Four Brothers? Or Not?

ANTON NABOROWSKI, the first of my son's Naborowski line to come to the U.S., was born about 1868 in Włocławek (alternately known as Russia or Poland depending upon the year.) Włocławek is a town in central Poland, on the Vistula River. Anton (or Anthony) lived in Chicago selling groceries and owning a dry goods/tailor shop. According to his grandson John G. Naborowski, Anton "had a sort of dry goods and tailor shop. It was located at about 7004 Higgins Road. I remember he had candy and toys in a showcase. We used to like to go there to get candy and toys."

Anthony died 11 October 1939 in Chicago. On his death certificate he is listed as about 71 years old, born in Włocławek. His profession was listed as a tailor, he was widowed and his parents were unknown. The information came from his son Gorgonicz Naborowski. 

This was the information I knew when I started my research.

Further digging provided the following information:

1. Anthony does not appear to be in the 1900 or 1910 census.
2. The 1920 census states that Anton Naborouska, aged 54 arrived in the U.S. in 1900 and that paperwork for his naturalization had been filed. He is living with his wife Mary, aged 55, son John, aged 27, son Gorgonza, aged 19, daughter Mary, aged 16 and a grandson, Charles Moeller, aged 5. He is a Grocery Salesman.
3. I can find no record of Anton in the 1930 census. 
4. Anton's wife Mary dies in 1932. They are living at 6052 Giddings. 
5. In 1939 when Anton dies he is listed as living at 5541 N. Natchez Ave. 
6. Anton is buried in St. Adalbert's Cemetery in Niles Illinois.

Initial research failed to find either a passenger/arrival record or a naturalization record. 

As I was researching, I found another Naborowski family in Chicago. They were on the south side whereas "my" Naborowski family were strictly north/west siders. Initially I could find no connection but didn't discount them as possible relations as Naborowski is not a very common name.

In reading additional biographical information provided by John G. Naborowski my late father-in-law, he referenced two cousins from his dad's family - Stanley and John. The only Stanley and John I can find are two sons of Konstantyn Naborowski, the southsider. 

That got me looking further into that family.  

Konstanty or Konstantyn's death certificate, dated 5 May 1943, states he was born in Roclawek Poland and he was about 70.  It lists his parents as John Naborowski, born Wroclawek Poland and Anna Sinko, B. Budapest Austria. The informant was his son Walter. Unfortunately Anna Senko is the name of Konstantyn's wife and so it is apparent that Walter was confused.  It is unclear as to whether John is Konstanty's father's name but it was obvious that Konstanty was from the same town in Poland as Anton.

Konstantyn's oldest son Stanley was listed as being born in 1899 in Canada. That sent me into Canadian records where I found an Oath of Residence, made by Konstantyne Naborowski, formerly of Wloclawek, Russia, now residing in Montreal Canada. This was dated June 1896. And it appears as though Konstantyne became a naturalized Canadian citizen at that time.

The 1910 census which has Konstantyn living in Chicago states that he came to the US in 1900 and his next child, Walter Naborowski, was in fact born in Chicago in 1903. I also uncovered a passenger list for an Adam Naborowski, dated 10 August 1904, which stated that Adam was going to Konstanty Naborowski's residence at 1842 W. 48th Street in Chicago. 

Konstantyn most likely married Anna Senko in Canada about 1899. He was eventually naturalized in the U.S. in 1913 without any mention of his Canadian residency.

Looking into Canadian Passenger lists I uncovered this record......

27 June 1893, the ship Polaria arrived in Montreal, Quebec. On the manifest was the following all listed together:

Anton Naborowsky, aged 26, farmer, Married. Going to Montreal 

Adam Naborowsky, aged 25, laborer, single, Going to Montreal

Jan Naborowsky, aged 18, laborer, single, going to Montreal

Konstant Naborowsky, aged 30 laborer, single, going to Montreal.

It was noted that Belgians and German Poles boarded in Antwerp on 14 June 1893. There was no further information as to where they came from or their relationship. But being listed on the same manifest all together would indicate a relationship of some sort. Other information shows that Adam and Konstant were brothers so it's not a stretch to surmise that all four might be brothers.

Adam Naborowski appears to have moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he is listed in 1908-1915 City directories as a tailor (same occupation as Anton). On his passenger list in 1904 he is listed as aged 35, married and a taylor. Besides the other info about going to his brother Konstanty as noted above, it also stated that he had been in the U.S. previously and then listed 1893/1894 Montreal Canada - another confirmation that this Adam is the same as listed in the above 1893 passenger list. His last residence was listed as Włocławek. Why did he end up in Milwaukee?

Adam doesn't seem to appear on census records and it is unclear what happened to him but he appears to have died in Chicago in 1949. A death certificate, which I believe belongs to Adam, is full of unknowns. He is listed as about 80, B in Poland and the informant was from Hospital Records. He is buried in Oak Forest which most likely means he died in the Oak Forest Hospital which was a pauper's hospital at the time. There's no record of his wife, parents, or any real information.

So what of the 4th person on the passenger list - Jan Naborowski, aged 18. He remains a mystery. There is a marriage record in Ontario Canada, dated 1896 for a John Naboroski. He is listed as being born about 1874 in Polonia and his parents are listed as Joseph and Martha Naboroski. His wife was listed as Clara Sckhek. Is this the same person? More research needs to be done.

Of the 4 people listed on the Polaria in 1893, Adam and Konstant are known brothers. Jan and Anton most likely are related to Adam and Konstant but it is still unclear as to whether or not they were for brothers. More research needs to be done - specifically in Włocławek to uncover birth or church records. 

MATHIAS HOTLE

MATHIAS HOTLE was born in Germany, most likely in Baden Germany (as noted in 1860, 1870 and 1880 census)  between 1807 and 1815. Most records give his birth date as somewhere between 1811-1815 however his death certificate lists his birth date as 1807. Some sources list his father as John but I have found no confirmation of that and none of his children were given that name.

Mathias' arrival date into the United States is unknown. He was married around 1835 probably in Washington County, Pennsylvania to AMELIA COX, daughter of Zachariah Cox and Emaline Fry. so he obviously arrived before that time. Did he come over on his own or did he come with family? There is a Saml  Hotle in Bucks County PA in 1782 and a couple of other Hotle's in New York and Georgia. But Hotle, spelled HOTLE is a relatively uncommon name. And as of today's date, there are no DNA matches on the HOTLE name.  More research needs to be done.

Shortly after the birth of his first son Zachariah (named after his father-in-law), Mathias and his wife Amelia started their move westward. In 1840 they were in Harrison Ohio according to some sources for the birth of son Henry. It is unclear as to whether that refers to a town called Harrison or the county of Harrison but they didn't remain there long. If this location is valid, I suspect it may be the county as it is one county away from Pennsylvania. His daughter Rebecca was supposedly born in Pennsylvania in 1844 so they may have moved back and forth. The family moved to Iowa by about 1846.

The first official record of Mathias Hotle and family in Iowa was the 1848 birth of son Peter, born in Keokuk County.  They remained in Keokuk for a few years but were in Washington County by 1851. The family remained in Washington County until around 1860 when they moved back to Keokuk County. Mathias remained in Keokuk County the remainder of his life.

It is unknown what lead to the moves back and forth between Washington County and Keokuk County. They border each other and the move, in actuality would have been a move of about 15 miles maximum.

Most records indicate that Mathias was a farmer. In 1860 his land was valued at $2500 and in 1880 it was valued at $4500. More research needs to be done on his land ownership. There is also an 1864 tax assessment that appears to list Mathias as a hotel keeper. There is no other information that leads me to believe that this is true or if true, that it was an occupation that he continued with.  (Another possibility is that there was confusion with his name Hotle/Hotel when noting his occupation.)

Mathias and his wife Amelia had 7 children that are known. Their children are not spaced out in the average two year time span and in some cases there is as much as 6 or 7 years between children so it is possible that there were more children that were born and died young.

1. Zachariah, born 1838 in Pennsylvania, married to Julie Smith in Iowa in 1862 and moved to Sonoma California between 1870 and 1872. He raised his family of four children in California and died there in 1920. 
2. Henry, born in 1840 in Ohio, married to Mary Ann Shockley in Iowa to 1865 after having served in the Civil War as a Corporal in Company F of the 8th Iowa Regiment. He died in 1896 in Keokuk County, Iowa having fathered 10 children.
3. Rebecca Jane was born in 1844, probably in Pennsylvania. She married Edwin Singmaster in 1864 in Keokuk County and she and her husband eventually ended up in Sonoma California near her brother Zachariah. Rebecca had 4 children and died at the young age of 47. 
4. Peter was born in 1848 in Keokuk County Iowa, the first of the children to be born in Iowa.  He married Elizabeth Evans in 1872 in Des Moines after living in Henderson County Illinois for a short time. He died in 1889 in Kansas at the age of 41 leaving behind a 14 year old and a 3 year old.
5. Martha was born in 1850 in Keokuk County Iowa and married Thomas Beery in 1867 at the young age of 17. She had two children before dying in Henry County in 1880 at the age of 30.
6. Jacob Hotle (See future blog for more information) was born in 1857 in Washington County Iowa, married Ida Belle Reighard in 1880, had 9 children and died at the age of 83 in Washington County.
7. George W.  was born sometime between 1860 and 1862 in Keokuk County Iowa. He died at the age of 27 having never married.

Mathias lived an uneventful life. He doesn't show up in newspaper articles or in other records. He just quietly worked and raised his family and lived the normal life of an Iowa farmer. Mathias Hotle died in 1881 in Keokuk County Iowa at the age of 74. He is supposedly buried in the Shockley Cemetery but there isn't a photo of his tombstone to be found. His wife followed him in death in 1884. 

More research needs to be done to uncover the origins of Mathias and his time in Pennsylvania. If you are related to Mathias, please contact me as I have source information for the above. 

Tale of Two Sisters (and a Brother too.)

ELIZABETH EDWARDS was the daughter of HUGH EDWARDS and his wife HANNAH. Her actual birth date is unknown but we do know that on 5 June 1814 she married a THOMAS TRAVIS in Logan County, Kentucky.

Hugh and Hannah also had a son named HUGH H. EDWARDS born sometime between 1795-1804. Hugh H. married Susanna Travis who was the daughter of THOMAS TRAVIS and BARBARA GREEN. Thomas and Barbara were also the parents of the Thomas Travis who married Elizabeth Edwards.

Family intermarriages of this type are definitely not unusual within my family, especially on the frontier.

On 25 April 1818, Elizabeth Travis appears in the Equity Court in Logan County Kentucky. There she states that she married Thomas Travis on 5 June 1814. (That's the only record I currently find of the marriage.) Viewing the abstract of this case provides some interesting reading and based on these abstracted details, my next step will be to get a hold of the entire transcript of this court case.

Elizabeth states that in March, Thomas Travis deserted her and left her with two children to support. He apparently sold all his property and left the Commonwealth of Kentucky with another woman - one Margaret Edwards. And she requests a divorce.

In April 1820, Hugh Edwards (Elizabeth's father) was deposed in Simpson County Kentucky. He stated that Elizabeth Travis was his daughter and that in March 1818, Thomas Travis went off with one of his other daughters, Margaret Edwards, who was about 17 years of age.  He states that he has "understood and believes that Thomas has ever since lived in adultery with Margaret Edwards."

There are two other depositions  - by John Edwards and Jacob Rowland, that state the same thing - it was obviously common knowledge in both Logan and Simpson Counties.

I can't help but wonder how hard it must have been for Hugh Edwards to state that this man, Thomas Travis, ran off with his 17 year old daughter, leaving his other daughter and two grandchildren to fend for themselves. And I can't help but wonder what it was about Thomas Travis that got Margaret to run away with him leaving behind her family.

The mystery here deepens. For approximately 6 weeks in a row, from February 15 through March 21, 1820,  Elizabeth Edwards Travis advertises the following in the Russellville Kentucky Weekly Messenger.

Note the interesting part of this advertisement. She mentions BOTH Thomas Travis and Hugh Edwards, jun. as the defendants. The Equity Court Records do not mention Hugh Edwards Jr. except to state that on 25 April 1820 when his father Hugh gave his deposition, that he was present. Perhaps the actual transcriptions will reveal why her brother was also listed as a defendant - did he perhaps aide his other sister Margaret in her "elopement" with his brother-in-law Thomas Travis?

Records do not state if a divorce was granted. Elizabeth Edwards Travis at this time, seems to disappear. It is possible she remarried - there are a couple of possibilities. She does not seem to show up on future census records. There's no indication of the names of her two children or what actually became of them. More searching needs to be done.

As for Thomas and Margaret, they seem to have fared much better. No marriage record has been found with cursory checking from Kentucky to Mississippi. I assume they were married at some point - but it is possible they lived together without having been married.

In 1830, Thomas Travis is in Amite County Mississippi. The record is listed as 1 white male 30-39 (Thomas), 1 white female 20-29 (Margaret) and 1 white female 5-9 and 1 white female 10-14.  They also list two slaves. It is unclear as to who the young children are. Do they belong to Thomas and Margaret? I believe they are Parmey Travis who was born in 1822 in Amite County and possibly a sister.

In 1850 Thomas and Margaret are living in Amite County Mississippi as Thomas Travis and Margaret Travis living with a Melinda Brown who is the same age as Margaret Travis.

Thomas supposedly dies in 1853. In 1860, Margaret Travis is still living in the Amite Mississippi as noted on the census. Margaret is listed as a Planter with Real Estate worth $3000 and a personal estate of $13,000. Linna Brown (the same person as the Melinda Brown from the 1850 census?) and a Polly Brown are listed in the household - and listed as Paupers. There are three Wilson children and two Rabum's also listed as paupers. Margaret was obviously financially well off in the years right before the war.

For the moment the trail ends there but I am left with a lot of questions. What happened to Elizabeth Edwards Travis and her two children? Who are the children listed in the census? Who is Melinda/Linna Brown and is there a relationship to the Travis family? Why are there Wilson and Rabum's living with the Margaret Travis in 1860 and what is their relationship to Margaret?  And what happened to the estate of Margaret Travis during the Civil War?

As usual in research, one question opens up a whole list of other questions just waiting to be answered!!

The Big Genealogy Do-Over

Thomas MacEntee sure knows how to get the genealogy community buzzing. His Genealogy Do-Over has been the main topic of everyone's conversation on Facebook for past couple of weeks. And it's a good thing. It's got people thinking about how they are researching, how they are citing sources, how they are organizing their data, how they are labeling their data and all the things that often times get left by the wayside when you are heads-down researching.

 For me, the thought of a total Do-Over seemed overwhelming. I'm trying to prep for spending two productive days in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City before FGS in February. And I decided right from the start that the family I wanted to research in Salt Lake City was MY family. For the past few years I have been concentrating on everyone else's family and my genealogy has been shoved into folders and sadly neglected.

So in some ways thinking about a Do-Over came at both the right time and the wrong time. What to do?? I decided I would do a Modified Do-Over - or as some people are calling it, a Go-Over.

First I had to do a re-set and get myself organized. I started by cleaning out my desk in preparation for setting up my two brand new big monitors. And here's where I have to confess. I am, sadly, a pen hoarder. I had pens in every drawer, in every container and all over the place. I ended up testing every pen I found and threw out tons of non-working pens. But now I have a nicely organized pen drawer. Yes it's a small victory but it's a start right?

Here's a picture of my newly organized pen drawer. (Feel free to laugh here!) Desk organized and new monitors set up, I started on other things.






Here's what I've accomplished in Week One.

• Decided on and wrote down my file-naming convention. For me, keeping it simple was important. I decided on Year Record Type County State FirstName LastName.
• My folders are set up by surname and within each surname I have sub-folders for Cemetery/Obituary Records, Census Records, Military Records, Probate, Vital Records. I will probably add one for Land Records and perhaps photos. So everything for one surname goes into the proper surname folder. 
• I also took advantage of the 50% off sale for Folder Marker and devised a color coded system for my folders. Not sure this is a great help but it looks pretty. 
• Next I went to work on Evernote. I had originally set things up in lots of notebooks but realized I would hit the 250 limit of notebooks sooner rather than later and started switching over to the tagging system and getting rid of most notebooks. This will be an ongoing task to get it cleaned up but I've made a good start.
• I then used Evernote to set up my genealogy goals for 2015. I followed a system proposed by Michael Hyatt, setting up a list of goals and then linking each goal to its own note. Within that note I'll put all the tracking information for that particular goal including the reason for the goal (or what I hope to accomplish), Actions (with checkboxes for each item), Progress and notes. 
• For example, my first goal is to Prepare for SLC trip. 
• My actions at the moment include:
• Review genealogy (duh)
• Build book/film lists (FHL catalog gives you an easy way to do this)
• Review FHL info so I understand layout of library, hours, where things are, etc.
• Print out family trees for each person I'm working on
• I'll add more as I think of them. 
• And I've already accomplished one thing -  I have completed my Simpson Co KY book/film list.
• Base Practices and Guidelines - I've actually written down the naming convention and what each color of folder means. I've started noting anything that I want to be sure I always do the same way. Consistency!
• Genealogy Tools - although I know this is later on - I've started a note where I'm listing my genealogy tools including the software I use, the major websites I use and the genealogy societies I belong too. 

And finally Legacy.... About 6 months ago I made the move from FTM to Legacy. I've been working through my database ever since. It has been my Genealogy Do-Over, starting at the beginning, redoing all the source citations, following the same processes for each person, and checking on what else is out there now. This means that I've also started making lists of non-online resources I will need to check.

I'm still a paper person so I'm putting families in notebooks and working my way from the beginning on. I back things up to Dropbox and to an external drive (occasionally). I have a tree on Ancestry but it is an old tree that is not maintained and eventually I'll replace it with something different.

My biggest challenge is finding the right research log and then using it. I use the To-Do lists in Legacy for things I need to do. But have struggled with a Research Log.

I'm learning SO much from everyone and that to me has been the main benefit of this Do-Over Challenge. So thank you Thomas MacEntee!! You are a genius.