Seeking birth record
Hello,
I'm currently conducting research for a friend on Mary (Maria) Deake nee Kalinowsky. Her 13 Nov 1953 obituary
indicates she was born on 12 Sep 1878 in Germany. She had at least two siblings: A sister, Frances, born 21 Feb 1874 and died 28 Jul 1957 in St. Louis. Her death certificate states she was born in Poland; a brother, Anton, who I believe was born in Hamburg on 26 Oct 1875 (see attached naturalization record). From some other sources, I have reason to believe their parents were Joseph Kalinowsky and Francis (sp? - maiden name unknown).
I've looked through some sources on FamilySearch and Ancestry to try to find Mary's birth record. I think this family was Catholic.
Any help/guidance is greatly appreciated -- please let me know if you have any questions.
thanks
Kommentare
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Had you found them on the Hamburg passenger list? Here are Mary, Anton and the whole family although, because of the ages, it is difficult to discern who the parents of Anton and Mary are:
It appears their previous (most recent before emigration) residence may have been Büren, Westfalen but the writing is difficult for me. And since the location is given by ditto marks from the passengers above, they were either traveling with the other family or the clerk made an error with the ditto marks. There should be a similar list available in New York when the ship docked.
Edit to add:
Here is their arrival in New York but it provides no additional information.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-5Y98-78?i=1111&cc=1849782
Edit to add:
In 1920 Anton is living with Frances who is likely his Mother:
His mother dies in 1928, her death certificate says she was born in Germany 20 May 1854:
https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1928/1928_00029741.PDF
A brother Joseph also died in 1928, born 29 Oct 1867 in Germany , son of Joseph:
https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1928/1928_00011420.PDF
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Thanks very much!
On his Declaration of Intention, Anton mentions a different ship (Victoria), a different time of arrival (Jun 1881) and a different country of origin (Germany vice Poland or Russia). Any ideas why this differs with other information?
Bill
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I think only the arrival ships names are different (California vs Victoria) vs the Declaration of Intention. Both ship records (from Hamburg to London (on ship Ophelia) and from London to New York (on ship California) show his most recent residence as Germany (and the arrival is in June 1881). The family information matches quite closely. It could simply be that 20 years later he remembered "California" as "Victoria".
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I see that Anton lists his birth country as Russia in the 1900 census with the word Polish added. In the 1910 census he lists it as Polish Russia. Poland wasn't an independent country in the 1800s and until 1918. Since his sister's death certificate in 1957 indicated her birth location as Poland they were likely from the part of Poland that was under Russian rule at the time.
Somehow you need to figure out the name of the town they were from. You might try to see if the catholic church records still exist in St Louis. Maybe they will have death records for the parents or marriage records for their children that give a place of birth.
I'm not sure why Anton lists his birth location as Hamburg on his Naturalization Records. I suppose he could have thought he was born in Russia if his parents were and only found out during the naturalization process that he was born in Hamburg. But then why did his sister still think she was born in Poland?
You might also try tracking down descendants of all the siblings. Someone may know the village name.
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I see that the 1936 death certificate of the brother John has him being born in Poland but his father Joseph being born in Germany.
https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1936/1936_00033401.PDF
And the 1928 death cert for brother Joseph says both he and his father Joseph were born in Germany.
https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1928/1928_00011420.PDF
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Thanks, Greg -- Great info and suggestions - lots for me to think about. The person on whose behalf I'm conducting research has an aunt who may be able to help shed light on some information. He's also a priest in the Belleville, IL diocese -- perhaps he can help me with getting information from the St. Louis diocese. As far as I can tell, the STL diocesan records are not available online yet.
v/r
Bill
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Hi Bill,
It appears there are some other Kalinovsky families that settled in St Louis about the same time frame. They seem to have similar German/Polish/Russian roots. They may or may not be related. But it might be worth checking to see if you can find any other clues with these families.
For example there is a John Kalinowski, 7 January 1849 – 8 July 1920, GM4L-6L6 who immigrated in 1878 and is identified as born the province of Posen in Prussia. This province abuts the part of Poland that was under Russia at that time. If they traveled across the border this could explain why the records indicate Germany, Poland and Russia as places of birth .
That John Kalinovsky was married to Katherina Skredynski before immigrating. The people researching her on familysearch have her born in Posen and her parents in a specific village of Nowa Cerkiew, Chojnice, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
I won't give their full names for privacy but there is a Sarah and an Oliver who seem to have done a lot of work on the John Kalinovsky and Katherina Skredynski families. You will see their entries and can contact them (by clicking on their names) to see if they are aware of any family connections and if they might have additional information that could help identify the town(s) where Joseph Kalinovsky lived.
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Hi Greg,
Thank you -- that is a great tip! I will look into that when I have some time (hopefully within the next day or so), but it sounds very promising.
v/r
Bill
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