Where can I find information on a VERY rare last name? Please help! Important?

Question:I absolutely need to find information on the last name SRODKA. It has been impossible... we have searched the internet and even been in those family name stores that have the history of the name, crest, etc. The name is so rare in the US that there are apparently only about 20 Srodka's who have lived in the US.

The name apparently origionated in Poland... but the search starts and ends with that information. I have searched for hours upon hours and have come up with nothing!!!

Does anyone know of ANYWHERE that I can look and find this last name? I am desperatly seeking a resolution to this... it is very important!

Thank you!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I absolutely need to find information on the last name SRODKA. It has been impossible... we have searched the internet and even been in those family name stores that have the history of the name, crest, etc. The name is so rare in the US that there are apparently only about 20 Srodka's who have lived in the US.

The name apparently origionated in Poland... but the search starts and ends with that information. I have searched for hours upon hours and have come up with nothing!!!

Does anyone know of ANYWHERE that I can look and find this last name? I am desperatly seeking a resolution to this... it is very important!

Thank you!

Some tips on Polish ancestry.
1- Close your eyes, and shift your thinking. WE today have so called "right/wrong" spelling for a name (not to mention education). These are modern concepts. In the 1800s, people were illiterate, including sometimes priests! Your ancestor and his brother may have used different spellings for the name. Does not make either one incorrect. You may find a name for the same person, spelled several ways in different records.
2- Poland, as a valid country, did not exist for many years in the late 1800s, early 1900s. It was "partitioned" out of existence, and legally part of different countries, ie Germany and Russia. A person born IN what is now Poland, in the 1800s would believe he was from whatever country was in power, at the time. It still was in the same village/town.
3- WW2 did a huge number on Poland. Even when it did come back into existence in early 1900s, it got stomped again by Hitler and Germany. Also, under Communist rule for many years. Many buildings (read- records) were destroyed. Polish researchers are struggling to post what they can. You cannot assume the records survived.
4- The places you mention are going to only have common names (and probably not accurate at that). You HAVE to work with your individual ancestor and his specific records. I see in 1920, John Srodka is living in Penn., and his parents were born in Poland. It says he was born in PA in 1875. It will be hard finding them in census records, since it probably was mispelled on the original, or copied wrong by a transcriber.
I think the best you can do for the moment is that it did come from Poland. It may be a corruption of something else.. but you won't know that, without searching records that may not be online, or may not exist today.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/

You could try to contact someone in Poland through the internet who speaks English and has access to census records. My mother had luck with doing that in Austria where my father's family comes from.

all i could find

lord knows

If you know have time, I advise you to look for the book, Last names around the world. The book is large-printed, big, thick and heavy, but you can't find it in the public library, find it in those old book stores.

You can go to the Ellis Island website and see if anyone with that name immigrated. just go there and type the last name. hit search. you might have to set up an account but it is FREE. hope this helps.

i searched the name already and here is what i found, just click.

The best place to go online to find general assistances is Polish Genius Yahoo! Group. There are over 600 people there who are researching Polish genealogy. Some have access to references and can tell you where the surname would be found in Poland.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/polish_gen...

If you had more specific information and found out that they had lived in southeastern Poland, you could go to Galicia_Poland-Ukraine Yahoo! Group. There are over 1,000 people there researching their roots in this portion of eastern Europe.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Galicia_Po...

For both groups, I believe you would have to join the group, but it is free.

An Antoni SRODKA came to the U.S. twice - once in 1923 and once in 1928. He was a priest and in 1923 his last city of residence was Przemysl, Poland. In 1928 info. states he was born in Boglaj or Bogdaj. His Visa number was N.I. 13326 or maybe 13320?

In 1928 his closest relative in Poland was Mr. A. Hlond - Lipowa 14, Warsaw, Poland. Both times he was going to the Don Bosco Institute (Silesian Fathers) in Ramsay, NJ.

You're going to have to look OFFline for the town of origin for your Srodka branch. You may find that information in their Naturalization papers and in Church records (check the bride's parish first). I would also suggest gathering info on ALL the Srodka who settled in your area and the parents of the "married into the family" for the earliest generation. There could be a town given in their records that gives you a starting point.