[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Integration of Germans with Polish ethnicity

[Jerry Frank]

Your comments are absolutely correct, Gilda, EXCEPT for the possibility that your Witkowska (the feminine form for the Witkowski surname) might also be a Germanic family.  According to our SGGEE file of equivalent surnames, at least one Witkowski family was previously known as Fietz.  It is difficult to know for sure unless you can track that family back another few generations.

One indicator (it is not proof) might be if the family with the assumed Polish surname is Catholic.  You might assume true Polish ethnicity with such info.  This would be especially true in Russian Poland where there were few German Catholics.  However, there were some so one must not consider such a situation as proof of anything.


Jerry



----- Original Message -----
From: Rachael Patterson <patterson.rachael at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 3:49 pm
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Integration of Germans with Polish ethnicity

> Jerry...With response to Germans with Polish ethnicity...It seems 
> inevitablethat the German colonies in Poland might integrate 
> womewhat with the Polish
> as my mother always said..."We were born in Poland, but we were not
> 'Polish'"....however...when I've researched the family lineage and 
> recordsindicate that my 3GGrandfather (my mother's mother Olga 
> Schmeltzer'sgrandfather) Wojciech Schmeltzer married a woman 
> Terezja (my 3GGrandmother)
> with the Polish maiden name of Witkoswka...thereby indicating that 
> we have a
> Polish/German mix. Interesting....That's the farthest I've been 
> able to
> trace on my Schmeltzer lineage.
> 
> Gilda in Calgary, AB, CANADA
> 
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:09:54 -0600
> > From: Jerry Frank <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>
> > Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Germans and Poland
> > To: LEN GOLKE <lengolke at msn.com>
> > Cc: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
> > Message-ID: <f329c4572149.462f3702 at shaw.ca>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> >
> > Sue,
> >
> > Bronwyn may have some suggestions for research in the Pila area 
> as she has
> > some experience in the Posen region.
> >
> > As for the ethnicity of a name - I'm not sure that we can always 
> determine> why a family with one type of ethnic name would insist 
> that they are
> > another.  In the case of my Girschewski ancestor, it would 
> appear that the
> > name evolved from the Germanic Gersch.  The family is known to 
> be Lutheran
> > German as far back as it can be traced.  It is also known from 
> various> sources that there were German Catholic Girschewskis and 
> Polish Catholic
> > Girschewskis with origins in the southeastern parts of 
> Pomerania.  I have
> > not been able to resolve with certainty how the ethnic 
> variations in the
> > name occurred or if there are any genealogical connections 
> between the
> > families.
> >
> > I have sometimes wondered if a dominant partner in a marriage 
> might cause
> > some of this diversity.  A Polish man with a Polish surname 
> might marry a
> > dominant German woman who ensures that her children are raised 
> with German
> > language, religion and culture as important parts of their lives 
> or vice
> > versa.
> >
> > Certainly name changes by similarity or definition are known to have
> > occurred in both directions - German to Polish, and Polish to
> > German.  Sometimes only one branch of the family makes the 
> change.  Other
> > times the change only shows up for a generation or two and then 
> it reverts
> > back.  There are times when a nobleman might bestow the right of 
> a peasant
> > to take his name (c/w von, or ski) in appreciation for some 
> particularly> meritous service.  All kinds of reason are possible.
> >
> > Ultimately the proof is in the record books where we might pick 
> up clues
> > at least to when a name may have been changed.
> >
> >
> > Jerry
> 
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