[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Wollingen location - border?

[marmel]

Hi everyone,

Recently on Ancestry I found an index card record of my grandfather's naturalization in 1911 (indexed in the World Archives Project, yippee!).  At immigration he was only 3½ yrs old, so I had incorrectly assumed he was paternalized for USA citizenship, as apparently his father (my great-grandfather) was paternalized via the father's mother (my great-great-grandmother).

Just yesterday I went to the regional archive in Stevens Point, Wisconsin to look for his naturalization.  Although the actual naturalization paper is still filed at the adjacent county's courthouse (only pre-1903 records are at the Regional Archive), I did find my grandfather's 1909 Declaration of Intention and his 1909 Petition for Naturalization.

Previously, with help of Jerry Frank, we deciphered his baptismal record as being from Franzdorf/Kol. Frankowca, Heimthal Lutheran Church, Zhitomir, South Russia (current day Ukraine).

Interestingly, on his DOI & Petition for Naturalization he lists his birthplace as Wolligen, and also his last foreign residence as Wollingen, Russia.  Digging the internet I found only one reference for Wollingen that made sense, at website www.de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruchowo , which lists 15 mayor's districts included in the Landgemeinde of Baruchowo in the southern tip of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, including the village of Boza Wola (1943-1945 Wollingen), located about 23km (14 mi) southeast of Wloclawek and 75 km (47 mi) SE of Torún.

Question: At the time of my grandfather's emigration (Apr 1891 from Hamburg), was the vicinity of Wollingen part of  Russia and near the border between Prussian and Russian territory?  Was the village named Wolligen in the 1890s (as in 1943-1945)?  I'm thinking his family may have temporarily lived at Wolligen waiting for permission to emigrate across the border, before stopping en route to visit relatives at their ancestral village of Nakel (just west of Bromberg/Bydgoszcz) prior to emigrating to USA.

On the Hamburg and New York ship registers, my great-grandfather and his brother are listed with occupation: stoner, and another brother is listed as occupation: workman, with all 3 brothers listed from last residence: Zitomir.  The brother's marriage records are in Heimthal, Zhitomir.

Maybe they went to Wollingen for stone work?

Has anyone found or worked on records for the area of Baruchowo and Boza Wola, or know the history of the area, such as which country owned/controlled it in which years?  Any advise, direction, or thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

Linda in Wisconsin