Steve’s Genealogy Blog

Photographs show us people as they were at a specific point in time. As such, we can see what our ancestors looked like, what clothes they wore, and what they did.

Old photographs of ourselves or of events in which we participated can do something even more. They can evoke latent memories and stir in us emotions long forgotten.

That’s the case of this photograph of my sisters and me from February 1960.

I think I remember the day this photograph was taken. I certainly remember the outfits my sisters and I were wearing. This photo is only one of two in which all three of us were wearing hats.

Three in Hats

SOURCE: Three in Hats (Albany, Albany County, New York). Photographed in February 1960 by either Francis J. Danko or Jane A. Danko.

My younger sister’s hat is something like a bonnet. Mine has flaps to keep my ears warm.

My older sister’s headwear is just a narrow band of fuzzy material around her head and over her ears. Her headwear matches her muff, an accessory in which she took great pride.

While looking at lots of old photos of my sisters and me, I’ve noticed one peculiar phenomenon. My older sister rarely looked directly at the photographer, but usually seemed to be preoccupied with something outside the view of the camera. Her distracted appearance, while no doubt disappointing my parents who would have preferred a photo of all three of us looking directly at the camera, lends charm to the photo, revealing something about my sister’s personality - a keen observer of everything occurring around her.

Written for the 5th Edition of Smile for the Camera - Crowning Glory.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

Mother and Son

SOURCE: Mother and Son (Albany, Albany Co., New York). Photographed about 1950 by Jane A. Danko.

This snapshot of my father, Francis J. Danko with his mother, Marianna Dziurzyńska, was taken in about 1950 in Washington Park, Albany, New York. From the way the two of them are dressed, I guess that this was taken on a Sunday after going to church.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

Continuing my efforts to record the locations of events in my database as they were known at the time of the event, I’ve researched the geography and history of the area where my Dańko ancestors lived, and I’ve developed a system for recording the events in several different geographical areas.

The information I’ve compiled will assist me in correctly recording both the locations of events and the source citations themselves.

The names of the locations in which my Dańko ancestors lived changed over the past two and a half centuries, but much less than the names of the locations in which my Niedziałkowski ancestors resided.

Prior to the first partition of Poland, my Dańko ancestors lived in Nienadowa, Powiat przemyski, Wojewódstwo ruskie, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

On 05 Aug 1772, the date of the first partition of Poland, the area in which the Dańkos lived was annexed by Austria and the name of the place in which they lived became Nienadowa, Powiat przemyski, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria.

In 1804, Austria extended its reach and became the Austrian Empire. The name of the location where the Dańkos lived became Nienadowa, Powiat przemyski, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire.

After the defeat of the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Austria attempted to reinforce the power of the empire by negotiating with the Magyars.

After the Ausgleich of February 1867, the Austrian Empire became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and so the Dańko family resided in Nienadowa, Powiat przemyski, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

World War I ended in 1918. 

On 28 Jun 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles, Poland reemerged as the Second Polish Republic. The Dańkos now resided in Nienadowa, Powiat przemyski, Wojewódstwo lwowskie, Second Polish Republic.

The names of these places didn’t immediately change on the exact dates cited. However, the events that occurred on those dates were pivotal for the resulting changes in place names. For the purpose of my genealogy database, I will use the dates cited as the defining dates for the changes noted above.

This summary should provide me with a good reference for recording the names of the places in which my Dańko ancestors lived at various points in time.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

Trying to select my favorite photograph for the next Smile for the Camera Carnival was difficult, but while browsing through my photo albums, this photograph of my sister and me on one of the gliders in Washington Park just struck my fancy.

On the Glider

SOURCE: On the Glider (Albany, Albany Co., New York). Photographed by either Francis J. Danko or Jane A. Danko in July 1957.

During my youth, my parents often took my sisters and me to Washington Park. I remember how I wanted to play on the gliders every time we visited the park.

I love the expressions on our faces in this photo. No wide smiles of delight (how delighted can you get on a glider?), but you can tell we’re enjoying ourselves. I have my eyes fixed on the photographer, while my sister has found something fascinating to her left, out of the camera’s view.

And take a look at my shoes. Now, I don’t know much about fashions for little boys in 1957, but I suspect I was wearing hand-me-downs from my older sister.

Written for the 4th Edition of Smile for the Camera.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

While at my local Family History Center this past week, I discovered that the center has maps of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I found the map for the Dubiecko-Nienadowa region where my paternal ancestors lived.

Military Map of the Dubiecko-Nienadowa Region - 1894

SOURCE: Militär-Landesaufnahme und Spezialkarte der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie [Military Ordnance and Special Maps of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy]. Österreich: Militärgeographisches Institut, 1894. Family History Library microfiche 6,000,218, image 6. Family History Library, Salt lake City, Utah.

Click on the map to enlarge it. 

This map shows in great detail the area of Nienadowa (highlighted by a rectangular box around the name of the village) where my grandparents (and earlier Dańko ancestors) lived. the map even shows the locations of the individual buildings in the village. I don’t know which house was my great grandparents’ home, but since this map was dated 1894, I know that they were living in one of them.

The map also shows the village of Dubiecko where the parish church was located, the location of the San River to the south, and the locations of several other small villages in the area.

This map is similar to the online maps from the 3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary, but is dated about a decade earlier.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

As I mentioned in the two previous posts, I’ve begun DNA studies on my Danko and Niedzialkowski lines. Not all the results are in yet, but the results so far have provided good start on understanding my genetic ancestry. At the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, I was able to meet with two of the folks from Family Tree DNA (the company who is conducting the tests on my family) who were kind enough to help explain the results obtained so far.

Max Blankfeld and Associate from Family Tree DNA

SOURCE: Max Blankfeld and Associate from Family Tree DNA (Burbank, Los Angeles Co., California). Photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 29 Jun 2008.

Because of the way DNA is inherited, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) tests provide information on a strictly maternal line (my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother …) and the Y-Chromosomal (Y-DNA) tests provide information on a strictly paternal line (my father’s father’s father’s father …). For this reason, each of these tests provides information on only a small portion of my genetic makeup.

On my own DNA, I have had three tests performed:

1. A 67 marker Y-DNA test for short tandem repeats (SNPs)
2. A Y-DNA single nucleotide polymorphism test (SNP)
3. A mtDNA test that sequenced my entire mitochondrial genome

Three of my Niedzialkowski/Niedzialkoski cousins also had a 67 marker Y-DNA test.

My father recently sent in a DNA sample for a mtDNA test that will sequence his entire mitochondrial genome.

The results indicate that:

1. based on the STR analysis of my Y-DNA, my strictly paternal line belongs to haplogroup R1b;
2. based on the SNP analysis of my Y-DNA, my strictly paternal line haplogroup can be refined to R1b1b2g, otherwise known as R1b-U106;
3. based on the STR analysis of my Niedzialkowski cousins’ Y-DNA, my mother’s paternal line belongs to haplogroup R1a; and
4. based on the sequence of my mtDNA, my strictly maternal line belongs to haplogroup W.

When my father’s mtDNA analysis is complete, I will also know the haplogroup to which my father’s maternal line belongs.

Thus, when my father’s results are in, I will have genetic information on my ancestry from all four of my grandparents. I know of relatives who can provide mtDNA from my father’s father’s mother’s line, and I hope one of those relatives will be willing to participate in this study.

Using the Sosa-Stradonitz Method for numbering ancestors, I have highlighted in bold those ancestors whose mtDNA (women) or Y-DNA (men) will be covered by the tests I’ve already conducted, and I have highlighted in italics those ancestors whose genetic signatures will be covered by the tests in progress or which I hope to conduct:

1. Subject
2. Father
3. Mother
4. Father’s father
5. Father’s mother
6. Mother’s father
7. Mother’s mother
8. Father’s father’s father
9. Father’s father’s mother
10. Father’s mother’s father
11. Father’s mother’s mother
12. Mother’s father’s father
13. Mother’s father’s mother
14. Mother’s mother’s father
15. Mother’s mother’s mother

So, what’s the point of all this? Through these DNA studies, I hope to provide genetic evidence for the information I obtain through traditional genealogical methods, I hope to confirm or disprove some tenuous linkages, and I hope to find missing cousins.

In a larger context, I hope to discover if the various Niedzialkowski families come from the same genetic stock, and I also hope to learn if any of the many Danko families in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Hungary have a common genetic ancestry.

Wish me luck!

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

My research indicates that Katarzyna Dańko is probably my second cousin, twice removed. She was born 10 Mar 1879 in Nienadowa, Galicia (Austria Poland), one of 14 children of Józef Dańko and Marianna Chruścicka.

Franciszek Tropiło and Katarzyna Dańko Tropiło

SOURCE: Franciszek Tropiło and Katarzyna Danko Tropilo (Galicia - Austria Poland). Photographed by unknown photographer in about 1915.

On 09 Feb 1898, shortly before her 19th birthday, Katarzyna married Jan Tropiło. While most couples living in that time and place had large families, Katarzyna and Jan had only one child of their own, a son named Franciszek, born on 21 Aug 1904 in Nienadowa. Still, circumstances and fate provided Katarzyna and her husband with a second child, a baby girl left abandoned in front of their house. Katarzyna and Jan named the child Marysia and raised her as their own.

The family moved to a farm in Packowice, Galicia (now located in Ukraine) where they raised cows, horses, pigs, chickens, geese, rye, wheat, beans, oats, corn, barley, potatoes, and beets on 13 mórgs of land (about 14.5 acres).

With a large number of animals on the farm, Katarzyna earned a reputation as a veterinarian, although a literal translation from the Polish is closer to “quack veterinarian”. She was thought to have supernatural powers and some considered her a witch. When passing her house with their carts, the local villagers would quicken their steps “just in case”. One story relates an incident when Katarzyna and her son Franciszek were on their way to mass at the local church. As they approached the church, they noticed a large group of people standing with their backs to them. Katarzyna whispered to her son, “Watch. They will all turn around and look at us now”. At that very moment, everyone turned around to look at the pair.

Katarzyna’s husband Jan died in Feb 1930 and Katarzyna continued to run the farm on her own.

On 17 Sep 1939, at the start of World War II, the Red Army entered Packowice and, in 1940, Soviet Soldiers entered Katarzyna’s home to arrest Katarzyna and Marysia for “exile in administrative mode”. No reason was given for their arrest, but the family believes they were exiled because they owned a large farm. The two were sent to Omsk Oblast in southwestern Siberia where they were left to fend for themselves.

Katarzyna, suffering both in mind and body, died in Siberia in 1941. She was buried on the steppes in a casket purchased with her daughter’s most important possession - an eiderdown quilt.

Written for the 51st Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

I know very little about my mother’s education, except that she attended public elementary and high school in Worcester, Massachusetts.

I don’t know the names of the schools she attended or what her favorite subjects were. I do know she had an excellent command of the English language and an aptitude for mathematics. She also possessed an incredible attention to detail.

I do have two school photographs of her. I believe the first was taken on 06 Oct 1936, meaning that she was 14 years old and probably in the 8th grade.

Jennie Niedzialkoski in Elementary School - 1936

SOURCE: Jennie Niedzialkoski in Elementary School - 1936 (Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts). Photographed 06 Oct 1936.

The second photo was probably taken upon her graduation from high school, meaning that it was taken in about 1940.

Jennie Niedzialkoski in High School - about 1940

SOURCE: Jennie Niedzialkoski in Elementary School - 1940 (Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts). Photographed about 1940.

Sometime, I’ll have to ask my aunt and uncles about my mother’s education. I suspect they’ll remember. After all, they probably attended the same schools she did.

In the 1940s, after graduating from high school, my mother worked for Graton & Knight Company in Worcester. Her job was variously described in the Worcester City Directories as Clerk, Computer Operator, and Keypunch Operator. I don’t know what business the firm Graton & Knight was in or why they would need to hire a Computer Operator or Keypunch Operator at a time when very few people even knew what these terms meant. Nonetheless, my remarkable mother was working with computers in the 1940s.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

My paternal grandfather, Michał Dańko, died in 1953. I never met him because he died before I was born. His wife, Marianna Dziurzyńska, died in 1969. We called her “Nanny”.

My maternal grandfather, Konstanty Niedziałkowski, died in 1978. We called him “Pa”. His wife, Helena Chmielewska, died in 1980. We called her “Ma”.

All were gone before I asked any of them a single question about their lives.

So, I’m inviting them all over for dinner. Nothing fancy. Perhaps a little kiełbasa, some pierogi, and maybe even a few gołąbki if I can find the time to make them.

I have my questions ready for them. I’ll try not to get too personal, and I suspect Ma will just answer all the questions with “What do you want to know that for? The past is dead!”.

Growing Up

• Where were you born? What was the countryside around your home like?
• Who were your parents? What did they look like?
• Who were your brothers and sisters? What were they like?
• What did your family do for entertainment? 
• Where did you go to school? How many years of education did you receive?
• What games did you play when you were young?
• Did you work when you were young? What chores did you have?
• Where did you go to church? What was the church like? How did you feel about God?

Coming to America

• Why did you decide to come to America? How did you arrange your trip?
• How did you get from your home to the ship? What was the voyage like?
• What do you remember about Ellis Island?
• Where did you stay when you first arrived in America?
• Why did you settle in Worcester, Massachusetts?
• Did you have any friends or relatives in America when you immigrated? Did any friends or relatives come to America after you?
• Did you keep in touch with any family members after you arrived in America?
• In what social activities did you participate in America? Did you belong to any Polish groups?
• Was life in America what you thought it would be? Are you glad you came to this country?

Getting Married and Raising Children

• How did you meet your spouse? Tell me about the marriage proposal.
• Tell me about the births of your children. Were you ready to become parents when your first child was born?
• Did any of your children have any special talents? Were any of them troublemakers?
• Where did your children attend school?
• Where did you go to church? Were you active in any church groups?
• Where did you live in Worcester? What were these houses like?
• Where did you work? What were working conditions like? How much were you paid?

The World Wars

• What thoughts went through your minds when World War I broke out? What about World War II?
• Did you worry about your family back home? Did you hear anything about them during the wars?
• How did you feel about your sons going to fight in World War II? What did your sons think about going to fight in the war?
• Did you celebrate when the wars ended? How did you celebrate?

That’s probably more than enough for one evening.

After dinner, Pa will light up a cigar and relax. Ma will go to the kitchen, wash the dishes, and hum cheerfully as she does so. Nanny Dańko will probably sit down and enjoy watching Animal Planet or Dancing with the Stars on TV. I’m not sure what Grandfather Dańko will want to do.

And, as they leave at the end of the evening, Nanny Dańko will slip me a freshly washed and ironed one-dollar-bill. She always disliked dirty money.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

Inspired by John D. Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections (as mentioned by Blaine Bettinger of the Genetic Genealogist), I’ve used Google Maps to plot the earliest known locations of the contributors to my DNA. These locations are probably correct for the locations of my ancestors in about 1808, although some of my ancestors were in these same locations much earlier.

The Earliest Known Locations of Stephen J. Danko’s Ancestors

The yellow marker is Likiškės, Lithuania, the earliest known location of my Chmielewski ancestors and of my Wojnowski ancestors - the source of my mitochondrial DNA.

The purple marker is Mosaki, Poland, the earliest known location of my Chotkowski ancestors.

The red marker hiding behind the purple one is Klonowo, Poland, the earliest known location of my Niedzialkowski ancestors. This is also the source of my maternal grandfather’s Y-DNA. This Y-DNA matches the R1a haplogroup, a group to which more than 50% of Polish men belong.

The blue marker is Warszawa, Poland, the earliest known location of my Gutowski ancestors.

The orange marker is Sielnica, Poland, the earliest known location of my Dziurzyński ancestors. This is also the source of my father’s mitochondrial DNA.

The turquoise marker hiding behind the orange marker is Nienadowa, Poland, the earliest known location of my Dańko ancestors. This is also the source of my Y-DNA.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko