Mystery Solved!

The 1910 census for Bridgeport, CT shows a John "Mastenki" [b. 1870 imm. 1905], his wife "Margurete" [b. 1886 imm. 1906] and daughter Bertha [b. 1909]. Despite the misspelled names and skewed dates there is no doubt this is Jan and Magdalina because they are shown as living at 495 Park Avenue where Bertha was born the year before.

The mystery was a SINGLE brother named "Dona Masteki" [b. 1873 imm. 1909] who is living in the same household. From what we know of Daniel, he and Victoria were married when they immigrated to the U.S. in 1913. Hmmm ...

It was time to go back online to the original 1913 ship's manifest for Daniel and Victoria ... this time through Ancestry.com where records can be enlarged. Starting at the top and reading across the page, there is a column that asks if the immigrant had been to the U.S. before and when. Reading down the column to the entry for Daniel and Victoria, the solution to this mystery was revealed: Daniel had been to the U.S. before in 1909!

This lesson proves the importance of reading entire documents carefully and noting home addresses at the time they were created. Remember also that the name "Marcinczyk" has many variant spellings. Throughout this site, the Marcinczyk name ... as it appeared at the time of the event described ... has been used to help you locate related documents. Spellings found so far:

• Marcensky
• Marcincik
• Martinchi
• Martenchyk
• Martenki
• Martin
• Martinchik
• Martinchil
• Martinski
• Marz
• Marzinzik
• Mastenki