About the Author

Stephen J. Danko, PhD, PLCGS
Stephen J. Danko, PhD, PLCGS

Steve Danko was born in upstate New York and has lived in New York, Vermont, Oregon, Nebraska, and California .  He began seriously researching his family history twelve years ago and, in the course of that research, Steve has studied 20th Century American Records as well as 17th, 18th and 19th Century Polish Records .  He has conducted research on location in Poland and Lithuania and has visited the villages in which his immigrant ancestors lived.

In addition to research on his own family, Steve has conducted client research in records from the United States, Poland, Germany, Italy, and Canada. His research has led to an appreciation of history and languages. He has formally studied Latin, German, Polish, and Portuguese, and has acquired a working knowledge of several other languages. He is the administrator for the Danko and Niedzialkowski One-Name Studies and the Danko and Niedzialkowski DNA Projects.

Steve writes a daily genealogy research weblog where he posts images of the documents important in his family history and discusses the genealogical research process. His blog was named by ProGenealogists as one of the 25 most popular genealogy blogs for 2009, by Family Tree Magazine as one of the 40 best genealogy blogs for 2010, and by MyHeritage.com as one of the top 100 genealogy sites for 2010. In the course of writing his blog, Steve has reconnected with lost cousins in Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In 2009, Steve completed requirements for the Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies (PLCGS) from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies in Toronto with specialties in both United States records and Canadian records.

He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Gesher Galicia, the Polish Genealogical Society of America, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the National Genealogical Society.

Steve lectures on genealogy throughout the United States. See his speaking schedule for a list of recent and upcoming speaking engagements on a variety of lecture topics.

Steve may be contacted by email at: stephen@stephendanko.com .

Copyright © 2006-2011 by Stephen J. Danko

10 Responses to About the Author

  1. Michal Niedzialkowski says:

    Hi
    I’m interested in the history of the name Niedzialkowski.
    How can I take part in your research?
    Kind Regards
    Michal Niedzialkowski

  2. Sean Carroll says:

    Hi Steve;

    I am a History teacher who lives at 8 Cardinal Road, Worcester, In a house I purchased from Irene and Peg Rawding, Brother of Allister Rawding. I had Googled my address to get a plot plan for my house and up popped a photo of the gravestone of the Rawding family located in St. John’s cemetery , Worcester. I saw it was attached to a website about your family history and just thought I would send you a note. I have lived here since 2001, Peg and Irene were wonderful ladies who dearly missed their brother, and were excited to move to Wells, Maine to be with another brother. I occasionally check on the grave-site as it is near my late wife;s lot.

    If you would like any more info, please email!

    Sean Carroll

  3. Joe Fiorino says:

    Steve, I stumbled across your blog regarding pics of VI. Strangely, I knew your Dad, he was with me when my father died at St. Peter’s Hospital, July 4th, 2006. He was very soothing to me and consoling when he shared personal thoughts about me, from my father, in which I never knew about. Your Dad and your Mom were good friends with my Father, Lou and my Mother, Elaine. I also had the occasion to be in their company at other times. We had conversations about the scouting program, (I was an assistant scoutmaster at Troop 2, St. Andrew’s. I enjoyed your blog and feel free to contact me at any time.

  4. Jenifer Sewell (Dudzik) says:

    My father Stefan Dudzik also came from the village of Nastasiv, only then it was in Poland. He came to Australia with his brother, Antony Dudzik, after the Second World War. My husband and I visited the village a few years ago. It was very emotional as my father seldom spoke of his life during the war. He passed away twenty years ago and I would have loved to visit his village with him.

  5. Jeffrey Abel says:

    Just a question. My son kept pushing me to do a “roots” trip with him. In the end we restricted it to where I grew up, went to school etc. But when I thought of tracing my Lithuanian ancestors I began to realize that my ancestral past could get rather messy.

    I notice 6 generations descended from your theoretical Dziurzyńska; you also relate to two other ancestral names. But if you go back 6 generations [as does your tree] you have over 1000 ancestors. Does this not become unmanageable? And if you limit it to a particular line, like Dziurzyńska, how do you decide? What makes THIS particular search (more) meaningful?

    Despite my confusion, I find your blog very interesting.

  6. John L Griffiths says:

    Hi Steve, I am contacting you because my brother in law is having difficulty in tracing his family in Russia. He uses his mothers name which is Polish but his father was Russian. He needs to find someone in St Petersburg and has located some information but he cannot send the payment as they only accept roubels and won’t use Western Union or banks etc. Is there someone he could make contact with in St P who may be able to act on his behalf. He immigrated to Australia as a child and has no contacts in Russia. Any advise much appreciated. John

  7. Bob Dombrowski says:

    Hello Steve

    I,m trying to find info on my Grand Father Staneslaw Dombrowski or sometimes he spelled it “Dubroski” He was born May 6 1974,arrived in America (Baltimore) on November 24 1903 from Zalewne Russian Poland. I plan to write a book on growing up Polish in Detroit.
    Thanks
    Bob Dombrowski

  8. Elizabeth Szeremeta says:

    Hi Stephen Danko,
    I read with considerable interest your presentation on the village of Nastasow. My father was born there in 1913. My grandfather was the director of the Credit union, Kasa Stewczyka, in that town.
    What struck me as curious was the fact that according to genealogical testing done by Family Finder, I am a 5th cousin to a Francis Joseph Danko. Do you know if he was from this region also?

  9. Andrzej Mossakowski says:

    Hello, this is my genealogical tree from Różan directa .

    http://batiuk.genealogiapolska.pl/1/mossakowski/showtree.php?tree=Mossakowski

    Regards Andrzej Mossakowski

  10. Suzanne C. says:

    Hi Steve,
    I am an art history student and just found your blog with photos of the Pantheon, my love! Thank you!
    — Suzanne

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