Thread: Looking for town of Kieletz, Russia

I'm looking for a town of Kieletz. I'm doing family history and Grandfather, Walter Zelinski, age 25 arrived at Ellis Island 10 Dec. 1910 aboard the S.S.Caldonia. From the ships manifest: last permenant address; Russia: City or town Kieletz. Nationality (Country of which citizen or Subject) Russia. Race Polish. Mothers name and address in country from whence came: Kowno Zelinski, Keiletz. Walter would have been born 1885 or 1886. Can anyone help me with Keiletz 1885-1910. Was it in Russia or Poland. Is this the correct spelling? Has the name changed since then? Appreciate any help. Thanks

There was no Poland as independent state before World War I. It was finally divided between Russia, Prussia(Germany) and Austria in 1795.
Also sufficient parts of modern Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania could be measured as Poland that time.

Thanks for the quick reply. Any ideas where I might find the grandfathers home town?

The closest one I can found is Kielce. Don't know is it that town.

I might be wrong but I think it is quite safe to presume that Kieletz may very well be 'Kielce' in Poland. I did a quick search and although very little came back I did find a list of cities in Poland listed in which several Polish cities were listed with a more 'Russified' or maybe even ''Germanised'' version of their names. Here is a quick copy and paste:

52. Warsaw:
One for each electoral division of the city of warsaw..
From the other towns and districts :
53. Kalish
54. Kieletz
55. Lomja
56. Lublin
57. Petrokov:

Originally Posted by Frank Long

I'm looking for a town of Kieletz. I'm doing family history and Grandfather, Walter Zelinski, age 25 arrived at Ellis Island 10 Dec. 1910 aboard the S.S.Caldonia. From the ships manifest: last permenant address; Russia: City or town Kieletz. Nationality (Country of which citizen or Subject) Russia. Race Polish. Mothers name and address in country from whence came: Kowno Zelinski, Keiletz. Walter would have been born 1885 or 1886. Can anyone help me with Keiletz 1885-1910. Was it in Russia or Poland. Is this the correct spelling? Has the name changed since then? Appreciate any help. Thanks

I think there is a confusion. Probably the city is Kowno which is Polish name for Kaunas (in Russian it was Ковно by that time) and can hardly be first or last name of the person. On the other hand Keiletz can be a persons last name and matches well the first name Walter (which can be German and Keiletz looks like germanized Slavic word). Maybe Poles can clear it up.

Thanks for the help. I think I may have a hard time straightening this out.

Originally Posted by Frank Long

Thanks for the help. I think I may have a hard time straightening this out.

Hi ! I think you would be quite safe to presume that

Kowno = Kaunas Lithuania
Kieletz = Kielce Poland

Thanks. That helps a lot. I'm a senior citizen and live in the US, so I'm not familiar. Appreciate all the help.