Seeking Records for Haller's Army

Lisa,

Found a WW1 Draft Card please see below if this is the correct individual from Chicago?

Hope this helps,

Elliot Schneider

Thank you Elliot. Unfortunately no, this is not the correct Stanley. My Stanley was born July 25, 1902 in Brietenstien, Poland.

Dear Ms. Fowler,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

According to the FamilySearch Wiki page on Haller's Army, the recruitment records are in the custody of the Polish Museum of America. The service records may be available via the  National Digital Archives of Poland.

We hope this information is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

Hi Lisa,

Welcome to History Hub

Your Stanley, being born in 1902, was only 16 at the end of WW1. I am searching to see if Haller's army took boys.

World War I (or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1) was a global war that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously known as the Great War or "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history.

Alice Lane

Research Volunteer.

Lisa,

The reason I did not find him was because you said his name was  Stanley W. Grzeszkowiak. However,  I found a Stanley B. Grzeszkowiak with a DOB of July 25th 1902 from Poland and living in Chicago. If this is a coincidence and their is another Stanley born on the same day and year and living in Chicago then I'm confused. Anyway here is the draft card for that individual.

Also found a Stanley E. Grzeszkowiak Jr. with the same date of birth are these the same individuals?

Please see link https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=60525&h=22301132&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=2238

Hope this helps,

Elliot Schneider

Thank you.

HI Lisa, just to add to Mr. Atkinson's response, I found a website (FEEFHS.org) that indexes the recruitement records for Haller's Army, which also appear to be available from the Polish Genealogical Society of America.

The FEEFHS index does list a Stanislaw Grzeskowiak of Chicago (Grzeszkowiak.Stanislaw, Chicago IL.....1...396..A). The index lists name, residence, page, volume, and form. Form A is intention to volunteer.

The PGSA website also has an index for Haller's Army recruitment records. However, that index lists an individual with the same name as being from New York. And with additional recruitement forms. So some confusion (indexing error vs incomplete records? Or could your relative had wanted to volunteer but was too young?).

Per the PGSA website, the offices are closed. Postal mail is not being collected but they state they are responding to emails. The links for the two websites are below. Hope this is of some help. joan

https://feefhs.org/resource/poland-hallers-army

https://feefhs.org/resource/poland-army-recruitment-17

https://pgsa.org

https://pgsa.org/polish-history/hallers-army-index/

So I joined the Polish Genealogical Society of America and that's where I found the name Stanislaw Grzeszkowiak. Looking back over my tree, I don't know where I came up with "W." as his middle initial. I did reach out to the PGSA via email before I sent in my records request along with the fee to verify they were open. They are not as you stated above. I was instructed to contact the librarian at the Polish Museum of America as they are the ones that actually house the records, where as the Polish Genealogical Society of America just keeps an index. So I reached out, on September 11, of this year, but have not heard a response from anyone. I would be more than grateful if you do find out if indeed he was too young to fight. That would be interesting if they lied about their age like most of the WWII volunteers did. Would he have even had to lie about his age as he hadn't become a citizen yet, and that's what they wanted as volunteers in Haller's Army? The possibility of an indexing error does not surprise me as those things tend to happen unfortunately. Thank you for the information on what Form A means, as that is some new information to me. Below is the link to the The Polish Museum of America. Thanks for your time, Lisa.

https://www.polishmuseumofamerica.org/library/library-services/

I'm not 100% certain that his middle initial was "W". I do know that his wife's name was Rose. He was indeed from Chicago. So if Stanley B. or Stanley E. were the same individual, I think there is a high probably. Someone may have written down the initial B as it can sound like E, inadvertently. He did have 2 sons, Stanley E. Grzeszkowiak, Jr. and Conrad Grzeszkowiak. He was the 2nd of 9 children. My grandfather being the 9th. This is just such a mystery to me, and Covid isn't helping my research with having everything shut down.

Best,

Lisa