![\"Alexander](\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/WWI-Skowronski-Alexander-o.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe World War I Selective Service Draft Registration Card for Alexander Skowronski<\/a> shows that as of June 5, 1917 Alexander was 30 years old and lived at 16 Dorchester Street, Worcester, Mass. He was born February 2, 1886 in Grondy, Lomza, Russia-Poland, was a citizen of Russia, and had declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States. He worked as a Moulder at the Whitcomb Foundry in Worcester, Mass., was caucasian, married, and supported a wife and four children. He did not claim any prior military service. He was tall, of medium build, with gray eyes, and had dark hair (not bald). He did not suffer the loss of an arm, leg, hand, foot, both eyes, or any other disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The World War I Selective Service Draft Registration Card for Paul Skowronski<\/a> shows that as of June 5, 1917 Paul was 26 years old and lived at 16 Dorchester Street, Worcester, Mass. He was born October 28, 1890 in Poland-Russian, was a citizen of Russia, and had declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States. He worked as a molder at the Standard Foundry on Lamartine St., was caucasian, married, and supported a wife and four children. He did not claim any prior military service. He was of medium height, of medium build, with blue eyes, and had light hair (not bald). He did not suffer the loss of an arm, leg, hand, foot, both eyes, or any other disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on all the information so far, I have the following information on the name of the ancestral village for the Skowronskis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most informative piece of information came from Alexander’s World War I Draft Registration Card which stated that the place of origin was Grondy, Lomza, Russia-Poland. \u0141om\u017ca was a Russian Gubernia within the Polish territory up until the end of World War I and the end of the Partitions of Poland. This indication of the Gubernia greatly helps to narrow down the possibilities for the location of the village. A search for Grondi resulted in no matches; a search for Grondy resulted in one match, but not in the former \u0141om\u017ca Gubernia; a search for Gr\u0105dy resulted in dozens of matches (including many that could have been in the former \u0141om\u017ca Gubernia) on mapa.szukacz.pl<\/a>, and over 29 matches in the S\u0142ownik Geograficzny Kr\u00f3lestwa Polskiego<\/a> (The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland)<\/em>. Since the Polish name Gr\u0105dy<\/em> sounds like the English Grondy<\/em> or Grondi<\/em>, it seems likely that the Skowronskis were from the village of Gr\u0105dy – but which one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have attached a transcription and translation of the S\u0142ownik Geograficzny Kr\u00f3lestwa Polskiego<\/em> entry for Gr\u0105dy<\/a>. At the time the S\u0142ownik Geograficzny<\/em> was published, the \u0141om\u017ca Gubernia included<\/a> the powiats (counties) of Szczuczyn, Kolno, \u0141om\u017ca, Ostro\u0142\u0119ka, Pu\u0142tusk, Mak\u00f3w, Mazowieck, and Ostr\u00f3w (although the Pu\u0142tusk powiat was moved to the Warszawa Gubernia in 1894). From the information in the S\u0142ownik Geograficzny<\/em>, it is apparent that 15 of these villages named Gr\u0105dy were in the \u0141om\u017ca Gubernia:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if I leave out the five Gr\u0105dys with a compound name, that still leaves ten villages named Gr\u0105dy in the \u0141om\u017ca Gubernia. Which of these is the correct village will require a search of the church records in each parish until the records for the Skowronskis are found. Since the records were kept in the parishes, not the individual villages, I’ll need to search records in the following parishes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wow! Looks like I have my work cut out for me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tomorrow: The Records of Detained Alien Passengers, The Records of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry, and Records of other stops between Hamburg and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Update 04 October 2020: With the arrival of new resources comes new information. Using Geneteka<\/a>, my cousin was able to find that the village of Gr\u0105dy in which the Skowronskis lived was part of the parish of Nowogr\u00f3d. Furthermore, some of the records for the family are now available online at Szukaj w Archiwach<\/a> (but not at FamilySearch or other online repositories).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Copyright \u00a9 2006-2020 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few days ago, I showed the World War II Selective Service Registration Cards for Alexander and Paul Skowronski. Yesterday, I showed the Ellis Island Passenger Manifest for the same two brothers. Today, I have the World War I Selective … Continue reading <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n