That reminds me that I still haven’t figured out which country my ancestors emigrated from. I know the town and the year, but I haven’t found a reference that could tell me which country it was actually in at the time.
Actually, I might have been misreading the census document I was getting this info from: it lists place of birth, not necessarily where they were most recently living before emigrating.
One great-grandparent was born in Kalisz, the other in Volhynia. They emigrated in 1902. The town I was thinking about was Kalisz, but they appear to have been living in Volhynia circa 1902 because one of their kids was born the same year, and that birthplace is listed as Volhynia.
Also, they were German-speaking, not Polish or Russian or whatever.
I’ll be honest: the main reason I was interested was to check if I were eligible for EU citizenship by descent, and once it seemed like the answer was “no” for this branch of my ancestry (regardless of which country they were previously citizens of), I kinda stopped trying to figure it out.
Having some time to look at this, for the Kalisz-born ancestor, you would probably have to claim Polish citizenship if anything (unless your surname suggests something else). The family might have been all over Europe during WWI, and very likely their parents from Austria-Hungary given the proximity to that part of Poland and speaking German. So you would be looking at doing a lot of census tracking, before and after WWI for any deeper info.
If you looked at Ukraine citizenship right now you might end up getting conscripted (though I doubt that).
That reminds me that I still haven’t figured out which country my ancestors emigrated from. I know the town and the year, but I haven’t found a reference that could tell me which country it was actually in at the time.
Are you being serious? What’s the name of the town?
Actually, I might have been misreading the census document I was getting this info from: it lists place of birth, not necessarily where they were most recently living before emigrating.
One great-grandparent was born in Kalisz, the other in Volhynia. They emigrated in 1902. The town I was thinking about was Kalisz, but they appear to have been living in Volhynia circa 1902 because one of their kids was born the same year, and that birthplace is listed as Volhynia.
Also, they were German-speaking, not Polish or Russian or whatever.
I’ll be honest: the main reason I was interested was to check if I were eligible for EU citizenship by descent, and once it seemed like the answer was “no” for this branch of my ancestry (regardless of which country they were previously citizens of), I kinda stopped trying to figure it out.
Probably the Russian empire
Having some time to look at this, for the Kalisz-born ancestor, you would probably have to claim Polish citizenship if anything (unless your surname suggests something else). The family might have been all over Europe during WWI, and very likely their parents from Austria-Hungary given the proximity to that part of Poland and speaking German. So you would be looking at doing a lot of census tracking, before and after WWI for any deeper info.
If you looked at Ukraine citizenship right now you might end up getting conscripted (though I doubt that).
That part of my family was already in the US well before WWI, in 1902. Their surname is German, BTW.
There was a different great grandfather who was naturalized in 1933, but for him I have the naturalization form that just tells me he was from Poland.
I really ought to continue with it, and look into the ancestry on my mom’s side.