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Historical informations about our family!
Origin and sense of the surname Trzaskowski (Trzas...) Some time ago Grzegorz (Greg) Trzaska from Wilbraham/Massachusetts found a very nice page of "Trzaskowski Family". It was originated by two fellows from Denmark. They put an english version of the "Trzaska" legend there. A very nice job. Here it goes: The Polish surname Trzaskowski derives originally from the word "trzask" which literally means "crack, crash or slam" and is interpreted by the historian Elsdon C. Smith as being of occupational origin. According to the above mentioned onomastic researcher, the name denotes "one who splits wood into laths or splinters" or "one who works by cracking materials". Of course, it is not inconceivable that the surname Trzaskowski, still deriving from "trzask", may originally be a nickname. Nickname surnames are those names deriving from a physical characteristic or personal attribute of the initial bearer. Here, the name would indicate that the original bearer was either a very noisy person or one who was very clumsy. The possessive suffix "-ow" denotes a common place name element, and the suffix "-ski", which is a standard adjective ending in Polish, is cognate with English "-ish". In surnames "-ski" indicates association with a place, and in many but by no means all cases, the bearer was indeed lord of the state or manor to which the name referred. Later it was used to form surnames of nickname, local, toponymic, occupational and ethnic origin. Thus the surname Trzaskowski may literally be translated as "the estate of Trzaska". It is quite likely that the Trzaska referred to is a knight so named who, because of his bravery in battle , was granted the Boleslawa Chrobrego blazon of arms. The latter had witnessed Trzaska face the enemy alone and rewarded him with the privilege of bearing the arms described below. The tale is recounted in Hipolit Stupnicki's Herbarz Polski where there is also a proprietors of "Brzesko Litewskiem". Johann Trzasko Durski is listed in the "Matrikel von Galicien" (register of the nobility of Galicia - Poland) for the year 1783. BLAZON OF ARMS: Azure; between two broken swords argent; placed in pale one point in chief one based in base a crescent or. CREST: On a ducal coronet or; a peacock's tail charged with the charges of the arms. ORIGIN: Poland Source: The Historical Research Center. Source: Grzegorz (Greg) Trzaska, Massachusetts/USA Origin and sense of the surname Trzaskoma Curious to know if you've got any information on the surname Trzaskoma!? This is a rather unusual name in that it appears to come from the root trzaska, "wood chip," or the related verb trzaskac~, "to whack, whip, smack," but you don't often see -oma added as a suffix to Polish roots. Still, the name appears in old Polish legal documents as far back as 1436, and Polish name expert Kazimierz Rymut lists it under names coming from the roots mentioned above, so apparently there's good reason to think that's what it derives from. As of 1990 there were 504 Polish citizens named Trzaskoma, with the majority living in the province of Warsaw (361) and smaller numbers (22 or fewer) in a number of other provinces. Source: Posted anonymous in a genealogy forum Origin and sense of the surname Trzaska (Polish language)  Opis: W blekitnym polu tarczy znajduje sie zolty ksiezyc skierowany koncami rogami) bdo gory. Nad nim i pod nim umieszczone sie dwa otluczone oblamane) miecze. Gorny skierowany rekojescia do gory, a dolny w dol. Nas korona widnieje ogon z pawich pior, na ktorego tle figuruje omowiony uklad ksiezyca z dwoma mieczami. Inne nazwy: BIALA, LUBIEWA Geneza: Jak glosi legenda, podana przez Niesieckiego herb zostal nadany przez Boleslawa Chrobrego kawalerowi nazywanemu Trzaska, za niezwykla odwage i poswiecenie w walace z nieprzyjacielem. Otoz w krytycznym memencie bitwy doszlo do sytuacji, w ktorej w niebezpieczenstwie znalazl sie sam krol. Nie baczac na nic rycerz Trzaska rzucil sie do obrony monarchy i czynil to tak zapamietale, ze az pekl mu miecz – przy samej rekojesci. Na szczescie znalazl sie drugi (podobno szybko pozyczony przez samego Boleslawa) i rycerz mogl ponownie rzucic sie w wir walki. Jednak olbrzymia sila jeka odznaczal sie kawaler Trzaska spowodowala, ze i ten drugi miecz wkrotce pekl. Na szczeszie niebezpieczenstowo bylo juz zazegnane i rycerz mogl zwrocic resztke napredce pozyczonego miecza. Boleslaw Chrobry sowicie nagrodzil swojego obronce i nadal mu herb nazwany od jego imiena. Trzaska jest herbem wymieneanym przez Jana Dlugosza, jednak nie wystepuje w materialach o bitwie grunwaldzkiej. Niestety nie sa nam zazane wizerunki pieczetne tego herbu. Pieczetuja sie: Bialy, Bielinski, Bielski, Blazejowski, Bogusz, Buczkiewicz, Budkiewicz, Chojnacki, Chrzaszzewski, Chrszczonowski, Ciszkowski, Czusolowski, Dluski, Drozenski, Droicewski, Durbski, Dutkiewicz, Glinka, Gniazdowski, Golininski, Goluchowski, Golynski, Janczewski, Jarzyna, Jarzynski, Kleczkowski, Konopacki, Kotowski, Kotutewicz, Kotwicki, Krajewski, Kumochowski, Lubiewski, Laszewski, Meydalon, Michalski, Michalowski, Mscichowski, Nartowski, Niemirowski, Olszewski, Palamowski, Pancerzynski, Paplinski, Patkowski, Pielasz, Podbielski, Podsedkowski, Ponikiewski, Poplawski, Popowski, Rojecki, Rotowski, Ryczinski, Sieklucki, Slupecki, Sokolowski, Swiedkowski, Swieykowski, Szczucki, Szygowski, Tarchominski, Truskowski, Truszkowski, Trzaska, Trzasko, Trzaskowski, Trzonkowski, Tyski, Tyszka, Wedrogowsky, Wigniewski, Wolkanowski, Wylezynski, Zabielski, Zakrzewski, Zaleski, Zimoszarski, Zorawski. Source: Tablice Odmian Herbowych Chrzanskiego by Juliusz Ostrowski, Warszawa 1909 (Click to enlarge image):  Origin and sense of the surname Trzaska (German language, translated)  In blauem Felde zwei Schwerter mit goldenem Handgriff, die mit ihren abgebrochenen Klingen senkrecht sich zugekehrt sind, deren verstuemmelte Enden sich unter der Mitte eines sie bedeckenden „goldenen, nach oben geoeffneten Halbmondes“ verlieren. Helmschmuck: ein Pfauenschwanz, belegt mit dem Wappenbilde. Ueber den Ursprung des Wappens wird gesagt: Als der Koenig Boleslaw I. (1000-25) gegen einen Feind, der mit dem Schwerte auf ihn eindrang, in Gefahr war, parierte ein Ritter Biala den Hieb und schlug den Feind nieder, wobei ihm jedoch die Klinge seines Schwertes abbrach; er war nun ziemlich wehrlos gegen die weiteren Feinde, und der Koenig, dies bemerkend, gab ihm sein eignes Schwert, womit der Ritter die weiteren Andringenden zurueckschlug und so den Koenig und sich gesichert hatte. Doch auch dieses Schwert war ihm dabei zerbrochen. Als er dieses dem Koenig wiedergab, verlieh ihm derselbe fuer den bewiesenen Mut das obige Wappen, das Trzaska (der Splitter) genannt wurde, wohl im Hinblick auf die zersplitterten Schwerter. Nach dem Besitz des Ritters wurde es auch Biala genannt. Als ein Ritter dieses Geschlechts in Großpolen das Benediktinerkloster Lubien gegruendet hatte, dem drei dieses Geschlechts hintereinander als Abt vorgestanden haben, wurde auch der Wappenname Lubiewa gebraeuchlich. Dieses Wappen fuehren die: Bialy, Bielinski, Bielski, Blazejowski, Bogusz, Buczkiewicz, Budkiewicz, Chojnacki, Chrzaszzewski, Chrszczonowski, Ciszkowski, Czusolowski, Dluski, Drozenski, Droicewski, Durbski, Dutkiewicz, Glinka, Gniazdowski, Golininski, Goluchowski, Golynski, Janczewski, Jarzyna, Jarzynski, Kleczkowski, Konopacki, Kotowski, Kotutewicz, Kotwicki, Krajewski, Kumochowski, Lubiewski, Laszewski, Meydalon, Michalski, Michalowski, Mscichowski, Nartowski, Niemirowski, Olszewski, Palamowski, Pancerzynski, Paplinski, Patkowski, Pielasz, Podbielski, Podsedkowski, Ponikiewski, Poplawski, Popowski, Rojecki, Rotowski, Ryczinski, Sieklucki, Slupecki, Sokolowski, Swiedkowski, Swieykowski, Szczucki, Szygowski, Tarchominski, Truskowski, Truszkowski, Trzaska, Trzasko, Trzaskowski, Trzonkowski, Tyski, Tyszka, Wedrogowsky, Wigniewski, Wolkanowski, Wylezynski, Zabielski, Zakrzewski, Zaleski, Zimoszarski, Zorawski. This very interesting document removes every lack of clarity in my opinion. It gives an obvious statement about origin and sense of our name. I only found the German language document. The first section describes the coat of arms as we know it. In a blue field, two swords with golden handles which are turned with their broken blades vertically towards themselves. Their mutilated ends are covered under a golden upwards opened half-moon. On the helmet a peacock`s tail with the coat of arms. The second section describes the historical occurrence which gave us the surname and the coat of arms. I try my best to translate it for you. About 1000-1025 king Boleslaw I. reigned over his land. He has been attacked by an sword armed enemy. A knight called Biala parried the stroke, but his sword broke in two. He was now defenceless against the attacker. The king noticed that and gave him his own sword for fighting. Biala was able to beat off the enemy to save the kings life. (I know it sounds lofty, but why don`t YOU try to translate the German wording ;-) Even the kings sword broke in two in-between this fight so the brave knight Biala received the coat of arms called Trzaska which means "splinter" in view of the two broken swords. Two other names are familiar. "Biala" on account of the owner, and Lubiewa because of an Benedictine order founded in Lubia by an Biala-descendant. The family`s mentioned in section three are also bearer of the "Trzaska coat of arms". Source: Soenke Trzaska, Germany Pronunciation Every Trzaska all over the world knows this problem: You have to spell out your name anytime and everywhere ;-) Meanwhile it´s like an automatism. You spell it even if the person opposite dosn`t ask you for it! But what is the correct pronunciation? Even in Germany there are different opinions about it. One is: the TRZ in Trzaska has to be pronounced like the German word TRAgen (carry) or like TRAffic. So spoken: Traska, as if the "z" were silent. This is wrong! As you can see in the following image, I have tried to put our name in international phonetic transcription used in every dictionary as we pronounce it in Germany or particular as I know it since 32 years and my father and grandfather before me:  The first two letters (T and the large S-sign) has to be pronounced like in cheap, chair or much. Or the German words: Tscheche (czech) oder tschüß (bye bye). The third letter (upside down v) is a short A like in much or come. Or the German words: Matsch (mud) oder Kamm (comb). In combination with the following S spoken like us. Or the German word Ast (branch). The last A is a long stressed A like after or park. Or the German example: Bahn (lane). It would be very interesting how our American friends pronounce our name in their country or the Australian or French or Polish or... I would be pleased if you could write us something about it. Hey, what about creating a small sound archive? Trzaska`s from different countries pronouncing our name. I think this would be rather interesting. So let`s begin with three examples of different pronunciation: Soundfile number 1 is from Victoria Trzasko from Hungary (thank you very much, Viki! ;-). She says: "Hello, Soenke! You wanted to know how I pronounce my name! I pronounce my name as follows: Trzasko Viktoria!" Soundfile number 2 is mine, saying: "Welcome to the Trzaska-Homepage!" Soundfile number 3 is from Michael Trzaska from New Jersey, USA. (Thanks Mike, I really appreciate ;-)
It would be great, if we could enlarge this archive. So please feel free in sending me your sound file! It`s your possibility to immortalize yourself inside the World Wide Web ;-) C`mon! It won`t kill you! Source: Soenke Trzaska, Germany Noch kurz zur Aussprache von Trzaska: wir sagten alle SCHRASKA, aber ein polnischer Professor, den ich während meiner Jahre als Stewardess bei der Lufthansa an Bord hatte, sagte mir das sei falsch, es wuerde TSCHASKA, ohne das R gesprochen. Source: Helga Trzaska-Eitel, Germany I got your e-mail message with the address of your website, and I have to admit I liked your fascination with the history of your family. I did not have much time to surf through all your pages but I can pass you some of my remarks. I think there is no problem in Poland with understanding your name, and prenunce it. Your explanation about prenunciation is correct! (except the first one with a silent z). I know some persons here in my city, with the name Trzaska. The meaning of this word is obvious for us in Poland. TRZASKA means a chip (splinter) of wood. "Chudy jak trzaska" means "as thin as a lath", "rozbic cos w trzaski" = "to shatter something into fragments" TRZASK is a sound of broken wood or bones, crackle of kindling wood etc., roar, crash TRZASKAC means to bang, to knock, to crash etc. The word TRZASKA is rather an old one and is not used frequently in present Polish, but the noun TRZASK (sound) and the verb TRZASKAC are used very often. Source: Adam Pawelczyk, Breslau (Wroclaw). Some funny things to know: Did you know that: Trzaska is the 76,910th most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 0.000%; percentile is 89.349! (Source: CBN) The word "Trzaska" in Slovenia can be used in two different ways: It can be used as "Trzaska sauce" for the sauce which is made from garlic and parsley and is served with pasta or pizza. Trzaska can also be the name of the street (but not a family name), in Ljubljana there is a street with the name "Trzaska cesta". On another (biological) matter: I can remember that when I was a stamp collector in my childhood I came across a Polish postage stamp (from the later 70s early 80s) which depicted a salamander like animal which had a Latin name including "trzaska" somewhere in it. Translated into German it was something like Kammmolch (comb newt).  Was it found by a Trzaska? Or why else did it get the Trzaska name? Should it be on the web pages ? Or even join the Trzaska community, as a mascot perhaps? Source: Hauke Wiebe, Edinburgh/Scotland And one more explanation. You mentioned about an animal TRITURUS - newt (eng) - Teichmolch - TRASZKA (premunced traschka) or TRYTON in Polish, not TRZASKA! Source: Adam Pawelczyk, Breslau (Wroclaw). Kasper Niesiecki`s "Herbarz Polski" I (Greg) have attached a scan from Kasper Niesiecki`s "Herbarz Polski" vol IX. It is a copy of published in Leipzig in 1842 by Breitkopf and Haertel. Besides description given by you there are some additional info which I hope I will be able to translate. Kasper Niesiecki writes: The Knight founded a Monastery "Klasztor Lubienski" which was using the "Trzaska" seal up to this date (their date :) and later he writes after previous writer (Paprocki) listed that some family Trzaska up to this time in Lomzynska Ziema (some Lomza neighbourhood) live, and Stanislaw Trzaska who at Pskow battle in 1582 left his horse and fought on his feet, (instead of on the horse), Pawel Trzaska 1680, Jadwiga Trzaska a noun in Lwow. Sources (Click to enlarge images):   Grzegorz (Greg) Trzaska, Massachusetts/USA This following Image is a page from Herby Rycerstwa Polskiego (Code of arms of Polish Chivelry) by Bartosz Paprocki completed and published in 1584.
Unfortunately I do have just this poor copy. I am trying to read it and I will put this in polish first: "O Klejnocie TRZASKA, ktory takze w Polsce ma wlasny poczatek i nadanie, ma byc pol miesiaca z rogami wzgore, zolte w polu blekitnem, miecze otluczone, jeden na wierzchu, drugi od spodku, zowa go niektorzy BIALA, drudzy LUBIEWA. Pisze Dlugosz (he was the first polish documantary writer) o przodkach: Gens in Polonia antiqua, militaris, liberia et injuriarium ultiva, o ktorych przypatrzywszy sie wlasnosc herbu czytac bedziesz, takze potomstwa ich, ktore jak w tak szerokim krolestwie znac i wiedziec o niem moge. Iz tak to twierdzi potomstwo, ze sie przodkowie pisali de Biala, tedy na wielu lisciech najduje wiele znacznych, ktore tak pomieniaja. Morcha comes de Biala w roku 1091 Mstyoenus comes de Biala w roku 1180. Na drugim miejscu, acz nie mieni aby byli tej amilii, wszakoz iz sie de Biala pisali, jam je tu w tej obyczaj polozyl..." I do not have any more of this text. If some of you will get some info on this book I appreciate your input. It is a pretty hard to translate since it is written in old polish and I am unable to present you the character of this text. Anyway, it looks like there might be a lot of signs of Trzaska during this 1000 years. I wish I could go there for some time and dig through some church books to get more info. It could be interesting if this monastery still exists (Klastor Lubienski). Sources (Click to enlarge images):   Grzegorz (Greg) Trzaska, Massachusetts/USA Herbarz Polski by Adam Boniecki and Artur Reiski, Warzawa 1913 Sources (Click to enlarge images):    Soenke Trzaska, Germany Trzaska`s at the American Immigration Center at Ellis Island  Search for Trzaska`s at the American Family Immigration Center at Ellis Island.org. Just click on the image below and you can riffle through files of about 145 Trzaska ancestors! A search can lead you to a passenger record that provides 11 fields of information extracted from the original manifest including: immigrant's given name and surname, ethnicity, last residence (town & country), date of arrival, age at arrival, gender, marital status, ship of travel, port of departure and line number on the manifest. Visitors can also obtain a reproduction of the original ship's manifest as well as a picture of the ship of passage.
Click here to search at Ellis Island:
 To see these detailed informations you don`t have to register by yourself! Just log in with the following: Username: Trzaskaorg Password: Trzaska Source: Soenke Trzaska, Germany Immigration background Hamburg/Germany. More Than 5 million people left the European continent via the Hamburg port between 1836 and 1934. Around 1880 Hamburg become the "gateway to a new world" for many eastern Europeans as well, among them many where Jews. The Hamburg harbour, still one of the biggest in the world, was one of the most important immigrants jumping off places of the last two centuries. When and how many people emigrated via Hamburg? From 1850 to 1934 there were almost 5 million people. The largest number of emigrants was documented between 1890 and 1914. Was Hamburg the most important emigration port? No. It was definitely Bremen up until 1891. The ports of Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Genoa and especially Liverpool were all important ports of emigration. However, around 1900 Hamburg did become a front-runner in the race to attain the status of biggest emigration harbour, merely being surpassed by Liverpool. What was the proportion of German to foreign emigration? During the entire period (1850 to 1934) German emigration constituted a ratio of just 37% compared to 63% foreign emigration. Conversely up until 1880 German emigration unequivocally prevailed. Then after 1880 the reverse transpired. In the year 1913, a total of only 8,730 German emigrants were still to be found in Hamburg, in contrast to the 184,000 foreign emigrants present. Why did the flood of foreign emigration swell to such proportions? Due to an economic boom and the reversal of the law prohibiting the existence of the SPD (Social democrats), significant incentives for emigration simply became obsolete. On the other hand, the grim causes for emigration from the east were rapidly escalating: religious persecution, rural exodus and economic disaster. How considerable was the proportion of Jewish emigrants? Jewish emigration was instigated by pogroms beginning in 1881. Almost 1 million people of Jewish faith from Eastern Europe managed to leave via Hamburg until 1914. Of the 1.5 million Russian-Jewish refugees having immigrated to the United States from 1881 to 1914, a full 50% chose Hamburg as their port of departure. Which countries did the emigrants come from? Russia accounted for the largest number (1.2 million), closely followed by Austria-Hungary (1.1 million) and Romania (300,000). Emigrants arrived from all over the continent in view of the fact that the agents of HAPAG effectively encouraged people everywhere in Europe to use the port of Hamburg for their departure, as well as the HAPAG ships for the transatlantic crossing. Immigrants from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and even from Greece (1890: 50) took the road to Hamburg. How large a role did wealthy emigrants play? The vast majority of immigrants were refugees from destitution. Even the religiously persecuted eastern European Jews were almost entirely impoverished. Wealthy immigrants were an absolute exception. Among these were women, who had "affected" a divorce by immigrating. To which countries did immigration lead? 82% went to the USA. 10% (about half a million) immigrated to Latin America, of these 190,000 went to Brazil. Canada was third with 4% (214,000). This was followed by Africa with 2% and Australia with 1%. On what kind of ships did the immigration occur? Steamships had already crossed the ocean to the Americas in the 1850's; they made the passages of emigrants on sailing schooners completely obsolete within a couple of decades. The very last sailing ship with emigrants on board left the port of Hamburg in 1879. Notably during the early years of the emigration, emigrants were taken along additionally as passengers on freight ships. There are separate lists for these people from 1871 to 1887, which will also be included in the data bank. How long did the passage last? On the average, sailing ships needed 43 days for the trip to the USA. Steamships made it in 12 to 14 days. Modern ocean liners, coming into use in 1900 for the first time, even managed it in 7 to 10 days What were the costs of passage upon a ship based on today's estimates? A serious calculation is almost impossible. A ticket in steerage around 1900 cost between 80 and 150 Mark (approx. 180 - 340 $), this would amount to between 1,500 and 2,400 DM (approx. 3400 - 5450 $) based on today's calculations, based upon consideration of a present average income. It must of course be taken into account, that a family's entire yearly income needed to be surrendered, very often every penny they had saved, for the cost of passage. This sacrifice was above all the case with the mostly destitute eastern European immigrants. Watch an interesting video about immigration:  An ordeal of flight (German Language) When my father was a young boy he had to flee from his home country East Prussia (Masury) in the year 1944 during the 2. world war. Ten years later he wrote a composition of his ordeal through this flight for his secondary school qualifications. Read this essay in German language! Source: Soenke Trzaska, Germany Fact sheet about surnames and genealogy Read an interesting article my friend Hauke Wiebe has sended to us. It is a fact sheet of a BBC Radio 4 broadcast. Subject matters are surnames, genes and genealogy. It is a laaarge document, so this link guides you to a separate site. The American Immigrant Wall Of Honor  All names here are inscribed and available for viewing on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island/NY:
Source: Soenke Trzaska, Germany |
More to come!
