Can someone help trace my Eastern European ancestors?

Question

My mother's great-grandparents moved from somewhere in Poland to Elmira, NY in the late nineteenth century. I believe they're from the south because their country of birth was listed as Austria. Their surnames include Kalec, Drabinski, Lis, Jankowski, Blajszcak, and Krolak. Although it's always impossible and fruitless to tell simply by facial features, some of my relatives don't exhibit stereotypical Polish features. They're darker with, well, a certain je ne sais quoi facial structure. Could it possible my ancestors intermarried with different populations or are descended from other areas of Europe?

Answer 1

Ship manifests may give you the town of origin and that would let you know which area of Poland they would be from.

Also, I would pose your question at both of the groups' below, as they are more specific to the country/area you are researching and have lots of people familiar w/ resources related to Polish genealogy.

For folks with tons of knowledge go to ----

(close to 650 people researching their Polish roots) Polish Genius Yahoo! Group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/polish_gen...

(Over 1,000 people researching their Polish roots) If they came from southeastern Poland or portions of Ukraine, go to the Galica -Poland-Ukraine Yahoo!Group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Galicia_Po...

People at both of those locations can help walk you through the process, how to locate church records, etc.

As far as facial features, etc.  There are many conversations at both groups above with regard to Lemko and Ruthenians living in Poland.  I am sure there are more groups, as well.

Answer 2

http://pilot.familysearch.org   It is FREE

Answer 3

We have one lady who has excellent skills in European research. I'd say overall that, of course, it always is possible (likely) that intermarriages will include other locations.

Two basic things that I can offer you to help. BE EXPLICIT on who you are looking for, instead of searching by surnames. I am sure there are numerous Jankowskis. Doing direct searching in the census, etc will probably help find a date of immigration, AND for some, even the ship manifest to pin down their town of origin.

The other tip.. use all sources HERE in the states, ie naturalization, census, death certificates, before attempting overseas. Using more recent ("local") records will be the key to the origin. You need towns. This is because Poland (as a country) did not exist for many years, and was partitioned to neighboring countries. So.. it may have been technically Austria in 1880.. but part of what is TODAY Poland.

Don't limit your search to one question, keep working with us, and breaking it down to bite sized pieces. If you don't have your email open, that's another good thing to do. Questions "close" in a week or so here, but someone can see a question 5 months down the road (using google) and you want to be sure they can reach you.