Researching the Genealogy of the Prokopowicz, Ruscik, and Blaszko Families
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Aleksandr & Stefania Prokopowicz
At left, Babcia Stefania Ruscik Prokopowicz holding Basia, 1947. They are seated in the kitchen at the family home in Worcester. Hanging from a hook at upper right are some potholders that Stefania crocheted.
At right, the only known photograph of Aleksandr Prokopowicz, taken at his death in 1939.
Szlachciuk — Majdan, Russian Poland; Rhode Island, US
Trusilo — Wasiliszki town & par
Tumielewicz — Narkuny, Żyrmuny par.
Waszczynska — Janczuki, Szczuczyn par.
Witkowski — Iwaszowce, Iszczolna par.
Zuromski — Raduń par.
Żubrzycki — Wasiliszki, town & par.; Iszczolna, town & par.
... my curiosity about my family's past was fed by the stories Stefania told me, and the stories I never had a chance to hear from Alek and Julius, and the stories I failed to seek from Anna.
Prokopowicz Surname Y-DNA Project
The Prokopowicz surname is common in the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—today's Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus. The geographic focus of this DNA project is the area bounded more or less by Vilnius (Wilno), Lithuania, to the north; Hrodna (Grodno), Belarus, to the west; Navahrudek (Nowogrodek), Belarus, to the south; and Minsk, Belarus, to the east. The specific geographic focus is the Lida area of Belarus, from Scucin (Szczuczyn) in the west to Radun, north of Lida.
The goals of this project are to determine which if any of the various Prokopowicz families in this geographic area share a common male ancestor, and to identify relationships between branches of the Prokopowicz families who in recent generations may have become estranged due to immigration, war, deportation, etc.
During my visit to Ellis Island in 2005, I was thrilled to discover that the bookstore carries the Polish community books I have coauthored for Arcadia Publishing. On display here is The Polish Community of New Britain.
Some Relevant Books
Applebaum, Anne. Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994.
Babinski, Mathew. By Raz 1937. [n.p.] 1978.
Baliński, Michał. Starożytna Polska, pod wzgle̜dem historycznym, jeograficznym i statystycznym opisana. Warszawa: Nakładem S. Orgelbranda, 1846.
I am descended from two apparently unrelated Prokopowicz families with Polish Roman Catholic roots in the Lida area of what is now western Belarus (at one time Wilno gubernia of Russian Poland). My grandparents immigrated to the United States before World War I and settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, where I grew up. I am a journalist and the lead coauthor of The Polish Community of Worcester (Arcadia, 2003) and Worcester County's Polish Community (Arcadia, 2007). Active in genealogy since 1996, I am a member of several genealogical societies and the founder/moderator of the PolishMass Yahoo! Group. I conduct presentations on Polish genealogy, documenting local and family heritage through vintage images, and the history of Polish settlement in Massachusetts. I have traveled to Poland, Belarus, and Lithuania to visit my ancestral villages and meet long-lost cousins. If I could time-travel, I would go back to Lida powiat to meet my great-grandparents and earlier ancestors.
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