Just the Facts

Why do I believe Guilhelmus Jasnosz, Wilhelm Bienkowski and William Busta are all the same person? Let's go through the evidence piece by piece.

To begin with, the reason I started researching William Busta, my great-grandmother's youngest half-brother, is because I began to find inconsistencies within his records. We know that "our" William Busta was born on January 7, 1904 in Rudnik nad Sanem, Poland, and that he immigrated to Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1905 where he lived with his "parents" Anna and Ignacy Busta. 

The draft card of William Louis Busta shows his
birthplace as Rudnick, and his birthdate as January 7, 1904.

William was a full ten years younger than his closest sibling, Lewis. The month he was born, his mother Anna turned 49 years old. Looking at modern research on the internet, the odds of a woman conceiving naturally and carrying a healthy baby to term at age fifty are less than one percent. Improbable, but not impossible.

That wasn't the only problem, though. The first time I saw Ignacy Busta's ship manifest I knew there was an even bigger issue. Ignacy sailed from Hamburg on February 27, 1903. He would have had to leave Rudnik several days before that. There was no way that Ignacy could have fathered a baby with Anna that would be born over ten months later.

William Busta's petition for naturalization.
His date and place of birth again match the record of
Wilhelm Jasnosz - January 7th 1904 in Rudnik nad Sanem.

And the biggest problem of all? There is no record of a "Wilhelm Buszta" ever having been born in Rudnik on January 7, 1904. Spoiler alert: Only Guilhelmus (Wilhelm) Jasnosz was born at that time, in that place.

Try as we might, a passenger record for an infant named William Buszta has never been found. William declared on his naturalization petition that he arrived in America on "October 19, 1904 on the S.S. Unknown." Dom has searched all manifests from that date and manifests for a week before and after that date. William Buszta isn't on them.

Mary Janusz Mazurkiewicz stands behind
 her godson/half brother William Louis Busta
 in Methuen, Massachusetts, 1916

Nor did William Buszta arrive on the ship that carried both his older brothers, 11 year old John and 9 year old Lewis, and his half sister (and Wilhelm Jasnosz's godmother) 21 year old Mary. They all arrived in September 1905 on the SS Hamburg...but William Buszta wasn't with them.

Ignacy Busta's ship manifest shows him leaving
Hamburg, Germany on February 27 1903 - he could not 
have been William's father

This is where the research in Poland begins. Dom found a birth record for a Wilhelm born on January 7th 1904 in Rudnik....but Anna and Ignacy weren't his parents:

Guilhelmus, illegitimate son of Elisabeth Jasnosz,
Joannes and Agnetis nee Mieczwa's daughter,
was born on the 7th of January 1904 in Rudnik, House no. 449

As Wilhelm Jasnosz is the only Wilhelm born on January 7, 1904 in Rudnik we are confident this is the baby that Anna and Ignacy Busta raised as their own. Furthermore, in the farthest column on the right titled "Patrini" the godmother is listed as Marianna Janusz, the 19 year old  daughter of Anna Janusz Busta, and my great grandmother. William would be raised not as the godson of Mary Mazurkiewicz, but instead as her half-brother.

When we first came across this record Dom and I considered what it might mean. Could it be a ruse concocted by Anna who was ashamed of having an illegitimate baby while her husband was in America? Could the Jasnosz name be a misspelling of Janusz and this Elisabeth be a relation to Anna?

Neither of those theories was correct. Elisabeth Jasnosz was a real person and Dom was able to prove this by researching house no 449 and proving that her parents and brother did truly live there:

HOUSE NO. 449 

1. The correct number of the house where Wilhelm was born is 449 (it was unclearly written in his birth record and I took it for 440) 
2. The records I found indicate that Wilhelm was not Anna’s son. According to Wilhelm’s birth record, his mother was Elisabeth Jasnosz, the daughter of Joannes Jasnosz and Agnes nee Mieczwa. The couple also had a son Franciscus and his children were born in house No. 449 (see birth records of Theresia Jasnosz and Leo Jasnosz).  

Now, let's consider the baby named Wilhelm Bienkowski that Victoria Socha Bienkowski brought to America in 1905. As we've learned previously, Victoria was the daughter of Anna's sister and her father was a member of the Socha family. The Socha family was also related to the Jasnosz family according to passenger manifests discovered on Ancestry. Not only was Victoria Anna's niece, but Anna raised her children in the same house where Victoria lived with her husband and daughter, Adela, so they were undoubtedly quite close. Dom canvassed all of the vital records that mention House No. 216 in Rudnik between 1890 and 1905 and stated the following facts derived from the found records:

HOUSE NO. 216 

1. Francisca Janusz, Anna’s sister, married Clemens Socha and the couple also lived in house No. 216 (see the death record of Romanus Socha, February 21, 1890)  
2. Victoria Socha, daughter of Clemens and Francisca, married Andreas Binkowski on February 17,1896. Marriage record indicates that Victoria also lived in house No. 216 at the time of marriage.
   
3. Andreas Binkowski and Victoria nee Socha had daughter named Adela who was born on March 31, 1897, also in house No. 216.  
4. No birth, marriage or death records linked to house No. 216 after March 31, 1897 (the records I viewed end in December 1905, however in the case of some entries, house number was not indicated) 

There are no records to indicate that Victoria Bienkowski ever gave birth to a son named Wilhelm.

What's more, Andreas Bienkowski had immigrated to America in 1902 while Victoria had remained in Rudnik. They would not have been reunited until Victoria arrived in America in March of 1905. They could not have had any children together during this time period.

The passenger record of Andrew Bienkowski shows he immigrated 
from Rudnik to Wakefield, MA in 1902, while his wife Victoria remained in 
Poland until 1905. He could not have been the father of Wilhelm Bienkowski

At some point after January 7, 1904 and before February 1905 Wilhelm Jasnosz was transferred from his birth mother, Elisabeth Jasnosz to her Socha relative, Victoria Bienkowski.

Despite the fact that there is no record of a Wilhelm Bienkowski being born in Rudnik, Victoria and Wilhelm are listed as "mother and son" on their departing ship manifest. 

Baby William sails away from Rudnik on February 10, 1905 
on the SS Blucher. He is in the custody of  Anna's niece,
Victoria Socha Bienkowski

With the exception of Wilhelm Jasnosz's birth record, and Wilhelm Bienkowski's ship manifest there is nothing to indicate either of these children ever existed. Their respective paper trails begin and end with these documents.

The first time we ever see "William Busta" listed on an official record is the 1910 census. He is listed as the 6 year old son of Ignacy and Anna, living in the house on Merrimack Street with his parents and brothers, John and Lewis. To date, we have been unable to find a birth record or a passenger manifest under the name of William Busta.

William Busta fist shows up in an official record in 1910.
The census states he was born in 1904 and immigrated in 1905,
matching what we know of Wilhelm Jasnosz/Wilhelm Bienkowski.

To state these facts as concisely as I can:

1. There is no birth record that we have found of either William Buszta or William Bienkowski in Rudnik nad Sanem
2. There is no way Ignacy Busta could have fathered William Busta because he immigrated to America in February 1903 and William was born January 1904
3. There is no way Andrew Bienkowski could have fathered William Bienkowski because he immigrated to America in 1902
4. It is improbable for Anna to be William's biological mother because there is only a one percent chance that a 50 year old woman will conceive a baby naturally and carry a healthy baby to term
5. William Busta's date of birth matches the record of Guilhelmus Jasnosz's date of birth - January 7th 1904 in Rudnik nad Sanem, Poland. William Busta consistently uses this date and place of birth throughout his life.
6. The recorded birth of Guilhelmus Jasnosz lists Marianna Janusz (aka Mary Mazurkiewicz) as his godmother - the half-sister of William Busta
7. The infant William Bienkowski was brought to America by Anna's niece, Victoria Socha Bienkowski. Victoria was related to both the Jasnosz and Janusz families. Victoria and Wilhelm's paper trail then ends in America with no trace of what became of them.
8. William Busta first shows up in the 1910 census as the 6 year old son of Ignacy and Anna Busta. His age and immigration year (1905) match the details we know about Wilhelm Jasnosz and Wilhelm Bienkowski
9. The information that William Busta shared on his naturalization form, that he arrived in America on October 19th, 1904 on the S.S. Unknown is fabricated - there is no record of a William Buszta entering the port of New York within two weeks of that date
10. And lastly, the evidence that Ignacy did not consider William his son at all, his obituary from December 1952. Ignacy was predeceased by his wife Anna, his son Lewis and his stepdaughter Mary. He was survived by his son John, his stepson Frank and the son who passed as his own, William. His obituary lists John and Frank, but there is no mention of William, who outlived Ignacy by 27 years. Ignacy clearly did not consider William his son at all.

The obituary of Ignacy Busta, survived by his son John Busta
and stepson Frank Janusz, doesn't mention his son William at all.