Follow
I am researching the history of the Gerlitz family in Poland, in Płock gubernia (province) I discovered that the name has also been spelled Gerlic and Garlitz when written in latin letters. My branch of the family spelled their name as Garlitz after they emigrated to Boston in 1904.
There was a story in our family that the Garlitz name started when an ancestor moved from Germany to Poland. The border guards asked him what his name was, and he didn't understand. He thought they asked him "Where are you from", and he answered Gorlitz.
The origins of the family in the Plock area appears to been Chaim Wolf Eliasz Gerlitz, who was born in 1784 , moved to Biezun (in Płock gubernia) Poland around 1814, and died in 1844 in Biezun Apparently, he first used Gerlitz as a surname on his son Israel Icick's birth record in 1822. Chaim Wolf's brother Zusha (born around 1797) also used the surname, and the families of both brothers continued to use Gerlitz (or Gerlic or Garlitz) as a surname. The surname suggests that the family first came from Gorlitz in Germany. The father of Chaim Wolf and Zusha was Israel Elijah (Yisroel Eliyahu) and before 1822 Chaim Wolf signed records with his patronymic name Eliasz (or the variant forms Eliasze and Eliaszowicz).
If anyone has any information about the history of the Gerlitz/Garlitz/Gerlic families, or thinks their ancestors may be connected to Chaim Wolf, Zusha, or Israel Elijah please feel free to join this project.