Witkowski (Witka)
Arms: Azure, a cauldron handle with points upward argent, between its branches a sword reversed proper.
Crest: A leg in armor or, flexed at the knee and spurred.
Origin: Poland (Ancient Pomerania in northwest Poland near Gdansk)
The Polish family name Witkowski is classified as being of habitation origin. The name was based upon "Witko" a Polish pet form of the Latin personal name "Vitus", derived from "Vito", meaning "life".
The name Witkowski is very common. This name generally originated as a way of indicating a person or family came from a village named Witkow, Witkowo, Witkowa, etc., and there are a great many such places in Poland. All those names basically mean Witek's place, usually suggesting the villages or estates were founded or owned by somebody named Witek (that's a short form or nickname of several first names such as Wit, Witold, Witoslaw, etc.). This name is found in large numbers all over Poland, with no discernible pattern to the distribution.
Witkowski (Witka) / Vitkuski / Kuske
A brief outline of this side of my family tree (so far).
-
My great-grandfather, Anthony Witkowski (born-1836 in Windorp, Poland) and his wife Victoria (Czapiewska) Witkowski, left Bremen, Germany for Quebec, Ontario, Canada on the ship Agda in 1872. They were from the Kashubian area of Poland (Northwest region). They belonged to the parish of Koscierzyna. They met and married in the Kaszuby Parish. With them they brought their two children, August and Lucy Witkowski, who were born in Poland,. They eventually settled in Renfrew, Ontario, Canada.
-
After their arrival in Renfrew they changed their name to Vitkuski.
- My grandfather (Anthony Vitkuski) (born-1879) and his three brothers and three sisters (John (born-1873), Julia (born-1876), Mary Pauline (born-1882), Annie (born-1884), Joseph (born-1887) and Aloysius (born-1892-died at 3 months) were born in Renfrew, Ontario, Canada.
They moved to Barry's Bay, Ontario around 1912 and descendants are still there.
-
August Vitkuski married a (?) Mier.
-
Lucy Vitkuski married a Henry Chapeski.
John Vitkuski married a (?).
Julia Vitkuski married a Thomas Lepinski.
Anthony (Vitkuski) Kuske married a Clara Kramer.
-
Mary Vitkuski married a August Gutoski.
- Annie Pauline married a (?).
Joseph married a (?).
-
-
(Anthony Vitkuski changed his name to Kuske prior to his marriage.)
-
Other names from these marriages include Jones, Lewis, Leyr, McGrogan, Hadeski, Bisset, Steed, Gutoski, Skebo, Pinkos, Nicholson, Ritza, Krafchik, Kiwekkeboom and Harvey.
- My grand-mother, Clara Kramer was born in Chicago, Ill in 1889. Her father died in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada in 1905. I'm not sure if my grand-mother was living in Chicago, Ill or Wetaskiwin, Alberta when she met my grand-father.
-
-
After Anthony Kuske and Clara Kramer were married, they moved to Fernie, British Columbia, Canada. There they had four children:
- Vera Francis Kuske (my mother)
-
Ada Kuske
-
Lawrence Kuske
-
Irene Kuske
- Vera Kuske married a John William Francis O'Brien (my father) (California, USA).
-
Ada Kuske married a Jack Sweeney (British Columbia, Canada).
-
Lawrence Kuske married a Mary Joseph (British Columbia, Canada).
-
Irene Kuske married a Edward E. Garvey (California, USA).
- There are a lot of missing links in my family that I am looking for. If anyone has any information on the Witkowski/Vitkuski/Kuske family (or any descendents/relations) of Ontario, Canada area, please feel free to drop me a line at the address below.
For more information about the Canadaian Genealogy Project, click here.
To send comments and suggestions for improving this site or to add new information that may be useful to others, please drop me a line.
|
