This web site is meant to serve as a reference source for all people wishing to trace the genealogy of the Chciuk family.

There is to be a major family reunion of all Chciuks in Majdan Zbydniowski on August 18th, 2007.

On the subject of Chciuks in America, I recently unearthed a fascinating NEW bit of information, namely, that on the 1st of November, 1923, the passenger ship Lituania landed at Philadelphia from Danzig (Gdansk) and brought to America one Rozajla Chciuk, aged 18 years, hence born in or about 1905 in Majdany, Poland, to visit Adam Chciuk; and Rozalja was accompanied by Marjanna Chciuk, aged 60 years. After talking with family historian Adam M. Chciuk about this, it turns out they were Adam Chciuk's mother and niece, and after visiting Adam in Michigan, where he worked as a barber, they returned to Poland. There is some further interesting news to report, namely that I found the Clayton Chciuk household listed in the 1920 Census, living in New Jersey with four kids. The details are listed below and on the American Chciuk page. I had never heard of Clayton Chciuk before.

We (or at least our side of the family) are all apparently descended from one Jan Chciuk (born in 1769, died August 13th, 1826), who had a son named Michal Kciuk, born ca. 1798 and died March 9th, 1851 in Majdan Zbydniowski, a small village in southeastern Poland, not far from Tarnobrzeg. Jan's father was Marcin, born in 1721, died March 27th, 1801. This would make "Martinus Kciuk vel Witkowski" (as his name appears in the parish records of Majdan Zbydniowski) the ancestral father of our family. It turns out he had three sons (Jan, Józef and Wojciech), and a daughter Malgorzata. Check out this link: Tablica Genealogiczna Chciuków , which is a detailed genealogy in Polish. There's also this NEW LINK: Majdan Zbydniowski which contains genealogies of the Chciuks still living in the old home town, who appear to be a separate branch from ours. Also take a look at the American Chciuk Genealogical Lines . Michal, my great-great-grandfather, had four sons: Stanislaw (born in 1828), Michal (born July 18th, 1837), Walenty (born December 29th, 1839) and Jan, my great-grandfather, who was born July 26th, 1842 in Majdan Zbydniowski. He died in Drohobycz in 1926. He is pictured below with his five sons in a photograph taken around 1910.

These were:

• Józef Chciuk who was born January 8th, 1868 and died in Poznan (bottom row, right)
• Teofil Chciuk who became a prelate in the Catholic Church (bottom row, left)
• Adam Chciuk who emigrated to the United States and was never heard from again.
• Michal Chciuk my grandfather (1874-1953), who lived in Drohobycz (top row, center)
• Stefan Chciuk who remained in Poland (top row, left)
• Note: Jan also had four daughters: Józefa, Wladyslawa, Julia and Maria.

Michal Chciuk had four sons and a daughter. These were:

• Stanislawa Chciuk (born July 21st, 1910, died March 15th, 1986) who married Leopold Sklenarz and had three children, of whom one daughter, Basia, died during their brutal forced march from Poland to Kazakhstan. Stasia is survived by her son Alexander Sklenarz who is the District Attorney of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and daughter, Krystyna Bokota, who is a distinguished psychiatrist. The Bokotas have two sons, Greg and Paul; Paul Bokota and his wife Wendy have three children.
• Wladyslaw Chciuk (born June 6th, 1915 in Oswiecim, died October 7th, 2006 in San Francisco) who distinguished himself as an ace fighter pilot in the Groupe de Chasse III/1 (read more about this)(see photo of his plane) and the Polish RAF squadrons, and was awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest military decoration, as well as the Croix de Guerre avec Palmes. Wladek lived from 1965 on in San Francisco with his wife, Krystyna, who is herself a decorated veteran of World War II, having run pistols to the underground soldiers as a girl. Their three daughters are Zosia Chciuk, RN; Gosia Niemiec and Basia Trout, all with children of their own.
• Andrzej Chciuk -- photo -- (born January 13th, 1920; died May 15th, 1978) who emigrated to Australia and became a distinguished author (he wrote Atlantyda and many others); he had two children, Jacques and Hania. Please note that the books Atlantyda and Ziemia Ksiezycowa were re-issued in Poland in 2002, published by LTW; they can be ordered online from merlin.com . Jacques lives in Bendigo, Australia with his wife, Fran -- their daughters are named Jade and Thembi; Hania lives in Seaforth, Australia with her husband Darrol Norman; her son Casimir and daughter Bohdana also live in Australia. See a nice website about Andrzej Chciuk. Bogumila Zongollowicz has written a very nice biography of Andrzej Chciuk (Andrzej Chciuk, Pisarz z antypodőw, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakőw, 1999. ISBN 83-08-02994-9.)
• Antoni Chciuk (born 1913, died December, 1975) who also emigrated to Australia. He has a son named Andrzej Sienkiewicz who was born in Poland around 1935.
• Tadeusz Chciuk -- my dad -- youthful photo -- (born October 17th, 1916, died April 10th, 2001) who was a daring commando during World War II, also earning the Virtuti Militari; and who later settled in Germany and worked for Radio Free Europe. "Dzidek" lived in Planegg, Germany. He married Ewa Lovell and they added the "Celt" name (really an anagram of their initials, TC and EL) to become "Chciuk-Celt;" they had four children: Alexandra Chciuk-Celt (born December 16th, 1948 in Kraków), Luke Celt (born July 18th, 1950 in Paris), Mary Lord (born March 11th, 1954 in München) and Jan Chciuk-Celt (born May 18th, 1955 in München).

Take a look at the Chciuk family portrait, taken around 1923 in Drohobycz, here.

It is a matter of interest and considerable pride to note that all four of these Chciuk brothers were awarded Poland's Cross of Valor (Krzyz Walecznych), as was Wladek's wife, Krystyna; two of them received the highest military medal, the Virtuti Militari (complete list of recipients ); and three French Croix de Guerre.

A search of the United States Social Security Administration's records of deceased individuals yielded nine Chciuks who died in the U.S. between 1937 and 1995.

They are:

• Joseph Chciuk of New Jersey, born in Poland January 29th, 1884; died January 1963
• Valerya Chciuk of Elizabeth, NJ, born March 6th, 1891; died November 14th, 1988. Wife of Joseph Chciuk. They had five children: Stefan Chciuk (father of Robert Chick or Chuck), Stanislaw Chciuk (father of Glennis, Lenoire, Martine and Stanley), Boleslaw Chciuk, Marina Chciuk (mother of Valerie and Renee Chciuk), and Matthew Chciuk (father of Anna, Matthew, Denise and Katherine).
• Julius Chciuk of New York, born May 20th, 1911; died October 29th, 1992. Son of Adam Chciuk "2".
• William Chciuk of Flushing, NY, born February 17th, 1913; died January 13th, 1990. Son of Adam Chciuk "2".
• John Chciuk of Elizabeth, NJ, born February 11th, 1914; died June 1978 son of Clayton Chciuk
• Stephen Chciuk of St Clair Shores, Michigan, born March 22nd, 1914; died March 1987. Son of Adam Chciuk "1".
• Stanley Chciuk of Elizabeth, NJ, born August 22nd, 1915; died February 20th, 1990 Son of Joseph Chciuk
• Edward Chciuk of Kewadin, Michigan, born December 8th, 1915; died January 1978. Son of Adam Chciuk "1".
• Harry Chciuk of Michigan, born May 25th, 1917; died March 1971. Son of Adam Chciuk "1". His son Harry Chciuk was born November 12th, 1948; his grandson Harry has gotten in touch and supplied a vital missing genealogical link.

Now to the living Chciuks in America. There appear to be a couple of branches of the family, so I'm trying to trace it back to whoever came over on the boat. Adam Chciuk (my great-uncle, who emigrated to America and disappeared) was certainly one, as was Joseph Chciuk. Another branch of the family stems from Clayton Chciuk, who is listed in the 1920 Census as a chemical laborer in New Jersey, aged 30. Clayton Chciuk and his wife Elizabeth were both born in Poland around 1890. They are both listed as illiterate, though their daughter Katherine (born in 1911 or 1912) is listed as being able to read and write. Their son, John Chciuk was born in New Jersey on February 11th, 1914; their son Joseph is listed as 4 years old in 1920, and their daughter Anna is listed as 1 year old. Thee's also the Adam Chciuk who wound up as a barber in Detroit.

Harry Chciuk, grandson of Adam, has been in touch. So have Matthew Chciuk and Julian Chciuk (born August 23rd, 1942 in Brooklyn, died December 8th, 2000 in Buffalo Grove, IL). Julian's grandfather was named Adam Chciuk but he probably wasn't the same Adam who was my great-uncle. This Adam was born in 1886 and died September 12th, 1961. He married Frances Socha (born in 1887, died October 27th, 1961) and they had two sons, William Chciuk and Julius Chciuk. Julius was the father of Julian and Frances, and Julian Chciuk had three daughters, Rene' Marlo and Toni.

Matthew Chciuk is the son of Matthew Chciuk and the grandson of Joseph Chciuk. Matthew is the father of Piotr M. Chciuk and Mieczyslaw T. Chciuk.

Plus there's my direct side of the family, outlined above, and we haven't been here for that many generations.

You can find about seventeen Chciuks if you look at switchboard.com and type in "Chciuk" under the "find a person" category.

Zbigniew Chciuk lives in Delaware with his wife, Jadzia. Their son Richard Chciuk is a graduate of Loyola University. Zbigniew has a brother called Richard, and numerous other siblings, as he told me he came from a very large family. Richard Chciuk has a daughter named Kelly Chciuk, who has gotten a hold of me, and another daughter named Jackie Chciuk, who graduated from Daniel Webster College in the Class of 2000. I think Richard and Zbigniew had a dad named Stanley, who was the son of John, and Stanley got married in Buffalo in 1910. We're not sure exactly how we're related, but my sleuthing leads me to think that the Chciuks already living in the fourth generation in America are descendants of a cousin of Jan Chciuk, my great-grandfather.

Plus, there are Chciuks living in Germany and Canada.

PLEASE NOTE: This web site's information is drawn from a variety of sources, which don't always agree. There may be discrepancies! And there are the big questions: what happened to "our" Adam? etc. New information and new contacts keep coming in, and it's evident that there are numerous Chciuks in America and Canada, and a whole bunch of us in Poland (Majdan Zbydniowski is still the home base, and numerous Chciuks live there yet). We don't all know how exactly we're related, and my efforts are strictly amateurish. I will continue to update the information as best I can.

leave email with information if you're a Chciuk

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updated March 25th, 2007 by Jan Chciuk-Celt