Samuel Koprek - Places Part 1

Samuel Koprek

b 1872 Warochy, East Prussia

m 1895 East Prussia

d 1950 Gleason, Lincoln county, Wisconsin, USA

I have many unanswered questions about our Grandfather Samuel.

Baptism - Evangelische Kirche Klein Jerutten

The present church was erected in 1734 as a half-timbered structure. The main altar was made in 1737-1738 by Michał Kapicki, a woodcarver from Wielbark, who also made a sculpture of a baptismal angel.

The parish in Jerutki was founded in 1709 and was one of the largest in Masuria. It included Płozy, Piasutno, Wawrochy, Lipowiec, Świątajno and Olszyny.

Samuel was born about five miles from Jerutki in the village of Wawrochy and according to online records, he was baptized in the Evangelische Kirch Klein Jerutten on 3 Nov 1872.

The church has since been converted to a Roman Catholic place of worship.

53°35′24″N21°8′23″E

Photos are from a Polish blog Most internet browsers have an option for English at the end of the URL field.

More Church information.

Samuel's residences have been listed as various different places.

The three locations that I saw were:

"Wallen"

Wallen is a small rural community in Kreis Ortelsburg. It is in Poland now. The 1818-1845 Ortelsburg District is shown here. You can see the village of Jerutten, where Samuel was baptized.

"Gelsenkirchen"

"West Farland"

Gelsenkirchen was the town where the Koprek family lived just before crossing the Atlantic. It is currently the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, near the border of Belgium. You can see how Westphalia could be transcribed as West Farland by a native English speaker during the immigration process.

Where was he married in East Prussia?

Why did they move to Gelsenkirchen?

722 miles away!

Did they move to be closer to a port for a steamer ship to America?

When did they move?

1895-1897 probably

Before 1898 because his daughter Martha was born in Gelsenkirchen.

After 1895 because he married Eva Lipka in East Prussia that year.

How?

Probably by railroad.

Germany had a very robust transportation system by 1910, only 4 years later than our grandfather's journey.

So I imagine that at their home in Gelsenkirchen they pack a steamer trunk and a few suitcases, perhaps? Say goodbye. To whom? Then hop on a train taking them 130 miles westward to the docks at Antwerp, Belgium.

Whose idea was it to make the journey?

So many questions.

I was told that Opa Samuel played the violin.

Does anyone know if that is true?

Crossing the Atlantic for a New Life

Port of Antwerp (postcard from 1910)

The Vaderland (later renamed the Zeeland) left Antwerp Belgium on 6 October 1906 and arrived at Ellis Island ten days later on the 16th.

The ship's manifest shows our family as: Samuel, Eva, Martha, Lena, Carl and baby Frederich.

I found these photographs online. None of them are of our family. I just wanted to try and get a bit of the vibe for where our family had walked.

I found a wonderful site on Ellis Island documenting first hand stories and photos. Take a look when you have time.

Another interactive site here with great photos.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!

More questions.

Who is Gottlieb in Pennsylvania?

Why didn't Samuel stay in Pennsylvania?

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

A new Dead Family Tale is posted every Monday.

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Do you have more tales of our Koprek, Haupt, Revis, or Oswald lines?

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