My initial search began with my great grandfather Julius
Dawson. I quickly found he had an older brother Peter. They
spelled their names many ways until eventually they all used Dawson. The most common Lithuanian spelling is
Dausinas (for the men) and Dausinaite (for the unmarried women).
So, I've found 2 Dawson brothers:
- Peter Dausinas
- Julius Dausinas
MEMORY BOOK: Julius' eldest son, my Uncle Lawrence,
wrote about his family in a Memory Book. He said, "Aunt Sofia
(father's sister) knew all about mushrooms. She had a mean son named
Walter." One of Lawrence's daughters said that Walter used to
terrorize Lawrence and his brothers with snakes.
Now I have 3 Dawson siblings:
- Peter Dausinas
- Julius Dausinas
- Sophie Dausinaite
Uncle Lawrence also wrote, "Sofia's husband, Uncle Joe
was a quiet man. He was found dead in a fishing boat of a heart
attack."
CHURCH RECORDS: Using Catholic Church Records from
Providence of God Church, I searched for Sophie and found Julius had not one,
but two sisters, Anna and Josephine (who I assume to be Aunt
Sophie). They married two Raczkowski brothers (Frank and John
respectively).
Oh - I'm up to 4 Dawson siblings:
- Peter Dausinas
- Julius Dausinas
- Sophie Dausinaite
- Anna Dausinaite
I found a number of records for Anna Dawson and husband
Frank Raczkowski but have never located Josephine and husband John Raczkowski
in the Census records. I did, however, find baptism records for 3
children:
- Joseph b. 1901
- John b. 1902
- Walter b. 1904
Keep in mind that Uncle Lawrence said Sophie's husband was
Joe, not John. For years I've searched Census and other records for Aunt
Sophie, Uncle Joe or John, and their mean son Walter without success.
ADDRESS BOOK: In
2011, Uncle Lawrence's daughters, Doris and Christine, provided me with names
of possible cousins listed in their mother's address book. They felt
that Walter's last name started with a J, perhaps Janchusky or Janczewski. They
said they may have had children: Lottie and Mickey. Although this didn't match
the Church records, I searched with this name as well as with children Lottie
and Mickey. No luck. I searched using first names only. No
luck. Something just wasn't right.
JACKPOT: Earlier this week I came across a 1905 marriage
record for Stanislawa Dansinaite and Josef Janconski in Ancestry.com's Cook
County Marriage Record. I think I missed
this record in the past because this is yet another spelling of
Dausinaite. Although I've done searches
using Soundex and wild cards, Ancestry.com requires a minimum of 3 letters.
I've searched for Dau*, Daw*, Doo*, Dou*, etc.
I must not have searched on Dan*.
Or I did and got too many results.
Now I have 5 Dawson siblings:
- Peter Dausinas
- Julius Dausinas
- Sophie Dausinaite
- Anna Dausinaite
- Stanislawa Dausinaite
BACK TO THE CHURCH RECORDS: I took the information from
the Cook County record and headed to Familysearch.org to use the browsable
Chicago Catholic Church Records.
Bingo. Here's their marriage
record, including parents names. Love these records!!
CENSUS: From there I headed to the Census
records. 1910 - no luck. However in 1920, I found a record for:
Joseph Janczewski
- Stella (Stanislawa, I assume)
- Madeline (Mickey?)
- Loretta (Lottie)
- Walter
- Stella
I think this is the correct family but it's not perfect. Then
I found the same family in the 1930 Census and all doubt was removed when I saw
Stella's brother, Peter Dawson living with them.
Joseph Janczewski
- Stella
- Madeline (Mickey)
- Charlotte (Lottie)
- Stella
- Peter Dawson - listed as Uncle
Peter Dawson is actually Stella's brother, not her uncle.
I'm confident of this because her parents names are listed on her Providence of
God Church marriage records. Peter is, however, uncle to the children. This minor incongruity doesn't bother me as my
brothers-in-law call me Aunt Lynn out of habit because they call me that for
their children's sake.
Enough for now. This
is a very exciting find for me and was only possible because my cousins, Doris
and Christine, shared what they knew.
Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn
