We are presenting here the information gathered from the family and
obtained from the archival sources in the USA. Unfortunately, until now we
were not able to find in the Ellis Island Archives (http://www.ellisisland.org/;
http://search.ancestry.com/search/default.aspx?cat=40&o_xid=21837&o_lid=21837)
any infomation regarding Franciszek Wajszczuk and his arrival in the USA.
The only entries found in the immigration records were those concerning
Franciszek (first name was mis-spelled) Waszczuk
(see). We
considered initially the possibility that they may describe "our"
Franciszek, but there were too many discrepances between the written
records and information obtained from the family in the USA. The only
possible similarity was the year of arrival to the USA (1910) and possibly
- age. The discrepancies were: place of birth and residence prior to
arrival to the USA - Kopczanin in the records and possibly
Żebry-Laskowiec,
according to the family, and the name of his mother - Ewa in the ship
records and Waleria Sawicka (?) according to the family. It should be
noted that, neither Franciszek's family members, at the time of their
visit to Zebry-Laskowiec a few years earlier, nor we, at the time of our
visit there in 2000 (see), were able to find any information about
Wajszczuks ever living there. We found only a large family of Waszczuks
(see).
Review of the NUR parish records from the last few decades of the XIX
century and from the beginiing of the XX century revealed only the name
Waszczuk. Neither the parish priest nor the record keeper-organist ever
encountered or heard about the name WAJSZCZUK.
A few years later we received an e-mail from Marianna Masiejczyk. She
belongs to a Waszczuk family, whose members live until present in Kopczany,
Suwalki county. Details of information about Franciszek obtained from her
agreed fully with the ship's records - therefore the information, which we
have gathered previosly, did not describe "our" Franciszek.
We also know, from the information obtained previously from his
descendants in the USA that Franciszek's sister - Józefa (0233) arrived in
the USA a few years earlier and probably brought him here. Józefa was
married in Poland before coming to the USA and her husband's name was
Stanislaw Bocian. More recently, we were contacted by a member of the
Bocian family in the USA but he did not have any pertinent information.
Recently, we have found in the Internet new information and documents
concerning Franciszek and his family. It became obvious that the
inaccurate spelling of his last name (see below) was a major cause of our
difficulties. We will resume now our search taking into consideration this
unanticipated major obstacle.
Letters were also sent to the High School administration, Roman-Catholic
Parish in Glen Rock, NJ, the Polish-American Club of North Jersey, where
Sophie, Franciszek's daughter belonged and to the family's original parish
in Jersey City asking for information regarding Franciszek's place of
birth and residence in Poland, if such information were available in their
files.
1930 – US Federalny Spis Ludności – 1930 United States Federal Census -
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&msT=1&gss=angs-c&gsln=Wajszczuk&msrpn__ftp=Jersey+City&uidh=000&gl=USFEDCEN&gst=&ghc=20&fh=20&fsk=BEFmZmYIgAAYUAbjQdE-61-
Name: |
Frank
Wajozczah |
Spouse: |
Victoria Wajozczah |
Birth: |
abt 1888 -
location |
Residence: |
1930 - Jersey City ,
Hudson,
New Jersey |
Name: |
Victoria Wajozczah |
Age: |
36 |
Estimated Birth Year: |
abt 1894 |
Spouse's Name: |
Frank Wajozczah |
Name: |
John
Wajozczah |
Birth: |
abt 1915 |
Residence: |
1930 - Jersey City ,
Hudson,
New Jersey |
Name: |
Charles
Wajozczah |
Birth: |
abt 1918 |
Residence: |
1930 - Jersey City ,
Hudson,
New Jersey |
Name: |
Sophie
Wajozczah |
Birth: |
abt 1921 |
Residence: |
1930 - Jersey City ,
Hudson,
New Jersey |
1942 - United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, for Frank
John Waiszczuk
https://www.familysearch.org/search/recordDetails/show?uri=https://api.familysearch.org/records/pal:/MM9.1.r/16GM-L3Z/p1
At that time Franciszek was employed as a machinist by the Central Rail
Road of New Jersey.
http://www.google.com/search?q=New+Jersey+Central+Rail+Road%2C+employment+files+&rlz=1I7GGIH_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7
The Great Search-Finding Railroad Employment Records -
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sponholz/railroad.html
"Employee "personnel files" are virtually non-existent, as can be expected
... "
The Erie Railroad, Linking Chicago and Jersey City-New York
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sponholz/erie.html
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission -
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/prr_(the_pennsylvania_r_r__co_)/3853/other_prr_record_holders/426214
"New Jersey State Archives Minutes and board papers of predecessor and
subsidiary lines in New Jersey including:
Camden & Amboy
Delaware & Raritan Canal
New Jersey Railroad (...)"
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/railroad_records/3187/anthracite_railroad_records/948281