PolishOrigins

Personal Page: srdodge

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All surnames Kobylarczyk, Nowobielski
All places Gron, Bialka Tatrazansk
Research notes My grandfather, Joseph Kobylarczyk, emigrated to the US from Gron, Galicia, when he was a teenager.  He came with a friend, Joseph Bochnak and his Uncle, Jan Nowobielski, aboard the Kron Prince Wilhelm from Bremen, Germany.  Grandpa's father, Matthew Kobylarczyk, had come years earlier and worked in Chicago as a street cleaner.  His wife Anna (Nowobielski) Kobylarczyk, had also come earlier.  She worked outside of Hannibal, Missouri, (Illasco) cleaning homes for the workers of Portland Cement factory.  Grandpa joined her and worked for that factory for a short time before moving to Thorp, WI to join other Nowobielski relatives.  A sister, Anna, had stayed behind in Poland with Nowobielski relatives.  She came with the relatives to the US.  She would marry Joseph Remenius and raise a family in Gary, Indiana.

Grandpa bought a 120 acre farm east of Thorp.  He took care of his mother until she died.  His father Matthew continued to work in Chicago and make periodic trips to Thorp.  He was killed in a tornado there in 1924 while picking mushrooms near the home of Jan Nowobielski.

Granpa Kobylarcyk sold the farm to my father, Raymond Kobylarczyk. (Ray was the 10th of eleven children born to Joseph and Julia (Polnaszek) Kobylarczyk.  He in turn sold the farm to my brother Jerry, who presently lives on that farm.

This summer my daughter and I are traveling to Poland to try to locate where my grandfather grew up.  I know he was a gorale.  I have found the names of Kobylarczyk, Nowobielski, and Bochnak, as well as Tobola on the St. Szymon & Tadeusz Church registar.  I am looking to find birth or baptismal records for  these names in this parish.  Also, about 15 years ago a man contacted an aunt living with my Grandmother, saying he was a Kobylarczyk relative trying to locate Joseph Kobylarczyk.  (If only he could have spoken with my father.)  Grandpa died in 1968.  Anyway, he told her that the home that Grandpa had grown up on had become part of a ski resort.  We have no idea who this gentleman might have been.

I am looking for suggestions in our quest for family information.  We will have two days out of our ten days in Poland to devote to the Gron and Bialka area as we look for family information.  Thank you in advance for any help you can give us.