MACHELSEA-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [MACHELSEA] Charles WAGNER
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 19:22:42 EST

For Cornelia,

You said in your letter than your grandfather was born in Russia/Poland.
Maybe Charles WAGNER is not his real name, and that is why you are having
such a hard time finding him. Do you know if he spoke Polish? Or Russian?
I know that there were Germans from Russia, which would account for the
German sounding name, but they didn't usually say they came from
Russia/Poland. Usually only Poles did that!

Charles is not a Polish name. It was often used as the English version of
Konrad or Kazimierz. Some Polish names that might be translated to WAGNER
are WAJNER, WAJNERT, WEJNER and WEJNEROWSKI. You might want to try looking
for names similar to those. Have you tried to find a ship manfest for him?
If his name is really WAGNER (which is a possibility) you might find him
there.

Many Poles found it very difficult having such unpronouncable names, and they
changed them to easier, more recognizable names once they got to the US.
Also, many had their names changed by their employees, teachers, etc; just
for ease of pronunciation.

The Polish church in Chelsea was (and still is) St Stanislaw on Chestnut
Street. You might be able to get some information from them, maybe on
marriages, or baptisms of their chidren.

I hope this helps you some.

Jan Birkner
Researching Chelsea names BRONOWICKI, MIERZEJEWSKI, MARCINKOWSKI, SLIWINSKI
and KOBYLANSKI

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