29 December 2014

The First Inda Immigrants - Settling in Arkansas and Oklahoma

Ten branches of the Inda families have been identified emigrating from Poland to the United States.  All had lived within 40 miles of each other while living in Poland.  All seemed to have left family, parents, siblings and cousins, behind in the old country.  They had lived in an area of Poland that was part of Prussian Empire. 

The first to group to immigrate did so in 1868.  They were Peter, Frances (Peter’s wife), and Josepha (Peter’s sister).  Peter was about 29 years old.  He had married his wife in Grylewo, Poland in 1866.   Their marriage record shows Peter was living in Golancz and Frances in Rybowo.  Frances was about 5 years younger than Peter.  The following is a copy of their marriage register (top of page).

Sailing across the vast Atlantic Ocean on the S.S. Marco Polo, they arrived at the Castle Garden Immigration Center in New York City on the 1st of June in 1868.
  What brave souls they were, arriving in a new country, not believed to know anyone there.  They came to find a better life, to find freedom, freedom for themselves, freedom for their children and freedom for their grandchildren. The USA ended the Civil War three years previously.  President Johnson had been impeached and Ulysses S. Grant was new President. 

Peter and Frances first settled in Michigan.  The couple had five children born to them there, sons Joseph Stanley in 1870, Michael Lawrence in 1872, John Andrew in 1873 and Valentine in 1878  Their first daughter, Johanna, was also born in Michigan but her birth is recorded in Wyandotte in 1876.  The next record found on the family is in Arkansas in 1880, it is the birth of their son, Casmier Nickolas who was later known as Jasper.  The couple also had a daughter, Pauline, born about 1884.  It is possible there were more children but no records have been found at this time.  Peter believed in his new county and became a US citizen in 1872.
It is with their daughter Pauline’s family, that Peter and Frances spent the rest of their lives.  They are buried in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.


Joseph would marry Catherine Ang Blockowiak in 1899.  They would give birth to two daughters, Frances and Louise.  They raised their children and grew old together in Pulaski County, Arkansas. 

Michael would marry Bridget M. Masham about 1909.  Mihael would be found living in Colorado before 1918 but by 1930 the couple would be living in Grant, Custer, Oklahoma.  Here they would settle.  Both are buried in the Anthon Cemetery in Custer County, Oklahoma.

John would marry Agnes Victoria Makowski in 1900. They would live with Agnes’ parents for a short time prior to moving to Oklahoma.  In 1910 they live in Bales but by 1920 they would have placed roots in Guthrie.  This is where the couple raised their three children, Frank, Floyd and Margaret.  John and Agnes are buried in Saint Theresa's Catholic Cemetery in Harrah, Oklahoma.

Johanna would marry John J. Yanniger in 1893.  They would continue to live and raise their three children, Joseph, George and Louise, in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Johanna, who also went by Jane, and her husband are buried there.

Valentine or Vall, died at age 28.  It is believed he had not married.

Jasper would be living in Oklahoma by 1905.  It is here we find his marriage to Louise C. Drew.  The couple have five children, Theodore, Louis, Cecelia, Constance and Josephine before Louise died in 1942.  In 1944, Jasper married Katie B. Whittington in Arkansas.  It was here he would live until his death in 1965.  Jasper was well loved by both of his wives.  He is buried next to Katie in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Pine Bluff, Arkansas but he also has a headstone next to Louise in Calvary Cemetery in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Pauline married Michael Peter Wilkiewicz.  The couple stayed in Arkansas and had five children, Thaddeus, Frances, Louise, Constance and Sylvester.  Pauline and Michael are buried in Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock. 

So far, no further record has been found of Peter’s sister, Josepha Inda.  She was born about 1847.

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