Information on my great-grandfather Felix Tomaszewski?

Question

The only information I currently have on him is his name from my grandfather's baptism certificate from St Stanislaus, Humbold St, Brooklyn NY. My grandfather, Felix Boleslaus Tomaszewski was born on 24 November 1915 to Felix Tomaszewski and Emiely (Amelia) Jarusinski. Amelia married another man on 2 June 1918 at St Stanislaus, Brooklyn NY so I assume that Felix either died, divorced if they were married or moved somewhere else. There were rumours that Felix moved to somewhere in Pennsylvania.

I'm not sure if Amelia or Felix were ever married. St Stanislaus has said they don't have a record of their marriage between 1896 to 1925.

I did find a Felix Tomaszewski who arrived from Russia, Pleck Ogles on June 16, 1900 aged 21 years on the Ellis Island site but I'm not sure if it is my great-grandfather.

Thanking you in advance.

Answer 1

I think you're on the right track, but one record short of an answer. If Amelia married another man at a Catholic church in 1918, they're not divorced and she's not a bigamist. What you'll want to do is contact the parish for a copy of the sacramental register of the second marriage. Ask them if there is a notation on the record that she was the "widow of..." or "vidua". That tells you definitively that he's dead. If there was an annulment (highly unlikely in NYC in an immigrant family in that era), then that will be noted, too. But given the costs involved in annulling a marriage back then, it's extraordinarily unlikely. More likely is that Felix Sr died in WWI or in an accident.

The second thing for you to check is if Amelia ever filed for citizenship. If she did, then the Declaration of Intent would give you full details on every marriage she had as of the date of the application. It should tell you more info on Felix, when they were married, when he died, etc. You can get that record from the National Archives. http://www.archives.gov

Answer 2

from ancestry.com

A Felix Tomaszewski (age 19) is listed in the 1910 U.S. Census as residing in Pennsylvania.  He is a "catcher at rollo?-steel mill" in Pittsburgh, Alleghany County. According to this information, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1906.

(See if any of the names below are familiar to you. Felix is listed as the brother-in-law of John STANKIEWICZ and Peter TOMASZEWSKI is listed as the cousin of John STANKIEWICZ)

John Stankiewicz 30  

Mary Stankiewicz 30  

Ladislaus Stankiewicz 6  

Anthony Stankiewicz 4  

Zygmunt Stankiewicz 1/12  

Sofia Stankiewicz 2  

Peter Tomaszewski 39  

Felix Tomaszewski 19

I did find a Felix TOMASZEWSKI (age 16 - from Plock)who arrived in Philadelphia in Nov. of 1905 and had a sister named Kazmira in Pittsburgh.  Does that ring a bell?

I noticed in researching your question that your ggrandfather's middle name can be spelled "Boleslaw" and "Bolislov", too.  So, you might want to be open to alternate spellings.  Also, I spotted the surname JARUSINSKI being spelled "YARYSINSKI".