News of an exciting new area of research, for those tracing the family histories of Gronow families.

The Gronow DNA Project welcomes all participants. We encourage you to join today!.

Our project is just getting started, and we expect to have many exciting discoveries.

Participating is an opportunity to uncover information not provided in the paper records, which will help with your research of your family tree. We will also discover which family trees are related. As the project progresses, the results for the various family trees will provide information on the evolution of the surname.

The surnames in this DNA Project are researched as part of the Gronow one-name study. You can learn more about this significant research, and the the associated family trees, by visiting the GRONOW DNA web site.

The Y DNA test tells you about your direct male line, which would be your father, his father, and back in time. You must be male to take this test, and you should have one of the surnames shown. If you believe there is a Gronow or variant in your direct male line, although you have a different surname, you are also welcome to participate. If you are female, you will need to find a direct line male in your family tree to participate and represent your tree.
We encourage males to order a Y-DNA test for 37 markers, if possible. If you order less markers, you can upgrade later, though this costs a little more.
Both males and females may also be interested in learning about their direct female line, which would be their mother, their mother's mother, and back in time. Both men and women inherit mtDNA, although only women pass it on. To explore your direct female line, you would order a mtDNA test. For matches in a genealogical time frame, order the mtDNA Plus test.

In Remembrance:

Megan Morris (nee Gronow)

10th February 2012

Beloved wife of William L. Morris

Interment at Capel y Crwys, Three Crosses on Friday 17th February.

The Anatomy of a street name

The Anatomy of a street name

Gronow Street, Michigan USA, takes it's name from  the person who subdivided the land on what is now along the north side of Engleman St. and both sides of Gronow Street between Van Dyke and Lawrence St.  According to the subdivision plot recorded on May 12, 1913 his name was Dr. Adolph A.Gronow and his wife's name was Rose Agnes Gronow.

The earliest US Census records I could find with a listing of Adolph Gronow were in 1920 and 1930. Working backwards in time I was able to verify that Adolph's original surname was Gronkowski.

According to the 1900 and 1910 US Census Records, Adolph GRONKOWSKI was born in April 1870 in Germany and his wife Agnes was born 2nd October 1876 in Warren, Macomb, Michigan. In 1900 Adolph GRONKOWSKI was living on Bellevue Street in Hamtramck Township, which would soon be incorporated into the city of Detroit. He claimed to have immigrated from Germany in 1889 and was a naturalised  citizen whose occupation was "Librarian". The 1903 Detroit City Directory shows Adolph A. GRONKOWSKI living at 974  Bellevue and employed as a teacher at Eastern High School. In 1910 Adolph GRONKOWSK was living on Center Line Road (now Van Dyke Ave)  in Warren Township, which  would become the village of Center Line in 1926. From the other names on  the record, it is clear that he and his family were living with his  mother-in-law Margaret Engleman in the Engleman home on Van Dyke near what is now Gronow Ave. He claimed to have  immigrated from Germany in 1890 and was a naturalised citizen whose  occupation was "Teacher-High School". Since it was clear that Margaret was still married in 1910 and a widow on the 1920 census record, I wondered  where her husband was living in 1910.  I did some searching and discovered  that her husband Hieronymus passed away in 1918 and in the 1910 US Census he was shown as an "inmate" living at the Michigan Soldiers Home in Grand Rapids, Mich., which was a nursing home for US Civil War veterans.

The 1916 Detroit City Directory listed Adolph A. GRONOW as "Physician and Surgeon, Office Hours 1 to 3 PM and 6:30 to 8:00 PM (Sunday by appointment), 1910 Gratiot Ave., Tel Ridge 150, home: Center Line, Mich."  1910 Gratiot Ave.(renumbered to 8338 Gratiot in 1921) was near the  intersection with Iroquois St., about a one-half mile walk from the home he apparently owned at 1221 Townsend Ave. where some of his
adult children were living at that time. According to the 1880 US Census, Adolph's wife Agnes was born about 1877  to Hieronymus and Margaret Engleman.  According to the 1895 plat map of  this area, the Engleman home and and 13 acres of farm land match the area of land that was subdivided in 1913 by  Agnes and her husband, Adolph Gronow.

It turned out Adolph had married previously to Antonia Kremser by license in Wayne Michigan on the 20th May 1893 under his original name of Gronkowski. They had a son Joseph P.Gronkowski born the 17th March 1896 in Detroit. In 1898 Adolph married Agnes Rose Engelmann in Wayne Michigan. They had the following children; Norbert Gronkowski, Edith Gronkowski, Esther MarieGronkowski (9th Nov.1901), Frederick Gronkowski, Anthony Gronkowski,  & James Edward Gronkowski, (9th July 1906)

My thanks for permission to use the photograph above, and help with the research behind the street name goes to Mike Grobbel who is Webmaster for:
"Through the Years - a Photographic History of Center Line, Michigan"
& some more information regarding
Gronow Street in Michigan.