My Family History Research

Winialski DNA Cousin from Connecticut

In 2018 I found a new DNA match on Ancestry.com. SW and I shared 37 centimorgans across 2 DNA segments, making him an estimated fourth cousin. Based on our common matches, I thought SW and my connection were ancestors from West Prussia in the 1800s.

But SW appeared to be possibly even closer to my grandkids, who share some of my Polish genes, but also have German, Irish, and Yankee/Canadian ancestors. SW shared 41 centimorgans across 3 DNA segments with my grandson, and shared 24.0 centimorgans across 3 DNA segments with my granddaughter. SW said that his ancestors on both his paternal and maternal sides came from “East Prussia, Silesia, and German occupied Poland.” Since my grandkids’ paternal German grandmother was born in Breslau (now Wrocław, in Poland), Silesia is a possible connection, as are his other German and Irish ancestors. SW graciously agreed to share his private tree on Ancestry, which had a lot of information. I am sharing what more I discovered about his Polish ancestors.

SW knew his maternal grandparents were Helena Zborowska, born in 1892 in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut, and Stanisław Winialski, born in 1892 or 1893, reportedly in Brooklyn, Kings, New York. They were married 2 Sep 1920 in Manhattan, New York. Helen died in 1958, and Stanley in 1980. They were buried in Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery, Bloomfield, Hartford, Connecticut.

Zborowski-Modrakowski

Helen Zborovski was born in Bridgeport 15 April 1892. Her father Ladislaus was born in Austria, and her mother, Kazimira Modrakowska, was born in Germany-Poland.

Her brother, Anthony Severin Zboronski was born in Bridgeport on 5 Jan 1896. This was their third baby, but only two were living. I tried looking for church records, but the Polish Roman Catholic church in Bridgeport, St. Michael Archangel, was not established until 1899, and I do not know in what church they may have had the children baptized.

The brothers Jan and Władysław Zborowski arrived in the United States in 1884. The Hamburg passenger list shows them on the ship Sprite that arrived in Hull, traveling to “Amerika via Liverpool.”

Jan and Władysław may have come from Dubiecko, a village in Przemyśl County, Podkarpackie, in southeastern Poland, which was then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Their previous occupation was described as tapezier, wallpapering, and their destination was New York.

John Zborowski was naturalized in Connecticut in 1890. Born in 1857, he died 9 Mar 1899 and was buried in St Michael’s Cemetery, Stratford, Connecticut. His widow Katarzyna was a dressmaker in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Ladislaus Zborowski was naturalized in Connecticut 16 Jun 1896, the same year he was licensed as a physician in Connecticut. In 1900, he and his family were living in Stevens Point, Portage, Wisconsin. Ladislaw Zborowski obtained United States patent No. 732,809 while living in Stevens Point in 1903. The Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929, approximated his date of death as 31 Dec 1929, but he likely died before that date.

In 1900, Kazimiera Zborowski listed her date of arrival in the United States as 1887. Leaving Hamburg, Deutschland (Germany) on 22 Dec 1886, the ship Marsala arrived in New York on 10 Jan 1887.

Franz, Marie, and Kazimier[a] Modrakowski came from Gnesen, Posen, Preußen, known today as Gniezno, Wielkopolskie, Poland. Franz is the German form of the Polish name Franciszek.

The Poznań Project has indexed marriages from the Posen region, and in the Catholic parish Gniezno – par. św. Wawrzyńca [Gnesen-St.Lorenz] was the marriage of Franciscus Modrakowski (30 years old) and Francisca Morawska (20 years old).

The Poznań Archives had a copy of the record.

I did not find arrival records for all the children, but Franciszca Modrakowski arrived with the six younger children on the ship Werra from Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England, in New York on 15 Jul 1890.

In the 1900 census, Franciszka Modrakowski, widow, said she had given birth 15 times, and that eleven of her children were alive. She then listed her children, even those not living with her at 271 Plasant [sic] Street in Manhattan.

I used the BaSIA database, ‘Baza Systemu Indeksacji Archiwalnej’ at http://www.basia.famula.pl to find the marriage of Francisczek Modrakowski and Francisczka Morawska and their Posen-born children’s birth records, all but Kazimiera and Stanisław. Tadeusz was born in New York. Using Polish and American records, I was able to identify:

1-Franciszek MODRAKOWSKI (1840-)
+Franciszka MORAWSKA (1854-9 Feb 1927)
. . . 2-Marya MODRAKOWSKA (25 Mar 1871-bef 1950)
. . . 2-Kazimiera MODRAKOWSKA (May 1872-18 Apr 1950)
. . . 2-Teodor Bronisław MODRAKOWSKI (13 May 1873-28 Oct 1930)
. . . 2-Bronisława Pelagia MODRAKOWSKI (Nov 1874-bef 1950)
. . . 2-Lucyan MODRAKOWSKI (13 Dec 1875-1 Dec 1894)
. . . 2-Faustin Wiktor MODRAKOWSKI (1878-1878)
. . . 2-Helena MODRAKOWSKA (Oct 1879-aft 1950)
. . . 2-Władysława MODRAKOWSKA (Nov 1880-13 Oct 1924)
. . . 2-Jan Stefan MODRAKOWSKI (29 Aug 1881-19 Jan 1962)
. . . 2-Roman MODRAKOWSKI (8 Feb 1883-bef 1950)
. . . 2-Teodosia Feliksa MODRAKOWSKA (Jun 1884-aft 1950)
. . . 2-Stanisław MODRAKOWSKI (14 Nov 1885-30 May 1936)
. . . 2-Tadeusz MODRAKOWSKI (20 Jul 1891-14 Aug 1950)

Modrakowski family

In 1910, Frances Modrakowska was living with widowed Kazimiera Zborowska and her children Helena and Seweryn at East 123rd Street in New York.

In 1920, Frances Modrakowska was with her daughter Władysława and her husband Edward Witkowski at 1105 Findlay Avenue in the Bronx. Władysława was called Lottie and used the name Charlotte.

Frances Modrakowska‘s sons had shortened the family name to Modra, and had a design/printing company at 1402 Broadway in Manhattan. In 1925, Frances, Stanley, and Tad Modra were living at 1001 Dorchester in Brooklyn, New York.

Frances Modra, born Franciszka Morawska, married name Modrakowska, died 9 Feb 1927 in the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn, in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

Kazimiera Modrakowska Zborowska married John W. Murnos in Manhattan, New York on 1 Oct 1931 and they divorced 21 Nov 1934 in Bronx, New York. She died 18 Apr 1950 in St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, and was buried at Mount St. Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, Hartford, Connecticut.

Helena Zborowska Winialska died 30 Apr 1958 at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, and was buried at Mount St. Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, Hartford, Connecticut.

Winialski

Stanisław Winialski arrived with his parents and siblings on 16 Nov 1904 at the port of New York on the ship Frankfort from Bremen and Southampton.

The parents Stanisław and Marianna Winialski and their sons Theodor, Stanisław, Konstant[y], and Hippolit were traveling from Sokolowo, Russia, to join Zygmunt Winialski, Stanisław‘s son and the children’s brother, in Hartford, Connecticut.

Zygmunt Winialski originally arrived in New York 23 May 1892 on the ship Herman from Bremen with his mother Marianna and siblings Józef, Walenty, and Teresa. The ship was identified when Zygmunt declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in 1913.

The ship manifest did not indicate their destination or whom they were meeting, but Stanisław Winialski and his son Jan may have arrived in in the United States earlier.

It is not known when some of the family returned to the old country.

Zygmunt Winialski married Walentyna Korniacka on 28 Oct 1899 in Canton, Hartford, Connecticut. Jan Winialski married Helena Bogdanska on 10 Jul 1901 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut.

According to his 31 Oct 1919 petition for United States naturalization, Józef Winialski arrived in New York, New York, on the ship Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse on 12 May 1902. He was Polish, 19 years old, from Dobrzyn, going to Z. Winialski in Collinsville, Hartford, Connecticut. Józef married Helena Ciszewska in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut, on 5 Sep 1907.

Walter Louis Winialski‘s 25 Sep 1914 petition for naturalization
said he arrived in New York on the ship Auguste Victoria on or about 19 May 1902. His name was listed as Valentin Winialski on the German passenger list leaving Hamburg, Germany, on 8 May 1902. He was sixteen years old and his last residence was Sokolowo, Russia. Walenty Winialski married Marya Zborowska on 20 Aug 1912 in Hartford, Connecticut. After her death 19 Dec 1933, he married Stanisława Grzybowska Kulgowska in Hartford, Connecticut, on 1 Feb 1939.

On 8 Aug 1905, Bolesława Struzynska arrived at the port of New York from Bremen on the ship Kaiser Wilhelm II. She was 20 years old, married, from Golub, Germany, and she was going to her father, Stanisław Winialski, in Hartford, Connecticut. She was detained at Ellis Island, because one of her legs was short with ankylosis, but she was admitted to the United States. There may have been a records problem, because she and Stanisław Struzynski were married in Hartford, Connecticut, 18 Sep 1905. In the 1919 Hartford, Connecticut, city directory, Bella Struzynsky is listed as the widow of Stanislaw, living at 78 Hudson Street.

In 1910 widowed Mary Winalski listed her family with her at 10 Squire Street in Hartford, Connecticut.

From this and other American records, these are the children of Stanisław and Marianna Winialski:

1-Stanisław WINIALSKI
+Marianna
. . . 2-Jan Szczepan WINIALSKI (1877-1966)
. . . 2-Zygmunt WINIALSKI (1879-1921)
. . . 2-Bolesława WINIALSKA (1880- )
. . . 2-Józef Franciszek WINIALSKI (1884-1941)
. . . 2-Walenty Ludwik WINIALSKI (1886-1956)
. . . 2-Teresa WINIALSKA (unknown)
. . . 2-Teodor Stanisław WINIALSKI (1888-1967)
. . . 2-Stanisław Szczepan WINIALSKI (1892/3-1980)
. . . 2-Hipolit WINIALSKI (1895-1957)
. . . 2-Konstanty Michał WINIALSKI (1897-1959)

Winialski family

Unfortunately, not much is known about Teresa, who arrived in New York with her mother 23 May 1892 on the ship Herman. It is possible that this child was Teodor Winialski. Bolesława, who used the name Bella, may have remarried. I did not find any other records of her after 1919.

Theodore Winialski married Sophronia Korniacka 20 Nov 1912 at St. Patrick Church in Collinsville, Hartford, Connecticut. He was naturalized 29 Dec 1914.

Stanley S. Winalski served in the United States military 19 Sep 1917 to 12 Jul 1919. He married Helen Zborowska 2 Sep 1920 in Manhattan, New York. Stanley died in Newington, Hartford, on 3 Feb 1980, and was buried in Mount St. Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, Hartford, Connecticut.

Hipolit Winialski served in the United States Army 7 Jun 1918 to 20 May 1919. He married Helena Goralska in Hartford, Connecticut on 24 Nov 1921.

Konstanty Winialski married Apolonia Listewnik in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1925. It appears that Konstanty used the name Gustave as an adult, as did my grandfather’s brother Konstanty. Diminutives for Konstanty are Kostek and Kóst. If the K in Kóst is voiced, it sounds like “Gust.” Gustave Winialski served in the Unites States military from 9 Sep 1918 to 6 Jan 1919. His naturalization petition on 17 Sept 1920 was witnessed by Hipolit and Joseph Winialski.

In 1930, Apolonia‘s brother Albin Listewnik was living with Gustave and Apolonia Winialski on Broad Street in Hartford, Connecticut.

There is a monument for Stanisław and Marijanna Winialski at Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Many others of the family are buried there.

We do not yet know Marianna‘s family name, although further research may identify her. There are also some discrepancies in the dates of birth and death. Stanisław probably died in 1907 and Marianna 19 Sep 1911 in Hartford. There may have been more than one mother named Marianna Winialska, since in the 1892 ship manifest she was 37 and in 1904 her age was listed as 38.

After the death of his first wife Helena on 25 Mar 1927, John Winialski married Irena Fischer in Hartford 19 Mar 1938. In interviews, he said that he came from Toruń, but he may have been referring to the region, not the actual town. My great-grandparents Jan Maciejewski and Weronika Lewandowska were married in 1869 in Nieżywięć, Brodnica, about 45 km (28 mi) north-east of Toruń, so our ancestors came from a common part of the world.

The villages listed in various records of the Winialski family–Golub, Dobrzyń, Sokołowo, Dulsk, Ruże, Obory, Ksawery, and Kikół–are east of Toruń.

Although now in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province of Poland, this area was occupied by Germany and Russia in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Update April 2020 The Geneteka database was recently updated with indexed records for Ruże (KP) by volunteer Renata Ściślewska-Skrobisz with entries for Zygmunt, Bolesława, Walenty, and Teodor, children of Stanisław Winialski and Marianna Waleńska.

• 1878 1 Zygmunt Winialski Stanisław Maryanna Waleńska Ruże 
• 8.3.1880 30 Bolesława Winialska Stanisław Marianna Walińska Ruże Obory
• 4.2.1886 18 Walenty Winialski Stanisław Marianna Waleńska Ruże Obory
• 1.8.1888 93 Teodor Winialski Kazimierz Marianna Waleńska Ruże Kazimierzewo

Although suggestive, index is not proof. For example, who is Kazimierz Winialski, or was this an indexing error with Kazimierzewo (German: Kaßmersboden)? The records themselves are in the Torun Archives. I looked at http://torun.ap.gov.pl/ and the book for 1878 at https://www.genealogiawarchiwach.pl/#query.type=ALL&query.facetQuery.date=1878&query.city=Ru%25C5%25BCe. Because Ruże was in the Russian occupied part of Poland, many of the records are in Cyrillic in the Napoleonic format. More research is needed!

Sources

• Social Security Administration, “U.S. Social Security Death Index,” database, Death Master File (online: accessed 24 March 2019), Stanley Winalski, 042-01-5743, before 1951.
• Connecticut Death Records, database (https://www.ctatatelibrarydata.org/death-records/ : accessed 1 September 2019), Stanley S Winalski.
• “Find a Grave,” database, Find a Grave (findagrave.com: accessed 3 September 2019), Stanley S Winalski; citing cemetery records.
• Connecticut, “Births,” Bridgeport, 197, delayed; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9L2-W9Z5?i=598, Helen Zborovski, 15 April 1892; Connecticut.
• 1910 Federal Census, New York State, population schedule, Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District: 0422, Page: 8A, Kazmiera Zborowska; digital images, NARA microfilm publication T624 (online: accessed 3 August 2019); Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910.
• Find a Grave, Helen Zborowska Winalski.
• Ancestry, Jan Zborowski.
• Ladislus Zborowski, https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/61195/007778560_03272, Ancestry.com, Records of District Courts of the United States.
• 1900 Federal Census, Wisconsin, population schedule, Steven Point Ward 3, Portage, Wisconsin, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District: 0113, page 3, L Zborowski; digital images, online (National Archives and Records Administration : accessed 4 August 2019); Twelfth Census of the United States.
• The Stevens Point newspaper identified Dr. Ladislaw Zborowski as a first cousin of Count Elliott Zborowski, of a famous American rich family prominent in international social circles. It reported that Dr. Ladislaw returned to New York for his brother’s funeral in 1899, and brought his nephew Joseph to Wisconsin, although the boy returned to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• Ancestry, Franz Madrakowski.
• 1910 Federal Census, New York State, population schedule, Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York, ED Enumeration District: 0422, Page: 8A, , Kazmiera Zborowska.
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• Severyn Anthony Zborowski pension, ; Railroad Retirement Board, Record Group Number: 184; The National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, Georgia.
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• 1910 Federal Census, New York State, population schedule, Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York, ED Enumeration District: 0422, Page: 8A, , Kazmiera Zborowska.
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• BaSIA, Bronislawa Pelagia birth/baptism record, year 1874.
• BaSIA, Lucyan birth record, year 1876.
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• 1920 Federal Census, New York, population schedule, Bronx Assembly District 2, Bronx, New York, ED Enumeration District: 132, Page: 22B, , Frances Modrakowski.
• New York City, Certificate Number: 24909, Charlotte Witkowski.
• BaSIA, Jan Stefan birth record, year 1881.
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• New York City, Certificate Number: 12208, Stanley Modra.
  New York, New York, : Certificate Number: 25178, Tadensz Modrakowski; Ancestry, ancestry.com.
• 1910 Federal Census, New York State, population schedule, Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York, ED Enumeration District: 0566, Page: 5B, , Stanley R Modrakowski.
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• Ancestry, Maria Winsaeskij.
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• 1910 Federal Census, Connecticut, population schedule, Hartford Ward 8, Hartford, Connecticut, enumeration district (ED) Enumeration District: 0192, Page: 21B, Mary Winalski; digital images,  (online : accessed 4 September 2019); Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910.
• Connecticut, Death Records, database MARY WINALSKI 1911-09-19 HARTFORD.
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• Connecticut, Death Records, database ZYGMUND WINIALSKI 1921-08-06 BURLINGTON.
• Find a Grave, Zygmunt Winialski.
• Joseph Francis Winialski, Ancestry.com, Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: RG 21; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.
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• “FamilySearch Passenger Lists,” database, FamilySearch (FamilySearch.com: accessed 1 September 2019), Boleslawa Struzynska; citing Passenger Lists.
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• Connecticut, Death Records, database GUSTA WINIALSKI 1959-09-14 HARTFORD.