Misspelling / Location Search for Polish Immigration Record

 I was always told that my Great-Great Grandmother was named Teofila Bahonka (Tillie).  It was difficult to do research with only this piece of information, and knowing that she was Polish because not only was it a wildly uncommon surname, but it posed tremendous difficulty producing any matches or records that could be a possible match.

I was at the Camden County Historical Society (love it there) and went through some of the burial records they had in a card system in drawers.  I found Tillie Guzik and to my surprise, the back of the card listed her Father's name as Daniel Backowski.  At the time this was a little baffling as I wasn't really sure how the leap was made from Backowski to Bahonka.  The more I read up on Polish surnames and the variations, the more sense it started to make.  (Awesome articles: add links here).

Insert CC Hist Society Photo.

I always had this one immigration record (10 NOV 1907) stashed away in case it was a match for my Teofila Bohanka.  I didn't have any other pieces of verification to reasonably believe this record should be considered a match.  I was digging back through and saw that a relative listed was Daniel Bachonka and that is what I needed to pursue this record further and dig in a little deeper.

I was able to essentially tie together several individuals next to each other on this ship manifest.  I was excited and thought this would be super helpful, until the brick walls continued.  I am determined to crack the case.  

Luckily, the paleography and handwriting wasn't a major obstacle for this record.  I tend to be pretty great with handwriting naturally but sometimes I do get stuck and do not have enough context clues on the page to sort it out.

I became eager to determine where Tillie was coming from which seemed at first sight to be Charnshow (?).  I will come back to this later.

Starting with Line 17 down to Teofila Bachonka on Line 22, these individuals next to each other all had a final destination of Camden, NJ.  This was a great starting point.  I got SUPER lucky because there was a Page 2 of this manifest with additional information, this is always a gold mine.

Line 17 - Alexander Jaknbzik - Charnyow - Mother: Michalina Jakab_zik, pomernica Lipek Suwalki

Line 18 - Jan Doroschka - Charnischow - Father: Bazyl Daroschka, Charnschow Hsolyn Suwalki

Line 19 - Mariana Bagenska - " " - Father: Jozef Bagendki, Charnshow Hig_stowr Suwzcki (?)

Line 20 - Sofia Kozlowska - Thorozowce - Father: Jozef R(?)ozlowska, Th or Dorozowcze Lipsk Smonem (?)

Line 21 - Jan Jaknbzik - Ponarniez - Wife: (?) Antonina? ))tomina? Jaknbczik, Ponarmiez Lipek Snwalki

Line 22 - Teofila Bachonka - Charnschow - Father: Daniel Bachonka, Charnschow, Fo__ Szmacki

Teofila Bachnonka Line 22 is listed as going to her Brother In Law on what seems to be 1814 7th (?) Street, Camden, NJ.  This person's name is a little tricky but it could be Jan _____

I am only aware of one of her brother-in-laws in general, Ludwig / Ludwik Jaskiewicz, who did in fact live in Camden, NJ with her sister Antonina.

The other's seemed to all be going to the same house in Camden, or, there were remarkably similar house numbers and some were going to South 4th Street, and some to 7th Street.  I immediately thought of the 1910 Census but had no luck.  I did find some matches in Camden that I am going to continue to look into: Amelia Biliwicz, (add more).

Line 17 - Alexander Jaknbzik - Uncle: Jan Maszeruk - 590 Ferndid Str. Camden, NJ

Line 18 - Jan Doroschka - cousin " "

Line 19 - Mariana Bagenska - Sister: Aniela Balewicz - 1814 7 Str Camden, NJ

Line 20 - Sofia Kozlowska - Cousin: Wasil Kolewicz - 1814 S. 4 str. Camden, NJ

Line 21 - Jan Jaknbzik - Sister: Aniela Jaknbczik - 1814 _ str Camden, NJ

Line 22 - Teofila Bachonka - Brother il. Jan Jznlera or Jzsilera (?) 1814 7th Str Camden, NJ

"Whether going to join a relative or friend; and if so, what relative or friend, and his name and complete address"

Place of Birth - Country, City or Town

Line 17 - Alexander Jaknbzik - Russia, Charyon(?)

Line 18 - Jan Doroschka - Russia, Chavcisckon

Line 19 - Mariana Bagenska - " "

Line 20 - Sofia Kozlowska - Russia, Hovozowce / Hovorowce

Line 21 - Jan Jaknbzik - Russia, Ponarniez

Line 22 - Teofila Bachonka - Russia, Charischon

I tried my hardest to try different spelling variations or find any of these locations in Poland and was stuck.  I am sure it is either the person writing this down misspelling the name, writing down their interpretation of what they heard, etc.  I also know that many town names in Poland are duplicate, so I am not really sure how I am going to pin down a location.  

I started thinking that maybe I could look at the other information regarding closest relative "The name and complete address of nearest relative or friend in country whence alien came" and try to at least get a principality I could begin searching for records in.  It seemed fair to surmise that these towns or villages are in the Suwalki region.  This amazing article has been a great resource: A Crash Course in Polish History.  

Gubernia Suwalska: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubernia_suwalska

A good match could be Czostkow on the map as well as Lipsk on this awesome map from ornatowski.com.  

If anyone has any thoughts or other interpretations please let me know!  I love the constant challenges and opportunities for learning that come from genealogy because now I am really interested in learning more about researching historic geographic locations in Poland and surrounding areas (Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Solvakia, Hungary, Belarus etc.). I was thinking a great next step would be sharing the screen shots of the town names to a Polish genealogy Facebook group to see if anyone had any feedback.  Sometimes I feel like having a Polish speaking person looking at the names might be the best bet.

Thanks for stopping by!