russian Poland fits half of the territory of Poland. It might be difficult.
Jozef - I now have the 1921 census return and they both state their birthplace as ‘Poland, Grodna’.
I think it’s a small village between Kolo and Kłodawa…
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There is also a rare Polish surname Zaik or Zajk which occurs about 1000 times in the https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/ databases (BMD).
No Stanisław in 1880-1890, though.
I also checked Zaich, of which there are also several hundred, including one, Stanisław Zaich, but b. 1887 and in Miechów (małopolskie), so no go.
I think "Grodna" could mean Grodno, which was in "Russian Poland" from 1795 until 1915, and is a large city. Unfortunately the above database only has very little data, if any, from territories now in Belarus.
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Koło or Kłodawa are towns in central Poland. Grodno used to be a city in eastern Poland, now it is in Belarus. The term Grodno could cover the area of the entire county.
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My husband has some ancestors who were from Grodno, but they always referred to it as Russia. I haven't made much progress on that branch, but jewishgen.org does have some databases that cover that area. This gives some information about that region - https://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/regions/grodno/index.html