Immigration Time Line: Julian Prokopowicz & the Linga Family

When Julian Prokopowicz, my paternal grandfather, immigrated to the United States in 1914, his closest ties appear to have been with the Linga family. Julian (later, Julius) left Russian Poland in the spring of 1914, a few months before the onset of World War I. Just 19 years old, he traveled alone from the Radun area, about 60 miles south of the city of Wilno, to Worcester, Massachusetts. Julian’s parents, Kazimierz and Anna Bogdan Prokopowicz, remained behind, as did his brother Josef and another brother about whom little is known. Would they have followed him to America if the war had not impeded emigration? No letters or other documents survive to help answer that question.

Several other Prokopowiczes did immigrate to Massachusetts. They came from villages within a few miles of Radun, and they settled in Boston. Immigration and naturalization documents have not revealed any connections to Julian. Nor have conversations in recent years with my aunts and uncles, who have no memories of their father’s having had ties to Boston.

Being without family thousands of miles from home could have been a very lonely experience for Julian. Fortunately, members of the Linga family, longtime neighbors and close friends in the Radun area, seem to have filled that void in his life. Julian’s first home in the United States was with Iwan Linga on Kansas Street in Worcester. After their marriage in 1916, Julian and Anna Blaszko Prokopowicz boarded with Maciej Linga and his family on Esther Street. In 1919, Emilia Linga was godmother to Julian and Anna’s daughter Stanislawa. In 1929, Maciej Linga was godfather to their son Joseph. According to a Linga family member who was in Poland from the 1920s through the 1940s, Julian’s mother died in the Linga home in Kiwance, circa 1942.

It seems to make sense, then, to consider Julian’s move to the United States and settlement in Worcester within the context of the Linga family’s chain migration. Details extracted from their passenger lists follow.

May 1901 — Jan Linga
Name on manifest: Jan Linge
Relationship: friend
Ship & shipping line: SS Amsterdam, Holland America
Departure port & date: Rotterdam, May 9, 1901
Arrival port & date: New York, May 21, 1901
Status: age 22, born ca. 1883 in Kiwance, single, laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to N.Y., has $11
Destination: friend, Wincenty Markiewicz, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Kazimir Marcinkiewicz, born in Olkiniki, destination brother Peter Marcinkiewicz, 715 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts

July 1906 — Iwan Linga
Name on manifest: Iwan Linga
Relationship: friend
Ship & shipping line: SS Amerika, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 20, 1906
Arrival port & date: New York, July 1, 1906
Status: age 19, born ca. 1887, single, farm laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a, last permanent residence Jarmastajski?
Finances: brother-in-law paid for passage, has ticket to final destination, has $7
Destination: brother-in-law, Jan Galikowski, 324 Water Street, Mahonoy City, Pennsylvania
Traveling companions: none

February 1909 — Kasimir Linga
Name on manifest: Hamburg, Kasimir Linga; Ancestry, Karinne Linga
Relationship: friend
Ship & shipping line: SS Pennsylvania, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, February 20, 1909
Arrival port & date: New York, March 7, 1909
Status: age 20, born ca. 1889 in Iwance [Kiwance], single, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’4”, fair hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: mother, Maria Linga, Kiwance
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $0/7?
Destination: brother, Jan Linga, Box 50, Wheelwright, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Stanislaw Adamolis [Adamonis], 18, single, farm laborer, contact father Wicenty Adamolis in Kiwance, destination uncle Jan Adamolis, 19 Burton Street, Worcester, Massachusetts; Barnas Romaszko, from Zoharan?, destination Michael Filipowicz, 75 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Record of Detained Aliens: Group 25, Number 4 on manifest, detained “to tel $,” disposition Ry E to Adamonis, 18 Burton Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, discharged March 11, had 4 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 4 dinners

April 1909 — Josef Linga
Name on manifest: Hamburg, Josef Linga; Ancestry, Josef Linza
Relationship: friend
Ship & shipping line: SS President Grant, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, April 3, 1909
Arrival port & date: New York, April 16, 1909
Status: age 30, born ca. 1879 in Wadwernika [Adwiernik, Wilno], married, farm laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’4”, brown hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: wife, Marianna Linga, Wadwernika
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $7
Destination: friend, Adam Sadowski, Box 293, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: undetermined, but two others on page destined for Maynard

May 1913 — Kasimir Linga
Name on manifest: Ancestry, Kazimer Linga
Relationship: friend
Ship & shipping line: SS Potsdam, Holland America
Departure port & date: Rotterdam, May 17, 1913
Arrival port & date: New York, May 29, 1913
Status: age 25, born ca. 1888 in Kivanze [Kiwance], married, farm laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’9”, brown hair, gray eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: mother, Marianna Linga, Kivanze [Kiwance], Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: brother, M. Linga, Esther Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Previously in U.S.: 1909-12, Worcester
Traveling companions: none

September 1913 — Emilia Linga
Name on manifest: Emilia Lingowa
Relationship: wife of Kasimir Linga
Ship & shipping line: SS Arabic, White Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, September 9, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston, September 17, 1913
Status: age 22, born ca. 1891 in Kiwance, married, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’6”, black hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: brother, Kaspar Jodis, Kiwancow [Kiwance, Wilno]
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $12
Destination: husband, Kasimir Linga, 26 Esther Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling with child: Josef, age 1 (born in Worcester)
Previously in U.S.: 1909-12, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Teresa Adamonis, 18, single, farmhand, father Stanislaw Adamonis in Kiwancy, destination, brother-in-law William Kwederowicz, 66 Lamartine Street, Worcester, Massachusetts

January 1914 — Maciej Linga
Name on manifest: Hamburg, Maciej Linga; Ancestry, Macie Lingo
Relationship: friend
Ship & shipping line: SS Furst Bismarck, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, January 3/4, 1914
Arrival port & date: Boston, January 17, 1914
Status: age 29, born ca. 1885 in Radun, married, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’8”, brown hair, blue eyes, “passed med[ical exam]”
Contact in last permanent residence: brother, Stanislaw Linga, Kiwance, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $7
Destination: brother, Jan Linga, 657 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Anton Adamonis, 17, single, 5’6”, brown hair, blue eyes, farm laborer, father Wicenty Adamonis in Kiwance, destination brother Wicenty Adamonis, 654 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Note: in U.S. 1913-22, returned to Poland, returned to U.S. July 6, 1923 on SS Mauretania

April 1914 — Julian Prokopowicz
Name on manifest: Julian Prokopowicz
Relationship: founded family when he married Anna Blaszko in August 1916
Ship & shipping line: SS Koln, North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher)
Departure port & date: Bremen, March 25, 1914
Arrival port & date: Boston, April 9, 1914
Status: age 19, born ca. 1895 in Posada, single, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’3”, blond hair, blond [note: classic manifest error!] eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Kazimierz Prokopowicz, Posada, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $21
Destination: friend, Iwan Linga, 9 Kansas Street, Worcester, Massachusetts [note: this is also Adamonis address]
Traveling companions: none; ship has only about 140 passengers, and Julian is very last one on list
Notation: C/A 1-344915 11/26/41 R.B.