Cybulski Family Search

As a small boy, growing up in N.J., some of my favorite memories are of going to my Grandmother Mae Cybulski's house to visit.  She lived with my great grandmother, Julia, in the country, in the house my Dad grew up in. Dad would sometimes take me out into the woods where he played as a small boy.  He showed me an old log structure that he and his brothers and friends, had built. He also showed me some remaining names, and images, they had carved into some trees. I did not see things like this in the suburbs.  I found out many years later that the house was actually owned by my great grandmother, but she had allowed my grandmother to live there with my father and his brothers, after my grandfather divorced my grandmother, when my Dad was about 12 years old. Many times, my Dad's Aunt Gene and uncle Andy, were also visiting at the house.  They would all sit at the kitchen table talking and laughing.  Hearing the grown -ups speaking Polish was really cool, except that I had no idea what was being said.

I think that it was those memories that caused me to begin to research my family roots many years later. When I first began my search, the only living relatives were my father, and his uncle Andy's wife, Millie.  My Dad did not have much contact with his father after the divorce, and his grandfather had died before he was born.  So my Dad did not have very much information about our family roots, as applies to where the family came from, other than Poland.  His aunt Millie told me that all she knew was that the family was from Warsaw, Poland. I began my search at a local Morman Church Family Library.  A lady there suggested I start with the 1920 U.S. Census. About a week later, I held a copy of it in my hands, and found out that my great grandfathers name was John, and also the dates that his family immigrated to the USA, and the dates of his Naturalization. I thought this was going to be easy!

 
I accessed Ellis Island Records .com, to search for the manifest of their arrival in the USA. Nothing positive turned up for John Cybulski, or for Julia Cybulski.  I spoke with my Dad and he told me that he remembers seeing a paper with his grandmothers name spelled " Cybulska ".  I found out that , that was the female spelling. When I tried that spelling, I got a hit.  My great grandmother was listed as Julya Cybulska, and she arrived at Ellis Island in February 1909.  She was going to meet her husband " Antoni ", who lived in Brooklyn, N.Y.  It also showed her last residence as Wloclawek, Poland, and her closest relative was her father, Franz Dolecki, also from Wloclawek.  She had arrived with her two sons, Antoni, my Dad's uncle, and Franz, his father and my grandfather. Ages 6 + 4.  So with this one document, I found out that there was different info about my great grandfathers first name, my great grandmothers last name, and different info about where they were from.  So much for this being easy!

I searched for Antoni Cybulski and got a hit.  An Antoni Cybulski had arrived at Ellis Island in May, 1906, he was married, but no wife name. The age listed was good, so I thought this might be him.  There were two places listed for his last residence; Suwalki, Poland, and Wloclawek, Poland. It showed that he was going to meet a "cousin", Wlaydslaw Zlakowski, in Pennsylvania, and that he had $ 7  on him. So it appears that my great grandparents came to the USA at different times.  I've not found out anything about his cousin, but I started writing to the Polish Archives, first in Suwalki, then Wloclawek. I next researched the 1910 US census, using the address listed on the Ellis Island manifest.  I was able to find Antoni and Julia "Sabruski " at the address.  They had 2 sons, Antoni, Frank, and a daughter Genevive. Other than the mispelling of the last name, which I attribute to the census taker, this info looked good to me.

As I had mentioned earlier, my Dad had an uncle Andy, which I found out was short for Anthony ( Antoni ) and an aunt Gene, short for Genevive, and  his father, my grandfather Frank ( Franz ). I wrote the US government for a copy of my great grandparents naturalization record. When they responded, I was told that there was no record of naturalization for the names I had submitted, Antoni ( Anthony ) and Julia ( Julya ) Cybulski ( Cybulska ). I then recieved a reply from the Suwalki archive, but nothing matched my information.  The reply from the Wloclawek archive was a gold mine!  It had copies of my great grandparents Birth certificates, from Wloclawek, and their Marriage certificate, and the Birth certificates of my grandfather and his older brother, from Pruszkow, Poland.  I'm told it is a subarb of Warsaw.  The birth certificates for my great grandparents listed their parents names, so this was also giving me another generation back. I recently recieved a reply from the Wloclawek archive, stating that they have found birth certificates for my g g grandmother, and my g g grandfathers first wife, whom I knew nothing about, and the 7 children they had before his first wife died.  There is also a birth certificate for a brother of my great grandfather, whom I never knew of, and also a death certificate for my g g grandfather.  I am able to search in both directions now, for g g g grandparents, but also forward for any family that may still live in Poland.

I have found out first hand that it takes a lot of digging, and patience, when you start searching your family roots.  I have been at this for over ten years, on and off.  There certainly is a lot of waiting, but the rewards are fantistic.  I can't wait to see what comes up next.

Author: James Cybulski

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Cybulski family is looking for their relatives in Poland

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