The 1920 Census.

[johnnyboy]

Kazimiera Szalajko, Stefania’s sister, born 1895 Bircza, Poland. Arrived in US 1913 (S.S. Kronprinzessin Cecile into New York), to visit her sister Stella Kruk, Hermann Street, 50, New York? No further trace of her. She did not return to Poland according to family, maybe married?

Hi Richard: Your thread caught my eye because a number of folks from my ancestral village emigrated to Yatesboro, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the ancestral village is in Italy, so I can't offer any relatives. But I know that part of Pennsylvania as well as the New Jersey/New York area.

I hunted up Kazimiera Szalajko's passenger manifest on the Ellis Island website. There is no Hermann St. in New York City. When I did a map search for it, I got Hermann St. in Carteret, New Jersey, which is only five or so miles south of Newark, New Jersey. I think that Stella Kruk was living in Carteret before she moved to Newark.

In Kazimiera's entry on the second page of the manifest, the destination seems to have been altered. I think Newark is written in large letters over New York, and in the state abbreviation to the left of New York, a large "J" seems to have been written over the "Y"--making it NJ instead of NY.

I've seen manifests where an immigration inspector crossed out a name and wrote something like "friend Maria Techow." That usually indicates that the inspectors knew the address and the person, in this case, Maria Techow, worked for the agency or company located there, i.e., St. Joseph's Home.

If you want to find any vital records on Stella Kruk or Kazimiera Szalajko, New Jersey is a tough place to do your hunting in. You can go to the New Jersey page of the USGenWeb project at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njgenweb/research.html for more information.

Regards,
John   

[redclover]

Dear John,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

I hadn't spotted the word, which does look like Newark, above New York for final destination for Kazimiera.

I take your point about the entry for Stefania which says 'friend Maria Techow'.
It still seems very odd to have 'brother Michal Szalajko' crossed out. There has not been any mention of him within the family, but I don't think that's significant as I have come across several possible siblings etc. in the family who were never mentioned.

As you can see from the previous replies in this thread, I'm concenrating on Kazimiera Gardulewicz as the best possibility for Kazimiera Szalajko if she married. The next step would appear to be to trace any record for a possible marriage of Kazimiera to John Gardulewicz and a birth cert for their son Anthony born in Massachusetts.


Regards,


Richard.

[johnnyboy]

Hi Richard: I looked at the Massachusetts marriage records on the FamilySearch Pilot website, but found no record for Kazimiera Szalajko marrying there. The available records extend only to 1915, making finding anything a long shot anyway.

I don't know if you've seen the website Birzca Online (http://bircza.reproots.org/). A list there (pre-1941 "phone directory") has P. Szalajko and J. Szalajko working as shoemakers.

Since you know a fair amount about Stella Kruk, it might be fruitful to concentrate on searching on information and her children after 1930. The Newark (New Jersey) Public Library's reference section has city directories and telephone books from 1835 to 1964. Here's an e-mail address for the department: njreference@npl.org.

Added: The Social Security Death Index has CECYLIA SZALAJKO, born 1921, died 1994 in Somerville, New Jersey. Somerville is thirty-five miles west of Newark. Her Social Security number was issued in New Jersey, meaning she may have been born there. 

Regards,
John 

[redclover]

Hi John,

Thanks for checking those marriage records. Looking at the age of Anthony Gardulewicz on the 1920 census, I assume the marriage of John and Kazimiera took place about 1916 or 17.

I have seen the Bircza Online site and in fact visited Bircza last summer. The old grave yard there, has the graves of Piotr and Marianna Szalajko, Kazimiera's parents and also Roman and Jozefa Wasiewicz, my grandparents. Jozefa was Kazimiera's sister.

Beyond this there appears to be little more information. There was some sort of 'dark secret' within the family, as a result of which there was never any discussion within the family about relatives who might have preceded the above mentioned.
I am hoping to make another visit this year to look at Parish Records as over the last year I have found a number of 'possible relatives' and I now have many more names to look for.

In the 1850's Bircza village was one third Polish, one third Ukranian and one third Jewish.
Our assumption is that there was a 'mixed marriage' which resulted in them being ostracised. Subsequent reading indicates that this would have been extremely rare, but as such if it occurred it certainly would have led to disgrace.
I agree that at the moment the best way forward would be to trace any living relatives of Kazimiera’s sister Stella Kruk to see if they know what happened to their aunt Kazimiera.
The 1930 census for Newark shows Stella and her husband John Kruk and three children Helen, William and Alexander. John was a butcher and I have found him on an online Trade Directory for Newark 1936. He apparently died the following year and I have found the business, in directories up to 1943, as a Retail Meat Shop owned by Stella. Stella kept in touch by letter with relatives in Poland up to about 1960, then another family disagreement led to a cessation of contact. The only other record I have is an entry in a 1959 Portsmouth Massachusetts directory for Mary D. Kruk, widow of Alexander Kruk .
I have no idea who Cecylia Szalajko could be or whether she was related. One more name to add to the list.

Regards,

Richard.

[johnnyboy]

Hi Richard: The Mary Kruk who died in Portsmouth, died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as there is no Portsmouth, Massachusetts. The Social Security Death Index has this Mary Kruk born Apr. 23 1884, died Aug 1975. Wouldn't her birth date make this Mary too old to be the wife of Alexander Kruk, who was a child in the 1930s, when Mary was in her 40s? This Mary Kruk's Social Security number was issued in New Hampshire.

The Social Security Death Index has Walter Winiarski born Jun 24 1909, died 1964, last residence unspecified. His Social Security number was issued in New York.

Regards,
John 

[redclover]

Hi John,

I had another look at the record:
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8779&path=Portsmouth.1959.K.7

which came from Ancestry.com Massachusetts City Directories list. Although it's on that list, I see the addresses refer to Potrsmouth, New Hampshire. So that looks like a dead end.

I have found another record for Helen B. Kruk. SSN 047-03-3456 Birth date 10 April 1912 and death date  18 August 1991. On the 1930 census Stella Kruk's daughter Helen is given as 1914. Later Newark directories list her as Helen B. Kruk, so presumably the right person.

Could you advise me how to find the place of issue of a SSN.
If this is the right person then she remained unmarried and probably a dead end as far as finding living relatives.
How does one find SSN's for her two brothers, William and Alexander?

As regards Walter Winiarski,  I have a ships manifest for SS Main Dec 17 1905 showing the arrival of Karolina Winiarska and son Waclaw who I presume changed his name to Walter, Born 1903 in Poland.
The next reference I have for him is in the Niagara Falls Gazette March 4th 1929 which has an obituary for his father Julian Winiarski and mentions that Walter comes from Miami, Arizona.
So this does not fit the Walter that you found.

Regards

Richard.

[shellyesq]

The Social Security Death Index is available for free on www.rootsweb.com.  You can see the listing for Helen there, which states that her Social Security number was issued in Connecticut.  The Social Security Death Index has, for the most part, deaths from 1964 to the present and is the main place where you're going to find Social Security numbers.  (I've seen the numbers listed sometimes on death certificates, but that would vary by state.) 

[johnnyboy]

Added: Shelly types quicker than I do! 

Hi Richard: Hope this answers your question.  I use the SSDI on Rootsweb, which is at http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

There is also a version on FamilySearch.org (at the bottom of the main menu), but it does not seem to have middle initials.

On Rootsweb, you can search by place of issue by clicking Advanced Search on the search page, then enter a name and use the scroll down Issue menu, just above the Submit button, to limit the search to a particular state.

The place of issue of a person's Social Security number is given in the last column of the entry on the Social Security Death Index. So in Helen B. Kruk's case, it would be Connecticut

HELEN B KRUK    10 Apr 1912   18 Aug 1991   (not specified)   (none specified)   047-03-3456   Connecticut


One thing to bear in mind about the SSDI: It mainly covers deaths that occurred after 1962. If someone died before 1962, he or she is likely (but not definitely) not to be in the SSDI.

From the Rootsweb SSDI. Three entries for Alexander Kruk:

The V in the first entry means that the death was verified by a family member.  Bold face items explain the entries.

ALEXANDER KRUK    24 Oct 1915   26 Aug 2000 (V)     Place of death: 11003 (Elmont, Nassau, NY)   Place of last benefit: (none specified)   088-05-4258   Issued in New York

ALEXANDER KRUK    17 Dec 1889   Jul 1965   Place of death: (New York State?)   Place of last benefit: (none specified)   108-07-7768   Issued in New York

ALEXANDER H KRUK    21 Nov 1918   25 Jan 1996   Place of death: 18508 (Scranton, Lackawanna, PA)   Place of last benefit: (none specified)   170-09-0697   Issued in Pennsylvania

There were five entries for William Kruk.

WILLIAM P KRUK    17 Dec 1919   11 Feb 2005 (V)   Place of death: 11040 (New Hyde Park, Nassau, NY)   b]Place of last benefit: (none specified)   065-16-1139   New York

Elmont and New Hyde Park, NY are suburbs of New York City on Long Island. They are a few miles apart (which is why I added William Kruk. Nassau County borders the New York borough of Queens.

I would be very careful in assuming that any of these are your folks. A search for Kruk in the SSDI returns 155 entries where the Social Security number was issued in New York State. There were 58 Kruks in a New Jersey search.

Regards,
John  

[shellyesq]

I'm afraid that Helen on the SSDI is not yours, as the Connecticut Death index has Helen B. Kruk with the same birth & death dates who was a widow and her maiden name was Jurzcak.