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Archiver > PACLEARF > 2009-04 > 1239692332


From: "John Casey" <>
Subject: Re: [PACLEARF] Fw: Miners--Clearfield--languages-marriage licenses
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:58:52 -0500
References: <380-220094113214440924@earthlink.net>


Hi Karen,
I am sorry but no reference to any
Stachowiak or Sierokiech.

Regards

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "onlinetrash" <>
To: "John Casey <>," <>;
<>
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [PACLEARF] Fw: Miners--Clearfield--languages-marriage licenses


>
> John,
> I would be interested in any Stachowiak or Sierokiech you can find.
> We know that Joseph/Martin Stachowiak was married to Jozefa Sierokiech and
> they had four children in Houtzdale.
> Family rumor says he remarried someone else in Houtzdale when Jozefa died.
> So any info you can find would be appreciated and take your time I am sure
> your swamped with request.
>
> Karen
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: John Casey <>
>> To: <>
>> Date: 4/13/2009 2:20:26 AM
>> Subject: Re: [PACLEARF] Fw: Miners--Clearfield--languages-marriage
> licenses
>>
>> Hi MKW,
>> The book you are refering to is "MARRIAGE RECORDS of
> CLEARFIELD
>> COUNTY,Pa. by Robert J. Allison Curator. I have the book and would be
>> willing to look up a few names.A warning for those interested,the only
>> information
>> is the Bride,Groom, and the date. No places are mentioned.
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> John Casey
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "slbearer" <>
>> To: <>
>> Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 10:16 PM
>> Subject: [PACLEARF] Fw: Miners--Clearfield--languages-marriage licenses
>>
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >> There is an book published by the Clearfield County Historical
>> >> Society called Early Clearfield Marriages--they are before 1885 when
>> >> the state required a marriage license. The gentlemen searched all
>> >> sorts of records: newspapers, JP's, churches, family bibles, etc and
>> >> really accumulated a lot of marriages. I found some of my relatives
>> >> from Chest Township, Clearfield County. Mrs. Stevens gave me a copy
>> >> of the book, but who knows where it is at the moment.
>> >> You could write to them, or e-mail now, I guess, and ask about
>> >> the book--they could look up a name for you easily.
>> >> If they married in 1885 or later in PA, there should be a
>> >> marriage license record at the courthouse. The question is often,
>> >> which courthouse? All courthouses have an Index of Marriages. Cambri
>> >> County is from1885 to 1947, when the second series starts.
>> >> A marriage license DID NOT have to be taken out in the SAME
>> >> county in which the marriage was performed. The people on the
>> >> borders
>> >> of Cambria County and Blair County often went to Hollidaysburg to get
>> >> a
>> >> license, or the people around the Clearfield-Cambria border often came
>> >> to Cambria County for the license.
>> >> It often depended, in "the olden days" where the RR train
>> >> tracks were laid. People not only "took the train," but "walked the
>> >> tracks" because they were not muddy.
>> >> For some reason, Methodists from Cambria County tended to go
>> >> to
>> >> a Methodist church in Reynoldsville to be married--that is Jefferson
>> >> County, isn't it?
>> >> Sometimes the local JP could issue a marriage license, but I
>> >> don't know how that worked. I just ran across a note in the local
>> >> paper that said Squire Thomas Ott of St. Boniface granted marriage
>> >> licenses to two of his daughters.
>> >> Squire Ott and Squire Paul Yahner [son of the emigrant
>> >> Valentine Yahner] also served as translators for the German speaking
>> >> locals, often being witnesses for wills, deeds, loans, court cases,
>> >> for
>> >> death certificates, marriage licenses, etc. Often the wills were
>> >> written in German, and a translation was attached [or supposed to be
>> >> attached.]
>> >> I also found in Hastings, with the Eastern European
>> >> "foreigners," that there was a specific man who seemed to be the local
>> >> translator, and he shows up as a witness on all sorts of legal
>> >> documents. I think he was Lithuanian, but he seemed to speak several
>> >> languages. One of the assigned Hastings Priests also spoke Slovak,
>> >> and
>> >> his records ususally spell the names correctly.
>> >> If you are tracing an Eastern European marriage, be sure to
>> >> check every bit of the records. The clerks often misspelled names,
>> >> and
>> >> the nationality priests would often correct the spelling.
>> >> Through the 1960s it was common for the local churches to
>> >> have
>> >> an extra priest from St. Vincent to help with Easter [especially] who
>> >> could speak Slovak and hear confessions in Slovak.
>> >> Christ the King is a Roman Catholic church. St. Barbara's is
>> >> a Polish National Catholic Church. I don't know for sure, but there
>> >> were probably some other types of Catholic churches or Orthodox
>> >> churches in the area. That is the Erie Diocese, and I don't know much
>> >> about it or the churches located there. My cousin, Fr. Greg Kirsch,
>> >> is from St. Francis Church in Clearfield originally. Since it was in
>> >> the Erie Diocese, that is the Diocese to which he belongs.
>> >> Many of the early Northern Cambria miners came from the
>> >> Houtzdale area. Also, many of the store keepers also moved with the
>> >> miners.
>> >> Immigrants who normally attended church at St. Bernard's in
>> >> Hastings [no one had cars then] often belonged to one of the
>> >> "nationality churches" in Barnesboro, and would attend there on
>> >> special
>> >> holidays, or they would be married or buried from that church.
>> >> Clearfield County had a French speaking population that
>> >> settled in certain areas and perhaps there were French churches??? I
>> >> don't know.
>> >> The French speaking people who settled around Patton
>> >> attended first [before 1890] St. Boniface, then after 1890, ST.
>> >> Bernard's in Hastings, and then after 1893, St. Mary's in Patton. I
>> >> noticed this in looking at the records.
>> >> Sterling was the name of one of the early mining companies
>> >> in Northern Cambria--the mines would be named Sterling #9 [or whatever
>> >> number.]
>> >>
>> >> The Beckwith family [or a Beckwith family] lived in Patton and
>> >> St. Boniface and Hastings. I do have some information about some of
>> >> them who were married to Endlers/Entlers. I recently saw an obit of a
>> >> Beckwith who died in Tyrone [Altoona Mirror] and wondered if he was a
>> >> connection of the ones here?
>> >> You have to remember that the miners who were immigrants,
>> >> moved more often. Partly this was old mines closing, or new mines
>> >> opening, but the miners who were [usually] German in this area tended
>> >> to stay put since their families owned land or worked farms. Also,
>> >> they spoke English and so tended to get more stable jobs--as did
>> >> English and Welsh miners.
>> >> I grew up seldom hearing a foreign language, but hearing
>> >> from
>> >> my grandparents that they did not learn English till they went to
>> >> school. My grandfather Klein remembered a German custom, ON YOUR
>> >> BIRTHDAY, to count in German and pull your ear once as you counted for
>> >> each year, and one to grow on. He also remembered a nursery rhyme,
>> >> and we had German friends who came over during Hitler times, who said
>> >> his accent was very "low German."
>> >> Don't know if you realize it, but most Germans could read
>> >> "literary German" because of the Bible [the Amish still do] which
>> >> tended to standardize written German, but they actually spoke German
>> >> in
>> >> various dialects.
>> >> The German locals in this area were unusual because they came
>> >> from various "states" in Germany--the unifying factor was religion
>> >> [Catholic] and not "nationality" or "dialect." Some of them couldn't
>> >> understand each other's German.
>> >> Go to the Indiana County Courthouse, the Clerk of Courts,
>> >> and
>> >> ask to see the marriage license index. Be sure they explain it to
>> >> you,
>> >> as it is a little odd, as it sorts by first name as well as last.
>> >> [For
>> >> example, I had trouble finding Elizabeth Kline because she was indexed
>> >> under Lizzie Kline; Matilda was Tillie; and so on] The people were
>> >> very helpful, one of my better research experiences. If you are
>> >> lucky,
>> >> they might have computerized the Index. Be sure to look up both
>> >> bride and groom, as one could be spelled incorrectly.
>> >> St. Barbara's probably spoke Polish and many of the Polish
>> >> churches were established after 1900--depends.
>> >> The Odd Fellows were Protestant cemeteries, no particular
>> >> denomination. To be buried in a regular lot in a Catholic cemetery
>> >> you had to satisfy the priest you were Catholic. To be married in a
>> >> Catholic church you had to make certain promises, like to raise the
>> >> children Catholic and to let the Catholic partner stay Catholic. You
>> >> had to be married in the Rectory and no dress up wedding or wedding
>> >> mass. This was still in effect until at least 1963 and the Second
>> >> Vatican Conference.
>> >
>> >> MKW
>> >
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