For a family history researcher working from the United States, it is sometimes difficult to access records from other countries. My problem this month lies in my choice to focus on my father's great-grandmother Franziska Olejniczak, who was born in Poland, and likely spent her entire life there. I also know that I have several DNA matches whose trees include the surname Olejniczak. By a brilliant process of deduction, I thus observed that I will somehow need to first find more information on Franziska's father—and likely also a listing of any brothers she might have had.
Thus, before we move forward to look at descendants of this family, we need to first take a step backwards in time. Fortunately, I was able to locate a transcription of Franziska's own marriage record from February 13, 1854, when as an eighteen year old daughter of Nicolai—likely Mikołaj in Polish—and Josepha Grzegorczyk Olejniczak, she married Franz Jankowski. Again, at the end of her life, her July 12, 1908, burial record confirmed those same parents' names, although the spelling of her mother's maiden name of Grzegorczyk was understandably mangled by what I'd assume was a non-native speaking priest.
Finding Franziska's parents opened the door for me to search for any possible siblings, especially brothers. Remembering that I have DNA matches carrying the surname Olejniczak, my next step will be to locate any brothers of Franziska and trace their line of descent. If that doesn't work, that means pushing back yet another generation. Hopefully the first step will yield us some answers when we resume this search next week.
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