Rakowski/Rakowsky Józef, Kulisch/Kulisz/Kulicz Agnieszka

[blestlady1]

T: "Looking for information"

Josef Rakowski/Rakowsky b. 1875-1876 last known residence may be Kotowa. Immigrated to US 1898. Listed as Russian on manifest but all US census states Polish.

Agnes Kulisch /Kuliscz b 1882 last known residence Purin/Jurime, Russia. Immigrated to US 1901. Listed as Russian on manifest bu all US census states Polish.

[Tadeusz_Wysocki]

Hi blestlady1,
First of all you must locate the EXACT place of origin of yours in order to follow the search, let's show you the problem with your Josef - Jozef Rakowski's ancestral town in this part of Europe:
Using 'Nazwy Miejscowe Polski Historia Pochodzenie Zmiany" (The Name of the Places in Poland ; History Origin Changes) under the team of Prof. Rymut, tome V Ko-Ky, Krakow 2003, from page 207:
Kotowa - as KOTOWA WOLA - villave, gmina (commune) Zaleszczany, SE Poland - thus belonged in the 19th to Austria - Hungary Empire, so generally the citizen of Austria, Galicia province.
But this source tells that it might be for eg Kotowo, and one of the Kotowo was located under "Russia" in the 19th century:
KOTOWO STARE - village, gmina (commune) Jedwabne, Lomza province.
=
Generally for today, try to check more of this might be not Kotowa but Kotowo - then we could give you the family ancestral exact parish with parish book and records accesibility. Did you find Josef's petition for naturalization where he was obliged to state his exact POB? What about his SS-5, obituary, etc.?
The same with your Agnies/Agnieszka Kulisch/Kuliscz - possibly Agnieszka Kulik/Kulig/Kuliż.
Good luck in uncovering your family heritage,
Tadeusz
PS. Could you give me the link to his ship manifest?

[blestlady1]

Here is a link for the ship manifest for Josef

http://www.ellisisland.org/search/ship_ ... rg&page=10
not sure if you can look at this one it is on ancestry.com
I am not sure if these are the same or not:

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse. ... recoff=6+7

[blestlady1]

Here is the information I have on Agnes Kulisch

http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=Vi ... 4002654860

[Tadeusz_Wysocki]

Sorry, I was not able to help you in last days, herte is the next help from PTG - Polish Genealogical Society:
Basing on your link to EI database I was able to find also:
1. Rakowska, Ladislawa (Wladyslawa in Polish), imm. 1903 as brave and young lady aged 18, and she was from... Kotowo.
2. Rakowski, Stanislaw, imm. 1906, aged 42, and he was from... Kotowo.
3. Rakowski, Wladzlaw (Wladyslaw in Polish), imm. 1909, and he was from... Kotowo.
This Kotowo is located in few places as Lomza, Russia (so, maybe I was right with my first location).
You can research all these ship manifests to have more family information. Seems they were family of your Jozef Rakowski. Seems you can enrich your family tree.
Finally for today, if you confirm the Kotowo, and not Kotowa, we can give you more about your family ancestral town, and the family records sources from the 19th century.
Tadeusz

[blestlady1]

I am sure that he came from Kotowo. I was not aware that there were more family members. Of course all of my aunts and uncles have passed and there is no one to ask. Are both manifests the same? It is all so confusing to me. So if you could find more information about the ancestors it would be great.

[Tadeusz_Wysocki]

OK, time to finish our help:
If your family ancestral home is this Kotowo, Polish historical sources confirm your family ancestral RC church and parish in the 19th century was JEDWABNE.
Here is the Jedwabne link with Polish Wikipedia, when you can preserve the image of the Saint Jacob church, when your Joseph Rakowsky - Jozef Rakowski was baptized, just try to imagine this church day and family joy in the 19th century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedwabne
Finally, you have base 3 sources to research the records from the 19th century:
Church on site - here is the note from our PTG database named KZM prepared under team headed by our PTG best friend Stas Pieniazek from Gdynia, you have here the address of the church:
http://parafie.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=pr&pid=2876
Second source is Polish State Archive, from search system "Pradziad" you have:
http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradzi ... rch=search - different records from years 1889-1905.
Third source is FHL/LDS RC parish Jedwabne record microfilms that could be odrered by you from their centre in Salt Lake City:
https://familysearch.org/eng/library/fh ... eno=114922 - they have years 1826-1905, you have there detailed number of microfilms.
Generally, records could be in Poland in AP Lomza, AP Bialystok, AD, less than 100 years are in USC Jedwabne - but first of all you must make your own homework checking FHL/LDS microfilms.
That's all for today, Amen!
Good luck,
Tadeusz
PS. Any donation even few dollars for PTG open work and genealogical databases would be kindly invited, you have DONATE at the bottom, thanks in advance.