Welcome to my family history page.
The Wolan-Sullivan family is an American family whose ancestry is predominatly Polish, with one set of Irish great-grandparents. I am interested in corresponding with anyone sharing the same Polish surnames and originating from villages in the same geographic areas of Poland as my grandparents and great-grandparents. I'd also like to trace the Irish families in the vicinity of Bantry in Cork.
The rest of this webpage provides information
about the surnames and areas of origin of the families and, in some cases,
collateral lines. If you recognize a surname and a place, please write
to me at hjmcs@optonline.net.
Szpiech | Pilecki | Wolan | Bros | Witczak | Driscoll-Sullivan
The
Szpiech Family
This maternal side of the family has the
following surnames: Szpiech, Majcher, Smela, Janusz and Pilecki, Koczot,
Korzienowski on the maternal side going back 5 generations. Most of the
Szpiech, Pilecki, and Koczot individuals immigrated to America through
Ellis Island after 1900 from Austrian Poland or Galicia, mostly from Rzeszow
province.
The Szpiech (Spiech is an alternate spelling), Majcher, Smela and Janusz families originated in the diocese of Premyszl and resideded in the vicinity of Konieczkowa sometime before 1894. The Szpiech's, once in America, settled in Newark and Elizabeth, NJ.
The
Pilecki's and Koczots were from Gwoznica Gorna, a small mountain village
in southeastern Poland. Their residence in this place dates from the late
1700s. Collateral surnames associated with them include Bator, Dopart,
Korzienowski, Kozdrasz, Lenard or Lenart, Stawarsz, and Stanislawczyk.
Some members of the Pilecki family probably arrived in America before Ellis
Island opened in 1892, although the bulk of them arrived after 1900. They
also settled in Newark and Elizabeth, NJ. There are Wolans and/or Wolanins
related to the Pilecki line. These Wolans originated in Gwoznica
Gorna and settled in Newark. They appear to be a different family from
the Wolans on my father's side of the family who originated from a different
village in southeastern Poland, some 25 miles away.
The Wolan family includes the following surnames going back 3 generations: Sanecki, Nowak, Moskwa. Sanecki-Wolans from this family originated from villages near Strzyzow, came through Ellis Island afound the turn of the last century and also settled in Elizabeth, NJ and Philadelphia. Collateral relatives in the US include Sliwinski, Suita, Dudek, and Cierpial. The family originated in these villages surrounding Strzyzow: Zarnowa for the Wolans, Zaborow for the Sanecki family. In the generation before WW2 they resided in Glinik Charzewski.
The Bros-Sullivan family is comprised of the following Polish branches Witczak, Malachowiecz, and Bros, originally spelled Brosz. The Brosz side includes at least two male cousins that came through Ellis Island in the early 1900s. They originated in the vicinity of Samborzec near Sandomierz in eastern (then Russian) Poland. An additional surname linked with the Brosz family is Gierczyk going back 3 generations. No members of this family are known to have come to the US.
Brosz and Related Surnames
Surnames on the maternal side also include the Poniatowski-Malachowiec family who originated in Ciechanowiec east of Warsaw in what was then Russia. This couple came to Staten Island via Ellis Island in 1913 with several children and some, but not all, of their grown children. At least one older daughter was married and already living in the US. Her family, Pierlejewski, appears to have sponsored the Malachowiec group.
Our branch of the Witczak family included 3 brothers who immigrated in the 1880s and earlier from Prussian-held Poland, Poznan province. Our ancestor arrived through the port of New York in 1884 and eventually setteld in Bayonne in the early 1900s. The other 2 brothers are believed to have settled and remained in the midwest since the late 1800s, most likely either the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, or Illinois. I am especially interested in finding the decendants of a Wojteck or Wojciech (Adalbert or Albert) Witczak or his son John (Jan). They sponsored our ancestor John Witczak and were the first of this family in the US. A sister Anna is also supposed to have immigrated and settled in the vicinity of Nanticoke/Wilkes Barre, PA in the early 1900s. But her married name is unkown.
Additional surnames linked through marriage to the Witczaks are Tadzasek or Taszczasek on the paternal side and Kujawa and Michalski on the maternal side. The Michalski's were also Poles from Prussian Poland and were linked through marriage with Kujawa or Kujawski families. This is the branch of our family longest in the USA. The Michalski's arrived in 1875 or earlier and were residing in Philadelphia when their youngest daughter was born in 1876. They traveled west by wagon to farmland in southeastern Illinois where they settled for at least 2 generations.
