the name

The name "Sofko" is not commonly found in America. Even so, among the Sofkos in America are people who have claimed a number of different ancestries, including: Polish, German, Slovak, Czechoslovakian, and Russian.

The name has very old roots, literally dating back to the time of Babylon. Then, its base, "Sauk", meant grey, as in the shade of grey that results from aging. Later, it came to have a meaning closer to "old". By the time the Hebrews were using the base, it had incorporated the notions of fondness and respect, as in an elder, a grandfather, or one with wisdom gained from years of experience. To this day, Sauka is a given name in Arab cultures.

As Eastern Europeans started to use the name as a surname, they introduced the "f/soft-v" sound and alternatively kept the "a" at the end or introduced an "o", as in our case. In the languages of Eastern Eurrope, the name is written primarily as Sawko as the letter "a" is always a soft "a", as in "ah", and "w" is pronounced essentially like an English "v". One does find some Sawkos in America, but, more often, the immigrants Anglicized the name to either Sofko or Safko.

this branch

Between 1912 and 1914, the family matriarch and her six adult children emigrated from farms around what is today Karvys, Lithuania, not far from that nation's capital, Vilnius. The eldest son, Adam, came first in the fall of 1912. He was followed in the spring of 1913 by his sister, brother-in-law, and niece: Sophia, Ossip, and Wladislawa Bernatowicz, respectively. Adam's wife, Bronislawa, and his son, Jan, followed that fall. The rest of the family came in June 1914. Rosalia, already a bit beyond 60 years of age, was accompanied by two unmarried sons: Boleslaw and Witold. Her son and daughter-in-law, Waclaw and Anna, came with their young children named Mieczyslaw and Alfons, the latter being just three months of age. Rosalia's daughter, Helena, came, too, with her husband, Wincenty Jusewicz, and their young child, Melanie.

For many years, the family all worked in the coal mines to the north and east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Later, half of the family moved to northeastern Pennsylvania, where they also mined coal, at least initially. While many descendents of the original immigrants still reside in the Pittsburgh area, there are no descendents of the original immigrants left in northeastern Pennsylvania. New York, California, Florida and Oregon are among the states that the immigrants' descendents now call home.

the research

The project associated with this page has had as its goal to put the original family of immigrants back together and, in the course of doing so, document from where they came and what became of them and their families after immigrating to America. The genealogical work has been going on for a little more than two years as of this writing (February, 2011) and a lot has been accomplished. There are, however, still gaps that need filling.

If you recognize the family above, any information you have would be welcomed. If you feel that you may belong to the family described above, please feel free to write. Direct information and inquiries via e-mail to research <at> sofko.name (compose a proper e-mail address). Thank you for reading through this page.