Groble Poland. Tonawanda USA

Posted on 28 lipca, 2018 Updated on 2 listopada, 2018

107 years ago Michał Pasiak set off from the village of Groble in Podkarpacie to New York – he was 26 at the time, and it was February 1911.

I heard about Michał for the first time, about 6 years ago. None of those living knew Michał, but they had heard about a relative who went to America.

Michał was one of five children of Antoni Pasiak and Tekla nee Szeliga.

His father, Antoni Pasiak, has died 7 years earlier. The siblings remained under the protection of their mother and lived in Grobla on a family farm. Unfortunately, I do not have the access to the record books, in which there is a birth record of Michał and many other Pasiak  family members and other residents of the area.

Fortunately, we found data on Pasiak on the State Archives website.

The search engine indicated two people with this name, one of them was Antoni Pasiak

We wrote to Przemyśl AP documenting kinship. After paying the costs, we received copies of the first two inheritance sites.

We learned from them when exactly was Michał Pasiak and his siblings born.

This is how we managed to overcome the next step in the search.

Grabbing the next goal makes me set myself next challenges.

On Michael Ellis Island I have found – a manifesto of Michael who reaches the promised land – America.

From the Ellis Island website, we learned that Michał sailed on Kaiserin Augusta Victoria. He sailed from the port of Hamburg (port of departure Hamburg).

The document scans contain a lot of information:

Michał Pasiak lat (yrs) 26 sex (men) occupation (Lab. Laborious)

Nationality / country-nationality / state Austria

(Grobli / Podkarpacie area was still under Austrian rule at the time)

Race of people-Polish

Place of last residence Austria / Groble

Name and address of the nearest relative (name and place of residence of relatives) -mother Tekla Pasiak -Groble

Final Destination – NY.Oswego travel destination.

On the next page we can read, who paid for the trip

in the case of Michał, it was his brother-in-law

to whom did the traveler travel – to brother-in-law  Antoni Kowal 230 Brit? pp. Oswego N.Y. (Antoni was the husband of the half-sister  of Michał – (a daughter of Antoni and Zofia nee Łach– daughter of Antoni and Zofia (nee Łach) – Franciszka (born 1868)

health condition – good

increase 5 feet / 5 inch

hair color brown / eyes gray

place of birth / Austria /Groble 

That is how descriptions of travelers to the USA in the early 20th century looked like.

The next milestone was overcome – now it is time to trace the traces that Michał left overseas.

The next challenge is waiting. Purpose – there are people who have this surname in the USA.

At the end of last year, I came across the community portal on fb C. Pasiak

 Her profile indicated that she lived in the USA and her ancestors came from Poland at the beginning of the previous century. I have written her a message on December 10, 2015.

I have also sent a letter (I found the address via the search engine)

On January 6, I have received a reply from Caroline.

Since that time, we have exchanged a lot of information about the life of Pasiaks in the USA and Pasiaki from Podkarpacie Wólka Łętowska (the place where C. Pasiak‚s ancestors came from – Ludwik Pasiak) and from nearby Groble, where the ancestors of Michał Pasiak and his siblings came from.

We are still looking for links between these lines – I believe that it will be possible to establish it, as soon, as I have the opportunity to view the record books. Search is the way, process and joy of small successes in pursuit of the ever new goals. The greatest satisfaction for me, a genealogy enthusiast, is the moment when this information is also of interest to other members of the broadly understood by the family.

With support from of C.Pasiak, who had access to a wider amount of information, I have received the list of the Pasiak’s  family from a Census . 

At the same time, it was also possible to find historical information from regional newspapers, where Michał Pasiak and his wife were mentioned.

The newspaper dated back to 1915:

Michał Pasiak died on 19.24.1933 and is buried at the St. Francis cemetary in Tonewanda, New York, USA

Thanks to another search engine, I have managed to find a picture of Michał Pasiak‚s grave

This is where Michał Pasiak, son of Antoni Pasiak (1838 -04.1904) born in Groble in Podkarpacie, and Tekla nee Szeliga, grandson of Wojciech Pasiak, is buried.

Michał Pasiak was a brother  of – Jakub, Aniela, Katarzyna, Kazimierz

Franciszka‚s half-brother (after her husband Kowal) and Marianna ( her husband Trójniak) daughter Antoni and Zofia nee Łach.

As well as the step-brother of Józef Pasiak – son of Rozalia from Jaskóła and Antoni Pasiak.

The next steps, which I decided to take were attempts to find information about Michał‚s descendants. And in this case, C.Pasiak from USA proved to be very helpful.

On the ninth of February this year, I have received email from her with another historical information from newspapers, from the previous century. Information about Michał Pasiak‚s children were posted there.

In „Tonewanda News„ on Wednesday 8 February 1964, information about the death of the son of Michał Pasiak have appeared. 

As reported in the information John J. Pasiak born in Oswego, N.Y. and lived in North Tonawanda for the better part of his life. He was a veteran of the U.S.Army during the Second World War (WWII), during which he was directed to the Pacific region for which he received Purple Heart and 4 bronze stars.

Mr. Pasiak was a retired employee of the Tonawanda Board of Education after 10 years of working there. He was also a member of Stephen Sikorski American Legion Post 1322

He was a widower of Zofia (nee Drelich) Pasiak and brother of Wanda Beniowski. The father of Sally Sobczyk, a grandfather of Julie and Jamie Sobczyk.

John, was the brother of Benijamin Pasiak and Stanley (Helen’s wife), both residing in Tonawanda. He also had two sisters; Lottie Wasilewski from Tonawanda and Mary Janiec from Silver Lake N.Y.

On 24 March, 1982 Tonawanda News provided information about the death of Michał Pasiak‚s daughter-in-law

Zofia Pasiak has died on Sunday 21 March, 1982 at DeGraff Memorial Hospital after a long illness. For several years of her life, Pasiak lived in North Tonawanda and was employed at O-Cel-O Planr of General Milles Corp. for 15 years. She was a member of Pallotine Ladis Aid Society and O.L. C.Rosary Society. She was the grandmother of John Sobczyk

Mrs. Pasiak and her husband, John and daughter Sally (Drelich) Sobczyk from Cheektowaga: two grandchildren Julia and Jamie Sobczyk, two sisters Mrs. Mary J. Lubercki and Mrs. Virginia Toth from Arizona and nice  and nephews.

North Tonawanda – Frank Wasilewski aged 56 from 112 First Ave. has died on Tuesday 2 April, 1968 at De Graff Memorial Hospital after some illness.

He was born in Lackawanna and lived for 52 years. He was employed at the Bell Acrosystems as a mechanic and was also a member of the unions there. He was also a member of the Polish Union of America. Lodge 375 and Dom Polski Club. 

The information about Katharine Tulik nee Baran (her first husband Michael Pasiak) .
Katharine has died on 1 October, 1956 in De Graff Memorial Hospital. Born in Poland, she had lived in North Tonewanda for 30 years. She was a member of the Palatine Father auxiliary. Surviving her were her husband Joseph Tulik; three daughters, Mrs. Frank (lottie) Wasilewski, Mrs. Frank (Lottie) Wasilewski, Mrs,. Louis )Wanda) Janiec, all of North Tonewanda; three sons, Benjamin and John, both of North Tonewanda, and Stanley Pasiak of Niagara Falls: tho brothers, John Baran of North Tonewanda and Andrew Baran in Canada. 

It is almost everything I have managed to establish so far about the fate of the emigration of the family of Michał Pasiak, son of Antoni from Podkarpacie

I hope that thanks to this entry you will be able to add a further piece of history and maybe enrich the entry for old photographs.

author :

Ania B.-M.

my reaserch map click

http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/index.php?l=pl&mode=search&word=Pasiak&operator=and&word2=Groble&binary=1

Polish version click