Hidden In Plain Sight

Franciszek and Anna

My father’s parents, Frank and Anna Slabik, married in 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They lived in the section of the city called Nicetown. It was a neighborhood heavily populated with Polish immigrants and their families. At that time, Philadelphia was the third largest city in the United States.

Since I knew little about these grandparents, I looked to the U.S. Federal Census records to find out more about them. I started with 1920. Some questions asked were, “When did you immigrate to U.S.?” and “Are you a naturalized citizen?” The answers would be important to my research. I was also interested in whether they could read and write since English was not their native language. Filling out the search form on Ancestry, I was ready to push ENTER to unlock the answers. No information found was the response. What!? Where are they? I tried various spellings of the surname…no luck! Deciding to move on to 1930, I was certain I would find them. Once again, my heart sank when no information was found. I tried different strategies to crack the code…once again, I was on a mission. Months went by with no results.

As a member of Ancestry, I had access to webinar broadcasts. One of the presenters was Crista Cowan who is a topnotch genealogist and teacher. I viewed her presentation on searching census records. Her suggestion for not locating a family was to enter on the search form just the first names of the family members, not their surname. Could this really work? This is Philadelphia. How many hits will I be checking until I find them…if I find them. Submitting and entering the information, I pushed ENTER. There they were! I could not believe it. Frank, Anna, Emily, and Stanley Slobick…as opposed to the spelling Slabik…my grandparents, aunt, and uncle. Crista’s suggestion worked, and I was thrilled.

Next, I tried Crista’s tip for the 1930 Census. My father had been born in 1924 so he would be in the listing. Once again, her tip worked. This time, their surname of Slabik was spelled Slavik. My dad Edward was there at the age of 5 years old. I also discovered that they owned no radio set, could speak and write English, married at the ages of 28 and 20. Neither grandparent was a naturalized citizen.

A couple of years later, the 1940 Census was released. One had to wait for each state to have their records digitized so I waited patiently for Pennsylvania to appear. This time, I found my Slabik family right away…their surname was finally recorded with the correct spelling…alleluia!

Genealogy lessons learned: Be patient…seek help…be persistent.

The Journey Begins…

Finding my roots is a continuing work in progress that requires patience and planning, research and revision, study and steadfastness. In continuing my quest to find my families’ stories, I have come to a fork in the road of that journey. Should I take the turn in the road that leads to creating a journal? Journaling would give me the freedom to tell stories in no particular order…the freedom to share…the freedom to question.

Thank you for joining me. Questions and comments are welcome at any time. May I encourage you to begin your own blog to share your family stories.

52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks:

Following along with Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors, this third week enjoys the theme of “longevity”. What information for my tree took the longest time in locating? What puzzle piece was missing and needed to be found?

When I first started the search for my father’s family, I had little clues…just family facts related by my aunt. My grandparents had emigrated from Poland at the beginning of the 20th Century. Their names were Frank Slabik and Anna Mroz. They did not reach Ellis Island together; in fact, at that time they did not even know each other. In combing through Ellis Island records, I found my grandmother…or so I thought. Where was my grandfather Frank listed on these ship manifests? I searched for many, many months. Could his records be missing? One Sunday morning as I sat at the computer once again, I told myself, “Today I am finding my grandfather!” I understood that he had come to America in 1912. I read the entries slowly and deliberately. Then, I came upon a name that made me stop and wonder…Franciszek Stabik. Yes, this Franciszek was from the same region of Poland as my grandfather…same possible age. Suddenly, I realized that his surname was written in Polish with the second letter as the letter L with a line diagonally across the top part of the letter. The recorder for the manifest listing had written it like our letter T. Also, Frank’s first name was written as Franciszek, the Polish name for Francis/Frank. There he was…found at last!