Family albums · Francine’s family overview · Samuel / Samul family
On this page: Names, dates and open questions · Sources and evidence
Her husband Frank Samul / Samuel names her as Sophie in his naturalization petition and reports that she was born on March 20, 1881 in Russia. She appears as Teofila in the 1920 census and as Sophie in the 1940 and 1950 records. The same husband, children and place appear across these records. That makes them useful to compare. [1] [3] [4] [5]
In 1940 Sophie was living with Frank and several of their children. By April 1950 she was recorded as a 69-year-old widow in her son Leo’s Sayreville household. These records preserve her later family setting, but do not identify her European town or name her parents. [4] [5]
Her daughter Loretta’s published 2005 obituary names her mother as Sophie Syroweic Samuel. That provides a specific later-source spelling of the maiden surname. An original marriage or birth record is still needed to resolve its spelling and establish her parents. [8]
The family-held memorial card prints the combined name Theofilia Sophie Samuel and bears February 3, 1953. It does not label the date as death or funeral. Card source note.
Names, dates and open questions
Birth. March 20, 1881 is reported by her husband’s petition; an independent birth record has not been obtained. [1]
Recorded names. The family details in these records strongly support identifying Sophie and Teofila as the same woman. A family-held memorial prayer card prints the combined name “Theofilia Sophie Samuel.” The name written by the 1910 census taker appears to be “Theofilo,” but the reading is uncertain. [1] [2] [3] [11]
Maiden surname. Syroweic is the spelling in Loretta’s obituary. Other proposed spellings have not been settled by an original record naming her parents. [8]
Death and memorial evidence. A family-held memorial prayer card for Theofilia Sophie Samuel bears February 3, 1953. The card does not label this as a death or funeral date. A New Jersey death index lists Theofilia Samuel in Sayreville in February 1953, state file 07610. The combined name on the card and the matching month and year strengthen the identification of that index entry with Sophie. Her civil death certificate has not been inspected; the exact day is attributed to the card. [11] [9]
Parents. Sophie’s parents remain unproved. Candidate names are not presented as established members of this family.
A marriage-index lead
A New Jersey marriage index lists Francis Samon and Teopila Seronik in Middlesex County between July and December 1900. Their names and location make this a promising lead, but the date differs from the 1910 census’s eleven years married. The original marriage certificate is needed to verify the couple and read their parents’ names, if recorded. This entry is not yet established as Frank and Sophie’s marriage. [10] [2]
Research note: Sirowik / Sirowick leads
The Gneisenau passenger list of April 17, 1906 records Boleslawa Sirowik, 16, and Jozef, 14, going to a Sayreville contact read as Franciszek Samol (surname uncertain), described as a brother-in-law. Their last residence is unclear. The contact has not been established as Frank Samuel, nor the passengers as Sophie’s relatives. [12]
In 1910, Joseph Mickiwitz’s Sayreville household includes wife Boleslawa, 19, with reported immigration in 1906, and Anna Sirowick, 60, widowed, recorded as his mother-in-law. This is a promising comparison with the passengers, but their identity and any relationship to Sophie remain unproved. [13]
A further lead appears in the original 1915 New Jersey census. Joseph Serowik, recorded as about 22, is in the same South River household as Joseph Kobrzynski and Bronislawa, continuing across sheets 27B and 28A. The form does not state relationships, and these pages name neither Sophie nor Teofila. His identity with the 1906 passenger and any relationship to Sophie remain unproved. [16]
The ages also conflict with possible Polish matches. Cieciory birth acts name Bolesława (1891) and Józef (1894) as children of Piotr Serowik and Anna Kuliś; they would have been 14 and 12 at the 1906 arrival, rather than 16 and 14. Bolesława would still have been 18 at the 1910 census, and Anna’s reported age there is several years older than the mother’s ages in the Polish acts imply. No inspected record establishes these people as Sophie’s family. Her parents and European birthplace remain unproved. [12] [13] [14]
A 1903 death act offers another comparison with this possible Polish family. Piotr Serowik, a 70-year-old farmer born in Cieciory, died there, leaving his wife Anna née Kuliś widowed. It names his father as Jan and his mother as unknown. His age does not fully agree with the father’s ages in the two birth acts. The death record names no children and does not connect this household to Sophie. [15] [14]
Further research
Her parents, exact birthplace, parish, and original surname spelling remain active research questions.
Sources and evidence
[1] Middlesex County, New Jersey, Court of Common Pleas, Frank Samul naturalization packet: petition no. 3076, filed December 19, 1917, p. 1; oath and order of admission, June 13, 1918, p. 2; declaration of intention, November 1913, p. 3. Digital copy supplied for this research, “Frank Samul Petition.pdf.”
[10] New Jersey State Archives, Index to Marriage Records, May 1848–December 1900, Francis Samon and Teopila Seronik, Middlesex County, July–December 1900, retrieval reference Drw 518. 65-S40. Index entry only; the certificate has not been inspected and identification with the Samuel household remains unconfirmed.
[11] Family-held memorial prayer card for Theofilia Sophie Samuel, bearing February 3, 1953; Matthew A. Maliszewski Funeral Service, South River, New Jersey. Owner-supplied photograph, uploaded October 5, 2026. The date is not explicitly labeled as a death or funeral date.
[12] New York passenger list, Gneisenau, April 17, 1906, list 4, lines 29–30; Ancestry collection 7488, original image NYT715_693-0072. Names, ages and contact read from the original; the contact’s surname and last residence remain uncertain.
[14] Turośl parish, Cieciory births: Bolesława Serowik, 1891, act 124, lower right; Józef Serowik, 1894, act 12, lower left. Both name Piotr Serowik and Anna née Kuliś; neither names Sophie. These are comparison records, not an established pedigree for Sophie.
[15] Turośl parish, 1903 death act 53, Piotr Serowik of Cieciory; Skanoteka, unit 5505 (deaths 1900–1912), image 052-057.jpg, middle entry on the left page. Death recorded as July 13/26, 1903; registered July 15/28, 1903. The paired dates are retained as written. Original act checked; the widow’s surname Kuliś was confirmed by comparison with the same handwriting in adjacent act 54. The mother is recorded as unknown.
[16] New Jersey State Census, 1915, Middlesex County, Borough of South River, enumeration district Second: sheet 27B, June 19, lines 97–100, Joseph Kobrzynski household, continued on sheet 28A, June 21, lines 1–8; Joseph Serowik on line 6. Ancestry collection 61558, images 48182_554658-00763 and 48182_554658-00764. Both original sheets were checked. Household continuity is supported by the adjacent sheets and absence of a new family number before line 9; the form has no relationship-to-head column. Access may require an Ancestry subscription.