My old genealogy blog had to be shut down. The previous web host company decided to increase their quarterly hosting fee by almost 500%. From $23 USD every 3 months to $114 USD every 3 months. They weren’t worth it. So, I found a new web hosting company to host my genealogy blog.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to move the old articles to this new blog. Don’t despair. You can still access the old articles here.
In trying to research and gather information about my grandparents on the Iwaniw side I came to a dead end. As I’ve posted before I have a copy of my grandfather’s church death record and I have copy of his church marriage record. Unfortunately, these result in more questions than in final answers. Both records show my grandfather, Michael, as the son of Basil Iwaniw. However, the dates don’t match. They are about 3 years difference. The marriage record state that Michael got married in 1902 at the age of 25. This would calculate his birth year as 1877. His death record states that he passed away in 1919 at the age of 36. This calculates his birth year as 1883. I haven’t been able to locate his birth record yet, but I’m working on it. It’s difficult because the records are actually limited or even non-existent for the period. I know that the name Iwaniw/Iwanow was a common surname for farmers in that region, but what are the odds of 2 different Michael Iwaniws with the father named Basil Iwaniw born 6 years apart?
It doesn’t help that a large portion of the church records have been either destroyed in the war or just simply lost.
So, I’m going to have to go back to the images of those records to determine if there are any other clues of information that I missed. One of the things you have to keep in mind is that there records were recorded by the parish priests and they not everyone would enter information that same way.
I know that it’s been quite a while since I updated the status of my family research. I’ve been spending a lot of time on MyHeritage.com working on the current family information and trying to clean up/verify the data the best that I can. I’ve also spending time on my family data files that I maintain on my laptop with Legacy Family Tree software.
So I’ve had to re-evaluate my efforts and decide where and how I want to spend my time and effort in conduction my family research. I’m at the point right now where my effort need to be focused on the actual records that are found in Eastern Europe. There is very little that can be found on line. Additionally, in discussing my family research with numerous researchers from Eastern Europe I have found that:
I have decide to consolidate and focus my efforts to a couple of specific web sites. Currently, my family research/data is located/stored at:
If anyone wishing to contact me about my family research or wish to collaborate pertaining to family research can contact me through the form on this site.
In my last post I stated that I was going to search out information about my grandmother and great grandmother because I was running out of options/data regarding my grandfather but, at that time, I didn’t know where or how to start because I didn’t have much information about either of them.
However, thanks to the Polish Ancestry Researcher, Lucjan Cichocki, and the municipal clerk in Lutowiska, Poland I may have received the church record of my grandparents marriage.
There are a few inconsistencies that I need to resolve and explain. But if this is the true record of my grandparents marriage then it helps in explaining other data I received. One of those was about my grandmother’s maiden name. Some time ago when I was first starting my family research and while my father was still alive, I starting asking him the basic questions; i.e. what was your mother’s maiden name, what was your father’s name, etc. It was this time that my father told me that he never knew his father because he passed away when he was a baby. I acquired a copy of my grandfather’s death record confirming that he died when my father was just a baby, less than a year old. The death record listed my great grandparents as Basilius and Anna Iwaniw. Well, that didn’t help me with my great grandmother’s maiden name. I already knew that my great grandfather was named Wasyl (Basilius) and my great grandmother’s name was Anna from my father, but I didn’t know my great grandmother’s maiden name. According to the marriage record my great grandmother’s maiden name was Stefanow
Now, where did the Shubish come from? If you look at the record at the information regarding Matrona’s mother you’ll notice one of the surnames referenced is Skubycz. Could this be where my father got the surname from? Lucjan was kind enough to send me his translation of the information on the marriage record.
Here’s the translation:no. 15date 7/22/1902 (this is a Greek Catholic church record, there was no civil registration in the Austrian-controlled part of Poland back then)house no. 26the groom: Michael Iwanow, single, a son of Basilius Iwanow and Anna nee Stefanow, farmers in Lutowiska, a Greek Catholic aged 25the bride: Matrona Iwanow, single Greek Catholic woman aged 19, a daughter of Maria Smolij [who was] a daughter of Gregorius [and this Maria Smolij was] 1st married [to a man named] Skubycz [and then] 2nd married [to a man named] Iwanow, [Matrona and/or her mother was] from Michniowiec [I am not 100% positive about the place name]witnesses: Michael Iwanow, Joannes Iwanow, farmers of Lutowiska
But what was Maria Iwanow’s maiden name? The record doesn’t say. I could leave things as is because Matrona’s family line is not a surname that I am trying to research. Its purpose is to help me connect to others that are researching their family history that may be connected to mine. I’ve written to Lucjan for further clarification and explanation of the information in the record.
I had already updated about locating my grandfather’s death record and confirming his date of death and the fact that he passed away while my father was an infant. What that research uncovered was that records from my father’s village are extremely limited, both church and civil records.
My Great Grandmother
The church death record listed my great grandfather’s name as Wasyl (Basilius, in Latin) and my great grandmother’s name as Anna. However, I know my great grandfather’s surname was Iwaniw as was my great grandmother’s married surname. But I don’t know what her birth name was. It’s not referenced on the death record. So, now I have to determine the best method to find my great grandmother’s birth name and details. Without actual records I’ll have to estimate dates and events and search from there. More or less trial and error. Were they married in Lutowiska? Or did they move from another location? If I can find their marriage record it will give a wealth of information.
My Grandmother
My grandmother’s name that I have is Matrona Smolii/Smoliw. There are 2 different spellings because my father used both spelling on different documents. His displace person registration record lists his mother’s name as Matrona Smolii. He lists her name as Matrona Smoliw on his SS-5 (Social Security application) and this spelling is used on his death certificate. I’m also search the different genealogy web sites (Ancestry, Family Search, and My Heritage) for a Matrona Smolii/Smoliw and have cone up empty. To me this means that there is no one else researching the Smolii/Smoliw family line.
So, to this end I’m going to be searching out the marriage record/certificate for my grandparents. This should give me information of my grandmother and, hopefully, both of my great grandparents. I was also thinking about finding my grandfather’s birth record/certificate but this would only give me information pertaining to him and I believe the records are limited in date range. But this will be alternative research path.
From November 13, 2019
In my last post I detailed some of the different documents that I received pertaining to my father’s time in Germany. So, my best guesstimate is that while he was in Sulmingen he was a farm laborer and while he was in Ulm he was a shoemaker/cobbler. While in Sulmingen his occupation as a farm laborer listed his employer as Theresia Ackermann. But I haven’t been able to find anything more about Theresia Ackermann. In Ulm, was my father an owner of a shoemaking shop or an employee of one? I have no details on either.
As I progress with my research my questions result in more questions and not answers. According to a record that I received from Arolsen Archives my father was taken from his home in Lutowiska to Germany in 1942. I can only presume that he was taken to a labor camp in Sulmingen Germany. But which labor camp? I cannot find any information on a labor camp in the region of Sulmingen.
I wrote to someone in the municipal office of the City of Sulmingen requesting any information about the marriage of my parent in 1945. I did receive a reply that they had found no information but had forward my request to the registry office in that city. I then received a response from the registry office stating that they had no record of the marriage there. However, they felt that the request was sent to the incorrect location. They believed that the request should have been sent to the Town of Sulmingen, which is now part of the Municipality of Maselheim. That person has forwarded my inquiry forward to there.
So, that’s where my research stands right now. I’m just waiting for information, I’m waiting to hear from whoever was forwarded my inquiry in Maselheim, I’m waiting to hear back from the Red Cross Tracing Service about their inquiry in the 1960’s regarding my father, and I’m waiting to find out additional information on church records from my father’s village of Lutowiska.
My next post I will update the status of the inquiry to the Red Cross Tracing Service.