The Unknown Michigan Pajewski Families

By Dave Jordan
May 30, 2003

Based on the recollections of my grandmother Elizabeth, there was a Pajewski sister who lived in Michigan. Her mother was Elizabeth Drosdowski and her father was Paul Pajewski. She had an older half-sister Faronica (1849), and three brothers Michael (1854), Franz (1862) and Johann (1865). Her mother and father both died about 1872.

In the 1890s, the only Pajewskis in the Chicago Directory were Frank, Michael and John and all were thought to be our family. However, on 14 April 1894, a Frank Pajewski was baptized in St. Augustine Church in Chicago. He was the son of Andrew Pajewski and Anna Meier. St. Augustine is the same parish that our Frank, Michael and John resided in. It is unclear who this Andrew Pajewski is. But the coincidence of no other Chicago Pajewskis, St. Augustine, and a son named Frank appear to strongly suggest a relation with our family line. Perhaps Andrew is a brother from Michigan and there was not just a sister but also a brother in Michigan.

There are a number of possible links along the way to a Michigan presence for the family.
  1. The first is that John Pajewski is known to have initially worked in Michigan, either Bay City or Saginaw as a lumberjack when he first arrived in America. Thus it is possible that he stayed with Andrew or a sister or even possibly that they traveled with them to America.
  2. A second link is that Martin and Veronica Nicolai's ship manifest record for 1883 indicate they were headed for Michigan.
  3. A third link is that Michael and Helen Pajewski's son Frank was born in Michigan in September 1898. This birthplace is unusual for Michael and Helen's child since they were long inhabitants of Chicago and they returned to their Chicago home shortly thereafter. One possibility is that Michael and Helen were staying with Andrew or the hypothesized sister and reciprocating Andrew's 1894 visit to Chicago.


Initial Web Publication Date: 07/06/03
Intermediate Additions: 05/30/03
Last Web Upload: 05/30/03