Connecting with Ursula on the ancestral plane

Some ancestors call out to me more than others. Of course, if I could time travel back to their eras, I would want to meet every single one of them. But there are some I would want to spend a particularly long time with.

To me, the "ancestral plane" is something like a very big party. The guests include family members I knew in this lifetime (my Babcia, my Dad, my aunts and uncles), relatives that I never knew but heard about through them (my great-grandfather Antoni Ruscik, my Dad's youngest sister, Annie), and many, many ancestors whom I've become aware of through family research. Helpfully, those people are all wearing "Hello, my name is ..." badges so I can finally put a face to a name as we introduce ourselves.

But there are a few individuals who need no introduction. We make eye contact across that crowded room, and there is an instant sense of recognition, an affinity of souls. We have always known each other, somehow, across time and space. I yearn to talk with them, to learn more about their lives than I can ever glean from genealogical research.

Who, what, when, where, why, and how

In a family like mine, there is precious little information recorded about any one person's life. In Europe, the sources are for the most part limited to brief entries in church registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, and in occasional church or civil censuses. In the United States, for our 1890s-1914 immigrants, there is little beyond the standard official records (passenger lists, military registrations, citizenship papers, and such).

From their arrival in this country through the 1920s, at least, there is almost no documentation or description of their lives. Most of our immigrants were young, in their late teens and twenties; most were single. All were looking for work, trying to get a foothold in a country where they could not speak or read the language (at least, not much). What they did, who they did it with, where and when they did it, and why—I wonder about this endlessly.

I have found almost nothing about any of my Polish immigrant ancestors in the English-language newspapers of the cities they lived in. And I have spent many, many hours reading through microfilmed copies of the old dailies published in Worcester, Boston, Pawtucket, Lowell, Springfield, etc.

In search of wedding news

So I didn't have very high hopes for finding anything when a fourth cousin and I recently spent the day in Maynard, Massachusetts, a town where our shared Bogdan-Przyjemski family lived in the early twentieth century. What I really, really wanted was to find some newspaper mention of the September 26, 1915, marriage of Urszula Przyjemski to Jozef Szlachciuk. In July 2012, I wrote about Urszula's marriage in "Discovering Julian Prokopowicz's Bogdan family in America," which features the group portrait made for the wedding.

Had that portrait not been inscribed on the back, had it not come down to me, I most likely never would have known about my grandfather Julian's relatives in Maynard. Urszula's wedding was the key that unlocked a room full of family history. Would newspaper coverage of the event perhaps unlock more? I really hoped so.

The Maynard weeklies

In 1915, two weekly newspapers served Maynard (population then about 6,500) and environs: the Maynard News and the Maynard Enterprise. The Maynard Public Library has both on microfilm; the reference librarian noted that some issues were missing (a situation not uncommon with century-old newspapers).

We started our search that day with the Maynard Enterprise; unfortunately, the issue that would have been published in the week following the wedding was not on the microfilm. We checked the subsequent issue, but weren't surprised to find no mention there.

As we scanned the pages—those good old-fashioned broad pages with nine columns of tiny type—we could not help noticing the almost complete lack of any coverage related to Maynard's Polish population. Even the English-speaking Irish Catholics of St. Bridget's Parish got little attention. Among the town's diverse ethnic groups, only the Finns seemed to merit a few inches of print.

An electric sign, a whist party, a wedding

We moved on to the Maynard News, whose content mirrored that of the Enterprise. The News was published on Fridays, so we zeroed in on the October 1, 1915, edition, printed just five days after Urszula's Sunday wedding. Eight pages, small font, much of the newsprint faded long before it was reproduced on microfilm.

Typical of the era, the News consolidated most of its local coverage under town headings: "Maynard," "Sudbury," "Acton." A sentence reporting someone's weekend trip to Boston might be followed by a death notice, which might in turn be followed by an announcement of a concert or a runaway dog.

By the time we reached page eight, our hopes were dim. But there at the bottom of page eight, in a "Maynard" potpourri that told of a "new electric sign" in town, a meeting of the Knights of Kaleva, a family's houseguests from Vermont, and a whist party at the Masonic Hall, there it was: a two-sentence announcement of Urszula's wedding.

"There was a wedding on Thompson street, Sunday, when Rev. Francis Jablonski joined in wedlock Miss Ursula Pryjenski and Joseph Szlacheink. The usual festivities followed," the newspaper reported.

Some information, some questions

Twenty-five words, no more. Surnames misspelled, no surprise. The announcement didn't say much, yet it spoke volumes.

We might have hoped for some mention of other members of the wedding party, if there were any besides the two witnesses (one being my grandfather, Julian Prokopowicz). Or perhaps a description of the bride's gown (once upon a time, many newspaper inches were lavished upon detailed descriptions of veils and lace and trains and beads and fabrics).

What did it tell us? I was surprised to learn that the wedding took place at the family home rather than at church, which would have been St. Bridget's, since St. Casimir's Polish Catholic church was still a decade away from being built in town. I would guess it was a noon or afternoon wedding, since Rev. Jablonski would have been busy with Mass on that Sunday morning.

What "usual festivities" followed the wedding? I can imagine lots of food, lots of music, lots of guests. For Kazimierz and Elena Bogdan Przyjemski, the marriage of their first-born child, their 17-year-old daughter (18, according to the town record), would certainly have been cause for celebration. And Sunday would have been the one day of the week when friends and family living in Rhode Island and elsewhere in Massachusetts might have been able to travel to Maynard to share in the joyous occasion.

Who did the reporting?

Perhaps most significantly, the write-up told us that, despite the dearth of news space devoted to Maynard's Polish immigrants, this event made it into print. How did that happen? Who took the initiative to report the event? We'll never know.

I'm intrigued by the different possibilities raised by the spelling, wording, and details in the announcement. If the family reported the wedding, surely the bride's and groom's surnames would have been spelled correctly, at least at the outset. It's not inconceivable that the errors might have been made at the newspaper, either in copying the information, or typing it, or typesetting. If a reporter assigned to town hall dutifully recorded all the marriages for the week, it might have become a tidbit in the community news column that way. That's quite possible.

But here's how I imagine it: Ursula took the initiative to go to the newspaper office, perhaps with the marriage certificate in hand as documentation. After all, she had come to this country in early childhood; she would have been educated in Maynard schools, probably equally fluent in English and Polish by the time she was a teen-ager, and comfortable in her community. She may well have been more fluent in English than Joseph, who, though a few years older than her, had immigrated more recently. Or maybe the newlyweds went to the newspaper office together, if they were able to squeeze in time before or after their jobs at the American Woolen Company mill.

Why did it matter?

Why would it have been important to share their news in an English-language publication that perhaps few of Maynard's Polish immigrants might have read? Well, people generally like to share happy news. (Facebook is full of it, announcements and photos and thumbs-up "likes.")

Beyond that, maybe Ursula and Joseph wanted to create a more public record of their marriage than the listing in Maynard's 1915 annual town report would have afforded them.

Or maybe Ursula sensed somehow that she wouldn't have many opportunities ahead to let the world know she was here. In fact, her time was limited. She would live long enough to give birth to her only child in 1916, when her name would appear as "Celia" in the town records. When her husband, by then known as "Joe," registered for the World War I draft in 1917, she would be referred to only as "wife."

When Ursula died suddenly at the height of the influenza epidemic in October 1918, just nine days after her third wedding anniversary and a few months after her 20th birthday, there would be no obituary; newspapers could not keep pace with the volume of deaths that fall. When she was buried in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, her gravestone identified her as "Celia Scluck."

Feeling her presence

What if Joseph and Ursula had not moved to Rhode Island in that final year? What if they had stayed in Maynard? Would she have escaped the flu? Would she and Joseph have had other happy events to announce in the Maynard News in decades to come?

I wonder about that.

I felt Ursula's presence so strongly during that day in Maynard. Not only did my cousin and I find the wedding announcement, we found the house on Thompson Street where Joseph and Ursula were married in 1915. Sitting in the car, parked in the pouring rain, we spent some time talking about the Przyjemski family's years there, wondering about their lives, imagining "the usual festivities" that must have filled the house and yard on that September afternoon so long ago.

We have a lot to talk about with Ursula on the ancestral plane.

Discovering Julian Prokopowicz’s Bogdan family in America

Almost everything I thought I knew about my paternal grandfather’s early years in the United States was wrong. And I am happy that I was wrong.

I knew that Julian Prokopowicz, age 19, planned to stay with the Linga family, his friends from Kiwance village in Radun parish, when he immigrated to America and reached his destination of Worcester, Massachusetts. The April 1914 passenger list for the SS Koln showed him traveling from Bremen, Germany, to Boston alone. His parents and siblings remained in Russian Poland, and he never did see them again. I was right about that much.

What I recently learned, however, is that members of his mother’s family had immigrated more than a decade earlier and had apparently maintained communication for all those years. I discovered this through Massachusetts records that have been digitized and made available online at the FamilySearch website. A single record in a Massachusetts vital records database (“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915”) provided a single detail that gave me a whole new look at my grandfather’s first year here.

This new information unlocked the secrets held in a set of three related wedding-day portraits that I received in 1998, one of several dozen photos left behind, ignored and unwanted, in a small black suitcase after my grandmother, Anna Blaszko Prokopowicz, died in 1976. My grandfather, Julian, died much earlier, in 1951.

The large wedding portrait (shown below) is typical of its era: a seated bride and groom flanked by a group of nine beautifully attired but solemn-faced persons who shared in the occasion. A smaller photo shows the bride and groom standing alone. Inscribed in pencil on the back is this note in Polish: “Pamiontka szlubu Pan Jozef Orszula Szlachciuk”—that is, “A remembrance of the wedding of Mr. Jozef [and] Urszula Szlachciuk.” A third photo shows three young men standing together: one unidentified at left (holding a lit cigarette in his white-gloved hand!), Jozef Szlachciuk, and my grandfather, Julian.

The only person recognizable to me in the photos was my grandfather, looking very young at age 20. The Szlachciuk name meant nothing to me; I guessed the groom was a friend—likely a close friend—of Julian’s. The photos were made at the studio of Geo. T. Elson of Maynard, Massachusetts; his name is engraved on the tan and brown cardboard mats on which the photos are mounted.

About five years ago, in browsing through this collection of old photos, I tried to find some information about Jozef Szlachciuk. He appears with a wife and children in the 1930 U.S. Census for Rhode Island. I thought idly that someday when I had time, I would try to locate one of the Szlachciuk descendants and offer them the photos. (In fact, I have four other small postcard-type photos featuring Jozef and Urszula.) I assumed that the Szlachciuks were not related to me. And then I put the photos back in storage.

What a digitized record revealed

A few weeks ago, I came across the Szlachciuk wedding pictures and decided to research the surname again. So much more genealogical information is online now than there was five years ago! I entered the surname on FamilySearch, and was happy to get a result, though the name was indexed as Joseph Szlachcink. (Polish surnames are misspelled and misindexed more often than not in U.S. records, often so grossly incorrect as to be unrecognizable. A handwritten “u” misinterpreted as “n” wasn’t too far off, all things considered.) The digitized image was a page detailing “Marriages registered in the town of Maynard for the Year Nineteen Hundred and fifteen” (p. 631 in the Massachusetts state volume).

“Marriage No. 76” records the September 26, 1915, wedding of Joseph Szlachciuk, 23, and Ursula Przyjemska, 18. It was the first marriage for each of them; they were both residents of Maynard, both born in Poland. His occupation was “Laborer” and hers, “Mill Op.” (that is, “operator”). Joseph’s parents are listed as Stanislaw and Mary Krasz[e]wski Szlachciuk. Ursula’s parents are identified as Casimir and Ellen Bohdan Przyjemski. The priest who performed the ceremony was Reverend Francis Jablonski of Maynard. The date of record was September 27, 1915.

One detail in that record stopped me in my tracks: Ursula’s mother was Ellen Bohdan. (This is a surname that is variously spelled Bogdan, Bohdan, and Bahdan in Polish and Russian records.) Julian’s mother was Anna Bogdan, or Bohdan. I had found the 1870 baptismal record of Elena Bohdan in the Radun parish microfilms that I use for research at my local Family History Center. Elena Bohdan was born in Odwierniki, the same village that Julian claimed as his birthplace on his World War I draft registration card in 1917.

It seemed more than coincidence that the bride’s mother was a Bogdan from Odwierniki, a village of only six houses in that era. According to the somewhat earlier 1852 Radun parish census, two of those six houses in Odwierniki were inhabited by Bogdan families, one headed by Mateusz, the other by his brother, Jan (or Iwan, in the Russian-language records). Elena and Anna Bogdan were almost certainly either sisters or first cousins.

It may be some time before I know for sure what their relationship was, because there are gaps in the Radun parish baptismal records available on microfilm. The records for 1872 and 1874-1877 have not been filmed, and it is likely that Anna Bogdan was born in one of those years. (I will probably have to hire a researcher to find her baptismal record or request a search for it in either the Vilnius or Grodno archives.)

So Julian Prokopowicz appears in the Szlachciuk-Przyjemski wedding photos not because he was a friend of the groom, but because he was a cousin of the bride. If Elena and Anna were sisters, then Julian and Urszula were first cousins; if the two women were first cousins, then Julian and Urszula were second cousins. Either way, they were cousins.

Not just a guest at the wedding

Intrigued by the details provided in the town of Maynard’s civil record of the marriage, I wanted to know more: who were the witnesses? That information, along with the bride’s and groom’s villages of origin, would have been recorded at St. Casimir Church, where the wedding ceremony was performed. Established in 1912 to serve Maynard’s sizable Polish Roman Catholic immigrant community, St. Casimir Parish closed in 1997; its records are now held by St. Bridget Parish in that town. I contacted the parish office, and learned that the witnesses were Julian Prokopowicz and Jozef Fabrycki.

This news was quite exciting! Why was Julian chosen to serve as a witness? He had been in the United States for only 17 months when the wedding took place. He would not have seen his cousin Urszula’s family for at least 11 years before they reconnected in Massachusetts. Elena Bogdan Przyjemska and her daughters Urszula and Anna had left Russian Poland in 1903, when Julian was 8 years old and Urszula about 6; Elena’s husband, Kazimierz, had emigrated in 1902. Certainly, in more than a decade in Maynard, the Przyjemski family would have had ample time to establish relationships with other men suitable to serve as a witness to Urszula’s marriage. (In fact, I have discovered that they had other male relatives living in Massachusetts and nearby Rhode Island at this time.)

It is, of course, speculation on my part, but I would like to believe that the relationship between Julian and the Bogdan-Przyjemski family was so close that they chose to recognize him with this honor. So he was not alone in America, as I had assumed all these years; he did have family here, and knowing that makes me happy to have been wrong. The question now is, were Elena and Anna sisters, or cousins? Anna’s baptismal record would clarify their relationship.

I wish I could time-travel back to Odwierniki: Would I see a copy of that 1915 wedding photo on display in the home of my great-grandparents, Kazimierz and Anna Bogdan Prokopowicz? Would I see Anna’s face light up when she looked at it? Would she take comfort in knowing that her son Julian, some 4,200 miles away, had Elena (his “Ciocia Helena”) watching over him in his new American life? I’d like to think so.

Photo caption

Jozef Szlachciuk and Urszula Przyjemska were married September 26, 1915, at St. Casimir Church in Maynard, Massachusetts. This group portrait was made at the Geo. T. Elson Studio in Maynard. Seated at far left is, I believe, Anna Przyjemska, about 12 years old, the younger sister of the bride; an unidentified woman; the groom, Jozef Szlachciuk, age 23; the bride, Urszula Przyjemska, age 18; and marriage witness Jozef Fabrycki. Standing at far left is my paternal grandfather, Julian Prokopowicz, age 20, the bride’s cousin and another witness to the marriage. The others are unidentified.

Immigration Time Line: Anna Blaszko & Cousins

My paternal grandmother, Anna Blaszko, was 20 years old when she left her parents, sister, and brother in Bastuny (or possibly a longtime Blaszko family farm in Skladance) for a new life in America in 1913. In a journey that took more than two weeks by rail and ship, she apparently traveled alone. Her third-class steamship ticket, which cost about $25, was provided by Wicenty Kulikowski, an older married cousin who had emigrated eight years earlier.

Upon her arrival that October, Anna boarded with Wicenty and his wife, Petronella, in Lowell, Massachusetts, and found work in the Boott Cotton Mill. It appears that Anna’s closest family relationships in the United States were with Wicenty (aka William) and his siblings, particularly his brother Karol (Karl) and sister Aniela (Nellie). Anna’s mother, Teresa Bowszys, and the Kulikowskis’ mother, Ewa Bowszys, were sisters; perhaps these two women fostered strong ties among their children.

It is notable that several other maternal cousins—Martin and Petronella Bowszys and Iwan Bowszys, all from Kiwance—settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, as Anna herself did after her 1916 marriage to Julian Prokopowicz. The extent of her contact with them, if any, is unknown. Similarly, I have no documentation of how close she may or may not have been to her paternal male cousins, Jan, Kasimir, and Andrzej Blaszko of Jatowty, who settled in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. The Bowszys and Blaszko links in this migration chain may be weak, their impact on Anna perhaps limited to the general sense of familiar faces disappearing one by one from the towns and farm villages in the Radun area of Lida powiat (county) in Wilno gubernia (province), Russian Poland.

The earliest ship manifests that I have located for the Blaskzo and Kulikowski families date to 1903 and 1904, respectively. Earlier departures may be traced to friends and relatives with different surnames, as in the case of Kulikowski in-law Josef Bedugnis, who joined a Kuczinski stepbrother in Maynard, Massachusetts, in June 1900. Passenger list data extracted for nearly 20 Blaszko, Kulikowski, and Bowszys family members follow.

June 1900 — Josef Bedugnis
Name on manifest: Josef Bedugnis
Relationship: brother-in-law of Kulikowskis
Ship & shipping line: SS Statendam, Holland America
Departure port & date: Rotterdam, May 24, 1900
Arrival port & date: New York, June 4, 1900
Status: age 25, born ca. 1875, single, laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a, last residence Birona? Kowno?, Russia
Finances: stepbrother paid for passage, has ticket to final destination, has $2
Destination: stepbrother, J. Kuczinsky, Watson? Street, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none

April 1903 — Stanislaw Blaszko
Name on manifest: Stanislaw Blassko
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Bulgaria, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, March 24, 1903
Arrival port & date: New York, April 10, 1903
Status: age 25, born ca. 1878 in Wilno, single, laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a, last residence Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $10
Destination: cousin [“brother” also written in], Jan Jarobski?, Wilmington, Delaware
Traveling companions: none

June 1904 — Karol Kulikowski (aka Karl Kulick)
Name on manifest: Karol Kulikowsky; Ancestry, Karal Kulikewsky
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Pennsylvania, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 3, 1904
Arrival port & date: New York, June 16, 1904
Status: age 18, born ca. 1886 [in Jatowty], single, laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a, last residence Marankowy?
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $4
Destination: brother-in-law, Josef Biadugnis [Bedugnis], Box 523, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none
Record of detained aliens: Group 41, Number 17, “tel $,” disposition to brother-in-law Josef Biadingus (Bedugnis), Box 523, Maynard, Massachusetts, discharged June 18, 4:30 p.m., 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners

April 1905 — Adolf Kulikowski
Name on manifest: Adolf Kulikowsky
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Statendam, Holland America
Departure port & date: Rotterdam, April 15, 1905
Arrival port & date: New York, April 25, 1905
Status: age 22, born ca. 1883 in Jatowsky [Jatowty], married, laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a
Finances: brother-in-law paid for passage, has ticket to Boston, has $11.50
Destination: brother-in-law, J. Baduginus [Bedugnis], Box 523, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: wife, Marianna Kulikowsky, 17

April 1905 — Wicenty Kulikowski
Name on manifest: Wicenti Kulika
Relationship: cousin? (possibly unrelated)
Ship & shipping line: SS Pennsylvania, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, April 7, 1905
Arrival port & date: New York, April 21, 1905
Status: age 18, born ca. 1887 in Wilno, single, laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $10
Destination: grandfather, Josef Kulik, Box 523, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Osip Safka and Andre Klischowitz, both destination Maynard, Massachusetts

June 1905 — Kasimir Blaszko
Name on manifest: Kasimir Blaschko
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Patricia, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 3, 1905
Arrival port & date: New York, June 16, 1905
Status: age 25, born ca. 1880 in Yatowtey [Jatowty], single, laborer, able to read/ not able to write, Lithuanian
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a; last residence Jatowty, Wilno gub.
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $7
Destination: brother, Stanislaw Blaschko, 200 Park? Street, Carbondale, Pennsylvania
Traveling companions: brother, Jan Blaszko

June 1905 — Jan Blaszko
Name on manifest: Jan Blaschko
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Patricia, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 3, 1905
Arrival port & date: New York, June 16, 1905
Status: age 20, born ca. 1885 in Yatowtey [Jatowty], single, laborer, able to read/write, Lithuanian
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a, last residence Jatowty, Wilno gub.
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $10
Destination: brother, Stanislaw Blaschko, 200 Park? Street, Carbondale, Pennsylvania
Traveling companions: brother, Kasimir Blaszko

June 1905 — Wicenty Bowszys
Name on manifest: Wicenty Bankschis
Relationship: uncle
Ship & shipping line: SS Patricia, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 3, 1905
Arrival port & date: New York, June 16, 1905
Status: age 32, born ca. 1873, married, laborer, able to read/ not able to write, Lithuanian
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a; last residence Skladanzi [Skladance], Wilno gub.
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $6.25
Destination: nephew, Karol Kulikowski, Box 323, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Stanislaw Waschko [Blaszko], last residence Skladanzi; Jan Waranowski, 20, single, last residence Skladanzi, original destination brother-in-law Aleksandr Bokczinowicz?, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, changed to “NYC, Pol Soc”

June 1905 — Stanislaw Blaszko
Name on manifest: Stanislaw Waschko
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Patricia, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 3, 1905
Arrival port & date: New York, June 16, 1905
Status: age 23, born ca. 1882, single, laborer, able to read/ not able to write, Polish
Physical description: n/a
Contact in last permanent residence: n/a; last residence Skladanzi [Skladance], Wilno gub.
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $6.25
Destination: originally uncle, Adam? Jodisz, 306 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts; changed to “NYC, Pol Soc”
Traveling companions: Wicenty Bowszys, last residence Skladanzi; Jan Waranowski, 20, single, last residence Skladanzi, has $1.50, original destination brother-in-law Aleksandr Bokczinowicz?, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, changed to “NYC, Pol Soc”


April 1909 — Boleslaw Kulikowski
Name on manifest: Boleslav Kulikowski
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Pennsylvania, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, April 10, 1909
Arrival port & date: New York, April 24, 1909
Status: age 17, born ca. 1892 in Jatowty, single, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’7”, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Vincenty Kulikowski, Jatowty, Wilno
Finances: father paid for passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $5
Destination: brother, Karol Kulikowski, 888 B…ton? Street, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Viktor Iwaszka, 25, Lopatyczki, father Adam Iwaszka, destination Karol Kulikowski, Maynard, Massachusetts
Record of Detained Aliens: Group 2, Number 16; cause of detention “to tel for $,” RRE, brother Karol, Box 885, Maynard, Massachusetts, discharged April 26, 4:30 p.m., 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners

June 1909 — Martin & Petronella Bowszys & infant son Josef
Name on manifest: Ancestry, Cartin, Petronella, & Josef Bowschis
Relationship: cousins
Ship & shipping line: SS Amerika, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, June 2, 1909
Arrival port & date: New York, June 12, 1909
Status: Martin, age 21, Petronella, 30, Josef, 3 months; all born in Kiwance; married; Martin, farm laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: Martin, 5’5”, light hair, blue eyes; Petronella, 5’, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father-in-law [i.e., Petronella’s father], Wincenty Jodzis, Kiwance, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, have no tickets to final destination, have $4.50
Destination: brother, Piotr Bowschis, 485 Melburre [Millbury] Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none obvious, but several others on page have Worcester destination
Record of Detained Aliens: Bowsckis, Martin, wife, and child; cause of detention “tel $,” RyE, to brother Peter, 481 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, discharged June 14, 3:30 p.m., 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 4 dinners
Previously in U.S.: Martin & Petronella, 1903-08, in Worcester, Massachusetts

July 1911 — Kasimir Blaszko
Name on manifest: Kasimir Blashko
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Kursk, Russian American
Departure port & date: Libau (Liepaja), June 20, 1911
Arrival port & date: New York, July 3, 1911
Status: age 30, born ca. 1881 in Jadowty [Jatowty], married, farm laborer, not able to read/write, Lithuanian
Physical description: 5’7”, blond hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: Weronika Blashko, Jadowty, Wilno gub.
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $20
Destination: cousin Jan Blasko, Box 888, Carbondale, Pennsylvania
Traveling companions: Andzej Shuromsky, 50, married, farm laborer, Lithuanian, contact Anna Shuromska, Skladanze, destination brother Jan Zuromski, 40 Central Street, Central Falls, Rhode Island

July 1911 — Adolf Kulikowski
Name on manifest: Adolf Kulikowsky
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Kursk, Russian American
Departure port & date: Libau (Liepaja), June 20, 1911
Arrival port & date: New York, July 3, 1911
Status: age 27, born ca. 1884 in Jatowty, single, farm laborer, not able to read/write, has not been in U.S. previously
Physical description: 5’6”, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: [father] Wincenty Kulikowski, Jatowty, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $20
Destination: brother, Wincent Kulikowsky, Box 885, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Andzej Shuromsky, 50, married, farm laborer, Lithuanian, contact Anna Shuromska, Skladanze, destination brother Jan Zuromski, 40 Central Street, Central Falls, Rhode Island
Notation: 1-267526 9/29/39

July 1911 — Andrzej Blaszko
Name on manifest: Andrey Blaschko
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Lituania, Russian American
Departure port & date: Libau (Liepaja), June 20, 1911
Arrival port & date: New York, July 16/17, 1911
Status: age 17, born ca. 1894 in Yatowtey [Jatowty], single, farm laborer, not able to read/write, Lithuanian
Physical description: 5’6”, dark hair, dark eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: Andrej Blaschko, Jatowty, Wilno gub.
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $4
Destination: brother Jan Blaschko, Box 888, Carbondale, Pennsylvania
Traveling companions: none
Notation: 2-1013409 10/22/42

April 1913 — Aniela Kulikowska (marr: Nellie Zowalki)

Name on manifest: Ancestry, Anelia Kolikopkaja
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Columbia, Anchor Line
Departure port & date: Glasgow, April 12, 1913
Arrival port & date: New York, April 22, 1913
Status: age 17, born ca. 1896 in Wilenska (Wilno), single, farm servant, can read/write
Physical description: 5'4", dark brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father Wikenty Kulikowsky, Krasnoe [Krasne folwark]
Finances: paid by friend, has ticket to final destination, has $10
Destination: friend [brother] Karol Kulikosky, 19 River St., Maynard, Mass.
Traveling companions: none

October 1913 — Anna Blaszko
Name on manifest: Anna Blaschko
Relationship: founded family when married Julian Prokopowicz in August 1916
Ship & shipping line: SS Caronia, Cunard
Departure port & date: Liverpool, October 7, 1913
Arrival port & date: New York, October 15, 1913
Status: age 20, born ca. 1893 in Bastuny, single, servant, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’4”, dark hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: mother, Teresa Blaschko in Bastuny, Kowno [Wilno]
Finances: cousin paid for passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: cousin W. Kulikowsky & wife, 148 Lakeview Street, Lowell, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none
Record of Detained Aliens: Group 10, Number 11, “tel $,” disposition RRE to cousin Wincent Kulikowsky, 148 Lakeview Street, Lowell, Massachusetts, discharged October 16, 4 p.m., 1 breakfast, 2 lunches, 1 dinner
Notation: 1-344918 4/5/41

April 1914 — Iwan Bowszys
Name on manifest: Iwan Bowshis
Relationship: cousin
Ship & shipping line: SS Russia, Russian American
Departure port & date: Libau (Liepaja), April 3, 1914
Arrival port & date: New York, April 19, 1914
Status: age 21, born ca. 1893 in Kiwontz [Kiwance], single, farm laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’6”, dark hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, O. Bowshis, Kiwontz, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: brother-in-law, L. Nadeirs?, 35 Stebbins Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none

Immigration Time Line: Aleksandr & Stefania Prokopowicz & Extended Family

Who began the chain of migration that ultimately led my maternal grandparents, Aleksandr and Stefania Prokopowicz, and their three children, Adolf, Paulina, and Jozef, from Wilno to Worcester? Passenger lists for their siblings and some in-laws and cousins help to establish the time line. To date, I have located the manifests documenting the immigration of the following 19 relatives:

Alexandr’s brother and his family — Jozef and Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz and their children Stefania, Michal, and Jozef
Stefania’s siblings — sister Stanislawa Ruscik and brother Ignacy Ruscik
Alexandr’s cousins — Bronislaw and Bronislawa Nowicki
Jozef’s brother-in-law — Wladyslaw Tomczyk
Maria’s siblings — brothers Ksawery and Jozef Baniukiewicz
Maria’s cousins — brothers Mieczyslaw and Czeslaw Baniukiewicz

The earliest emigrant in this group is Ignacy Ruscik, who left Wilno gubernia in 1909. The latest is Czeslaw Baniukiewicz, who sailed in June 1914, two months before World War I broke out in Europe and effectively shut down emigration. The men left singly, in stages. The women and children generally traveled in groups, and all sailed in 1913. All the women and children, and the single man accompanying children, arrived in Boston, on ships of the White Star, Hamburg-American, and Cunard lines. This total of 12 significantly outnumbered the 7 Ellis Island arrivals of men who sailed on New York routes of the Hamburg-American, Russian American, Holland American, and Red Star lines.

Most members of the Prokopowicz, Baniukiewicz, Ruscik, and Nowicki families ultimately settled in or near Worcester. A notable exception was Stefania’s younger brother, Ignacy Ruscik, who set out initially for Ohio but instead made his home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Brothers Aleksandr and Jozef Prokopowicz were both established in Worcester by the time their wives and children arrived in the fall of 1913. But passenger lists reveal that these immigrants originally set their sights on Maynard, Braintree, Pepperell, and Boston, Massachusetts. Maynard in particular seems to have been a popular destination for emigrants from the Szczuczyn area of Wilno. The Assabet woolen mill had its share of labor issues in those years, and it is conceivable that Poles were being recruited in Europe to replace the workforce’s feisty Finns.

Why the eventual relocation to Worcester? More research would be illuminating here, but it’s obvious that New England’s second largest city had thousands more industrial jobs to offer an unskilled immigrant labor force. It also had a large Polish parish with plans to build an elementary school, and a strong social, retail, and professional network to meet the needs of its substantial Polish-speaking population.

Summarized below are details extracted from the Prokopowicz, Baniukiewicz, Ruscik, and Nowicki passenger lists, presented in chronological order. The given names of girls and single women are followed by the names they later used in marriage. Middle names distinguish two cousins close in age; they were known in adulthood as Joseph Stanley Prokopowicz and Joseph Michael Prokopowicz.

April 1909 — Ignacy Ruscik
Name on manifest: Hamburg Emigration List, Ignaz Rust; Ancestry, Ignaty Rust
Relationship: younger brother of Stefania Ruscik Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Badenia, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, March 16, 1909
Arrival port & date: New York, April 3, 1909
Status: age 19, born ca. 1890 in S. Gernik [Staro Gierniki[, Wilno, single, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’6”, brown hair, gray eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Antoni Ruscik, S. Gernik [Staro Gierniki]
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $5
Destination: friend, Josef Melsosky?, Sandusky?, Ohio
Traveling companions: Bronislaw Leszik, 19; Geronim Kasnady, 31; Antoni Maskewicz, 29; all from Gierniki area

March 1910 — Aleksandr Prokopowicz
Name on manifest: Aleksandr Prokapowitz
Relationship: husband of Stefania Ruscik
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Lituania, Russian American
Departure port & date: Libau (now Liepaja), March 15, 1910
Arrival port & date: New York, March 30, 1910
Status: age 31, born ca. 1879 in Kozarezy, Wilno, married, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’7”, fair hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: wife, Stefania Prokapowitz, Kozarezy, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $15
Destination: cousin, W. Soroka, Box 1065, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Juljan Czernjak, 29; Jury Stupekewitz-Demid, 19; Awgustin Fisejukewitz, 23; Ossip Primak, 26; Michail Eljorchewitz, 31; all single, from Wilno, with destination Maynard, Massachusetts (27 of 30 passengers on page were from Wilno)

May 1910 — Ksawery Baniukiewicz
Name on manifest: Xavier Baniukiewicz; Ancestry, Haver Baninkiewicz
Relationship: younger brother of Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Potsdam, Holland America
Departure port & date: Rotterdam, May 21, 1910
Arrival port & date: New York, May 31, 1910
Status: age 22, born ca. 1888 in Lapate [Lopaty], Wilno, single, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’9”, blond hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Josef Baniukiewicz, Lidzkiego [Lida powiat], Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $30
Destination: friend, Josef Filipczyk?, Box 676, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none
Notation: P-1437/1045-Boston 6/4/37 1-141864 1/17/35 (or 38?)

November 1910 — Mieczyslaw Baniukiewicz
Name on manifest: Miceslaw Baunkewicz
Relationship: cousin of Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Grosser Kurfurst, North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher)
Departure port & date: Bremen, October 22, 1910
Arrival port & date: New York, October 30/November 1, 1910
Status: age 19, born ca. 1891 in Szczuczyn, Wilno, single, waiter?, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’6”, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Jan Baniukiewicz, Szczuczyn
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $16
Destination: ? Morduch Woronowski, 9 Poplar? Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Anton Baniukiewicz, 28, married, wife Katarzyna Baniukiewicz in Krzynowce, Grodno, destination Boston
Notation: 1-63184

April 1911 — Jozef Prokopowicz
Name on manifest: Osip Prokopowitz
Relationship: older brother of Aleksandr Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Zeeland, Red Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, April 11, 1911
Arrival port & date: Boston (Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown), April 20, 1911
Status: 37, born ca. 1874 in Kosare [Kozarezy], Wilno, married, laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’4”, fair hair, blue eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: wife, Maria Prokopowitz, Morga, Russia (Wilno)
Finances: paid for own passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: K. Basinkiewitz [Baniukiewicz], Box 96 Braintree, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none, but several passengers from nearby villages
Per UK Incoming Passenger Lists: Osip Prokopwitz , laborer, Russian, sailed 3rd class from New York on the SS Caledonia, arriving in Glasgow on December 10, 1911, holding through ticket to Prostken, Suwalki; traveling with Josef Wasiliuk

June 1911 — Bronislaw Nowicki
Name on manifest: Bronislaw Nowitzky
Relationship: cousin of Aleksandr & Jozef Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Birma, Russian American
Departure port & date: Libau (Liepaja), June 6, 1911
Arrival port & date: New York, June 21, 1911
Status: age 22, born ca. 1889 in Kemjany [Kiemiany], Wilno, single, laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’3”, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: Iwan Nowitzky, Kemjany, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: uncle, F.? J.? Mikijanetz (Mikijaniec), Box 751, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none

February 1912 — Jozef Baniukiewicz
Name on manifest: Osip Benikewitz
Relationship: younger brother of Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Amerika, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, February 18, 1912
Arrival port & date: New York, February 27, 1912
Status: age 22, born ca. 1890 in Lopaty, Wilno, single, farm laborer, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’11”, dark blond hair, blue eyes, scar on left cheek
Contact in last permanent residence: father Josef Benikevitz, Lopaty, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to Boston, has $16
Destination: brother, Ksaweri Benikewitz [Ksawery Baniukiewicz, Box 196, Paper Mill (corrected to East Pepperell), Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none, but several on list from Orla

February 1913 — Stefania Ruscik Prokopowicz
Name on manifest: Stefania Prokopowitz; Ancestry, Stefenca Sedkopenitz
Relationship: wife of Aleksandr Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Arabic, White Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, January 28, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown), February 8, 1913
Status: age 30, born ca. 1883 in Kasarety [note: actually born in Staro Gierniki], Wilno, married, housewife, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’ 4”, black hair, brown eyes [note: had blue eyes]
Contact in last permanent residence: friend, M. Prokopowitz, Kasarety [Kozarezy]
Finances: husband paid for her and children’s passage, has ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: husband, Alex Prokopowitz, 93 Lamartine Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling with children: daughter Paulina, age 5; son Osip (Jozef), age 2
Traveling companions: sister-in-law, Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz, and nephew, Osip Prokopowicz

February 1913 — Paulina Prokopowicz (marr: Pauline Londergan)
Name on manifest: Pawlena Prokopowitz
Relationship: second child of Aleksandr & Stefania Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Arabic, White Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, January 28, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown), February 8, 1913
Status: age 5, born ca. 1908 [note: actually born July 1906] in Kasarety [Kozarezy], Wilno
Physical description: none (child)
Contact in last permanent residence: M. Prokopowitz, Kasarety
Finances: father paid for passage, has ticket to final destination
Destination: father, Alex Prokopowitz, 93 Lamartine Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: mother, Stefania Prokopowicz; brother, Jozef Prokopowicz; aunt, Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz; cousin, Jozef Prokopowicz

February 1913 — Jozef Prokopowicz (Joseph Stanley Prokopowicz)
Name on manifest: Osip Prokopowitz
Relationship: third child of Aleksandr & Stefania Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Arabic, White Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, January 28, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown), February 8, 1913
Status: age 2, born ca. 1911 [note: actually born July 1909] in Kasarety (Kozarezy), Wilno
Physical description: none (child)
Contact in last permanent residence: M. Prokopowitz, Kasarety
Finances: father paid for passage, has ticket to final destination
Destination: father, Alex Prokopowitz, 93 Lamartine Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: mother, Stefania Prokopowicz; sister, Paulina Prokopowicz; aunt, Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz; cousin, Jozef Prokopowicz

February 1913 — Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz (2nd marr: Mary Golubowski)
Name on manifest: Maria Prokopovitz; Ancestry, Maria Peskaponeitz
Relationship: wife of Jozef Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Arabic, White Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, January 28, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown), February 8, 1913
Status: age 36, born ca. 1877 in Kasareti [note: probably born in Lopaty], married, housewife, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’ 4”, black hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: daughter, Stefania Prokopowitz, Kasareti [Kozarezy]
Finances: paid for her and her son’s passage, has no ticket to final destination, has $6
Destination: husband, Josef Prokopowitz, 15 Lamartine Street, Box 6, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling with child: son Osip (Jozef), age 2
Traveling companions: sister-in-law, Stefania Ruscik Prokopowicz; niece, Paulina Prokopowicz; and nephew, Jozef Prokopowicz

February 1913 — Jozef Prokopowicz (Joseph Michael Prokopowicz)
Name on manifest: Osip Prokopowitz
Relationship: third child of Jozef & Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Arabic, White Star
Departure port & date: Liverpool, January 28, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Hoosac Tunnel Docks, Charlestown), February 8, 1913
Status: age 2, born ca. 1911 [note: actually born August 1910] in Kasarety [Kozarezy], Wilno
Physical description: none (child)
Contact in last permanent residence: older sister, Stefania Prokopowitz, Kasareti
Finances: mother paid for passage, has no ticket to final destination
Destination: father, Josef Prokopowitz, 15 Lamartine Street, Box 6, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: mother, Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz; aunt, Stefania Ruscik Prokopowicz; cousins Paulina & Jozef Prokopowicz

May 1913 — Bronislawa Nowicki (marr: Bessie Kozlowski)
Name on manifest: Ancestry, Bromslawa Novicky
Relationship: cousin of Aleksandr & Jozef Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Franconia, Cunard
Departure port & date: Liverpool, April 29, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (B.&A.R.R. Wharves, East Boston), May 7, 1913
Status: age 22, born ca. 1891 in Schzuzin [Szczuczyn], single, servant, not able to read/write
Physical description: 5’4”, black hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: friend Nowiski? in Schzuzin [Szczuczyn], Wilno
Finances: passage paid by brother, has ticket to final destination, has $25
Destination: brother, Bronislaw Novicky, Box 751, Maynard, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: Marie Harbin, 26, of Schzuzin, father Michal Sobol?, destination cousin Michalina Jabielskaya, Box 751, Maynard, Massachusetts

September 1913 — Stefania Prokopowicz (marr: Stella Nadolny)
Name on manifest: Stefania Prokopowicz
Relationship: first child of Jozef & Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Cleveland, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, August 26, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Commonwealth Pier, South Boston), September 5, 1913
Status: age 10, born ca. 1903 [note: actually born March 1901] in Kasarety [Kozarezy], Wilno
Physical description: dark blond hair
Contact in last permanent residence: grand-uncle, Jozef Tomczik, Kazarczyn
Finances: father paid for passage
Destination: father, Jozef Prokopowicz, 89 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companion: uncle, Wladyslaw Tomczik, age 24

September 1913 — Michal Prokopowicz
Name on manifest: Michal Prokopowicz
Relationship: second child of Jozef & Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Cleveland, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, August 26, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Commonwealth Pier, South Boston), September 5, 1913
Status: age 9, born ca. 1904 [note: actually born September 1903] in Kasarety [Kozarezy], Wilno
Physical description: dark blond hair
Contact in last permanent residence: grand-uncle, Jozef Tomczik, Kazarczyn [Kozarezy]
Finances: father paid for passage
Destination: father, Jozef Prokopowicz, 89 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companion: uncle, Wladyslaw Tomczik, age 24

September 1913 — Wladyslaw Tomczyk
Name on manifest: Wladyslaw Tomczik; Hamburg Emigration List, Wladislaw Tomchik
Relationship: brother-in-law of Jozef Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Cleveland, Hamburg-American
Departure port & date: Hamburg, August 26, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (Commonwealth Pier, South Boston), September 5, 1913
Status: age 24, born ca. 1889 in Kazarczyn [Kozarezy], single, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’6”, dark blond hair
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Jozef Tomczik, Kazarczyn [Kozarezy]
Finances: brother-in-law paid for passage
Destination: brother-in-law, Jozef Prokopowicz, 89 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: niece and nephew, Stefania & Michal Prokopowicz

September 1913 — Adolf Prokopowicz
Name on manifest: Adolf Prokopowicz
Relationship: first child of Aleksandr & Stefania Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Franconia, Cunard
Departure port & date: Liverpool, September 16, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (B.&A.R.R. Wharves, East Boston), September 24, 1913
Status: age 9, born ca. 1904 [note: actually born March 1899/1900] in Gernika [Staro Gierniki], Wilno
Physical description: none (child)
Contact in last permanent residence: grandfather, Antoni Rusz in [Staro] Gerniki, Wilno
Finances: father paid for passage, has ticket to final destination
Destination: father, Aleksandr Prokopowicz, 6 Bigelow Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: maternal aunt, Stanislawa Ruscik, age 18

September 1913 — Stanislawa Ruscik (marr: Statia Budnik)
Name on manifest: Stanislawa Rusj
Relationship: younger sister of Stefania Ruscik Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Franconia, Cunard
Departure port & date: Liverpool, September 16, 1913
Arrival port & date: Boston (B.&A.R.R. Wharves, East Boston), September 24, 1913
Status: age 18, born ca. 1895 in Gerniki [Staro Gierniki], Wilno, single, servant, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’4”, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Antoni Rusz in Gerniki, Wilno
Finances: brother-in-law paid for passage, has ticket to final destination, has $4
Destination: brother-in-law Aleksandr Prokopowicz, 6 Bigelow Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: nephew, Adolf Prokopowicz

July 1914 — Czeslaw Baniukiewicz
Name on manifest: Czeslaw Baninkiewicz
Relationship: cousin of Maria Baniukiewicz Prokopowicz
Passenger ship & shipping line: SS Kroonland, Red Star
Departure port & date: Antwerp, June 20, 1914
Arrival port & date: New York, July 1, 1914
Status: age 19, born ca. 1895 in Serneczyn (Szczuczyn), Wilno, single, farm laborer, able to read/write
Physical description: 5’8”, brown hair, brown eyes
Contact in last permanent residence: father, Jan Baniukiewicz, Szczuczyn, Wilno
Finances: paid for own passage, has ticket to final destination, has $17
Destination: brother, Mieczyslaw Baniukiewicz, 65 Millbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts
Traveling companions: none