Thank you so much for your reply. So, you're saying the "s~ow" ( is pronounced like "shof" instead of an "shov" sound? I thought that the W in Polish was pronounced like a V. But, I guess there really isn't much difference in sounding an F or a V.

I have a donated land certificate which I am to believe is an actual signature of the individual I'm researching. He wrote it Mropowsky or z. The "p" is the symbol (?) for the double S, I am assuming. But, I was just trying to maybe come up with the S~ as another option for the correct spelling. This gentlemen came to US from Poland before 1860

I've referred to Fred Hoffman's Polish Surnames book and can't find any names to seems to fit the name I'm looking for. I've hit a brick wall in tracing him before 1860.

Again, thanks.

Sue