Archive for the ‘Mystery’ Category

I had already updated about locating my grandfather’s death record and confirming his date of death and the fact that he passed away while my father was an infant. What that research uncovered was that records from my father’s village are extremely limited, both church and civil records.

My Great Grandmother

The church death record listed my great grandfather’s name as Wasyl (Basilius, in Latin) and my great grandmother’s name as Anna.  However, I know my great grandfather’s surname was Iwaniw as was my great grandmother’s married surname.  But I don’t know what her birth name was. It’s not referenced on the death record.  So, now I have to determine the best method to find my great grandmother’s birth name and details.  Without actual records I’ll have to estimate dates and events and search from there.  More or less trial and error.  Were they married in Lutowiska?  Or did they move from another location?  If I can find their marriage record it will give a wealth of information.

My Grandmother

My grandmother’s name that I have is Matrona Smolii/Smoliw.  There are 2 different spellings because my father used both spelling on different documents.  His displace person registration record lists his mother’s name as Matrona Smolii.  He lists her name as Matrona Smoliw on his SS-5 (Social Security application) and this spelling is used on his death certificate.  I’m also search the different genealogy web sites (Ancestry, Family Search, and My Heritage) for a Matrona Smolii/Smoliw and have cone up empty.  To me this means that there is no one else researching the Smolii/Smoliw family line.

So, to this end I’m going to be searching out the marriage record/certificate for my grandparents.  This should give me information of my grandmother and, hopefully, both of my great grandparents.  I was also thinking about finding my grandfather’s birth record/certificate but this would only give me information pertaining to him and I believe the records are limited in date range.  But this will be alternative research path.

There are so many tasks to be accomplished when conducting researching into ones family history.  I have confirmed the names of my father’s parents’ names, I have also confirmed the names of my mother’s parents’.  I have filled in the gaps of family members within the family tree.  I have confirmed the death of my paternal grandfather in 1919.

So, now I’m trying to address certain mysteries that I have no details pertaining to them.  I’m going to expand on one of those family mysteries here.  Back in the early 1960’s my family packed up the car and drove about 6 hours to Detroit, Michigan to attend a wedding of a bride who was named Iwaniw.  That’s all I remember from that time (I was between 7 and 10 years old at the time, I think).  My father, at that time, said that the bride and her family were not related.  If true, then why would my parents undertake such a long trip to attend a stranger’s wedding in Windsor, Canada?  What’s the connection with my family?  If not relatives, are they close friends?  I’ve never heard my parents speak of friends named Iwaniw in either Detroit or Windsor.

My mother spoke of a childhood friend who lived in Detroit (we stayed with them while there for the wedding) but never about any Iwaniws that ere close family friends or relatives in that area.  I remember travelling with my parents to visit family friends in Toronto Canada, Troy New York, Kingston Canada, but this was the first (and last) time we travelled to Detroit Michigan/Windsor Canada.  My mother had brothers living in New Jersey.  All the information that I have from that trip is that the bride’s last name was Iwaniw, her parents were divorced, and there seemed to some drama that the bride’s father was going to walk her down the aisle.  I remember that we crossed the US-Canadian border multiple times that weekend.  We stayed with family friends named Andrijyashko <sic> in Detroit, who had 2 boys; one was close to my age and the other one was considerably older.  That was the last time we ever visited them or ever heard of the Iwaniws in that area.

What I’m trying to do is fill in the details in my family narrative.