Emelia Furgal born in Poland

 Emelia (Furgal) Mazur Buss was my husband's great grandmother.  She came to the United States from Poland sometime between 1906 and 1909, and settled in Warren, Massachusetts, where her brothers, Michael and Frank, and her sister Mary lived. Anton Laska, an older half-brother, also lived in Warren.

She married Wladyslaw (Walter) Mazur in Warren on August 3, 1909, and four children were born to this union including Roman, Lewis, Daniel, and my husband's grandmother Wanda.  Sadly the marriage ended in divorce sometime between 1930 and 1940.   Emelia continued living in Warren for a time, working as a weaver in a nearby woolen mill.

Sometime before July 1942,  she went to live, and work as a housekeeper in Rutland.  There she met Edward Albert Buss, and they were married July 1, 1942 in Gardner, MA.  Albert died in 1950, and in 1953 Emelia purchased property on Lake Wickaboag in West Brookfield.  Family gatherings were often held there in the ensuing years.

Emelia died in Norfolk, Massachusetts on June 20, 1961, and was buried in Rural Cemetery in Rutland.

Recently I discovered baptismal information for Emelia on the familysearch.org website in the "Poland Select Tarnow Roman Catholic Church Books, 1612 - 1900."  According to this index Emilia was baptized 22 Sep 1886 in what is now Lubasz, Lubasz, Krakow, Poland.  Her parents were Catharine Kolano and Adalbert Furgat. It is likely that she was born in 1886, although census and vital records, indicate that she was born in various years between 1886 and 1891.  I have been unable to find her name listed on a passenger record, but census records indicate that she came to the United States in either 1906 or 1909. 

Finally! Successful Searches in "Poland, Select Tarnow Roman Catholic Diocese Church Books 1612 - 1900"

One of my original research goals was to find out where in Poland my husband's great-grandparents, Emelia Furgal and Wladyslaw Mazur came from.  I have over the years found in various records such as MA Vital Records, World War I Draft Registration Cards, Naturalization Papers, and family obituaries, that two brothers of Emelia (Furgal) Mazur Buss reported their place of birth as Lubasz, Austria.  I also found that Emelia's mother and at least one other member of her family claimed last residence as Delastowic, in passenger records.

Wladyslaw or Walter Mazur reported his birth place as Slupiec, Galicia, Austria in his Naturalization papers, and Slupiec, Poland on his World War II Draft Registration Card. 

I looked at various maps and still could not say with certainty that I could identify the correct locations.  Last fall, I spoke with a professional researcher with Polish research experience who explained that in Poland, as in the US, Ireland, and probably other countries, there are multiple locations with the same or a similar name.

An email from Ancestry.com received early Wednesday morning announced the addition of millions of records to their Global Records Collection, and I decided to investigate.  One collection they had added was the "Poland, Select Tarnow Roman Catholic Diocese Church Books 1612 - 1900."  I do not subscribe to World records, but I was able to perform a name search.  I tried searching Furgal with no success, but then I tried Kolano, the maiden name of Emelia's mother, and there I found Catharina Kolano and Adalbertus Furgal.  Here were the parents of Emelia, and there were three Baptismal records in the collection with their names in them.  My city library was closed due to the unusually large accumulation of snow here in Southeastern Virginia, and the thought of waiting to access the records was frustrating.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, though, the name of the collection sounded familiar and I decided to look for the records on familysearch.org.

It was my lucky day!  The records were indeed available on the familysearch website, and I could access the information.  I found baptisms indexed for Emilia, Michael, and Franciscus Furgal, Laudislaus Mazur and two (previously unknown to me) sisters, and also for his first wife Bronislawa Zuchawicz.  I was also able to get a more specific location, using the information in the index, which had the name of the present location in Krakow, Poland, and the filmstrip notes which had the Austrian location names in Sczuzcin, Galizien in the case of the Furgals, and Chomranice, Galizien, for the Mazurs.

 Lessons learned:  I had previously searched the records at familysearch.org without success.  Perhaps at the time they were only available for browsing. Why had I not found the records I was looking for?
The records are in Latin (Ancestry says they are in Polish, but the names I found were Latin.)
My first success came from only searching the last name.  Once I realized that I needed to use Latin, and not Polish or English first names, the search went quickly.
The Polish Alphabet has a character which looks like an l with a / through it.  It was transcribed as a t.  Thus Furgal was indexed as Furgat.
Persistence eventually produces results.  I began this research 15 years ago.
My research is not complete; in fact, I now have more family members to learn about, but I now have more exact locations and can concentrate my research efforts in those places.  My long range plan is to compile the information I have, clearly state my future research goals, and hire my professional contact to find more Polish records, and possibly earlier ancestors.  My short range plan is to find out more about the branch of the family that settled in New Hampshire, Mary (Furgal) and Albert Smist.  I need to find the death record of Mary who died probably in Nashua between 1953 and 1961. I have been unable to prove that Mary was the daughter of Albert, (Wojciech) Furgal and Catharina (Katarzyna) Kolano, but have circumstantial evidence.

Wladyslaw Mazur and Emelia Furgal married August 3, 1909 in Warren, MA

Walter Mazur, born July 1, 1884 in Slupiec, Galicia, Austria and Emelia Elizabeth Furgal, born 18 September 1888 in Lubacz, Austria were married in Warren, MA on August 3, 1909.  They raised four children in Warren and divorced sometime between 1920 and 1930.

Emelia married Edward Albert Buss in Gardner, MA on 1 July 1942.  She owned a home on Lake Wickaboag in West Brookfield where family gatherings were held.

 Emelia died on 20 June 1961 in Norfolk, MA and was survived by her sons Lewis and Daniel, and daughter Wanda Laplante. She also left a brother Frank, and sister Stephania Motyka of Warren, and a brother John of Pittsfield.  She was predeceased by half-brother Anton Laska of Warren, sister Mary (Furgal) Smith of Newport, NH, and brother Michael Furgal of Monson, MA.

Walter died in Pittsfield, MA on 10 March 1947. He was survived by three of his four children. (A son, Roman, died in 1936 as the result of a work related accident.) He was also survived by his sister Mary (Mazur) Zion of Bridgewater, MA and was most likely survived by his father, Stanislaw Mazur,  of Slupiec, Poland. He may have also had surviving half-siblings in Poland.

Sources:

1. Copy of Marriage Record for Amelia Elizabeth Mazur and Edward Albert Buss
2. Copy of Record of Marriage for Wladyslaw Mazure and Amelia Furgal
3. Death Record - Emelia Elizabeth Buss (nee Furgal) [extraction from V 78 P 377 Registration # 4840]
4. Massachusetts Vital Records : (http://www.americanancestors.org.). Birth and Marriage records for family members
5. Obituaries from Berkshire Evening Eagle, Spencer Leader and Springfield Daily Republican for family members.
6. Poland, Tarnow Roman Catholic Diocese Church Books, 1612-1900 - (baptisms from     familysearch.org: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XP12-1RQ       and https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XP12-1RQ)
7. "Roman P. Mazur Dies at Hospital," 15 May 1936, Page 16, Column 2; Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 28 July 2018.). Obituary of Roman P Mazur, Springfield Daily Republican, Springfield, Massachusetts, online images (http://www.genealogybank.com).

      Updated 20 April 2019.