[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Ratz Family - City/Province of Origin?

[Robin]

Hi Sigrid,

Thank you for the information. This is the first time that my family research has brought me to Polish/Russian regions and I am very grateful for all of the help from people who understand this area so well. I am not usually such a fish out of water, but in this case I feel like a rookie!

I would love to know more (or even help if I can) about the families from Russia Poland who settled in Oconto County. Unfortunately, I do not have any information on Joseph's parents or siblings. His wife's name is Anna FENSKE (DOB: 30 Sept 1855). They were married around 1882, seven years before they came to the U.S. This is not my research, but I have been told that Anna was married before to a man named HINTZ and they had a daughter in 1880 named Anna. I have no other information on them and no information on Anna's parents or siblings.

Joseph and Anna RATZ had four children born in Russia Poland:

Natalie - DOB: 11 May 1889
Herman - DOB: 30 Apr 1892
Emil - DOB: 10 March 1893
Heinrich - DOB: 7 Oct 1897

Their last child, Seraphine, was born in Gillett, Oconto, Wisconsin, USA on 11 Feb 1900.

Do you know if there are surviving records in Siedlce gubernia and, if so, how I might be able to access them?

Again, many thanks!!!


Robin Prigge




________________________________
 From: Sigrid Pohl Perry <perry1121 at aol.com>
To: ger-poland-volhynia at sggee.org; Robin <alphaf1 at yahoo.com> 
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Ratz Family - City/Province of Origin?
 

Robin,

I think Al Muth has a very good suggestion that the location is a 
village in Siedlce gubernia. I've seen this city and administrative 
district name mangled on other North American records. The Wlodawa 
powiat was a "county" sometimes located in Siedlecke, and other years in 
Lubelskie gubernia. I'm familiar with many of the families who settled 
in Oconto County, Wisconsin from Russian Poland. Several of us in SGGEE 
are combining efforts to search through the relationships among those 
immigrants. Some of us even have Ratz names in our ancestry from this 
region. If Joseph Ratz worked as a fisherman there are two most likely 
choices. Along the Bug River which served as the boundary between this 
region and Volhynia, a possible village could be Zbereze. Or, the 
village could have been Brzezce in Lubelskie along the Wisla/Vistula 
River. This river had lots of "traffic" along its route, especially our 
ancestors as they emigrated through Poland. At that time, Brzezce would 
have also been in Siedlecke, Garwolin "county."

Do you have other information related to his generation? What is wife 
Anna's maiden name? Do you know his parents' names or those of any of 
his siblings? Even the complete names of cousins, aunts and uncles might 
be useful. Any of this information might help you find more records and 
locate the family in Russian Poland.

Sigrid Pohl Perry

On 5/17/2013 1:27 PM, Robin wrote:
> The Ratz family are the first six on each list, but their names do not  appear on the passenger list supplement page. For reference, their names are  Joseph, Anna, Natalia, Hermann, Emil, and Heinrich.
> >
>