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A Gawel Up For Grabs...

A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Posted: 10 Sep 2001 8:50PM GMT
Classification: Census
Surnames: Gawel, Gavel
In going through some notes I found a John and Catherine Gawel, son Stanislaw (age 5-20), son Frank (age 5 and under) and daughter Helena (age 5 and under) listed in the 1895 New Jersey census for the town of Sayreville. My Gawels came to town around 1900 and these were gone by then I believe. I looked for a Frank Gavel born 1889-1890 in the SSDI and found one in Cleveland, Ohio. In my research I have found that kinfolk tended to go to places where other relatives lived. First generation immigrant Gawels abound in NJ, PA, Chicago, Buffalo, all over CT, MD, DE, and NH. My father's Godfather, Louis Szafarz, also moved to Cleveland. I know that searching by Gavel vice Gawel can produce interesting results, but it might be worth it if you have a first name. Anyway this one doesn't seem to have come from Widelka (near Reszcow) but a lot of Sayreville Poles came from Lipnica Murowano which is near Gawlow (Gawel's Town) both of which are near Krakow (King Krak's Town).

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Patricia Gavel (View posts)
Posted: 13 Feb 2003 3:44AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gavel, Sveda, Karaffa, Hovanna, Tankowski
Haven't talked to you in a while. Glad you have plenty of Gavels to give out. Would like to give away some myself. Was wondering where Widelka is located. Have found my Gawel's in Kroscienko, Poland around 1850 and then moved to Lesnica, Slovakia (changed to Gavel in the move) They listed immigrating from Lukavicz, Hungary. Lived in the US Pittsburgh,PA ; Baltimore, MD; Ohio. We will connect yet. GA peach, Patricia

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

John Gavel (View posts)
Posted: 13 Feb 2003 2:43PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gawel
Naturally I couldn't find Kroscienko on the map but based on the index it should be near Rzescow. Widleka is just north of Rzescow in county Kolbuszawa near the town of that name.

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Patricia Gavel (View posts)
Posted: 13 Feb 2003 11:59PM GMT
Classification: Query
I see Rzeszow. Kroscienko is to the left of there, on the river boarder under Now Sacz. I am now looking for a city Kocur? or something close to that. This is my next city to search where they moved from around 1840. Have you found your gavel's anywhere else in Poland? Patricia

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

John Gavel (View posts)
Posted: 14 Feb 2003 3:41AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gawel
There are Gawels found pretty much from the southwest to the southeast but mine are so far all just north of Rzescow except for Marcin who went off to war with the Soviet Polish Army, married a Ukranian widow with a daughter and settled near Dresden, then East Germany, after the war. He gifted the farm to his 20-some year younger brother and was lost touch with after 1947 or so.

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Posted: 2 Jun 2003 2:14PM GMT
Classification: Query
Couldn't help but join this conversation regarding Gawels Up for Grabs.

Hoping you have come across Blaze Gawel (b - 1860 (?), d - 1945) Blaze resided in Chicago, Illinois. He married Aniela Pachorek (b - 1865?; d -1933) Some of their children are:
Catherine, Antoinette, Anna, Mary, Frank, John.

I am trying to find Blaze's place of birth and his parents.

Let me know if you have stumbled across him. Thanks.

Anne

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Posted: 2 Jun 2003 9:43PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gawel
Last Name First Name Middle Name Sex/Race Age Cert # Death
Date County City Date Filed
GAWEL ANIELA F/W UNK 6033553 1933-12-21 COOK CHICAGO 33-12-22
GAWEL ANTONINA F/W UNK 5170060 1925-03-20 COOK CHICAGO HEIGHTS 25-03-23
GAWEL BARBARA F/W UNK 0016564 1940-06-02 COOK CHICAGO - -
GAWEL BLAKE M/W UNK 0023795 1945-08-21 COOK CHICAGO - -
GAWEL BLAZEJ M/W UNK 0023795 1945-08-21 COOK CHICAGO - -
GAWEL BLAZEJ M/W UNK 0026472 1948-09-14 COOK CHICAGO - -
I'd try for his death certificate first. If you go to:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcook/research.htm#Obituari
it will take you to all kinds of info including how to get vital records.
Dziennik Chicagoski Death Notice Index 1930-1971: Results Surname Given name Record Type Notes Date of Notice
Gawel Blazej d 9/14/1948 15 Sep 1948
www.pgsa.org also has lots of useful info, sorry but the above appears to be the wrong Blazej. But this may help:
Marriage Index for Polish Parishes in Chicago through 1915: Results Name Spouse Date of Marriage Parish Volume Page Film Item
Gawel, Anna Piechocinski, Michael 10-15-1906 St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church 2 82 1763432 1-5
Gawel, Anna Pawelek, Peter 1-29-1913 St. Michael Church 2 59 1579565 7
Gawel, Antonina Sochacki, Joseph 2-25-1908 St. Michael Church 1 225 1579565 6
Gawel, Antonina Dziczkowski, Julius 1-26-1913 St. Hedwig Church 2 85 1674147 2
Gawel, Blaze Zmuda, Veronica 6-17-1913 Holy Trinity Church 4 27 1703800 6
Gawel, Frank Sobarnia, Victoria 11-17-1913 Holy Innocents Church 2 80 1704698 1
Gawel, Frank Pasowicz, Valerie 7-16-1906 St. John Cantius Church 2 438 1704114 5
Gawel, John Nowak, Helen 6-2-1915 St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church 3 54 1763433 2
Also the wrong Blazej again but if you can match a bride's maiden name you can probably locate one of Blazej and Aniela's children's marriage records which often gave where the parents came from. The purpose of Banns was to ensure that too closely related people didn't marry so for immigrants knowing what village your people came from was important as church records of birth couldn't be checked so knowing that at least you came from a different part of Poland was comforting. I had an uncle and aunt who were second cousins but they never knew it. Blazej should show up in the 1930 census index but I can't find him - Gawel must be misspelled or misread. Your Blazej came to the US in 1895 but his Ellis Island arrival record brings up a wrong page, but Aniela's 1911 record did. It shows that Blazej lived at 8870 Houston Ave, the family came from Palikowka, Austria. Go to www.mapquest.com for maps and www.yahoo.com yellow pages to find church addresses. Aniela was accompanied by Maria 11, Franz 9 and Jan 4. Obviously Blazej went back and forth a couple of times. If you get lost and need a hand finding your way through the internet maze, email me. One last, your Blazej had an insurance policy with PRCUA (see the PGSA site for info) but the file is not accessable. Maybe you can find another relative, sometimes they have the application which has a lot of info, at the least the file has a death certificate.

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Anne Mikolajczak (View posts)
Posted: 2 Aug 2003 4:35AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gawel, Pachorek
Thanks so much for all the information you provided. I have just received Blazej Gawel's application for citizenship. It says he served in the "Polish Army". Since there was no polish army, I am assuming he served in the Austrian Army. I checked a few web sites and noted that I need a regimen number in order to find specific information through his army records but I have no idea how to find the regimen #.

Can you give my any leads as to how to proceed?

And thanks again for all the time and effort you put forth in providing the Gawel information. I really appreciate your help.

Anne

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

John Gavel (View posts)
Posted: 2 Aug 2003 5:10AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gawel
Ann, During WWI Poles served in four Armies; Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian and Haller's or the Polish Army In France which was recruited from Polish immigrants to the US. You should have a couple of things I don't have information-wise with Blazej's naturalization papers. If he came to the US before 1914 he would probably have served in Haller's Army (see the PGSA website for more info/data) - I checked but didn't find him there but I could have missed him. If he came after 1918 he could have served in the Polish Army (they fought a major war with Russia in 1920) but since you said that "there was no Poland then" maybe he served before WWI in the Austrian/German/Russian army during peacetime. But unlike WWI when Polish regiments were grouped together into Legions, the Polish regiments just came from predominently Polish areas and serving in one wouldn't have been serving in a Polish Army. To sort out this confusion can you state what his papers say about when he came to the US, when he applied for citizenship, when it was granted, where they say he came from and what monarch he foreswore allegience to?

Re: A Gawel Up For Grabs...

Anne Mikolajczak (View posts)
Posted: 3 Aug 2003 3:20AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi John, I don't have Blazej's naturalization papers yet. I do have his Alien Registration Form. According to the form he was born July 13, 1861 in Palikowka, Poland. He entered New York on the SS Lahn on May 16th 1895. He responded to question regarding ever served in military by saying "yes" Infantry from 1882 -1885. He first applied for citizenship in 1923 and states that the papers were lost. He completed another Alien Registration Form in November, 1940.

The form also indicates that he was a member of the Polish National Alliance from 1916 at least until the date he re-submitted the Alien Registration in 1940. His name on the Alien Registration Form is listed as Blazej Albert Gawel.

Hope you can figure something out with this information. As you can tell, I have hit a dead end. Thanks again for taking the time to do this.

Anne
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