Finding the Path to America

 

If Lorenz Laskowski was the first of the three Laskowski siblings to leave the family home in Żerków for America, his younger sister Agnes was probably the last. Agnes, that woman of many sorrows we discussed last week, had married, birthed three children, then lost all three along with her husband. Two more records pinpointed her last days in her native Poland: her second marriage, to Ignatz Giernatowski in 1887, and the 1888 birth of the Giernatowskis' daughter Pelagia.

Records tracing the Giernatowskis' path to America thus needed to occur after Pelagia's January 1888 birth. The trouble is, finding that path of immigration turns out to be a challenge. Taking the simple route of consulting the 1900 census—where their Brooklyn, New York, residence was entered under the spelling Gernatofski—resulted in entries as misleading as the ones we spotted yesterday for Agnes' brother Lorenz. While the couple reported that by then, they had been married for twelve years, they claimed a year of immigration—1887—predating not only their daughter's 1888 birth in Żerków, but their own marriage there as well. And while Ignatz claimed he had at least initiated the naturalization process, I have yet to find his records. (The 1915 New York State census listed Ignatz as an alien.)

But when did they get here? And how? Their arrival likely predated the opening of Ellis Island, but that doesn't mean passenger records were non-existent before 1892. One entry on Ancestry credited the "Germans to America Passenger Data File" for an entry showing Agniska Geirnatowska, resident of Żerków, sailing from Prussia and arriving in the United States on August 13, 1888—a credible date, but how do I access the actual record? Clicking through to the source leaves me staring at a page which states, "We're sorry, this page is no longer available."

So, where did that page go? I searched online for further information on that title, and found a couple entries. One contained a clickable link in a FamilySearch wiki article on New York Immigration. The other was included in a list of links at Cyndi's List pertaining to emigration from Germany. But when I clicked on each suggested link, it brought me to the same place: an error message at the National Archives.

Oh, well...back to the drawing board, and reading through further instructions...

It's clear, however, that Ignatz and Agnes did arrive in New York City with their daughter, based on their appearance in both federal and state census enumerations. As for that daughter, the issue is compounded by Pelagia's appearance in various records as Blanch, Pauline, and Pleshia or Plashia. Agnes remained in Brooklyn up until the time of her death in 1926. We can only presume her husband followed her in death; once again, perhaps owing to the challenge of spelling his name, his last record of life's passing evades us.