I had searched for my Great Aunt Mary in the 1910 US Federal Census without much luck .  Much to my surprise Barbara Poole, who contributed a GuestBlog on May 20, found the record!  I guess there’s a lesson here… just because you can’t find someone in the census doesn’t mean they’re not enumerated . Sometimes searching again at a later time or having someone else look for the record can result in success! This isn’t the first time someone helped me find a record I couldn’t find on my own . Genealogists seem to be some of the most helpful and supportive people around, and they seem to delight in helping someone else break down their brick walls almost as much as they enjoy their own discoveries . Thanks again Barbara!
1910 US Federal Census Record for Mary Danko
The 1910 Census Record for Mary Danko shows that she was working as a servant in the home of the Cusenberg [?] family at 48 Coral Street in Worcester, Massachusetts . This address is not far from where my grandfather, Michael Danko, was living at the time, and it is also not far from Our Lady of Częstochowa Church, the Polish parish in Worcester . The census shows that she was 22 years old in 1910, indicating that she was born in 1887-1888, a date that agrees with all the other birth information I’ve found for Mary after she immigrated . The Census record also shows that she was single, she was from Austria, she was Polish, and she immigrated in 1909 . All this information is consistent with what I already know about her.
This information is, however, still at odds with the date of birth I found on her birth/baptismal, emigration, and immigration records . This discrepancy begs the question again; did my grandfather have two sisters named Marya and Marianna? I took another look at the Ellis Island records for 1909.
A search of the Ellis Island records using Stephen Morse’s forms at http://www.stevemorse.org/ provided three hits for the year 1909:
- Marianna Danko, age 25, from Nienadowa, Austria
- Marya Danko, age 27, from Nienadowa, Austria
- Marya Danko, age 22, from Wesoła, Austria
I believe that the first of these entries is the record for my Great Aunt Mary, and I know that the second of these entries is the record for my grandmother, Mary . These two Marys listed my grandfather as brother and husband, respectively, and said that they were going to stay with my grandfather in Worcester.
The third immigrant is an enigmatic Marya Danko who was from Wesoła, Austria and traveled to Chicago . Oddly enough, the manifest for this Marya Danko is the right age to be a match with my Great Aunt Mary (22 years old in 1909, meaning she was born in 1886-1887) . She listed her nearest relative as her father Jocolry [?] Danko living in Wesola . This is clearly not my Great Aunt Mary, since Great Aunt Mary’s father Jakub died before 1909.
Passenger Manifest for Mary Danko from Wesoła - Left
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Passenger Manifest for Mary Danko from Wesoła - Right
However, there are some interesting coincidences here:
- The village of Wesoła is located near my ancestors’ village of Nienadowa in Poland.
- Marya Danko from Wesoła stated that she was going to stay with her brother-in-law Jestrycj [?] Majda [?] in Chicago (Majda could be a misspelling of the surname Wejda) .  My grandfather’s cousin Marcin Wejda accompanied Marianna Danko to Worcester.
- Marya Danko from Wesoła was traveling with Franciszka Sowa . My great grandmother’s maiden name was Agnieszka Sowa.
While Marya Danko from Wesoła is not my Great Aunt Mary, perhaps there is a family connection there, nonetheless . There are still mysteries here, but one mystery solved is where Great Aunt Mary was and what she was doing in 1910!
Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko
Hallo, My name is Lidia, I’m 29 years old. I don’t speak English very well so first forgive me my mistakes.
If I could make your search easier, I must say that is really low probability that Marya Dańko from Wesoła could be your Great Aunt Mary.
My mother’s family lives in WesoÅ‚a near Dynów. Maybe both families (from WesoÅ‚a and from Nienadowa) are connected but this connection might have very long history. I suppose that we must separate them and continue searching on right direction. Marya could be my mother’s Great Aunt. My mother’s Great Father’s name was Wawrzyniec DaÅ„ko. He married Katarzyna Wielgus (?) and they had seven children: Maria (was born about 1914), Ignacy, Tomasz, Józef, Magdalena, Wiktoria (my Great Mother, born in 1919) and Salomea (she’s the only one who lives now). My family lives in WesoÅ‚a, Barycz and Ryta Górka. They are family connected with such families like: Majda, Sowa, Kustra.
Hello Lidia!
Thank you for writing! There aren’t very many people with the surname DaÅ„ko, and it’s a wonderful surprise to hear from someone with DaÅ„ko ancestors!
I really didn’t think that Marya DaÅ„ko from WesoÅ‚a was my great aunt, and I have very good evidence that the 27 year old Marya DaÅ„ko from Nienadowa was my great aunt.
I plan to write more about the DaÅ„kos of Poland on my blog. I have information on the DaÅ„kos of Nienadowa as far back as 1787, and I’d love to hear more about your DaÅ„ko ancestors.
By the way, your English is excellent, ale ja mowiÄ™ po Polsku nie zybt dobrze!
Steve