Stasiak - Stachak - Stock Family Genealogy

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Why the three names, Stasiak, Stachak and Stock? It seems that there was much confusion about how to spell the original Polish name and out of that came many spelling variations, but to the surprise of many, it seems that original Polish name was, in fact, Stachak.

Ignatius Jacob Stachak was born in Polanka Wielka, Poland on July 23, 1873. His baptismal record states his name as Ignatius Loyola Stachak. Polanka Wielka is located in southern Poland, in Oświęcim County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship; it is about 7 miles from the city of Oświęcim, which is better known by its German name, Auschwitz. In spite of their very close proximity to this hotbed of Second World War activity, records regarding our ancestors do still exist.

Ignatius' parents were Jacob and Agnes (Studlik) Stachak (in Polish: Jakub Stachak and Agnieszka Studłik.) Little is known, currently, about his parents, but we do know that his father, Jacob, died April 9, 1911 in Malec, Poland, and his mother, Agnes, died March 18, 1923, also in Malec. Ignatius had a sister named Rosalia who was born May 19, 1882 in Osiek koło Oświęcim- nothing is currently known, as to if she was married or had children. In addition to Rosalia, Ignatius had another sister, Agnes (or Agnieszka), who was born January 17, 1866 in Polanka Wielka. On January 29, 1889, she married Jan Sporysz, and their son was a familiar face - "Uncle Joe" Sporysz - who was born December 31, 1889 in Osiek koło Oświęcim. Ignatius' sister Agnes died March 22, 1904. It is unknown at this time whether she had other children, besides Joe. It is currently unknown whether Ignatius had other siblings, although it does seem likely that he did. The other bit of information we now know is the name of Ignatius' grandparents and from the approximate location they came: his paternal grandparents were Paul Stachak and Theresa Malok (Polish: Paweł Stachak and Teresa Malok), and were from the area of Andrychów; his maternal grandparents were Sebastian Studlik and Agatha Bury (Polish: Sebatian Studłik and Agata Bury), who were from the area of Inwałd. This is all that is known about his grandparents, and is the extent of information on ancestors that is currently known, although there is a very high likelihood that further information is available in the record books in Poland.

The following map shows the areas where the events of our ancestors took place, and also shows their proximity to Oświęcim (Auschwitz):

Click here to view the letters written by Gene Stock & Jeff Ausmus to the Catholic Church listed below along with the letters that were received back from them. :Much of the information listed above concerning Ignatius Stachak was obtained from this source.

Roman Catholic Parish of St. Andrew the Apostle (Click here to view a map of where the church is located)
Street of the Church 13 (“13 Church Street”)
32-608 (zip code) Osiek (in Oswiec/Auschwitz district)

Click here for the Polanka Wielka web site.

Click here for a map of Polanka Wielka.

Click here for info concerning Oświęcim

Click here to watch a video of "Poland Rediscovered: Krakow, Auschwitz, and Warsaw" by Rick Steves This will give you a very good overview of each area of Poland especially Auschwitz and Krakow where most of our ancestors originated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ignatius was an early immigrant to the U.S., which sometimes makes tracing his ancestral roots back to Poland a little more difficult. Early ship manifests and naturalization documents did not contain much in the way of genealogy information.

Polanka Wielka is located in southern Poland, in Oświęcim County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship

 

Poland, as we know it today, did not exist when our ancestors immigrated to the U.S. In fact, at that time, there was no Poland. The land was partitioned among three other countries: Prussia/Germany, Russia and Austria/Galicia. As noted on early U.S. census records, (1900, 1910 & 1920) they indicated that they (Ignatius, Pauline and Martha) spoke the Polish language, but they were not from Poland but were from one of those three (3) countries.

 

 

 

 

 

There are U.S. census records for the Ignatz Stasiak Family. In the 1900 census records, he is indexed as Ignacy Stasiak living at 146 Everett St. in Toledo Ward 2, Lucas County, OH (Present day zip code 43608-2331). In the 1910 census records, he is indexed as Ignacy “Stasik” living at 158 Dexter St. in Toledo Ward 3, Lucas County, OH (Present day zip code 43608-1864). In the1920 census records, he is indexed as “Earnest” Stock living on Schoolhouse Road in rural Bedford, Monroe County, MI. In the 1930 census records, he is indexed as Ernest Stock living in rural Bedford, Monroe County, MI. In the 1940 census records, he is indexed as Earnest Stock living on a farm in Bedford Township.

(Click here to see map of Dexter & Everett Streets in the Polish Village of Toledo) . Click here for "Are You Polish?"

View current home photos taken September 2008 here:

1900: 146 Everett Street
1901-02: 238 Kosciusko Street
1903: 137 Mettler
1904-08: 161 Mettler
1909-19: 158 Dexter

If you would like to see what the houses looked like at the above addresses in 1945, just follow this link to the Toledo Public Library "Historic Photos" page and type in the street and address.

Ignatius was married twice: His first wife Pauline (Bialecki) was born January, 11, 1880 in Toledo. Her parents were Michael Bialecki and Michalina Kaminska. Pauline and Ignatius were married at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church in Toledo, Ohio on September 19, 1898. She gave birth to three (3) children, Agnes born on January 15, 1899, Albin (Alvin) born March 2, 1902 and Raymond born May 26, 1904. Pauline died June 23, 1905 in a stove fire. Ignatius's second wife Martha was born August 23, 1883 in Poland. She immigrated to the US abord the Brandenburg from Bremen on October 29, 1903 and arrived in Balitmore November 13, 1903.  According to the Immigration record she was 22 years old, her ticket was paid by her uncle Johann Jankowski and was going to stay with him at 230 Dexter Street in Toledo, Ohio. Her parents were Peter Jankowski and Dorothy Wozniacki. Martha had a sister Helen (Wrzesinski) who was born in 1884 and died July 4, 1952. Martha and Ignatius were married November 7, 1905 at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church in Toledo, Ohio. Martha gave birth to five (5) children, all born in Ohio: Mary born in 1907, Hedwig/Hattie born in 1908, Stanislaus/Stanley born in 1909, Wallace born in 1911 and Florence born in 1917. Martha died December 26, 1942 in Temperance, Michigan.

Click her to view family tree information for Martha Jankowski (info added March 2010 from Rosemary Chorzempa)  
Click here to view parish records from Trlag ("Trlong" in German), Poland concerning baptisms, marriages and deaths concerning the family of Martha Jankowski. (info added March 2010) 
Click here to view  a map of Trlag parish (Poland) and area.
Click here to view Toledo City Directoreies and Obituray Indexes concerning the Stasiak, Jankowski and Kapela families. (info added March 2010)

 

Stasiak - Stachak - Stock Children: Ignatius, Martha & Hattie Stasiak

 

15 January 1899.................Agnes (McInnes)...........(d 20 April 1939)
08 September 1900.............Michael..........................(d 09 November 1900)
02 March 1902....................Alvin..............................(d 26 July 1963)
26 May 1904.......................Raymond........................(d 19 November 1954)
07 July 1907......................Mary (Dusseau)..............(d 19 October 1948)
26 August 1908.................Hattie (Burgard)............(d 05 December 1993)
13 November 1909............Stanley............................(d 23 January 1958)
26 June 1911....................Wallace...........................(d 10 January 1980)
17 December 1917...........Florence (Walentowski).(d 31 August 2003)


There is WW I Draft Registration Card for an “Ignac Stachuk”. He was born on July 25, 1873. At the time of his registration in September 1918, He was living with his wife Martha at 158 Dexter Street in Toledo. He was employed as a molder for the Overland Company located on Central Avenue in Toledo. Ignacy signed the draft registration document and it looks like his surname is “Stuchak” (or Stachak instead of Stasiak?). This is the earliest record using the name “Stachak”

In 1919 he moved to Temperance and purchased the 40 acre farm, at 9347 Crabb Road from the Kinney family according to the Abstract of Title and Mortgage papers. He signed a mortgage contract for $2,100 to Issac Kinney using the name “Ignatz J. Stachak & Martha Stachak”. The Abstract of Title also lists his name as “Ignatz J. Stachak”.

As noted above he used the name “Earnest Stock” on both the 1920 and 1930 census. In his last will and testament, dated January 4, 1943 he lists his name as “Ignatz J. Stachak”. He also listed all of his heirs in the will with the surname of “Stachak”.

The newspaper obituary uses “Martha Stasiak” (1942 Toledo Blade and Monroe News) for Martha and “Ignatius Stasiak” (1947 Toledo Blade). Their gravestones at St. Joseph cemetery have their names as “Ignatius Stasiak (Stock)” and “Martha Stasiak (Stock)” inscribed on them.

In the death notice in the Toledo Blade (December 28, 1942) for Martha Stasiak, it stated that she was survived by a sister Helen Wrzesinski of Toledo. According to Helen Wrzesinski’s death certificate, she was born October 26, 1884 in Poland. She resided at 513 East Central Avenue, Toledo Ohio. She died July 4, 1952 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery. The death certificate lists Peter Jankowski as her father and Dorothy Woznacki as her mother.

Ignatius became a United States citizen on October 12, 1896, using the name “Ignac Stachak”, according to a copy of his naturalization documents filed with the Toledo Probate Court. Since he was a minor at the time he arrived in the United States he was not required to go through the lengthy process for naturalization. He only needed to complete one form.

Ignatius Stasiak died May 31, 1947 and is buried in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery.