Dziennik Chicagoski 1890-1971 Death Notice Index Search

Low resolution example of a large death notice from 1940.

This online index is a compilation of death notices appearing in the Dziennik Chicagoski, Chicago's Polish daily newspaper, for the years 1890-1971. The 1930-1971 portion of the index was compiled by James J. Czuchra. He also added details to the entries for years before 1938.

Here's a few thoughts on using this index:
When looking up surnames with adjectival endings (for example, ending in ski, ska, cka, cki, dzka, dzki) leave off the final 'i' or 'a' so that both forms of the name are found. If you use only the "ski" form as part of the search, you may miss some females who are indexed in the "ska" form.

As this was a Polish language newspaper, the Polish forms of given names are generally used. For example, search for Jan instead of John.

Generally, Polish given names ending in 'a' are female names and those that don't are male. For example, Franciszka is female while Franciszek is male. Middle names were seldom used in the death notices.

The entire run of the index uses Polish given names but sometimes there are different spellings-- for example Feliks and Felix. Another common spelling issue with given names is -ya, -ja, -ia interchangeability as in Marya, Marja, or Maria. While you can try each variation, in 'match first' mode try just Feli or Mar to catch all the variations of that given name.

Sometimes the ink on a page was slightly smeared or the image was too light or dark making it extremely difficult to read. For example, it could be difficult to tell the difference between an i and l, or between a c, e and o. You might get a second chance to see a better digital copy if the notice appeared on multiple days. The index will tell you if the notice repeats (but not necessarily comment on the quality of the printing).

Since the names were in print form (and not handwritten) one can treat the spelling used in the newspaper as a standard. Many handwritten names are subject to misspellings due to handwriting variations and how the name sounded to the person who recorded it.

• The Index Format.
• History of the Dziennik Chicagoski Death Notice Index
• Access copies of Dziennik Chicagoski 1890-1942

exact match: enter the name exactly the way you want it found (e.g., Adam will find ONLY Adam).

match first: enter the first part of name to be matched (e.g., Adam will find Adam, Adamik, Adamowski).

wildcard search: enter any part of the name (e.g., Adam will find Adam, Adamik, Adamowski, and Hadam).

Provided you are using "match first" or "wildcard search", you may use the % character to represent any number of letters and the _ (underline) character to represent one specific letter. Additional explanation here.

Death Notice Index Format for the Dziennik Chicagoski: 1890-1971

by James J. Czuchra

Description

The Dziennik Chicagoski was a daily (except Sunday) Polish language newspaper published in Chicago from 1890-1971. In 1967, Dziennik Chicagoski cut back on publication to five times a week, the Friday and Saturday editions were combined as one.

It was not a secular newspaper. It was decidedly Roman-Catholic. In that sense, one should not expect to find death notices for persons of other ethnic groups, religions, or localities.

The names in this index are typically extracted from death notices that families paid for. These are generally easy to find in the newspaper since individual notices had a thick black border around the text. Not all Roman-Catholic Polish Chicagoans had death notices published. Part of the reason may have been the expense, but it also was not as customary as we today might think. Where family relationship is provided in the notice, be sure to verify the information. Generally (but not always), only the names of surviving relatives are given.

Families were proud of their relatives who chose religious vocations. A priest in Polish is ksiądz and has been abbreviated as ks. (lower case in order to distinguish it from an abbreviation for Ksawery (a given name)). Though Polish does not have the letter X, it is used to represent the 'ks' sound found in ksiądz so X nnn is the same as ks. nnn for Father nnn. Reverend Father was too much to type and I did not want to abbreviate it as Fr. which is a usual abbreviation for Franciszek. Most nuns are identified as Sr. M nnn for Sister Mary nnn or just Sr.

May through August 1964 were missing at the library and could not be indexed. Notices for 1971 are incomplete since some issues were not filmed and finally because the newspaper ceased publication.

If a notice gives an Image number, it is usually the same as the page number. The image number was used because the actual printed page number was sometimes missing or illegible. Sometimes a page was filmed twice for quality reasons. That can create a difference between the page number and the image number. A column number is reckoned from the left side of the page. For example, '/N column 5' refers to a Notatki Reportera item in the 5th column from the left side of the page and not the 5th column of the Notatki Reportera entries.
The index often has references to notices appearing on other days-- which you should check out! Sometimes the first day the notice is published is incomplete as funeral arrangements were being made. When 'notice repeats' is in the index entry it does not guarantee that the information is identical day to day. What's more, the quality of the printing can vary day to day so you may find a more readable copy.

Some names have two parts separated by a space like 'Le Roy' or 'De Mares'. Such names have been indexed without a space as LeRoy and DeMares.

Be careful of the word 'and' in the index because we can't always tell the context. Here's an example list of children to talk about: Jan, Konstanty, Teresa and Marja Kujawska. In one context, 'and' here could be a signal that the list is ending (almost as if to say 'Teresa and last but not least Marja Kujawska'). We can only be sure that Marja's surname is Kujawska but can't be sure of the surnames of the others in the list. In another context it could indicate a logical 'AND' relationship where BOTH Teresa and Marja are surnamed Kujawska. The point is we can't assume what 'and' means without other clues.

The Surname and Given name columns are self-explanatory as to what they are. The other column headings will now be explained.

Record Type Column

"d mo/da/year"

This is the main index entry of a person who died. The date here is the date of death.

"nee"

The indexed name is a deceased woman's maiden name. The Notations column will tell what her married name is-– the name you will be looking for in the newspaper.

"mentioned"

The indexed name is of someone (with a different surname) who was mentioned in someone else's death notice. The Notations column will tell the name of the deceased whose name you will be looking for in the newspaper.

"mem #"

These are usually anniversary (of death) mass memorials. Notices without a number probably indicates a non-anniversary memorial mass. The number tells how many years have passed since the death.

"alias"

This is a cross reference to another name the person may have used or was mentioned without explanation in the notice. The Notations column will tell the name you will be looking for in the newspaper.

"wife's name"

This is the name (with maiden name) of the wife of a deceased man. The Notations column will tell you his name that you will be looking for in the newspaper.

"first husband"

This is the surname of a deceased woman's first husband. The Notations column will tell you her name at death-– the one you will looking for in the newspaper.

"second husband"

This is the surname of a deceased woman's second husband. The Notations column will tell you her name at death-– the one you will be looking for in the newspaper.

"resolution" or "society"

Society resolution notices were sometimes published near the date of death of the deceased. The society may be from a church, fraternal, or professional group. Other than calling attention to the fact that the deceased was a member of that society, there usually is nothing of genealogical value since the listed names are usually of the society officers.

"move"

These usually have to do with burials or reburials (przeniesienie) that occur some time after the funeral. Perhaps someone was buried in a term grave but the family later bought a permanent grave and the body was relocated. Or (I'm just guessing here) the ground may have been frozen at the time of the funeral so the deceased was buried later when ground conditions were more suitable. These notices do not usually have much genealogical information.

"thanks"

Thank you notices were sometimes published by the family to thank those who provided consolation to them. These notices are not always in black lined boxes and were not always indexed. Again, these notices are not very rich in genealogical information.

Notations Column

There are abbreviations used to describe family relationships in the index while other relationships are spelled out. These relationships are usually stated in the singular. So 'grandparent' is used even if two or more grandparents are listed. The 'odd balls' are 'grandchild' and 'grandchildren' which refer to one versus two or more grandchildren. For parent names where there is a father AND a mother, the father's name is listed first followed by the mother's name without a comma separator. In a list of names confusion can occur when a comma is missing between names-- is it two different people or one person with a middle name? When you find question marks (?) in the text, it means that the copy was not good enough to be certain of the information bearing the question mark. For example, was a letter an o, e, c or something else entirely?

"see" name

The name included in the Notations column is the name of the deceased person whose death notice you will be looking for.

surname (without any other relationship qualifier)

If a Notations column begins with a surname, it is the maiden name of the woman whose death is listed. Depending on the date of the notice, it may be preceded by 'nee ' to make that fact explicit.

"/husb." given-name

This is the name of the husband of the woman who died.

"/wife" name

This is the name of the wife of the man who died.

"/chil." name

The name(s) that follows are children (son or daughter offspring) of the deceased. It could apply to young as well as adult children.

"/sib." name

The name(s) that follow are siblings (brother or sister) of the deceased

"/f or /first-husb. or /first-husband name"

This is the surname of a woman's first husband.

"/aka" name

This is another name the person may have used or was mentioned without explanation.

"/par." name(s)

These are the names of the deceased person's parents.

"/N"

This indicates an item in the recurring column 'Notatki Reporta'.
These items can be difficult to find on the page. If the notations entry begins with '/N', the 'Notatki Reporta' item is the only information available. While these items seldom state family relationships, they often give details related to the death (like suicides, auto fatalities, drownings, etc.) You may see '/also N' which indicates that it is an column item in addition to a standard death notice.

"/other" name(s)

In rare cases, someone is named but no relationship to the deceased is stated. It is much more common that the copies used to produce this index had defects such that the relationships could not be read though they may otherwise have been stated in the original newspaper.

"Zmarli or Umarli"

Zmarli and Umarli are not surnames! It means that the deceased was in a list of deceased persons. These are not always easy to find in the newspaper (particularly when they use some other word at the start of the list) because they don't stand out. They usually only include the date of death, the age of the deceased, and their address. You might want to check if the deceased had a more detailed notice elsewhere.

"/s or /second-husband" name

This is the surname of a woman's second husband.

Month/Day/Year

This column usually gives the date the first time a notice appeared in the paper. A notice may have appeared on additional days and should be checked out.