The Old Country

Krol is a Polish surname meaning “king,” used for someone with a superior manner, for a leader in a community, or a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked in a royal household. A secondary, less often meaning for the surname comes from the Polish word for rabbit (“krolik”).

Unfortunately, there is little currently known which meaning this family corresponds; whether due to missing or destroyed records, or missing information on the researcher's part, there is little concrete knowledge of the Krols within Poland, barring conjecture (of which pre-Stanley knowledge is largely based on as-is).

At least, it is known the family line begins with Jacob Krol, born around 1865 in Poland, who married Sophie Dolba. They had 7 children, 3 of whom who emigrated to Canada, 1 of whom emigrated to the United States, with the primary line through Stanislaw "Stanley" Krol. Stanley was born in 1902 in Bodaczów, Poland. He married Franciszka "Francis" Kowalski (potentially Kowala/Kawala + another Polish diminutive suffix) and had one child in Bodaczów before traveling to Liverpool, England and boarding the RMS Regina of the White Star Line on 24 June 1926. Destined for Quebec, Canada, it took only a few days to arrive, landing at port on 3 July 1926.

Stanley soon moved into Ontario, settling in Windsor (potentially to help care for an older sister-in-law following the death of an older brother Joseph Krol), as his first son, Boleslaw "Robert" James Krol, was born in Bodaczów, Poland on 20 November 1926.

His wife and son would join him in Windsor, Ontario, leaving from Southhampton, England on the RMS Ausonia and arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 4 March 1928. On 3 December 1928, the couple would have their second child, Eugene Stanley Krol in Windsor, Ontario.

Stanley worked as a finisher 1940, Chrysler employee from around 1945-1949, then as a factory working around 1953, then as a stockman around 1962. Stanley would die 12 May 1962 from prolonged illness.