On the Verge of a Breakthrough
Hello,
This article has been written for 22nd edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern Genealogy. This is my story of breakthroughs, roadblocks, more breakthroughs, and then followed with more roadblocks. Although roadblocks can be a pain while researching, it also allows us to learn different tools, angles, records, and ways of looking at our research. This article may be a little long, but this roadblock has been on my mind for quite some time….
When I started researching my Wierzba ancestry, I came across a number of Wierzba’s immigrating to the United States between June 11, 1872 to June 22, 1872. There were three different ships (Ocean, Carl and Columbia) that carried a total of nineteen Wierzba family members.
The first ship arriving to America was the Ocean on June 11, 1872. The picture below is page seven of the Ocean passenger list. It lists the following Wierzba family members: Wincenty age 34, Wiktoria age 28, Wincenty age 6, Marianna age 3, and Paulina age 9 months. The family came from the Lipusz Parish, which was located in the southern region of the Kaszubian area of West Prussia.
Source Citation: Year: 1872; Arrival: New York , United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_360; Line: 32; List number: 583.
The picture below is page nine of the Ocean passenger list. It lists the following Wierzba family members: Józef age 37, Marianna age 37, Marianna age 8, Martha age 6, and Elżbieta age 1. The family also came from the Lipusz Parish, Józef and Vincent were brothers.
Source Citation: Year: 1872; Arrival: New York , United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_360; Line: 22; List number: 583.
The second ship arriving to America was the Carl on June 13, 1872. The picture below is page ten of the Carl passenger list. It lists the following Wierzba family members: Wilhelm age 25, and Paulina age 20. This family eluded me for a very long time…. I have been through the Lipusz Parish church records and never came across this family. Also, the country of origin was listed as Pommern and not Prussia. The only U.S census records that I found for Wilhelm were the 1910 and 1920, he lived in Franklin Township, Pulaski County, Indiana. At this point, I figured that this family coincidentally came over during the same time….and then I moved on.
Source Citation: Year: 1872; Arrival: New York , United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_360; Line: 26; List number: 594.
The third ship arriving to America was the Columbia on June 22, 1872. The picture below is page two of the Columbia passenger list. It lists the following Wierzba family members: Jan age 31, Julianna age 22, Marianna age 6, Marcianna age 5, Marcin age 3 and Katarzyna age 11 months. The family came from the Lipusz Parish, Jan was a brother of Wincenty and Józef.
Source Citation: Year: 1872; Arrival: New York , United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_361; Line: 7; List number: 629.
The picture below is page five of the Columbia passenger list. It lists the following Wierzba family member: Józef age 24. Józef also came from the Lipusz Parish, Józef was a cousin to the other Wierzba brothers.
Source Citation: Year: 1872; Arrival: New York , United States; Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_361; Line: 9; List number: 629.
I was able to trace my Lipusz Wierzba families throughout Milwaukee and Polonia, Wisconsin. As I started to research the Józef Wierzba, cousin of the other Wierzba’s that arrived in June 1872, in the Chicago area I stumbled onto a record that was of interest. It was a Chicago 1888 Voters Registration that listed a William (Wilhelm) Wierzba who arrived in the U.S. in 1872. This voters registration also listed Wilhelm as a resident of Cook County for 16 years, which would place William in Chicago along with Józef since 1872. Possible connection?
Source Citation: Ancestry.com. Chicago Voter Registration, 1888 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001. Original data: Illinois State Archives microfilm (25 rolls).
I needed to find both 1880 U.S. census records for Józef and Wilhelm, they may have lived near each other…
Both records were extremely hard to find. I searched through the census records on ancestry for each ward on Chicago’s south side, until I finally found Józef Wierzba and family listed with the Wierzba surname spelled as Wischba. They lived at 70 George Street, in the 140th Enumeration District of Chicago.
Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll T9_195; Family History Film: 1254195; Page: 161.4000; Enumeration District: 140; Image: 0517.
Again, finding Wilhelm’s 1880 U.S. Census record was an extremely difficult task. I searched through almost every ward on the southside of Chicago and almost gave up…..My last attempt was to use the soundex on ancestry.com. I searched on Vessba and bingo! I found a William (Wilhelm) Vesspa, his wife Paulina, and family living in Chicago. They had arrived in America in 1872. So, Vesspa sounds close to Wierzba, the “rz” sounds similar to “s” or “z” and “W” sounds like “V”. In German, “p” and “b” also sounds similar.
Below is the 1880 U.S. Census that lists Wilhelm and his family living at 768 South Jefferson Street, in Chicago’s 49th Enumeration District. The bad thing is that this does not connect the two families. I am close, but still far away from cracking this case. I was about to put this research aside….
Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll T9_188; Family History Film: 1254188; Page: 233.3000; Enumeration District: 49; Image: 0470.
Then, I received the summer edition of the Przyjaciel ludu Kaszubskiego (Friend of the Kashubian People), which is the newsletter of the Kashubian Association of North America. In this isuue, I seen that a fellow Kashubian researcher named Francine Palubicki Fitting added the Wierzba surname to her research list. I had been to Francine’s website before and seen the Wierzba surname listed on an index, but never attempted to make a connection between the Naklo, Parchowo, Pomorskie Wierzbas with my Tuszkowy, Lipusz, Pomorskie Wierzbas.
The map below is of the Lipusz and Bytów area of southern Kaszubia region of Poland. This is the area of interest for my Wierzba genealogical research in Poland. The Lipusz Parish is located in the village of Lipusz and the village of Naklo belongs to the Parchowo Parish, which can be seen on the map below.
Source Citation: Archiwum Map WIG. Map of Lipusz i Bytowo, Poland. 1936. Retreived from http://www.mapywig.org/m/wig100k/P32_S25_LIPUSZ_i_BYTOWO_(BUETOW).jpg
The picture below is a zoomed in version of the one above. Once I noticed how close the Naklo village is to the villages of the Lipusz Parish, I unrolled my map of the Pomorskie Voivodeship and began to measure distances with my ruler.
Source Citation: Archiwum Map WIG. Map of Lipusz i Bytowo, Poland. 1936. Retreived from http://www.mapywig.org/m/wig100k/P32_S25_LIPUSZ_i_BYTOWO_(BUETOW).jpg
Here are the distances of the villages of my ancestors, within the Lipusz Parish and Nakla:
Skwierawy to Naklo is about 3-4 km
Tuszkowy to Skwierawy is about 5 km
Lipusz to Tuszkowy is about 4km
Lipusz to Parchowo is about 14 km
Lipusz to Koscierzyna is about 12-14 km
These findings gave me hope that I’d find the connection that I’ve been seeking. The distances were close enough….I started to search through the Parchowo records. Looking for the birth of Wilhelm Wierzba around 1846. Finally, I found it! Wilhelm Antoni Wierzba was born October 13, 1846 and his parents were Antoni Wierzba and Katarzyna Soik. Of course, I need to verify that Wilhelm’s parents are the same as this record indicates…
Although this was a breakthrough, I have not found the record that links Wilhelm and the Parchowo Wierzbas with my Lipusz Wierzbas. I do feel that I am close….just one record away from finding the connection…
Best Regards,
Al
Passenger List Source: Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
1880 U.S. Census Source: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1880. T9, 1,454 rolls.
