Bernice and Peter Gutowski, birth, immigration, census data, dates
As we all have come to understand, dates and stories evolve and are “remembered” in a whole new context each time they are passed. Passing this information from generation to generation with accuracy is difficult and we rely on documents as backup. Those documents can also come under question, no I’m not talking Obama’s birth certificate, I’m talking about census documents (even today’s) and hand written immigration documents from a hundred years ago or notes on backs of photos.
After recently being contacted by Natalia Olszewska in Poland, a reference date she provided (1915) as the immigration date of Grandma Gutowski to the US was obviously wrong. That of course does not change the family relationship of her and her ancestors to our Grandmother. Just look at Bernice Gutowski and Natalia’s mother and Grandma and her assumed mother and Uncle Richard and Grandma’s younger Brother Aleksandar the resemblance goes on and is as strong as DNA proof on the Maury show.
Vince Gutowski, my brother and first born grandchild of Grandma Gutowski (he’s so proud of that) compiled a few dates backed by census forms and immigration papers. Here is the synopsis of his compilations of these important dates and information. I paraphrase and format in some additional information like expanding the full names:
“From the 1920 census it says Grandpa Pete (Gutowski), 37 years old, was married to Bertha 31 years old. The wife’s name appears as Bernice on the 1940 census and she was 51 years old.
So grandpa (Gutowski) was born in 1883 and grandma (Kalinowski-Gutowski) 1889, more or less.
That means grandpa would have been 32 and grandma 26 in 1915.
The 1920 census says they both obtained US citizenship in 1903, meaning grandpa would have been 20 and grandma 14…….more or less….
A caption on Peter and Bernice wedding photo is 1907
We know dad (Chester Gutowski) was born in 1911 and Mary (Gutowski) in 1909, so grandma would have been about 20 when she had Mary and 22 when she had dad.”
Updates on dates provided by Vince Gutowski. Based on a photo of Peter and Bernice tombstone Peter Gutowski was born in 1881 and Died 1974, Bernice Gutowski was born 1889 and died 1978. This does not match exactly with the 1920 census data so go figure. “Close enough for government work” is a very old saying. Now we know why.
Even though Natalia’s immigration date did match up with the written census, perhaps her 1915 date should be scrutinized a bit more. Natalia’s other information is pretty accurate I would have to assume. That is her information on the actual Polish names, numbers and names of siblings and of course descendants of those siblings. Again the family resemblance is uncanny and the more accurate real Polish names are great. The stories are informative and reveal a part of who we are and the impact our family has made and hopefully will continue to make in today’s world.
Thank you so much Grandma Gutowski and Great Grandma Kalinowski, your contributions do live on…
About... Frank Gutowski
Frank Chester Gutowski, born Oct 19, 1947, son of Chester Gutowski and Frances (Panzini) Gutowski, father of Christopher Gutowski and Robert Gutowski, grandfather to Christian, Alex, Xavier, Gavin, Merida Gutowski. Brother to Vincent Gutowski, Robert Gutowski and Bernice Gutowski.