My grandparents' haplogroups: N1c1 & R1a1 Y-DNA; T2b & H27 mtDNA

There is a lot to be said about all the DNA tests my family members and I have taken over the past three years. I am certain of this from all the probing questions and insightful answers that other people post daily on the DNA-Newbie list. They are analyzing shared cMs, mulling relationship ranges, discussing STRs and SNPs …

Mutations and matches and markers, oh my!

I'm clueless.

Not entirely clueless. I kinda sorta get the really basic basics here, just like I kinda sorta get the precession of the equinoxes, and I am committed to learning as much as my boggled little right brain can hold because DNA completely fascinates me. I want to understand as much as I possibly can about what these tests reveal about my family's past.

I also want to share some of our FamilyTreeDNA findings, and expand upon my prior post's quick list identifying my two grandfathers' Y-DNA haplogroups and my two grandmothers' mtDNA haplogroups. It may seem like I'm overthinking things, but I've been a bit hung up on how to do this. Obviously, I'm ill-equipped to offer a presentation that is even remotely scientific. (I prefer not to make a complete fool of myself on The Internet, Where Everything You Post Remains Online Forever.)

If you want to know more about how, when, and where any of our particular haplogroups fit into tens of thousands of years of human migration, you would do well do simply Google them, for starters; there are many resources online.

I'm keeping it simple: an overview of the tests, a few screen shots, a couple of observations, a couple of disclaimers, and some relevant names, dates, and places from my family tree. All of the villages and parishes referred to are in the Lida region of western Belarus. Szczuczyn is about 30 miles east of Grodno; Radun is about 60 miles farther east, and about 45 miles south of Vilnius, Lithuania. Unlike the men, the women take on new surnames in each generation as the result of marriage. I mention those names in my eternal hope of connecting with long-lost relatives through this blog.

Paternal ancestry

Grandfather Julian Prokopowicz — Y-DNA haplogroup N1c1 (also known as N-M231)

I know nothing about my paternal great-grandfather, Kazimierz Prokopowicz. After 17 years of research, I have not found even one single record documenting his life. No surprise, then, that I have been so interested in gleaning what information I can from the Y-DNA he passed down to his male descendants. Thanks to my paternal uncle's willingness to be tested, I have learned at least that my paternal Prokopowicz men belong to haplogroup N1c1, which is widely found in northern Europe among the western Siberian Yakuts and Nenets, the Finnic and Baltic peoples, the Saami, and some Russians.

The surnames I see among my uncle's 230 Y-DNA matches are overwhelmingly Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Finnish, and Latvian. The closest matches report geographic roots in Lithuania, sweeping southward from Vilnius into the Lida region of Belarus. Some bear surnames that I recognize from the parish records of Radun (where my grandfather was born) and Nacza and Ejszyszki (where several Prokopowicz families are documented from the late 1700s on).

These matches are not recent; the likelihood of sharing a common male ancestor within the last 4 generations is about 61 percent; within the last 8 generations, about 85 percent; and within 12 generations, about 94 percent. Estimating 4 generations per century, those percentages suggest a likelihood of connection sometime in the 1700s.

At 24 generations, or 600 years, the probability of connection jumps to 99.66 percent. Does this mean that my paternal Prokopowicz ancestor was living somewhere in the Wilno/Vilnius region circa 1400? Could it mean that he was part of a tribe or group that migrated there in that time frame? Could it mean something else entirely? I don't know. I would dearly love to test some male Prokopowiczes with roots in the village of Poleckiszki or okolica Mongieliszki, two locations (both on the Lithuania-Belarus border) where I've found numerous Prokopowicz records. Or Turgeliai, Lithuania (in Polish, Turgiele), another Prokopowicz village area that I have not researched at all.

Because the text box accompanying the white push-pin icon representing my uncle would have covered most of Lithuania and Latvia on the map of his matches, I removed it. Imagine it in the northwest corner of Belarus.

Grandmother Anna Blaszko — mtDNA haplogroup T2b

While Y-DNA can suggest relationships within a few hundred years, mitochondrial DNA is more an indication of "deep ancestry" and human migration over thousands of years. It lends itself to "Daughters of Eve" analysis more than to hopes of discovering a cousin (though the latter is possible too). The main insight I have gained from my family's two mtDNA tests is that my grandmothers were descended from two different tribes of women. (If you had known my grandmothers, that would actually come as no surprise.)

Since it was administered in April 2013, the FTDNA mtHVR2toMega test (HVR1, HVR2, Coding Region) has yielded 228 matches for my paternal grandmother's T2b mitochondrial DNA. There are 45 matches at zero steps removed, 67 at 1 step (a prominent African American genealogist and university professor among them), 70 at 2 steps, and 46 at 3 steps removed. Frankly, I don't know what "steps" mean (some sort of mutations, maybe).

At any rate, among the 27 closest matches who identified their maternal line's country of origin, 6 claim Germany, 4 Ireland, 3 each Finland and England, 2 Switzerland, and 1 each Austria, Estonia, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US. The screen shot (at right) of the closest matches shows my grandmother's maternal line with a white marker and her few exact matches in red. She appears alone in western Belarus, but that may be the result of fewer people with roots there having done the mtDNA test.

For the record, in my father's mother's family, these are my direct ancestors:
grandmother — Anna Blaszko, born 1895 in Skladance, Radun parish
great-grandmother — Teresa Bowszys, born 1866 in Skladance, Radun parish
great-great-grandmother — Anna Tumielewicz, born circa 1835 in Narkuny, Żyrmuny parish
great-great-great-grandmother — Katarzyna Komięcz, born circa 1806, probably in Gudele, Żyrmuny parish

Maternal ancestry

Grandfather Aleksandr Prokopowicz — Y-DNA haplogroup R1a1 (also known as R-SRY10831.2)

I'm very fortunate and thankful that my cousin agreed to have his Y-DNA tested. He is the only living direct male descendant of my maternal grandfather. Lacking my cousin's willingness, I would have had to seek out a male descendant of one of my great-grandfather Kazimierz's brothers—not an impossible alternative, and one that I hope to pursue in the future, but it seems optimal to test as close to home as possible.

Compared to my other grandparents' same-sex haplogroup tests, this Y-DNA test has a staggering number of results—931. However, only 5 of them match at more than the 12-marker level, and even those are remote. As I interpret the results, any relationship between this Prokopowicz line and its 931 matches is probably no more recent than the year 1400.

My cousin's test results perhaps serve as an example of the fact that R1a1 is a very large, very common Y-DNA haplogroup, which spread from Eurasia to central Europe and Scandinavia thousands of years ago. The countries with the highest frequency of representation in my cousin's matches are Norway, the central European and southern Slavic countries, and Pakistan.

The screen shot shows the countries of origin claimed by men whose Y-DNA test results most closely match my cousin's. A white push-pin icon, barely visible amid the red and orange icons that cover the map of Europe, represents him, and our Prokopowicz line.

I can't elaborate any further here without stepping into scientific territory where I really don't belong. A graphic labeled "R1a1 Clades (by SNP markers)" on the FTDNA R1a1 and Subclades Y-DNA Project-Background page very clearly illustrates the migration time line of the SNP tree (basically, changes in the DNA sequence at specific locations). To see where the Prokopowiczes fit it, trace the green Central and Eastern Europe/Western Asia Z280 section to the far right column tagged Balts that ends in Z661. If I understand my cousin's SNP test results correctly, the Prokopowiczes represent some subsequent mutation there, yet to be identified.

In my mother's father's family, these are my direct male ancestors:
grandfather — Aleksandr Prokopowicz, born 1878 in Kozarezy, Iszczolna parish
great-grandfather — Kazimierz Prokopowicz, born 1845 in Kozarezy, Iszczolna parish
great-great-grandfather — Stefan Prokopowicz, born 1811 in Kozarezy, Iszczolna parish
great-great-great-grandfather — Ludwik Prokopowicz, born circa 1765, probably in Iszczolna parish
great-great-great-great-grandfather — Stefan Prokopowicz, born circa 1730, probably in Iszczolna parish

My research documenting the descendants of my great-great-great-great-grandfather Stefan Prokopowicz is fairly extensive. Each generation was blessed with sons. It would be wonderful to make contact with any current bearers of the Prokopowicz Y-DNA.

Grandmother Stefania Ruscik — mtDNA haplogroup H27

H27 is a very small (very, very small!), fairly recently identified group. My FTDNA mtHVR2toMega test has yielded just 54 results since 2010. Only one match is zero steps removed, hinting vaguely at a possible common maternal ancestor within the time frame of verifiable, paper-trail research. That tester knows little of her maternal ancestry except that her grandmother was from Poland.

The other 53 matches, 1-3 steps removed, comprise a cluster in eastern England, 3 in Finland, and 1-2 each in Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Sweden, and Turkey. Looking at continental Europe (excluding Scandinavia), my grandmother's line is actually the farthest east. How the heck did it end up there?!?

These are my direct maternal ancestors:

grandmother — Stefania Ruscik, born 1882 in Gierniki, Szczuczyn parish
great-grandmother — Emilia Nowogrodzki, born 1853 in Kozly, Wasiliszki parish
great-great-grandmother — Krystyna Sobol, born 1821 in Gierniki, Szczuczyn parish
great-great-great-grandmother — Anna Staniejko, born 1799 in Janczuki, Szczuczyn parish
great-great-great-great-grandmother — Theresia Waszczynska, born 1756 in Janczuki, Szczuczyn parish
great-great-great-great-great-grandmother —Anna ?, born probably circa 1730, probably in Szczuczyn parish (or possibly elsewhere)

As the map below illustrates, my maternal H27 mtDNA has only one exact match, somewhere in Poland.

Serendipity and Staro Gierniki

This is a story about serendipity and a pink Post-it. Serendipity basically means making a fortunate discovery by accident—kind of like good luck sprinkled with magic dust. Every genealogist I know has a favorite anecdote or two about the role serendipity has played in their research. We love to share these stories because they represent some inexplicable source of help in our quests to learn about our ancestors. To me, serendipity is like some guardian angel dropping a gift in my path, or pointing me in some surprising new direction and whispering in my ear, “Here, look right here!”

Serendipity brought me the pink Post-it affixed to the Scucin/Szczuczyn area of the Belarusian “Grodno and Environs” map shown here. About 12 years ago, when I was looking for contemporary maps of Belarus, I found this one (along with the Welcome to Belarus map detailed on October 21) online at a now-defunct Canadian Web site that I think was called 411maps.com. I wanted to make a credit card purchase, and since there was no way to do a secure transaction online back then, I had to phone Ontario to provide my card number.

The young woman who answered the phone was quite personable, and I got the sense that this map store, whatever its size, was a warm and friendly operation. I took the opportunity to explain why I was buying these maps, and that I did not read Russian or Belarusian, so I didn’t know how well I would be able to understand this Grodno area map when it arrived.

“Do you know what villages you are looking for?” she asked.

“My grandmother’s village of Gierniki,” I said. “It’s near a small city called Szczuczyn.”

“Ah!” she replied. “No, no, not Gierniki. Your grandmother would have lived in Staro Gierniki. I will put a small label on the map for you, showing the name in the Cyrillic letters and in Polish. Now, are there other locations you would like identified?”

Stunned, I named a couple others, then asked, “But how do you know the village I’m looking for is called Staro Gierniki?” To distinguish when two neighboring and similarly named settlements were founded, Polish village names may be modified by staro (old) or nowo (new).

“That is where I am from, that area.  I know the village,” she said simply, as if it were an everyday occurrence for a young Belarusian expatriate in Canada to be handling a credit card transaction on the phone with a Polish American trying to locate a one-street village of 15 houses where her grandmother had been born in 1882.

Really, what are the odds of this happening?

I never learned that young woman’s name, but I think of her every time I see her carefully printed pink Post-its on my map.  Over the years, I have become familiar enough with the Cyrillic alphabet not to need these notes anymore, but I keep and treasure them as a testament to serendipity.

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

My Two Prokopowicz Families

Polish Worcester

I grew up in a culture that was uprooted from rural villages in partitioned Poland, packed into trunks, carried across the Atlantic in steerage, and re-created in the three-decker-lined streets of Worcester, Massachusetts. An industrial city, the second largest in New England, Worcester in 1920 was home to about 180,000 people, 72 percent of them either foreign-born or the children of foreigners. People of nearly 30 nationalities became U.S. citizens in Worcester in the early 1940s. Through the 1960s at least, the dominant ethnic groups—the Irish, Swedes, French Canadian, Italians, Poles, Lithuanians, Jews, Armenians, and Greeks—all laid claim to their own fairly clearly demarcated neighborhoods, typically centered around churches and synagogues. To me, this multicultural city was a magical place, rich in exotic foods, traditions, and languages. I felt like I was growing up in Europe.

Close enough. I grew up in a bilingual household, all of us speaking Polish with my babcia (grandmother), who shared our home. My parents were the first members of their respective families to own property in America. In 1941, they bought a small home on Pakachoag Hill in Quinsigamond Village, a Swedish neighborhood (though in point of fact, 5 of the original 14 households on our street were Polish American) at the southern end of the city near Auburn and Millbury. The Polish neighborhood was a two-mile car or bus ride north. Its heart was Millbury Street and its soul, Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish, aka St. Mary's. Millbury Street was the hub of social, retail, and business life for the thousands of Poles and Polish Americans who lived in its two neighborhoods, The Island and Vernon Hill. My family has belonged to Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish and its various organizations for nearly a century. Several generations of us have graduated from St. Mary's Elementary and High Schools; we're proud to have been educated by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth at New England's only co-ed Polish secondary school.

I am descended from two apparently unrelated Prokopowicz clans. Hopefully, DNA someday will establish whether any blood ties link these two families, who for hundreds of years lived within 35 miles of each other in the Lida district of the kresy (Poland's eastern borderlands), then independently crossed an ocean to settle within 5 blocks of each other in Worcester. If they are related, I may be my own cousin. (This I hope would prompt a call from Oprah.)

While my father's and mother's Prokopowicz families shared the same surname, the circumstances of their lives bore little similarity to each other.

My Maternal Prokopowicz Family

My maternal grandparents, Aleksandr Prokopowicz and Stefania Ruscik, both born ca. 1880, were from small farming villages near Szczuczyn, about 35 miles east of Grodno and southwest of Wilno. They entered an arranged marriage at ages 20 and 16 or so, respectively. By all accounts (including that of my grandmother herself, who told me she had been in love with the village schoolteacher), they had an incompatible, unhappy marriage. Their first child was born ca. 1899. A daughter and son followed. In 1910/11, Aleksandr and his older brother, Jozef, sold the family farm to their two younger sisters and used the money for ship's passage to America. After brief stints in Maynard and New Braintree, Massachusetts, the brothers took factory jobs in Worcester. Their wives and children followed in 1913. More children were born here. My mother, baptized Josefa (but known as Josephine), was the youngest of five siblings. All were educated at the Polish parish school. Alek and Stefania worked steadily in Worcester's industries and resided in the same Meade Street three-decker for about 25 years. They never became American citizens. When Alek died unexpectedly in 1939, he was buried in his brother's family plot in a tree-shaded older section of Notre Dame Cemetery in Worcester. Stefania never remarried, and never wavered from her desire to be laid to rest in a single grave of her own there; her instructions were followed when she died in 1962.

My Paternal Prokopowicz Family

My paternal grandparents, Julian Prokopowicz and Anna Blaszko, both born ca. 1895, were from small farming villages a few miles outside Radun, which in turn is 18 miles northwest of Lida and approximately 40 miles south of Wilno (today Vilnius, Lithuania). It is likely that Julian and Anna knew each other, since they grew up in the same parish. Both were single when they left their parents and siblings behind and immigrated in 1913/14. Julian's destination was Worcester, where he reconnected with the Linga family of Kiwance; Anna's was Lowell, where her Kulikowski cousins had settled. Julian and Anna were married in Lowell in 1916 and established in Worcester before their first child's birth a year later. My father, Alphonse, was the oldest of their nine children; he was 18 when his youngest sister was born in 1935. Julian, his name Americanized to Julius, was a wire drawer at American Steel & Wire South Works for his entire adult life. The family's first home was on Millbury Street, within easy walking distance of the wire mill. They moved three more times over the years, but always stayed on Millbury Street, by 1940 settling into the first floor of a three-decker near Crompton Park. The children attended Millbury Street School and Boys' and Girls' Trade and Commerce High Schools. Julius and Anna became U.S. citizens in the early 1940s. Julius died suddenly in 1951, and Anna remarried within months. She died in 1976. Julius, Anna, and some of their descendants are buried in a family plot at Notre Dame Cemetery.

Relationships, Memories, & the Lack Thereof

My babcia Stefania (also known as Stella) was the only grandparent I was close to. Aleksandr died before I was born, and Julius when I was 4 years old. Though I probably passed Anna's home nearly every day of my life, I never knew her. Perhaps it is not unusual that relationships sometimes get skewed in favor of one side of a family. Whatever the reasons, it is painfully sad. Stefania, a force of nature by any standards, played a major role in my life. I knew Alek and Julius only second-hand, from older family members' stories, and Anna only from occasional phone calls in which I never knew what to say. I have no photos of Stefania before she was in her 50s, and only one of Alek, taken in his coffin. I am grateful to have several photos of Julius and Anna, including their wedding photo, which I treasure.

As a child, I spent a great deal of time with my babcia Stefania. I begged her to tell me stories about her life, especially the farm where she grew up. In retrospect, of course, I wish I had asked more about wedding and baptismal dates and village names and siblings and ancestors, and less about gardens and animals. I did ask better questions as a teenager: Why didn't she wear a wedding ring? Why didn't she ever learn English? I deeply regret never having forged a relationship with Anna. Unlike Stefania, who was given to tearing up photographs and documents, Anna valued hers: the trunk she carried from Poland and an old suitcase held an abundance of photos, greeting cards, letters, notebooks, and other memorabilia. I could have learned so much from her. I could have been as close to Grandma as I was to Babcia.

And so 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. I was fortunate to have grown up in the midst of a huge extended family (my astrological birth chart has Jupiter in the fourth house—essentially, an abundance of family and blessings related to family; that really resonates with me). My dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins shared many memories and details that augmented what I learned from my parents. A maternal cousin, A. John Prokopowicz, began working on our shared roots in the early 1980s; he became my mentor in genealogy in 1997, encouraging me to research my paternal family lines. Since his death only too soon thereafter, I have often felt his spirit guiding and encouraging me in this quest.

Thanks to LDS microfilms, the resources of countless archives and libraries, helpful listserv "gen-pals," and serendipity, I have traced Alek and Stefania's families to the 1700s and Anna's to the early 1800s. I have visited my ancestral villages, which today lie within the borders of western Belarus, and met long-lost cousins who live there still. But I remain challenged by two major goals: to trace Julian's family roots (his father's family does not appear in the Radun parish records), and to find a photograph of Aleksandr actually taken during his lifetime. The search continues.