Re: Seeking info on Klimas/Klemas/Klemis family
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In reply to:
Seeking info on Klimas/Klemas/Klemis family
Vicki Cannon 10/04/12
Hi Vicki
As usual, my postings are long.
Let’s start with Edward Klemis’ mother Mary.
According to the obituary for her daughter Thelma D. Pieleck, Mary’s maiden name was Galik.Thelma’s father’s name was Anthony/Antoni Pieleck (or maybe Pielecki).
Antoni Pieleck was born around 1891in Poland.Antoni and Mary Galik were married around 1912, presumably somewhere in Massachusetts.Mary Galik was born around 1895 in Poland (died on January 16, 1966 in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Trumbull Ohio).
Antoni and Mary Pieleck had six (6) children:Stella born on March 10, 1913 in Massachusetts, Paul born on July 6, 1915 in Massachusetts, Helen born in 1917 in Massachusetts, Thelma born on February 28, 1921 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Joseph Anthony born on April 12, 1922 in Massachusetts, Catherine R. born on November 1, 1923 in Pennsylvania and apparently a daughter Virginia, presumably born in Massachusetts or Pennsylvania, who did not survive infancy.
It is unclear what became of Antoni Pieleck after 1923 in Pennsylvania.
There is a 1920 U.S. census for the Antoni and Mary Pieleck family indexed on Ancestry.com as Antoni “Peleh” living on 72 Hazard Court in New Bedford Ward 3, Bristol County, MA 02740.The nearest (Polish) Roman Catholic parish at that time would have been Our Lady of Perpetual Help located at 235 N. Front Street in New Bedford MA 02746, telephone (508) 992-9378.http://www.olphchurchnb.org/http://www.olphchurchnb.org/
This could be the parish where Antoni and Mary were married and where the Pieleck children were baptized.If so, the church would have recorded those events in their church register.
Sometime After 1923 and before 1925, John Klemis met and married Mary (nee Galik) Pieleck, somewhere in Pennsylvania.John Klemis (aka Clemis) was born on June 16, 1888 in Poland (died in September 17, 1968 in Sharon, Mercer County, PA 16146, SSN 177-09-1798).
Their first child Ethel M. was born on August 9, 1925 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, as you indicated; Edward was born next on August 25, 1928 in Philadelphia, PA (do you have actual evidence of Edward being born in Philadelphia and not Uniontown?), Anthony was born on November 4, 1930 in Ohio, twins Frances and Violet were born on August 18, 1933 in Ohio and John W. was born on March 10, 1935 in Ohio.
There is a WW I Draft Registration index for a John “Clemis”.According to the index, he was born on June 16, 1888 in Austria.He registered for the draft around 1917 in Indiana County, PA.I could not view the actual image of his Draft Registration Card due to technical problems with Ancestry.com.
There is also a WW II Draft Registration Card for John Klemis.According to that document, he was born on June 6, 1888 in Poland.At the time of his registration in 1942, he was living with his wife Mary on Superior Street in Sharon, Mercer County, PA (the Ohio side).He was employed at the Sharon Steel Company located in Sharon, PA.
For the benefit of others on this Forum, Brookfield, Ohio and Sharon, Pennsylvania are both adjacent to the Ohio/Pennsylvania State Line.
John Klemis immigrated to the U.S. around 1913.Mary Galik immigrated around 1903.
Now to address the possible anglicizing of the “Klemis” Polish surname.
Generally, the U.S. (vital) records closest to the time that John immigrated might have the actual spelling of his surname before he changed the spelling.
Since john Klemis was the recipient of Social Security benefits, he would have filed an application with the Social Security Administration called a “form SS-5”. In this application form, he would have disclosed the names of his parents and where he was born.I have to caution you that sometimes our ancestors would merely list the country Poland as their place of birth.Here is a link to the Social Security web site to request an image of John’s Social Security application:http://www.socialsecurity.gov/online/ssa-711.pdfhttp://www.socialsecurity.gov/online/ssa-711.pdf
The other documents that may have John’s original surname would be his U.S. Naturalization documents and his church/civil marriage documents.
We think that John and Mary were married somewhere in Pennsylvania, but we need to know the exact county because they are the official record keeper of marriage APPLICATIONS.Was it in Indiana County where John registered for the WW I Draft or Fayette County (Uniontown) where Ethel was born?
In the 1930 U.S. census, John indicated he was still an alien (not a naturalized U.S. citizen).Did he complete his U.S. Naturalization process in Trumbull County, Ohio?
There is a limited amount of genealogy information available on-line.At some point in your research, you will have to contact the local/state/federal governments and churches to obtain copies of their documents.
Good luck,
Norbert