Our client in this case is a commercial pilot who says his Poland immigrant ancestor came from “Kowel”. No such place; therefore, we say Kowal.
1909 NY Passenger listing for the target ancestor says he came from Dabrowka, which is probably Dąbrówka, abt 5 km to the south of Kowal, Poland. I’m buyin’ it. How about you? Yes, I realize it “needs more research.” If you click on the map, it will go to another website, but clicking on the NY Passenger Listing should keep you here.
RE: The spelling of Dabrowka (or any other place, for that matter!): If you’re a customs agent processing hundreds, if not thousands of immigrants, if an immigrant says to you: ” Dąbrówka [dɔmˈbrufka],” would you care whether Dąbrówka is correctly spelled? Not only “no” but “heck, no!” Out of the numerous Dąbrówka places in Europe, would you care which one it was & will you write down the name of the count(r)y or district for Dąbrówka (or any other place, for that matter?) Also, a resounding “no.” So, we’ll forgive them all & press on with our hypothesis that Jan is from the Dąbrówka just a few kilometers south of Kowal. Click on image to view in large format!
SteamShip Zeeland; on 27 February 1909 departed Antwerp, Belgium; traveling without others by the same name, but someone from the same village was a few lines above him. Arrived 9 March 1909 in NY. Note that Jan (pronounced Yawn] was on his way to Cincinnati [area]! Father’s name appears to be Franisek Spilizewski. We are proud to report that all these data, the entire document & image are heretofore unknown, NEW DATA, DOCUMENTS & IMAGES for the client!
Posted on Facebook: Just cracked another case for Poland: I found that the target ancestor originated from a little village just south of Kowal (not Kowel), Poland by the name of Dabrowka. This, for Jan Spilizewski, a client’s matriarchal grandfather! 1909 Feb 27 departed Antwerp on the SS Zeeland; arrived NY 9 Mar 1909! Father looks like Franisek… oh, boy…
