![\"The](\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Wedding-Niedezialkowski-W.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Wedding of Kostanty Niedzia\u0142kowski and Helena Chmielewska<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n SOURCE: The Wedding of Kostanty Niedzia\u0142kowski and Helena Chmielewska. Photographed 10 July 1918 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Photographer Unknown.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But there’s a problem with my proposed Niedzia\u0142kowski pedigree.<\/p>\n I’m missing some key documents to prove some of the relationships. In particular, I’m missing the birth record of my grandfather, the marriage record of my great grandparents, and the birth record of my great grandfather.<\/p>\n My proposed pedigree is as follows:<\/p>\n Kostanty’s Parents<\/strong><\/em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, even though I haven’t found my grandfather’s birth record, I was able to obtain the names of Kostanty’s parents from\u00c2\u00a0several documents:<\/p>\n Ignoring\u00c2\u00a0minor spelling differences, these documents all agree that Kostanty’s father was Teofil Niedzia\u0142kowski and that his mother’s first name was Ksawera, but they disagree on his mother’s maiden name, listing it as either Zygmuntowicz or Napierkowska.<\/p>\n The problem now was that I couldn’t find Kostanty’s birth\/baptismal record to verify the names of his parents (especially his mother). But let me\u00c2\u00a0just concentrate on the Niedzia\u0142kowski line.<\/p>\n I have not been able to find either a birth record or marriage record for Teofil Niedzia\u0142kowski, meaning that I didn’t have any information on the names of Teofil’s parents.<\/p>\n Collateral Lines and Indirect Evidence<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And so, I used indirect evidence to establish the names of Teofil’s parents:<\/p>\n Since the parents of Kostanty’s uncle are\u00c2\u00a0Kostanty’s grandparents, I conclude that Kostanty’s father is Teofil Niedzia\u0142kowski and Teofil’s parents are Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski and Julianna Gutowska.<\/p>\n There’s one more piece of evidence that Teofil’s father is Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski:<\/p>\n I have all the rest of the documents that provide direct evidence to support the proposed lineage. The indirect evidence provided by Franciszek Niedzia\u0142kowski’s parentage bridges the gap in the direct evidence.<\/p>\n However, given the lack of a few key documents, particularly the birth records of Kostanty and Teofil, I cannot rule out the possibility that Kostanty\u00c2\u00a0or Teofil may not be Niedzia\u0142kowskis by birth. They very well may have been the sons of a previous marriage of their mothers before their mothers married into the Niedzia\u0142kowski family. That is, there is the possibility that one or both of them may have been adopted.<\/p>\n A Case for DNA Analysis?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n To prove that my grandfather is, indeed,\u00a0related to Franciszek Niedzialkoski and Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski, I may need to rely on DNA analysis.<\/p>\n Since the Y chromosome is passed on virtually unchanged from father to son, I may be able to use Y-DNA analysis to prove a connection to Franciszek and Wojciech Niedzia\u0142kowski. However, I cannot use my own DNA for this purpose. I inherited my Y-DNA from my father and I need a sample of Y-DNA from my mother’s family to conduct this test.<\/p>\n Fortunately, two uncles and one cousin carry that DNA.<\/p>\n But that’s only half of the solution. I also need a sample of the Y-DNA from a male descendant of Franciszek Niedzialkoski. Luckily, Franciszek has many living male descendants, including one son and nine grandsons.<\/p>\n By comparing the Y-DNA from my own Niedzia\u0142kowski line with that of Francizsek’s line, I should be able to tell if the two lines are related. If the DNA samples\u00c2\u00a0from the two lines match, I would have confirmation that the proposed lineage could be correct .\u00a0If the DNA samples from the two lines don’t match, I would have confirmation that the proposed lineage is most likely incorrect.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the test will not tell who the common ancestor is, but conventional genealogy has already provided evidence\u00c2\u00a0that the common ancestor is Wojciech.<\/p>\n Given the lack of a few critical documents and the fact that my Niedzia\u0142kowski pedigree is based on indirect evidence, the proposed Y-DNA test could be a key piece of evidence to prove my Niedzia\u0142kowski ancestry.<\/p>\n Now I just have to find\u00c2\u00a0someone from each of the two family lines to contribute their DNA for the test. Any volunteers?<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2007 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By comparing the Y-DNA from my own Niedzia\u0142kowski line with that of Francizsek’s line, I should be able to tell if the two lines are related. Continue reading \n
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