POLSKIM: email [email protected]
I would like to thank everyone who contributes to this project started by my father CHESTER FRANCIS TEREPKA on 24 Sep 2000; and now continues since 8 Aug 2001 in his memory. This is a sincere, ongoing, collaborative effort: with contributions of time, information, facts, documents, photos, etc., contributed by family / interested parties in Canada, Poland, and the US.
This site is a software driven template, hosted free of charge; and therefore is limited in-terms of functionality / flexibility. A “book” (an ongoing, structured compilation of information, documents, and photos) is available free of charge to family members by request. Currently, the book, in excess of 1,200 pages, is available via CD (PDF format), and like this site (based on software limitations) is only available in English.
This collaboration researches the TEREBKA / TEREPKA / TEREPKO / TOREPKA families from places, e.g., BORKOWO, BUDY STAWISKIE, CZERNICE, DZIERZBIA, KORZENISTE, KRUKÓWKA, OLSZYNY, PORYTE, STAWISKI, ZASKRODZIE, etc., in the former Polish Province (Województw / “woj.”) of LOMZA. Evidence compiled to-date suggests that most woj. Lomza families “originate” (late 1700s) in the villages of BORKOWO and ZASKRODZIE.
This collaboration ALSO researches the TOREBKO families from places, e.g., PENSKIE, STAROSIELCE, etc., in the former woj. BIALYSTOK; bordering the former woj, Lomza to it’s west, and Russia to it’s east. Less is currently known for families from woj. Bialystok, but Penskie appears to be where most “originate”.
[NOTE: Effective 1 Jan 1999, this entire region (Lomza and Bialystok, plus Suwalki) is known as woj. PODLASKIE (occupying Poland’s northeast corner) and all families may have originated somewhere EAST (see link “The Origin and Meaning of Terepka” below and note THERE IS EVIDENCE OF A UKRAINIAN TEREBKA IN CANADA)].
Evidence complied to-date confirms that the TEREBKA, TEREPKA, TEREPKO, and TOREPKA FAMILIES FROM LOMZA ARE THE SAME; and of these names, the “real name” may be TereBka. [NOTE: In Polish, TereBka is pronounced TerePka]. However, there is an equal amount of evidence suggesting the “real name” may be both written and pronounced TerePka. In general, older secular records (in Poland and the US) for woj. Lomza families frequently record TereBka, while public records (in Poland and the US) for those same families / individuals frequently record TerePka. Furthermore, in some families from woj. Lomza, siblings of the same parents use both TereBka and TerePka. In this case, the Church has been the cause; recording TereBka (vs. Terepka). In other cases (TOrepka vs. TErepka), the “government” has been the cause. As some families moved east within woj. Lomza, e.g., from Borkowo to Olszyny, their name changed from TerepkA to TerepkO.
Less is currently known for families from woj. Bialystok, but evidence complied to-date suggests the “real name” may be TEREPKO (vs. Torebko). Of the records found for folks immigrating to the US in the late 1800s to early 1900s, very few did so from woj. Bialystok – and those who stayed, went by Terepka (maybe Torebka). 1 of them conducted a brief, independent study in the Town Hall of Bialystok finding that the “real name” for his family may be TOREBKA (the Polish word for bag, handbag, etc.).
Per the 1990 Polish Census, WHILE RARE, TOREBKO HAS GREATER NUMBERS IN POLAND THEN ANY OF THE ABOVE NAMES; most still found in woj. Bialystok. IN THE US + CANADA, THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE, I.E., TEREPKA, WHILE RARE, HAS GREATER NUMBERS. While there are some Torebkas in the US (origin currently unknown), TOREBKA, LIKE TOREPKA, APPEARS TO BE A “HYBRID”.
This project’s scope is to research “all of the above”, in an effort to learn if (and how) all are indeed the same family. A side effect may be that the true origin and meaning is learned.
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