From Poland to Washington

Mieczyslaw Kaulczycki migrated to the United States in the first few years of the twentieth century. He left Eastern Europe, likely modern-day Ukraine or south Poland, travelled through Germany, and departed Hamburg to Halifax, Canada. He eventually settled in western Pennsylvania, close to the Ohio border, with his wife, Mary.[1] In 1917, Mieczyslaw registered for the military draft where he signed his name “Mike Colcheski.”[2] By 1924, Mieczyslaw and Mary had four children: three daughters and one son, Fadeusz Colcheske.[3] On June 5, 1924, Mieczyslaw was granted citizenship to the United States and received one piece of paper that proved his citizenship: Certificate of Naturalization (See Figure 1). That single piece of paper has been passed down through four generations of the Colchiski family to me. The paper transferred to my grandfather, Thaddeus, hereby referred to as Ted, to my father, Michael, and then to me. This one document is central to the Colchiski identity and has been instrumental in the passing of the Colchiski surname through five generations. The significance of this document to Ted will be explored here. 

The Condition and a Brief Description of the Document

The document is in surprisingly excellent shape for being almost 100 years old. The rivets on the folded-up leather binder that encases the document has caused holes and dimples in the paper to form, and the creases of the binder caused two distinct vertical lines running down the paper which have caused the document to almost break into thirds. It has been discolored into a brownish hue. Yet almost all of the print on the document is still legible including the red ink that was used to cross out certain portions of the document which has remained true to its color. The borders surrounding the inscriptions inside resemble that of old paper currency, typical of a government produced document. At the top of the document, the holy words are written that brings any immigrant to tears: “Certificate of Naturalization.” Below that, you can read that Mieczyslaw was 43 years old at the time of naturalization and he was a small man, standing five feet, three inches tall. He was a white man with dark hair and blue eyes. The names and ages of his four children Wanda (16), Leocadia (14), Alexandria (13), and Tadensh (Thaddeus, 8) are just below that. The document shows that he resided in New Castle, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Ted. It was indented with the seal of the court of the common pleas of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania which proves that this old sheet of paper is the original copy.

The History of Name Changing and Race-based Immigration

According to the certificate of naturalization, Mieczyslaw was a citizen of Austria before migrating to the United States. Because the paperwork was created in 1924 the ‘citizen of origin’ for an immigrant of Eastern Europe is complicated. So complicated in fact that Ted wrote his father’s country of birth as Russia on his marriage license to his wife in 1942.[4] Eastern European immigrants found it difficult to specify their country of origin because the state boundaries were so porous and fluid. For example, when Mieczyslaw migrated in the first few years of the twentieth century the state of Poland did not exist. It was not until after World War I that Poland gained its status as a nation-state. After World War I, in 1924, Austria was drastically reduced in size compared to when Mieczyslaw left Eastern Europe. When he left, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Prussian Empire, and the Russian Empire all controlled the area that Poland would become after World War I. Still to this day, political boundaries of the Eastern European states are constantly changing. This intense shifting of state lines has made it difficult to know from where Mieczyslaw emigrated. 

Immigration to the United States from Eastern Europe and Asia were similar in that both regions saw a massive amount of people leave their homeland to settle in the US. The experience of both groups was, however, vastly different. The document reveals, as mentioned above, that Mieczyslaw Kaulczycki was naturalized in 1924 (see figure 1.2). This is an interesting year for the history of immigration law in the United States. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States saw a dramatic increase in mass migration from Eastern Europe and Asia. The government responded to migration from Asia with acts such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was approximately the year the mass migration from Eastern Europe to the US began. Then the Immigration Act of 1924 set national quotas on countries to slow migration but it “completely excluded immigrants from Asia.”[5]Interestingly, according to Clarence A. Manning of Columbia University, this act also severely halted migration from Eastern Europe.[6]This shows that had Mieczyslaw migrated later or been born of a different creed, his naturalization may have never been afforded to him. One of the things this document demonstrates is that while Asians were “denied citizenship and naturalization, and prevented from marrying Caucasians or owning land,” white Eastern Europeans could be naturalized.[7]Land and home ownership was, too, a major difference between the two groups. For example, in 1930, Slavic immigrants “owned homes at a higher [rate] than the statewide average for all families in Pennsylvania.”[8]The address on Mieczyslaw’s naturalization paperwork is “123 Preston Avenue, New Castle, Pennsylvania,” which was the same home in which Mary died forty-three years later (see figure 1.3). The Colchiski family believes that Mieczyslaw bought the property sometime during his naturalization process to assist in his case for naturalization. The home ownership and naturalization of Mieczyslaw is an interesting juxtaposition to the oppressed Asian people throughout the United States. Even though the 1924 immigration law drastically slowed immigration from Eastern Europe, his whiteness still afforded him opportunities that many others never had.

Naturalization, even for a white man, did not come without consequences. The changing of Slavic names happened for a number of reasons. Many immigrants changed their name to protect the identity of their family, while others changed it because they could not speak English to the immigration officers, and the immigration officers did the best they could in spelling non-English names. The US government was, and is, notorious for Anglicizing names that are not of English descent. Thus, Mieczyslaw was changed to Mike, and Kaulczycki was changed to Colchiski. Beyond the scope of forced name changing, names in the United States can have consequences beyond legal paperwork. Frequently, in nearly every era of American history, immigrants have had to choose whether to keep their heritage and culture by maintaining their names or submit their identity to the American culture. Furthermore, when it comes to naming children, immigrants will give their children names that are more ‘American (white) sounding.’[9]Mieczyslaw’s original name is on his naturalization paperwork which means that he was not forced to change his name. Instead, he changed his name to be more ‘American,’ meaning he could have kept his Slavic name but chose to legally change it after his naturalization. Additionally, after his naturalization, Ted’s named changed to a more ‘American’ name (see footnote 3). It is possible that Mieczyslaw changed his son’s name so that his son would have an easier time fitting into the American culture. The changing of names through history has other interesting implications, specifically in regard to gender identity. 

The Masculinity of Names

Gender identity and names could help to explain why the name Mike is so prevalent in the Colchiski family. Four men in the Colchiski family were named Mike, including Ted who went by the name during and after his career in the US Army. Ted named his middle child Michael (Mike) John, and Michael John named his first-born Michael (Mike) Keith. Michael Keith, similar to Ted, grew up being addressed by his middle name and then he joined the Army and switched to being called Mike. Michael John grew up his entire life being called Mike. (There are no descendent women from Mieczyslaw named Michelle, the feminized version of Michael.) In any event, this document legally changed Mieczyslaw’s name to Mike Colchiski. At first glance, one could assume that Mike would be an equivalent translation from Mieczyslaw. This, however, is not the case. Mieczyslaw from Polish to English roughly translates to ‘sword glory;’ the Polish version of Michael is ‘Michał.’ This indicates that Mieczyslaw intentionally chose the name Mike, which in and of itself is interesting because the name Mike Colchiski is rather difficult to say quickly, even more so for someone who did not speak English as his first language. Additionally, the name has many “‘hard’ (voiced) phonemes, which vibrate the vocal cords…,” which, according to Matthew Hudson writing forScientific American, are typically associated with masculinity. “Unvoiced phonemes, formed purely with the tongue and lips, tend to be judged as ‘softer’ and more feminine.”[10]Mieczyslaw was likely unaware of the masculinity of the name Mike, but he chose it likely based on whatever social context surrounded him in 1924. Ted’s name, however, is noteworthy because he started out as one name and later changed it to his middle name.

In Ted we can see the dichotomy between ‘softer’ and ‘harder’ phonemes in names and the genderization of names. While Ted was preparing for World War II, he lived in Virginia and Georgia with his military unit. He and his then girlfriend, Amelia, wrote letters back in forth. In each letter he addressed himself as ‘Ted.’ When talking to his girlfriend he spoke in ‘soft’ language such as “Can’t wait till you get here to see me.”[11] The general tone of his letters is sweet and caring, as one would expect of a man writing to his future wife. Before, Ted enlisted in the Army, and he was still very young, he was addressed by a congressman from Pennsylvania as ‘Ted.’[12] It was as if before he had grown to manhood in the Army, the name ‘Ted’ was his boy name. Then at some point during World War II, he met a man named Karl S. Hall, likely a fellow Army officer. In a letter to Ted, Hall addresses him as ‘Mike.’[13] The letter was written in 1975 and attached to it is a copy of a newspaper clipping in which Ted is called ‘Mike,’ so it is possible that Hall was just echoing the newspaper, but this is unlikely. This is because it is a common practice in the Army for officers of the same rank to call each other by their preferred name, and names from the Army tend to stay assigned to that person as reminder of camaraderie. Thus, it is probable that Hall addressed Ted as ‘Mike’ back in the 1940s. Ted’s name change could be explained as a way to separate two masculine identities: Ted as the loving, caring boyfriend/husband, but also man of the household, and Mike as the hardened military officer. The name Mike followed Ted throughout the rest of his life. After the letters to Amelia, the name Mike takes over as his identity. In the 1960s, Ted became a professor at a local college in Florida where he was addressed as Mike, and in an interview in the 1970s, Ted addressed himself as Mike.[14] It seems that Ted had realized his masculine identity in the name Mike and decided to keep it to reinforce that identity. 

The History of the Document

There is a lot of missing information about the document’s history. The old sheet of paper is now framed, hanging on a wall in my home office. Before I framed it, it sat in a dresser drawer of my father’s house, folded up and protected by a deep brown leather binder; before that it sat in a box of Ted’s belongings that was collected after he died in 2001. The Colchiski family is unsure of how Ted kept the document. After Ted suffered a stroke, my father, Michael John, found the document in Ted’s office on a bookshelf. Before that my father is unsure of the way in which Ted kept the document. Ted could have kept it in a drawer of a desk or dresser. Or he could have displayed it on a bookshelf in his home office similar to what I have done with it. Ted’s father died in 1935 just as Ted was enlisting in the US Army and applying for the United States Military Academy. Ted likely did not take the document with him as he travelled the country training for World War II, or to Europe when he deployed to that theater. In 1968, some twenty years after he exited service, his mother died.[15] It is probable that Ted acquired his father’s naturalization paperwork after her death. What is interesting is that Ted did not keep his mother’s naturalization paperwork which was given to one of his sisters. This is strange because Ted was close to his mother and had an estranged relationship with his father. Ted likely kept the document as a keep sake to remember his father and the legacy of the Colchiski name. Being that it is a norm of a patriarchal society such as the United States and Poland for the man’s surname to be passed, we can assume that Ted wanted to keep the document that created the Colchiski name. 

Conclusion

Mieczyslaw’s immigration paperwork is the only object the Colchiski family has to remember him. Although he was not a man of great significance in the course of history, his contribution to the story of America is nonetheless interesting. He may not have lived to see his son’s military career or his son’s marriage to Amelia, but his name has been passed to several generations. Mieczyslaw was the first, and to our knowledge, only person to ever be given the surname Colchiski. This document was the beginning of the Colchiski name. And that name has survived for almost one hundred years. Ted’s name has appeared in newspapers and even in the National Archives. The Colchiski name can be found from the College of Central Florida where my grandfather taught mathematics to Seattle University in Washington State where I currently attend university to Colorado State University where my niece attends university. The Colchiski voyage began in Eastern Europe where a man sought a better life in a far-off land. It continues through this single sheet of paper. Ted retaining this document for so many years demonstrates his quest to cling onto his Slavic ancestry. My retention of this document is my longing to find my Polish heritage through him and my great-grandfather. 

Bibliography

“Asian Americans Then and Now.” Asia Society. Accessed February 12, 2022. https://www.asiasociety.org/education/asian-americans-then-and-now 

Bodnar, John. “Immigration and Modernization: The Case of Slavic Peasants in Industrial America.” Journal of Social History 10, no. 1 (1976): 50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3786420.

Colchiski, Alex. “Thaddeus Colchiski.” Alex Colchiski, June 27, 2021. https://alexcolchiski.com/thaddeus-michael-colchiski/.

Colchiski Family Archive, Puyallup, WA, “Knights of Pythias Letter,” 1975, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/knights-of-pythias-letter.pdf

———. “Mary Colchiski Funeral Note,” 1968, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/mary-colchiski-funeral-note.pdf.

———.  “Michael and Mary Application for Marriage,” 1907, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/michael-and-mary-application-for-marriage.pdf.

———.  “Letter to Amelia from Ted March 3, 1941,” 1941, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/letter-to-amelia-from-ted-march-3-1941.pdf.

———. “Letter to Thaddeus from Eckert 2 May 1935,” 1935, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/letter-to-thaddeus-from-eckert-3-december-17-1935.pdf.

———. “Thaddeus and Amelia Marriage License and Certificate,” 1942, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/thaddeus-and-amelia-marriage-license-and-certificate.pdf.

Hutson, Matthew. “The Gender of Names.” Scientific American Mind 27, no. 4 (June 9, 2016): 14–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0716-14b.

“Milestones: 1921–1936 - Office of the Historian.” history.state.gov, n.d. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act#:~:text=The%20Immigration%20Act%20of%201924%20limited%20the%20number%20of%20immigrants.

Pinsker, Joe. “American Immigrants and the Dilemma of ‘White-Sounding’ Names.” The Atlantic. The Atlantic, January 3, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/immigrants-american-sounding-first-names/579367/.

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[1] The Colchiski family lore is that Mary originated from a wealthy family in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire but met Mieczyslaw in Eastern Europe and he sponsored her voyage to the United States after he arrived with his nuclear family. There is no documented evidence to prove this one way or another. There is, however, American documented evidence that they married on February 7, 1907, in Hollidaysburg, PA. “Michael and Mary Application for Marriage,” Colchiski Family Archive (Puyallup, WA, 1907), https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/michael-and-mary-application-for-marriage.pdf.

[2] “Mieczyslaw Draft Card,” Colchiski Family Archive (Puyallup, WA), 1917, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/mieczyslaw-draft-card.jpeg.

[3] At this point, Fadeusz Colcheske’s name changed to Thaddeus Michael Colchiski. It is unclear the legal process of changing a child’s name, but he was identified as Colchiski in high school and beyond. 

[4] “Thaddeus and Amelia Marriage License and Certificate,” Colchiski Family Archive (Puyallup, WA) 1942, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/thaddeus-and-amelia-marriage-license-and-certificate.pdf

[5] “Milestones: 1921–1936 - Office of the Historian,” history.state.gov, n.d., https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act#:~:text=The%20Immigration%20Act%20of%201924%20limited%20the%20number%20of%20immigrants.

[6] A History of Slavic Studies in the United States Clarence A. Manning

[7] https://asiasociety.org/education/asian-americans-then-and-now

[8] John Bodnar, “Immigration and Modernization: The Case of Slavic Peasants in Industrial America,” Journal of Social History 10, no. 1 (1976): 50, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3786420.

[9] Joe Pinsker, “American Immigrants and the Dilemma of ‘White-Sounding’ Names,” The Atlantic (The Atlantic, January 3, 2019), https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/immigrants-american-sounding-first-names/579367/.

[10] Matthew Hutson, “The Gender of Names,” Scientific American Mind 27, no. 4 (June 9, 2016): 14–14, https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0716-14b.

[11] “Letter to Amelia from Ted March 3, 1941,” Colchiski Family Archive (Puyallup, WA), 1941, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/letter-to-amelia-from-ted-march-3-1941.pdf.

[12] “Letter to Thaddeus from Eckert 2 May 1935,” Colchiski Family Archive (Puyallup, WA), 1935, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/letter-to-thaddeus-from-eckert-3-december-17-1935.pdf.

[13] “Knights of Pythias Letter,” Colchiski Family Archive (Puyallup, WA), 1975, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/knights-of-pythias-letter.pdf.

[14] Alex Colchiski, “Thaddeus Colchiski,” Alex Colchiski, June 27, 2021, https://alexcolchiski.com/thaddeus-michael-colchiski/.

[15] “Mary Colchiski Funeral Note,” Colchiski Family Archives (Puyallup, WA), 1968, https://alexcolchiski.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/mary-colchiski-funeral-note.pdf.