Family albums · Francine’s family overview
On this page: Frances Okulewicz Rudy · An earlier household, with limits · Places in these records · Sources and evidence
The Okulewicz branch follows Frances Okulewicz Rudy and the evidence for her family in New Jersey. Carol A. Samuel’s published obituary names her parents as Joseph and Frances Okulewicz Rudy. This obituary-reported connection provides the starting point for the branch; it is not a birth record. [O1]
Frances Okulewicz Rudy
Read the individual profile of Frances Okulewicz Rudy.
A New Jersey brides index records Frances Okulewicz with husband initials J.R. on August 26, 1923, volume 30, page 448. It supports the marriage date used in the family research, but does not supply the husband’s full name or the parents of either spouse. [O2]
The Rudy family account brings together Joseph and Frances’s 1950 Sayreville household and the marriage evidence. That shared family story is kept there rather than repeated in full here.
An earlier household, with limits
Frances Rudy’s 1965 obituary explicitly identifies her parents as the late Charles and Anna Okulewicz. The 1920 Sayreville household records Charles’s daughter Frances, age 15; the census family is connected to the later Frances Rudy through the combined household and sibling evidence. Anna’s maiden surname remains unproved. [O8] [O3]
The 1910, 1920 and 1930 census pages each report Charles’s arrival year as 1896 and his citizenship status as “Al,” meaning alien. The 1920 naturalization-year space is blank. These repeated reports help guide the search, but give no ship or precise hometown. They do not establish an exact passenger arrival or whether he later naturalized. [O4] [O3] [O10]
Earlier evidence for Anna
The 1910 census records Charles and Anna in their first marriage, married for ten years, with five children at home, including five-year-old Frances, recorded as Franziska. Anna is recorded as having borne six children, five still living. Together with the later household records, this strongly supports Anna as Frances’s mother. Anna’s maiden surname remains unproved for Frances; the Caroline record discussed below provides a candidate for further research. [O4]
An original 1923 obituary for Feliz Stefanskie names Mrs. Annie Okulewicz of Sayreville among his three daughters. A separate death notice on the same page spells his given name Felix and reports his death on November 15, 1923. This is contemporary evidence linking an Annie Okulewicz in Sayreville to the Stefanskie family. Whether Felix was her biological father or stepfather remains unresolved, and Anna’s birth surname is not yet proved for Frances. [O9]
Another record offers a possible lead to Anna’s maiden surname. An index based on Social Security records lists Caroline Okulewicz Gillish, also indexed under Caroline Brustowicz, as born on May 14, 1913, in Sayreville, and names her parents as Charles Okulewicz and Ann Stefanski. The entry records her death in February 1994. The original Social Security application (SS-5) has not been examined. [O5]
The 1920 census records six-year-old Caroline as Charles’s daughter in the household with his wife Anna and daughters Frances, 15, and Carrie, 14. Caroline and Carrie are separate entries. This supports the Caroline identification, but the census does not give Anna’s maiden surname or explicitly identify her as each child’s biological mother. [O3] Caroline’s age fits the May 1913 birth date in the Social Security index. [O5]
Frances’s 1965 obituary names four sisters: Carrie Talmowski, Caroline Brustowicz, Mary Gonyo and Florence Bogush, and three brothers: John, Frank and Adolph Okulewicz. Florence Bogush’s later funeral-home obituary uses Carrie Palmowski and Caroline Brustovich. The printed Talmowski/Palmowski and Brustowicz/Brustovich forms are retained as source differences, not silently standardized. Carrie and Caroline are separately named sisters. These records strengthen the sibling connection to the Caroline index entry naming Ann Stefanski, but they do not establish Anna’s maiden surname for Frances. [O8] [O5] [O6]
A 1937 New Jersey brides marriage-index entry pairs Mary Okulewicz with Joseph Gonyo. This supports the surname connection suggested by Florence Bogush’s obituary. The original index image has been checked; the marriage certificate has not been examined. [O6] [O7]
A May 24, 1929 report in The Daily Home News names Mrs. Anna Okulewicz, 44, of Jackson Street, Sayreville, and says she died at home that morning. Her husband and several children survived, but none is named. The Sunday Times repeated the report on May 26. Neither notice gives her maiden surname or parents. Whether she was Charles’s wife or the Annie named in Felix’s 1923 obituary remains unproved. [O11] [O9]
Places in these records
Sayreville, South River, South Amboy and New Brunswick are separate municipalities in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Frances’s 1965 obituary distinguishes her Sayreville residence from her death in New Brunswick and places her sisters Carrie and Caroline in South River. Modern maps provide orientation, not proof of historical homes or boundaries. [O8]
New Jersey municipality list · Official interactive locator map · Places in the Samuel records
Further research
Current priorities are proving Anna’s maiden name from original evidence, identifying Charles and Anna’s immigration records, and finding a Polish civil or church record that ties the family to a specific ancestral locality.
Was Amelia part of this sibling group? An earlier draft listed her, but the connection has not been verified against an identified source.
The spelling “Okalewitcz” remains an unverified research lead until a record can be matched to the known family.
Sources and evidence
[O1] “Carol Samuel,” Daily Democrat, September 15–16, 2023, obituary hosted by Legacy.com. Names Carol’s parents as Joseph and Frances Okulewicz Rudy. A published obituary is later family evidence, not an original birth or marriage record.
[O2] New Jersey brides marriage index, 1920–1929, L–O, archive leaf 663: Frances Okulewicz; husband initials JR; August 26, 1923; volume 30, page 448. Index only; the full certificate has not been inspected.
[O3] 1920 U.S. census, New Jersey, Middlesex County, Sayreville Borough, enumeration district 64, sheet 17B, January 10, lines 80–89; NARA T625, roll 1057; Internet Archive image n487. The original image was checked. The household surname’s handwriting is unclear; the identity connection uses the household and later evidence together.
[O4] 1910 U.S. census, New Jersey, Middlesex County, Sayreville Township, enumeration district 43, sheet 29B, May 2, lines 51–57, family 497; NARA T624, roll 899; Internet Archive image n1077. The original image was checked. The head is recorded as Charlie; the surname’s handwriting is uncertain. The connection uses the household pattern across the census records. Anna’s maiden surname is not recorded.
[O5] U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, Caroline Okulewicz Gillish; additional indexed names Caroline Brustowicz and Caroline Okulewicz Okulewicz. An index based on Social Security records, database 60901, record 39150454. The original Social Security application (SS-5) has not been examined.
[O6] Florence Bogush obituary, funeral-home memorial. Later obituary evidence naming sisters, including Caroline Brustovich, Carrie Palmowski, Mary Gonyo and Frances Rudy. Caroline Brustovich and Carrie Palmowski are separate entries.
[O7] New Jersey Marriage Index, Brides, 1937, archive image n363: Mary Okulewicz and Joseph Gonyo. The original index image was checked; the marriage certificate has not been examined.
[O8] “Mrs. Joseph Rudy,” continuation and separate RUDY death notice, The Daily Home News, January 12, 1965, p. 9. Original newspaper page inspected from a ProQuest research copy. The death notice supplies the exact death date; burial language announces arrangements. The obituary does not state an age. Link access may require a library subscription; no newspaper scan is reproduced here.
[O9] “Feliz Stefanskie” obituary and separate STEFANSKIE death notice, The Daily Home News, November 16, 1923, p. 10; New Brunswick Free Public Library microfilm collection. Both original notices were inspected. The obituary names Mrs. Mazuroskie, Mrs. Helen Muraszko and Mrs. Annie Okulewicz as daughters. The source does not distinguish biological from step-parentage; no newspaper scan is reproduced here.
[O10] 1930 U.S. census, New Jersey, Middlesex County, Sayreville Borough, enumeration district 12-106, sheet 23B, April 30, Charles household, lines 93–98; NARA T626, roll 1368; Internet Archive image n1021. The original image was checked. Charles, 60 and widowed, is recorded on line 93 with immigration year 1896 and naturalization status Al. The 1910 and 1920 originals cited in [O4] [O3] likewise report 1896 and Al; the 1920 naturalization-year cell is blank.
[O11] “Sayreville Woman Dies Suddenly,” The Daily Home News (New Brunswick, New Jersey), May 24, 1929, front page; and “OKULEWICZ,” Deaths of the Week, The Sunday Times (New Brunswick, New Jersey), May 26, 1929, p. 31; New Brunswick Free Public Library microfilm collection. Both original notices were checked. The Sunday notice repeats the Friday report; it provides no separate identity bridge. Charles E. Darling is the coroner in the May 24 article, not a named husband or father. No newspaper scan is reproduced here.