Frank Wisniewski and Mary Novak: Series Post #1 - What's In a Name?

My Great-Grandmother, Lillian Alexandria Wisniewski, was my mother's mother's mother. According to my grandma, Arlene Dolores Vrana, Lillian's parents' names were Frank Wisniewski and Mary Novak. They were Polish, but other than that I had very little information about this family when I started researching.

Lillian Alexandria Wisniewski and Joseph Francis Vrana Sr. Wedding -- August 27, 1924. St. Anne's Catholic Church, Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania. Enhancement and colorization by MyHeritage.com.

Here is an abbreviated pedigree showing the relation of this family line to myself in green.

Mystery #1: How many ways to spell "Wisniewski"?

My list of alternate spellings for this surname includes 12: Wisniewski, Wisnoski, Wisneski, Wisniowki, Visnesky, Visnisky, Visneisky, Wisnesky, Wisnieska, Wishneski, Wisnosky, and Cherry. Yes, CHERRY!

The name derives from the Polish word for cherry, and it seems some members of the family at some points in time, including on the 1930 Census, went by "Cherry." I don't know whether this translation was offered by the census taker or by the person who responded on behalf of the family, but I did see Cherry listed in a few other records for siblings of Lillian. Interestingly, Mary's obituary in The Washington Observer (Feb. 17, 1947) named her as "Mrs. Mary Wisneski (Cherry)."

Frank and Mary lived in Allegheny County, PA from at least as early as 1903, though they each separately immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1890s. In 1910 they lived in Baldwin Township, and in 1920 they lived in Mine 3, aka Mollenauer, Bethel Township, both in Allegheny County, PA.

As you can imagine, it's pretty hard to find people from one census to the next if their surname changes so dramatically, and if they move from one county to a neighboring one during that decade. Searching with asterisks, such as "W*sn*sk*" will turn up most of the variations of the name, but it won't reveal any records for people with the surname "Cherry."

Finally, after paging through the census records for several localities where I thought they might be living in 1930, EUREKA!

There they were: Frank, Mary, Stanley, John, Julia (daughter-in-law) and Edward CHERRY, living on Shady Avenue in Washington, Washington County, PA. Most of the family remained in Washington, PA or the surrounding areas for the rest of their lives. Interestingly, Stanley, Frank and Mary's oldest son (Lillian's older brother), never married, and lived with his mother until her death in 1947.