[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Polish for Wolter?

[Otto]

Good morning Rose,
Excuse my delay. Call of the wild, steel-head are running in my area.

First an answer for Rachael Patterson.
Rachael asked:
"I have a lineage background with the name sounding like "Voltaire"  
family
lore, but have always suspected that it was actually spelled like
"Walter"...Can anyone shed some extra light on this possibility?"

"Walter" spoken in German sounds like "Voltair".  'W' is sounded as a  
'V', 'A' as 'AH', 'L' as 'L', 'T' as 'T', and  'E' in er as a clipped  
long 'A'-" VAHLTAIR".
(The name Voltaire was the Frenchman Arouet's pen name.)
Perhaps your "Walter" lineage is my missing link.
On Oct 30, 2007, at 1:04 PM, Rose Ingram wrote:
> I'm looking at German names in records from Umien Catholic church  
> (a few miles north of Dabie), a 1817 birth record shows mother's  
> surname as Dywel(owney), although we know her surname is Wolter/ 
> Walter.

> Maybe this is the scribe's attempt to 'Polonize' the surname -  
> which may be a garbled variation of 'Wlodek'
Perhaps... It sure is stretching the possibility though.

> You may remember a short time ago that Dick Stein had difficulties  
> with German surname becoming garbled in the Catholic records from  
> area north of Sompolno.  I think a conspiracy was afoot by the  
> Catholic clergy to garble German names, maybe because they were not  
> happy to have Germans move into there turg.
This is of a complexity that amazes modern day people if they dig  
into Poland's past history.
There are no mysteries.
In the 1500 and 1600 hundreds, Poland was a progressive and  
democratic country with liberal views.  The first Lutheran official  
state religion, by arrangement of the last grand master of the  
Teutonic Order, Martin Luther, and the Pope, was in East Prussia 1525  
c.e.  The Protestant (more than just Lutheran) inroads made were so  
successful that by 1700 c.e., Poland's dominant religion, the Roman  
Catholic Church,  tried to stem the flow from the church with a  
vicious Jesuit Counter Reformation, and finally a death penalty for  
all Poles who attempted to leave their Catholic belief.  Little  
changed until 1920.  Since 1989 there is a move to regain dominance  
once again...

> Otto, where was Rudolf Walter in his adult years?
Mostly in the US, unbeknownst to me.
It is a complicated tale.
I never met the man, Rudolph Walter, my maternal grandfather.
My maternal grandmother, Wanda [Langas] Walter, born 1882 of Wilhelm  
Langas and Karoline Hintz, in Reschotke of Lipiny Parish(Praschnitz),  
was a hearty old girl who went through at least four husbands.
They are as stated: 1. Rudolph Walter, 2. (???-there were children- 
Mom's input-photos), 3. Gustav Paad, 4. Adam Fobell.
R. Walter is buried in a Masonic Order cemetery eight miles west of  
me.(necrology and interment records)
G. Paad and A. Fobell are buried in Cleveland, Ohio. (I attended the  
funerals)

Rudolph came to the States in 1906.(New York harbor), age 28,  
(supposed birth 1878) and settled in Pittsburgh (North Braddock).
Wanda arrived in 1907 with her oldest daughter Lydia and joined him.   
My Mom, Olga, was born there in 1908(records/Lutheran Church bapt.).
The family is recorded in the US 1910 census.  After that event,  
they, as a family, returned to Russian Poland... Probably with hopes  
the Kaiser would establish a stable rule and protection over their  
former lands. (the fiery blast furnaces of the Pittsburgh steel mills  
weren't paradise)

The remainder of the information is based on 'proximity and names'.
After WW1 and Russian confinement camps, Rudolph returned to the  
United States.
Wanda did not?  She remained in Poland until 1948.
My Mom returned to the States at age 21 in 1929. ( a US citizen by  
birth)
In the 1906 ship's manifest Rudolph states he is a schmiede, a  
blacksmith.  Correct. Ties in with tales of Rudolph's father being a  
blacksmith.
He also states he left Siemiatkowo, Russia 1906. (Siemental/ 
Siemiatkowo, Russian Poland-Sierpc Parish/Plock Province)
My Mom said they lived at a crossroad named 'Domke' (polish Dabki),  
about 2k. northwest of Siemiatkowo.
'Domke' could well be a relative and the property owner's name.
I've come across Domke/Walter marriage in surrounding Posen records  
beginning 1800's.
Rudolph,now in the States (Cleveland) visited my mother once, when my  
oldest brother Albert was born mid-1930's.
We 'imported' Wanda after the 1948 Yalta Agreement release. Wanda  
went through three? confinement camps.
She married Paad and Fobell stateside after 1948 arrival. (Rudolph  
Walter died Feb. 1950)

I need a marriage record of Rudolph Walter and Wanda Langas.
It will state his parents names and location necessary for earlier  
and lateral research.
There are unsubstantiated? and substantiated clues as to location.
1. St. Pete extractions: Rudolph Walter b. 1877 place/Stanislawka,   
father Theodor,  Mother Auguste Arnold ??
2. My younger brother was named 'Theodore' by my Mom.
Why a Greek name when the rest of us had German given names-
3. Wanda mentioned the names 'Plonsk' and 'Plock'.? Residence? or  
confinement?
4. I found a 1945 land record for a 'Wanda Walter' in Plock.
5. Gustav Paad was a cousin of Wanda's from Russian Poland.
6. Adam Fobell was from Russian Poland.  The only place I located the  
surname 'Fobell' was in the Plock area.

All of the clues are connected to Rudolph... maybe.
It is never too early to ask questions.
>  Rose Ingram


. . .   Otto

          " The Zen moment..." wk. of October 28, 2007-
              ________________________________
           "Life continues. . .  only from breath to breath."