Polish immigrants

My great grandfather was born in Poland around 1864 and married in Manchester in 1888. The 1891 census for Manchester has many people from Poland, but I haven't discovered a) why they all came to Manchester - mostly as shoe and slipper makers - or b) exactly where in Poland my great grandfather was born. Does anyone have any ideas how I could tackle these issues?

 

My Father was Polish to Karen, but he came over here after WW2 however I have tried tracing his family with little success but I did come across many web sites that could be useful to you , have you joined the f acebook group Polish Genealogy ? They are a great help and have many knowledgeable people on there. I will look out some of the web sites I used and post them here when I have found them.

 

One of the web sites I used is called PolandGenWeb it has forums and lots of useful links to different web sites that could be helpful to you. But there is bound to be someone on there who will be able to help, also there is a list of surnames that you can look at and add yours to.

 

I have just had a thought Karen, was your Great Grandfather naturalised? If so there may be details on the National Archives web site .

 

Hi, I have had a look using various spellings of my grandfather's name, but to no avail. Thank you for the suggestion though.

 

There were a number of Polish immigrants in Cheshire. I know of one family.

My German ancestors were mainly saddlers, tanners, etc. but it might not have been the trade he was working in but the conditions in Poland at the time.

Once here in North England, some of my ancestors were involved in the Pork butchery business which became very lucrative in England as the Germans were very accomplished in utilising the swine from the snout to the feet.

If you could relate his name, maybe I could make enquires from another forum.

 

Hi, May ancestor's Anglicised name was Warwick Williams. His Polish one is likely to be Wadik Wilem. His father's name was Victor.

 

Hello Karen

I haven't as yet found his marriage but, entering his eldest son's name, Joseph, I found the family in the 1911 census. There his forename is written "Waddick".

Will keep on looking.

Here's a little Information about Slipper Makers.

 

Ha! Found his marriage under Wellem Waddick to Katherine Broady 1888 Manchester.

 

Wow Marguerite thats some going, you are a genius.

 

Yes, Katherine even went back to the authority to have the spelling changed from Catherine to Katherine. However, Wadik signed with a X so perhaps he wouldn't have known whether his name had been spelt correctly or not.

 

I have discovered ancestors who were "rotgerber" by trade, which was most particularly about the use of tree bark to make red leather.
Reading about the process of leather tanning, I know that in the UK tanneries were built on the outskirts of towns being very smelly because much urine and dog excrement was used.
Have you any understanding of the process in Germany?
Vegetable matter was used, but I can't work out if that was in the place of urine and excrement for curing the skins, or at a later stage in the production of leather for boots, horse trappings etc.