Czernikowski Family
Our Story
As far as I can tell at this time, our family began in Opatow, Poland around 1794 with the birth of Leybusz Czernikowski. Opatow is a small shetl located in the Radom province or gubernia as it was called at the time. Opatow was a typical small picturque town that has a river running through it. The town was approximately 70 kilometers south of Warsaw.
Our family might have taken their name from a small village located close to Opatow.
Czerników Opatowski [t ͡ʂɛrˈnikuf ɔpaˈtɔfski] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Opatów, within Opatów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It lies approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) south-west of Opatów and 56 km (35 mi) east of the regional capital Kielce. As of 2010, the village has a population of 180.
I was able to obtain the knowledge of our earliest ancestor through civil records microfilmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or commonly known as the Mormon Church. I started seriously researching our family in 1977 after the television series Roots was broadcast on network television. Before that time, on many occasions I had spoken with my Grandfather Ben (Czernikowski) Shwartz and my Grandmother Rose about the early beginnings of our family. I knew they were from Opatow and my Grandfather was able to give me some information about his brothers and sisters and his father and mother.
My grandfather’s brother, Max (Czernikowski) Shwartz, according to records from Ellis Island, arrived in the United States on March 27, 1905 on the ship Pretoria which embarked from Hamburg, Germany on March 10, 1905. The name listed on the passenger ship record is listed as Adam Czernikowski, age 24. His last place of residence was Warsaw.
Upon his arrival, Great Uncle Adam apparently adopted the name of Max and changed his last name from Czernikowski to Shwartz. There have been conflicting stories about how our family name became Shwartz from Czernikowski. This is the story I heard and I’m sticking with it.
Great Uncle Max was probably ashamed of his Polish nationality and being from a poor Jewish family. Polish Jews had the reputation for being of lesser status than German Jews. There was a great influx of upper class German Jews arriving in America starting in the 1840s and they were well established here before the mass immigration of Jews from Eastern Europe started in the early 1900s.
Since czerny means black in Polish, I believe Great Uncle Max's thinking was, he'd rather have people in America think he was of German origin so Schwartz was logical choice. Great Uncle Max could probably not spell very well so he Anglicized Schwartz and left out the "c." So our family spelled the name Shwartz.
Great Uncle Max was the first of our family to journey to the United States. His destination according to the passenger ship record was Youngstown, Ohio, but settled first in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Grandpa Ben Shwartz joined his older brother Max in 1910. According to Ben's citizenship documents, Boleslaw Czernikowski left Hamburg, Germany on March 26, 1910 aboard the ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria on the Hamburg American line. He arrived in New York City on Ellis Island on April 4, 1910.
Struthers, Ohio is a suburb of Youngstown. According to the Struthers, Ohio Shopping Guide published on May 17, 1962, “Ben opened Shwartz’s Market in the Wadell Building on Bridge Street sometime after arriving in Struthers in 1910. The store was noted for a large selection of groceries, furniture, stoves and wall paper.
Next door to his store, his brother Max had a dry goods and department store at 111 Bridge Street where Morrey’s Department Store is presently located.”
My Grandmother Rose, age 22, (Rosa Schwartz as listed in the ship manifest) arrived in the United States on November 20, 1911 on the ship Volturno which left Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Although she was not married to my grandfather, her name is listed as Schwartz. She traveled with my grandfather Ben’s father, Israel Schwartz, age 50.
My grandparents were married on New Year’s Eve 1911 at the home of Ben Warner, father of the Warner Brothers of Hollywood fame. The house located at 1351 ½ Elm Street was the site of the wedding. Ben Warner was a butcher and my grandfather became friends with Ben Warner because of his grocery business.
According to a story my Father told me, Grandma Rose was introduced to Grandpa Ben by his oldest sister Esther Wexler who had moved to Warsaw with her husband Ignace. I don't know how Esther became friends with the Turkus family and her friendship with Rose.
In 1919, Ben moved his store to the Home Savings & Loan Building at 34 State Street. In this new store, he instituted the first self-serve grocery store in the area.” As a side bar, my Father told me that my Grandfather traveled to some town in New York state to see a Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store that was a pioneer in self-serve groceries. Up until that time, if you wanted some food in a grocery store, a customer would have to find a person to get the particular food item instead of actually picking the product from a shelf by yourself.
“When more space was required, the store was moved to 124 Poland Avenue in 1932 in a building my Grandfather had built to his specifications. “At that time, Kroger’s had a store across the street in the building which later housed Hugh McPhee’s Drug Store. Shwartz’s Market provided too much competition for Krogers and they finally moved out in three months.
In the new location, he introduced a home delivery bakery service and had trucks deliverying goods all over Struthers and the surrounding area. He also had a soda fountain in the store which was introduced in 1937.