WHAT'S THE REAL NAME???

 I started my genealogical research over 40 years ago. I started on a good path - I took a class through community ed and learned the basics. The first lesson you learn is to BEGIN WITH YOURSELF AND WORK BACK, and that’s what I did.

 My mother’s maiden name is Dixie Joy Butzek (and yes, we have southern roots). Her father was Anton or Anthony Butzek. His father was Albert Butzek. I knew my great-grandparents but only had vague memories of them. They were called something like JaJa and Bousha, which I was told was Polish for grandma and grandpa. I remember that when we visited my Uncle Rudy, they would be sitting together on the couch — watching and taking everything in but not speaking. I dug into researching my great-grandfather Albert Butzek. Except he wasn’t my great-grandfather. 

The name Butzek can be spelled in various ways. My cousin spells it Buczek, but his father spells it Butzek. After several years of finding very little, I asked my grandmother, who had been married to Anthony, what she knew about Albert and the family. She said something that shocked me. “Well, you know that Albert isn’t Anthony’s real father, right?” DUH!! NO, I DIDN’T. I had never heard the story (we weren’t very close to that side of the family since my grandfather had died in 1943). I had been chasing the wrong family all those years.

 It turns out that my great-grandmother had a first husband, and he was my grandfather’s father. His last name was Martinek - or maybe it was Marcinek. There are many stories about this whole thing, but no one had thought to mention them to me. Everyone assumed I knew. And this was the second lesson I learned – NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. 

My great-grandfather, Anton Martinek, came to the United States in 1909. He and my great-grandmother had married about 1903. It appears it was his second marriage because he had an older son - Casimir. My great-grandmother, grandfather, and a couple of siblings came over shortly after my great-grandfather in 1909. The story was that my great-grandfather had a temper, got into a fight, and came to the U.S. one step ahead of the law. I have no idea if any part of that story was true. But in the 1910 census, the family is all listed under the name Menson. It’s a bit unclear why they used that name. Perhaps the enumerator didn’t understand them, or maybe they thought using a fake name was a good idea. Living with the family is Albert Butcher - who I believe was Albert Butzek. Albert had come over on the same ship as Anton Martinek. 

By 1912, the marriage was totally on the rocks, and Marie Martinek, my great-grandmother, sought a divorce from Anton Martinek because he was a “habitual drunkard.” “He was wholly unfit to have the care and custody of said children.” She noted that the defendant had “struck, beat, slapped and mistreated” her and “threatened to shoot” her. So Anton did have a temper, and it makes the original story of him fleeing the law not so far-fetched. The divorce was granted. 

In June 1913, Albert Bucsek and Mary Martinek married in Vermilion County, Illinois. Marie was only 28 years old. She already had five children and, in August, gave birth to a sixth. After the divorce, the five Martinek children started using the Butzek name almost immediately. They were always known by that last name. When Anthony Butzek married my grandmother Stella Edwards in 1931, he used the last name Butzek. My mother and her brother have the last name Butzek on their birth certificates. There’s no indication that Albert Butzek, their stepfather, ever officially adopted the children. In 1936, when Anthony completed his social security application, he used the last name of Butzek. 

In 1943, my grandfather completed his naturalization process. He applied as Anton Marcinek. He listed his wife as Stella Mae Marcinek, and his children as Dixie Joy Marcinek and Anthony Marcinek Jr. He noted that he had arrived under the name of Anton Martinek. As part of the court proceedings, he officially changed his name to Anthony Butzek. This name change is noted on the back of his naturalization certificate. It says, “Name changed by decree of Court from Anton Marcinek, as a part of the Naturalization.” 

I am left with a mystery. What was the real name? Martinek or Marcinek? Why was it Martinek on the passenger list and divorce record but Marcinek in Anthony’s naturalization record? This complicates research for that family. My grandfather, Anthony, died a month after completing his naturalization. My great-grandfather Anton Martinek/Marcinek seems to have disappeared after the divorce; what happened to him is unclear. It’s one of the most confusing name changes I’ve encountered in all my research. But the third lesson I learned early on was NEVER GIVE UP! 

ADDED NOTE: To confuse things further, my maiden name is Martin – which apparently used to be Martinek.