Present name of Muckuwska, Poland?

[tekla]

My grandfather said that he was born in Muckuwska, Poland in 1874.
This town is very likely not now in Poland -- perhaps it is in Belarus.
How can I find this town, find its present name if the name has
changed?

[Joe Pessarra]

Post by tekla
My grandfather said that he was born in Muckuwska, Poland in 1874.
This town is very likely not now in Poland -- perhaps it is in Belarus.
How can I find this town, find its present name if the name has
changed?

Using ShtetlSeeker at http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/LocTown.asp we
could not find a good match to the name of Muckuwska. You might try it
yourself, to see if you think one of the towns is a close match. Where did
you get the spelling of the town? Is it written on a document of some sort?
Or just how you thought your grandfather was spelling it? What was your
grandfather's surname? Do you have the immigration information on him, such
as date, ship, etc.?

Looking just in Belarus, we get one hit.

Mishkovskiye, Myshkovichi, Khutora Mishkovskiye 53°13' 29°31' E M U Belarus
92.9 miles ESE of Minsk

Looking at just Poland, we get 7 hits.

Makowiska 53°04' 18°11' E M U Poland 130.7 miles WNW of Warszawa
Makowiska, Kolonia Makowiska 52°55' 19°02' E M U Poland 94.5 miles WNW of
Warszawa
Makowiska 51°07' 19°02' E M U Poland 114.9 miles SW of Warszawa
Makowiska 49°36' 21°36' E M U Poland 184.8 miles S of Warszawa
Makowisko 50°03' 22°49' E M U Poland 171.1 miles SSE of Warszawa
Makowskie 53°17' 22°25' E M U Poland 92.7 miles NE of Warszawa
Nogawczyce 50°25' 18°22' E M U Poland 170.1 miles SW of Warszawa

Do any of these look like a good hit to you?

Joe in Texas

[tekla]

None of these look close to me. Phonetically, the name would be
Mutskuvska -- the u pronounced like the u in put. The spelling comes
from his obituary. I don't have the immigration information on him,
except the date -- 1906. His surname was Zielonko, a relatively
unusual name.

Is there somewhere a Polish government office or Belarus government
office that would be able to identify a town from its old name?

Post by Joe Pessarra

Post by tekla
My grandfather said that he was born in Muckuwska, Poland in 1874.
This town is very likely not now in Poland -- perhaps it is in Belarus.
How can I find this town, find its present name if the name has
changed?

Using ShtetlSeeker at http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/LocTown.asp we
could not find a good match to the name of Muckuwska. You might try it
yourself, to see if you think one of the towns is a close match. Where did
you get the spelling of the town? Is it written on a document of some sort?
Or just how you thought your grandfather was spelling it? What was your
grandfather's surname? Do you have the immigration information on him, such
as date, ship, etc.?
Looking just in Belarus, we get one hit.
Mishkovskiye, Myshkovichi, Khutora Mishkovskiye 53°13' 29°31' E M U Belarus
92.9 miles ESE of Minsk
Looking at just Poland, we get 7 hits.
Makowiska 53°04' 18°11' E M U Poland 130.7 miles WNW of Warszawa
Makowiska, Kolonia Makowiska 52°55' 19°02' E M U Poland 94.5 miles WNW of
Warszawa
Makowiska 51°07' 19°02' E M U Poland 114.9 miles SW of Warszawa
Makowiska 49°36' 21°36' E M U Poland 184.8 miles S of Warszawa
Makowisko 50°03' 22°49' E M U Poland 171.1 miles SSE of Warszawa
Makowskie 53°17' 22°25' E M U Poland 92.7 miles NE of Warszawa
Nogawczyce 50°25' 18°22' E M U Poland 170.1 miles SW of Warszawa
Do any of these look like a good hit to you?
Joe in Texas

[t***@webtv.net]

I think you may be looking for your grandfather's birthplace in
modern-day Belarus. It happens that one of my Belarusian cousins is
married to a lady whose maiden name is Zelenko (Zielonko). She was born
near the city of Nesvizh, not far from the Polish border.

Proceeding from there, I searched my favorite world gazetteer
(http://www.fallingrain.com/world), looking for towns in the general
vicinity of Nesvizh and found one which might be yours -- Mot'kovtsy.
The pronunciation in Russian is very close to the phonetic spelling you
gave. Additional spellings include Mats'kovtse, Mot'kovtsy, and
Mackowce.

Nesvizh: latitude 53.21, longitude 26.67

Mot'kovtsy: latitude 53.25, longitude 24.15

Hope this helps -- good luck in your search!

"tekla" <***@wideopenwest.com> wrote:

None of these look close to me. Phonetically, the name would be
Mutskuvska -- the u pronounced like the u in put. The spelling comes
from his obituary. I don't have the immigration information on him,
except the date -- 1906. His surname was Zielonko, a relatively unusual
name.

Is there somewhere a Polish government office or Belarus government
office that would be able to identify a town from its old name?

[Gayle Schlissel Riley]

I find the Library of Congress very helpful. One of my towns use to be
Neu Speyer.. Now it has a Ukrainian name. They do not charge for
research and they are smart.
Library of Congress
Washington DC..Gayle

Post by t***@webtv.net
I think you may be looking for your grandfather's birthplace in
modern-day Belarus. It happens that one of my Belarusian cousins is
married to a lady whose maiden name is Zelenko (Zielonko). She was born
near the city of Nesvizh, not far from the Polish border.
Proceeding from there, I searched my favorite world gazetteer
(http://www.fallingrain.com/world), looking for towns in the general
vicinity of Nesvizh and found one which might be yours -- Mot'kovtsy.
The pronunciation in Russian is very close to the phonetic spelling you
gave. Additional spellings include Mats'kovtse, Mot'kovtsy, and
Mackowce.
Nesvizh: latitude 53.21, longitude 26.67
Mot'kovtsy: latitude 53.25, longitude 24.15
Hope this helps -- good luck in your search!
None of these look close to me. Phonetically, the name would be
Mutskuvska -- the u pronounced like the u in put. The spelling comes
from his obituary. I don't have the immigration information on him,
except the date -- 1906. His surname was Zielonko, a relatively unusual
name.
Is there somewhere a Polish government office or Belarus government
office that would be able to identify a town from its old name?

[tekla]

Post by Gayle Schlissel Riley
I find the Library of Congress very helpful. One of my towns use to be
Neu Speyer.. Now it has a Ukrainian name. They do not charge for
research and they are smart.
Library of Congress
Washington DC..Gayle

Ah, interesting! How do you contact the Library of Congress to request
such research?

Tekla

[tekla]

Thank you! Yes, I think most likely the town is now in modern-day
Belarus, and I think that Mot'kovtsy is a very good candidate.

I looked at the gazetter, http://www.fallingrain.com/world, that you
cite, but it's not obvious to me how one would search it. How did you
search it?

Thanks again.

Tekla

Post by t***@webtv.net
I think you may be looking for your grandfather's birthplace in
modern-day Belarus. It happens that one of my Belarusian cousins is
married to a lady whose maiden name is Zelenko (Zielonko). She was born
near the city of Nesvizh, not far from the Polish border.
Proceeding from there, I searched my favorite world gazetteer
(http://www.fallingrain.com/world), looking for towns in the general
vicinity of Nesvizh and found one which might be yours -- Mot'kovtsy.
The pronunciation in Russian is very close to the phonetic spelling you
gave. Additional spellings include Mats'kovtse, Mot'kovtsy, and
Mackowce.
Nesvizh: latitude 53.21, longitude 26.67
Mot'kovtsy: latitude 53.25, longitude 24.15
Hope this helps -- good luck in your search!
None of these look close to me. Phonetically, the name would be
Mutskuvska -- the u pronounced like the u in put. The spelling comes
from his obituary. I don't have the immigration information on him,
except the date -- 1906. His surname was Zielonko, a relatively unusual
name.
Is there somewhere a Polish government office or Belarus government
office that would be able to identify a town from its old name?

[t***@webtv.net]

To search the gazetteer, start by going to the relevant country. If you
don't know for sure, plan on searching more than one. Where to start
your search can depend on things like when the person was born, the year
the person arrived in the US (borders changed from time to time in that
part of the world) or the stated nationality or ethnicity of the person.

(In your case I started with Belarus, but I could also have started with
Poland or Ukraine. I picked Belarus for a variety of reasons, including
my having an inlaw with the same surname as your grandfather's whose
birthplace is on the Belarus side of the Belarusian-Polish border.)

After clicking on the country, click on the letter of the alphabet that
the town name starts with. You'll go to a page with a further breakdown
-- in your case, towns beginning with Ma, Mo, and so on. Read down the
list of town names and look for anything that looks like it could be it,
and check out all the spelling variants.

Of course, guesswork (some educated guesswork, some intuition) is
involved. In your case, I had the city of Nesvizh in mind because my
part-Polish inlaw with the same last name was born in a small town near
there. (My grandmother was also born in a village near Nesvizh and spoke
Polish as well as Belarusian and Russian, although we're not Polish.)

Out of curiosity I visited the Ellis Island website and searched
immigrants with your grandfather's surname. Most of them were of Polish
ethnicity and Russian nationality, and most of the towns they departed
from are in present-day Belarus. This suggested to me that Belarus had
been the right country to search.

I believe it was on this list that I first learned of the gazetteer
several years ago and it's been invaluable.

tekla ["tekla" <***@wideopenwest.com>] wrote:

Thank you! Yes, I think most likely the town is now in modern-day
Belarus, and I think that Mot'kovtsy is a very good candidate.

I looked at the gazetter, http://www.fallingrain.com/world, that you
cite, but it's not obvious to me how one would search it. How did you
search it?