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SZTORC Families of Marge GALUS SANDLIER and Roman WITEK

My Great Grandmother was Agnes / Agnieszka SZTORC. Agnes was born 26 Dec 1858 to Joannes / Jan and Marianna TWOREK SZTORC in Leki Gorne / Łęki Górne, Poland, house 162. On 16 Feb 1876 Agnes married Andrew / Andrzej GALUS in Leki Gorne / Łęki Górne. They were the parents of 14 children, one of whom was my grandfather Stanislaus GALUS. During the Partitions of Poland, Leki Gorne / Łęki Górne was in an area called Galicia, which was ruled by Austria until after World War I. It is now in woj. Podkarpackie in southeast Poland.

Map showing location of Leki Gorne and Leki Dolne, Poland

Agnes SZTORC's father, Joannes / Jan, first married Marianna ZIMA on 23 Nov 1818 in the Leki Gorne / Łęki Górne Parish. Joannes and Marianna had at least 11 children, most of whom died young. Marianna died 12 Feb 1848 at the age of 50. On 23 May 1849 Joannes married Marianna TWOREK, daughter of Antonius TWOREK and Sophia nee KRUPA. Joannes and Marianna were the parents of eight children, one of whom was my great grandmother, Agnes / Agnieszka. Joannes' / Jan's parents, Joannes STORC and Theresa NOSAL, were named on several of their grandchildren's baptism records. Based on his age at the time of his second marriage (55), and his age at death (90), the younger Joannes was born about 1791-1794. I could not find a baptism record for him in the Łęki Górne church records, nor did I find any other records naming Joannes and Theresa NOSAL STORC. As of April 2005, I had not found where my great great grandfather was born. In May 2005 I discovered my Joannes SZTORC / STORC was baptized in the tiny village of Zajączkowice on 25 Oct 1794 in the Parish of Pilzno in Galicia, Austria Poland.  Zajączkowice is not shown on the map above, but is located a little west of Lipiny, north of Pilzno.

In June 2003 I received an e-mail from Roman Witek, who lives in Poland. Roman found my webpage through a web search, and he wrote to say that we had the SZTORC surname in common. Roman's grandfather Józef SZTORC had two brothers who immigrated to the United States. Photographs of these brothers and their families had the name of a Chicago photographer stamped on the back. Roman wondered how one would go about confirming if these brothers, Frank and John, had actually settled in Chicago. He also wondered if by chance we might be related through our SZTORC families.

I responded to Roman, intrigued by the possibility of making a family connection with someone who has firsthand knowledge of the village from which my paternal grandparents had emmigrated. Roman's SZTORC family is from the village of Podlesie, just 4 km north of Łęki Górne, and part of the Łęki Górne Parish. Since my ancestors were from Łęki Górne, it was not unreasonable to wonder if we might have some connection.

At my request, Roman sent me the information he had about his SZTORC family. Roman knew his grandfather Józef's birthdate was 18 Nov 1890. I have on loan from the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) the baptism and marriage microfilms of Leki  / Łęki Parish. I found the birth/baptism record for Josephus (Józef) SZTORC that matched the date provided by Roman. I tracked back Roman's SZTORC line, but I could not find a connection between our two SZTORC families. I found the birth records for Józef's siblings: Franciscus (Frank), born 2 Jul 1885; Anna, born 16 Feb 1888; Johanna (Jan / John), born 8 Jun 1893; and Stanislaus, born 18 Jul 1896 / died 30 Apr 1898. A Frank and a John STORC were enumerated in the 1930 Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, U.S. census. Their ages given on the census led me to speculate that they were probably the brothers who immigrated to the U.S. As I found more about these two STORC families in the U.S., I added the information to this website. In February 2005 I received an e-mail from Joseph (Joe) ZMUDA, who wrote to say he "accidentally" found my webpage. Joe is a grandson of Frank STORC. Joe has become our contact for Roman's U.S. SZTORCes. Through him, we identified all the people in the photographs that Roman initially e-mailed to me.

Józef SZTORC married Eleonora MICZEK on 14 Oct 1919 in Leki / Łęki Parish. One of my direct lines includes the MICZEK surname. Roman also mentioned that he had a connection to the PAPROCKIs. I started tracking Eleonora MICZEK's lineage. Eleonora was a daughter of Adalbertus / Wojciech and Marianna PAPROCKI MICZEK. Taking the PAPROCKI line back, I found that Marianna was a daughter of Martin and Agatha ZAGORSKI PAPROCKI.  Martin PAPROCKI was a brother of my Great Great Grandmother Marianna PAPROCKI (wife of Jan (John) GALUS). Roman and I are fourth cousins through the PAPROCKIs. Our common ancestors are Adalbertus / Wojciech and Hedwig MICEK PAPROCKI, who married 24 Nov 1812 in the Leki / Łęki Church.

In the process of searching for Roman Witek's SZTORC family I came across information about two of my first cousins twice removed, Thomas Joseph and Andrew SZTORC / STORTZ, who also immigrated to Chicago. Thomas and Andrew were first cousins of my grandfather, Stanislaus GALUS, who immigrated to Platte County, Nebraska.

In April of 2011 I received a post on Facebook from a woman researching a SZTORC family in Chicago.  Lisa wrote: 
Found your INCREDIBLE website today about your SZTORC family members. I am interested in geneology and am researching information for my partner, Brenda. Her Great Grandfather is John Sztorc (spelled a million different ways!) b. 23 July 1857 - d. 10 Feb 1926. We can't seem to find ANY other information about John (Jan). I can't find any information about his immigration or his marriage to his wife Catherine (Katie). Would love to figure out if your Sztorc family and Bren's are related somehow.
Lisa had the names of Jan's parents as Jan SZTORC and Mary nee TWOREK from an undocumented source.  Jan and Mary happen to be my 2nd great grandparents.  My great grandmother, Angieszka, had a brother Jan, who was born 24 Jul 1856...a year and a day different from Brenda's great grandfather.  My great granduncle Jan married Marianna MODELSKI in Leki Gorne and I have found 5 children born to them.  Marianna died 17 Sep 1887 in Leki Dolne, Galicia, Austria Poland.

I started collecting information about Brenda's Jan SZTORC, trying to find a piece of information that would link him to my Jan SZTORC in Leki Dolne, Poland.  Between Lisa and me, we found a lot of circumstantial evidence that strongly suggested the two Jans were one and the same.  I ordered a copy of the microfilm from the LDS (Mormon) church that contained the marriage banns for the Chicago Jan SZTORC and his wife Katarzyna BRANDYS.  Listed on the banns was the name of Jan's first wife and her date of death in Poland...which matched the information I had from the Leki Gorne Parish records.  Connection!!

On the following pages are the data I have compiled about Roman's and my SZTORC families.  I have updated my U.S. SZTORC page detailing what I know about my great granduncle and his second family in Chicago.

Marge's SZTORC Family -- Begins On Page 2

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SZTORC Families of Marge GALUS SANDLIER and Roman WITEK  
Marge's SZTORC Family - Page 2 GO
Marge's SZTORC Family in the United States - Page 2A GO
Roman Witek's SZTORC Family - Page 3
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The Search for Roman Witek's SZTORC Family in the United States - Page 4 GO
Photographs from Joseph ZMUDA - Descendant of Frank STORC - Page 5
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Sources / Resources for the SZTORC pages - Page 5 Sources
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Photographs of Family Tombstones GO

Our Family Trees Page Marge's Surnames

Marge's Family Files at Rootsweb's World Connect

Photographs of Podlesie / Łęki Górne, Podkarpackie, Poland by Roman Witek

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Created November 29, 2003 - Updated June 3, 2011
Graphics by Marge
From photo of Forget Me Not flowers from my Mom's garden