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Franciszek Wajszczuk 0234
Below is presented information obtained from the Ellis Island records (www.ellisisland.org), which is presumed to describe the person - one of the "ancestors" included in this Tree - Franciszek/Frank Waszczuk/Wajszczuk (0234). These records are copies of the shipping company passenger books and records gathered by the Ellis Island Foundation and not the official immigration records!
Translation of the excerpts from the passenger records - ship "Rhein", travelling from Bremen (Germany) to New York (Ellis Island), date of arrival - March 26, 1910. (entries from the passenger book - see below): 2/ Waszczuk, Franzisek; 3/ age - 22; 5/ - S (single); 6/ occupation - farm laborer; 7/ able to read and write - Y; 8/ nationality - Russian; 9/ race or people - Polish; 10/ last permanent residence - Russia, Kopczanin; 11/ The name and complete address of nearest relative in country whence alien came - mother, Ewa Waszczuk - Kopczanin, Suwalki; 12/ final destination - PA, Philadelphia; 18/ joining brother-in-law Franciszek Wilczynski, Richmond Str., ???, Philadelphia, PA; 25/ height - 5' 7''; 26/ hair - brown; 27/ eyes - gray; 29/ place of birth, country - Russia, city or town - Kopczaninin. Note (WJW): difference (error) in spelling of the name of the place - Kopczanin!
There are several similarities between the orally transmitted information obtained from the family members here in the USA and the records presented below - for instance the year of arrival to the USA, family name in Poland - WASZCZUK and Frank's age on arrival. On the other hand, there are dissimilarities between the oral information and the official records, such as: 1/ the place of birth in Poland: Zebry-Laskowiec (as given by his descendants and where some of them visited in the 1980-ties and I [Waldemar Wajszczuk] subsequently visited in 2000 (https://www.wajszczuk.pl/wycieczki/nur_e.htm) and where we found several rather large Waszczuk families) - and the place of birth as well as the place of last residence of Frank and his mother (listed in the records as Ewa) given in the records as Kopczanin, 2/ Frank's mother's name - Waleria Sawicka, as given by the relatives in the USA and Ewa as entered in the ship's records.On the other hand, the place of birth of Frank's wife, which was probably Suwalki, (from where he brought her later to the USA to marry her in Jersey City) - suggests that he must have lived there, at least for some time! When and under what circumstances did he move with his mother from Zebry-Laskowiec to Kopczanin? The absence of mention of Frank's father's name in the records suggests the possibility that his father could have passed away(?) earlier and the family moved to Kopczanin - perhaps his mother was born in or had family in Kopczanin? It can be suspected that Frank travelled by land from Suwalki (see map below) to the nearby Krolewiec (Konigsberg [ger.], Kaliningrad [rus.] in former East Prussia), from there by boat to Bremen in Germany and from Bremen to New York, Ellis Island. Incidentally, on the contemporary map of Poland, there is a place Kopczany, which is near Suwalki and near the polish-byelorussian border and the town of Grodno (formerly in Poland and now in Byelarus).
Still unexplained remain the circumstances under which occured the change of the last name from WASZCZUK to WAJSZCZUK. Perhaps further search of the immigration records from admission to the Ellis Island and later in Philadelphia (where Frank came to stay initially with his brother-in-law Franciszek Wilczynski) would provide some answers. (The ease, with which the name change can occur, comes to us as no surprise, since recently we came across several such instances - see: https://www.wajszczuk.pl/english/historia.htm#11-11-2002 ).
Above records also confirm that Frank had another sister (perhaps 0232 Maria on this Tree) - who also arrived earlier in the USA and was married to Franciszek Wilczynski and living in Philadelphia - in addition to a sister Jozefa (0233) married to Stanislaw Bocian) https://www.wajszczuk.pl/polski/drzewo/217jan.htm#fr.(A potential contact person to help with further search in Poland could be (0221) Zdzislaw Waszczuk, who is a School Principal in Zebry-Laskowiec and who lives in the area - we met him briefly before and shall try to contact him again)! Click on the pictures to enlarge
"The American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island"
While searching the immigration records, we found this webpage: (http://www.wallofhonor.com). Apparently this is the largest Wall of names in the world. It pays tribute to America's rich cultural heritage, celebrating American immigration from its earliest beginnings right up to present day.
 | "wajszczuk" was found 3 times |
| Name | Origin | Panel |
|---|
| Franciszek Wajszczuk | Poland | 460 | | The John Wajszczuk Family | Poland | 460 | | The Adolf Wajszczuk Family | Poland | 699 | | All names here are inscribed and available for viewing on The American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island unless they are listed as "to be inscribed". |
Prepared by Waldemar J. Wajszczuk & Paweł Stefaniuk - Nov. 2002 |
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19-03-2023
04-02-2003
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