This collection mainly features documents, with fewer photos. Currently, we have more information about the Jachwak family than the Travis family, even though the Travis family has been in the United States for about 300 years.

A quick overview of Jachwak Family:

The most common spelling for the family name is Jachwak. However, you’ll also find other spellings like Jackwak, Jachyak, Jachmach, and Jachvak in these documents.

These records about the Jachwak family date back to the late 1800s. We know that Jacob Jachwak was born on March 24, 1876, in Smolnik, Austria, which is now in southeastern Poland.

Jacob moved his family to the United States in the early 1900s. They eventually settled in a coal mining town in western Pennsylvania, where Jacob worked as a miner. Later, he moved his family to Detroit, undoubtedly to find work in the rapidly growing auto industry.

The Travis Family:

The Travis family is well-established in Amite County, Mississippi, located in southwest Mississippi. Family records show them there since the 1840s.

Even with this long history, the collection only has TWO photos of any Travis before 1943. One is a group photo taken in 1943, where we see a young Julia (Judy) with her mother (Anna), stepfather (Jack), and stepbrother (Donald). The only other photo is that of Joseph John Travis taken sometime in the late 1800s.

The reason for the lack of photos will become clearer as you look through this collection.