Ancestry Chapter 5
August Ponczek, Michael Norek -
1860-1869 - Births and Youth
(click documents to see details)
Augusta Ponczek born 1860, _____, West Prussia
The date is a guess. The place is unknown. (Patience -- she is a linear ancestor of all Norek second-batcher's.)
Prussian Stargard, West Prussia Prussian Stargard, which is also spelled Preuss. Stargard, Pr. Stargard, Pr. Stargardt, and in German would be written with something that looks like a "ß" for the "ss," is a neighboring town 33 miles to the west, west/southwest of Dirschau. "Stargard" and variants is a Slavic word for "old town" and the "Pr." distinguishes it from other Stargards in Europe.
Pr. Stargard, West Prussia. The Market Square. Now part of the Old Town area of this very ancient town.
Strings -- the Pr. Stargard Catholic church records show the 1835 death of a Matthew Tybus at age 59. Matthew would have been 41 when Jacob was born in 1817 - so he is a parental and ancestral candidate. LDS microfilm #531383
Michael Norek born 1864, Pr. Stargard, West Prussia
Michael Norek was born in the West Prussia town of Prussian Stargard, just as he said. (Grandpa Norek was known for not talking about his background, but he named his birth town when asked. Perhaps his children did not ask enough questions.)
Michael Norek was born unehel. to Josephina Norek on September 26, 1864, and christened on September 30, 1864. The name of his father is not recorded. (The abbreviation "unehel." stands for "unehelich" which translates to "illegitimate.")
LDS
microfilm #0531381. About the middle at line 128 (page starts at line 123).
Record of the 1864 birth and christening of Michael Norek. Katholische Kirche
Pr. Stargard. Parentis _____ & Josephina Norek. Also below, again at line
number 28, the 8th entry in the first column, on a page from an index included
in the original church record book.
Family legend has been that Norek might not be Grandpa's father's name. It wasn't. Norek was his mother's name. This information was not commonly known in the family.
My Dad knew, but he did not tell anyone, almost. After I located this birth record, someone told me that in the 1990s my father had mentioned this illegitimate birth, somewhat confidentially. When and where he learned of this is not known.
An unehel. birth was not unusual at this time. It was not unusual for a mature woman. When a mature single woman has a child, it is deliberate, not accidental. Josephina's age is being guessed at 36, which is the age of Francisca Tybus when she gave birth to Johann Tybus, listed later. This of course is just a guess.
My father once said "Norek" meant "northerner" or "no one" -- that latter leaves open the possibility that Josephina's name was not Norek, but at least one genealogist told me that is highly unlikely.
My
Baby Book lists my Norek Great Grandparents as Franz Norek and Josephine
Kochonske (sp.?). My mother's handwriting, so the wrong information was
provided by someone else. Were the surnames switched, and could his
father be Franz Kochonske?
Michael Norek's Godparents are Johann Ziotrowki of Neuenburg (sp. ?) and Anna Sztrowska of Conitzer (sp. ?). Given the similarities of surnames, and difficulties deciphering the script, Johann and Anna might be brother and sister -- the -ski and -ska were traditional male/female Polish name designations.
Again, see above the page from the Church record's typed index. (This index was on the microfilm and therefore was part of the historic record rather than a contemporary record.) Almost all the names of the babies christened in Pr. Stargard's Catholic church in 1864 are Polish names. One German name seen on that page is Francisca Anna Frank at the top.
A blank wall? I found no other Norek family listings of births or weddings. Pushing farther back in time won't be easy. The first column of this christening record lists something about the father, or mother of a "unehe." born child, which for Josephine reads something like "Moecoer" or Mosnark". It might be her place of birth or her residence.
Michael Norek is born just a few miles from Dirschau home of the Tybus family into which he will marry, twice. Michael Tybus, who will become Michael Norek's brother-in-law and then his father-in-law, has just celebrated his tenth birthday. Helena Tybus, who will be Michael Norek's first wife, is now seven and a half years old.
The two Michaels, Michael Norek and Michael Tybus, ten years apart in age, have been confused in, and have confused, at least one family legend, possibly more.
Michael Norek will be father to eighteen children, born over a thirty-eight year time period, grandfather to thirty-seven children, born over an overlapping fifty-five year time period. Michael Norek's birth and the birth of his last grandchild will be 101 years apart -- 1864 to 1965.
Michael Norek, raised in Kiel, Germany?
Kiel is a major seaport town on the Baltic in Western Germany. One family legend is that Michael Norek was raised in Kiel. This is from my Dad who, on a European trip, had my sister Carol take a photograph of a Kiel road sign, so there is no issue as to the name of the town my Dad was talking about at that time. Another family legend is that Michael Norek worked for a railroad, and/or worked for a shipping company, and traveled around the Baltic. West Prussia is also a Baltic area, but far, far east of Kiel.
Countering the Kiel legend are the documented facts that Michael Norek is born in West Prussia and will marry Helena Tybus who was born and raised in a few miles from Michael's own birthplace. They marry in Helena's town of Dirschau, and both will be listed as from Dirschau in the marriage records. Also Michael Norek is known to have been a strong horseman, and his birth town of Pr. Stargard is known for horse breeding.
There is obviously room to argue that Michael Norek was raised in West Prussia where he was born, and not in Kiel. Possibly he lived for a time in Kiel when he started working, which could easily have been at age 13. Perhaps Grandpa Norek told my Dad that he lived in Kiel when he was 13, and my Dad interpreted that as being raised in Kiel. Or perhaps my Dad's understanding was correct.
Selections by year -
