Michael E. Byczek


Detailed Genealogy and Historical Information

The Michael E. Byczek lineage in Chicago, IL is one of the oldest in the city's history dating back to 1835 with his 3x-great-grandparents William and Julia Rooney.

He and his parents have conducted extensive historical and genealogical research to preserve these family chronicles since the early 1990s. As an attorney, Michael E. Byczek advocates verified and accurate genealogy through moral-based analysis and ethical historical research. The Byczek family has published their genealogy online for almost 30 years.

Technology, artificial intelligence (AI), DNA tests, and online access to digitalization projects have eliminated the entry barriers to genealogy. However, as described in detail below, AI models are being trained using fake genealogy with inaccurate results. AI is often unable to tell the difference between what is true and false, doesn't understand context, and can't differentiate between reliability or credibility of sources. It is well-known in law and technology that anonymity is used to feed AI models with fake information to manipulate the truth. Another tactic is to freeload off genealogical research to boost anonymous/fake user profiles and masquerade as a credible source.

Subject matter expertise is a key attribute of data science and AI. Michael E. Byczek, as a technology-oriented attorney, advocates that genealogy should be the exclusive realm of direct blood descendants who verify and validate the historical record for accuracy.

View a ten-generation interactive family tree or a tabular chart showing the exact lineage for each ancestor.

Extensive genealogical and historical biographical documentaries were compiled in PDF format. These biographies are a definitive source of accurate genealogy written by a direct blood descendant. An HTML-based platform is under development with some archives currently available.

Parents

Grandparents

1x-Great-Grandparents

2x-Great-Grandparents

3x-Great-Grandparents

4x-Great-Grandparents

5x-Great-Grandparents

6x-Great-Grandparents

Specialized Documentaries

Large-scale HTML-based Online Archives

Highlights of Genealogy Research

Michael E. Byczek is currently verifying documents through his 7x-great-grandparents. We all have:

2 parents
4 grandparents
8 great-grandparents
16 2x-great-grandparents
32 3x-great-grandparents
64 4x-great-grandparents
128 5x-great-grandparents
256 6x-great-grandparents
512 7x-great-grandparents

This represents a total of 1,023 individuals that span through 7x-great-grandparents. It further represents over 500 individual families and their children. Biographical documentaries have been completed for each grandparent through all 3x-great-grandparents with a majority of all 4x-great-grandparents. Numerous documentaries for 5x and 6x-great-grandparents have also been compiled.

Rooney Research in Chicago, IL and Counties Tipperary and Kilkenny in Ireland

Michael E. Byczek registered a federal copyright for a 362-page documentary of his 3x-great-grandparents William and Julia Rooney titled The Biographies of William Rooney and Julia Phelan - Old Settlers of Chicago (TXu002469190) in 2024. The 2nd Edition in 2025 consists of 493 pages with an additional 97 pages for Hugh Rooney and Alice Dwyer, whose biographies were included in the combined 1st Edition.

Michael M. Byczek registered an earlier copyright in 2012 (TX0007522662) titled "Michael M. Byczek Family Genealogy".

A 116-page collective documentary was compiled about William and Julia Rooney's daughter Kittie A. Rooney and her husband Edward H. Talbot (2x-great-grandparents).

Talbot Research in Chicago, IL; Taunton, MA; and County Tipperary in Ireland

Extensive research was conducted into Edward H. Talbot's (2x-great-grandfather) business ventures as a Chicago real estate promoter with a 104-page comprehensive documentary.

Historical analysis of records from Co. Tipperary in Ireland has revealed the most likely Talbot lineage going back to Michael E. Byczek's 6x-great-grandparents. Research is taking place as to the possibility that Thomas Talbot (3x-great-grandfather) was a direct descendant of royal and nobility bloodlines.

Flanagan Research in Chicago, IL; Port Huron, MI; and Counties Mayo and Westmeath of Ireland

Review of church records has identified Collinstown, Co. Westmeath in Ireland as the most likely origin of the Flanagan family prior to settling in Port Huron, MI (United States).

A 135-page collective documentary explains the Flanagan lineage in the United States and Ireland (Co. Mayo and Co. Westmeath).

Byczek Research in Chicago, IL and Subcarpathian Voivodeship of Poland

Martin Byczek and Maryanna Dudek (great-grandparents) were both from the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of Poland.

Bykowski Research in Chicago, IL and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Warmian-Masurian, and Greater Poland Voivodeships of Poland

Roman J. Bykowski (grandfather) was born in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland. His lineage also includes the Warmian-Masurian and Greater Poland Voivodeships of Poland. The lineage of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship dates back to a time when the area was part of Prussia.

Murzyn Research in Chicago, IL; Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland; and Alytus County of Lithuania

Frank Murzyn/Marynowski and Rose Sidor (great-grandparents) were both from the Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland. Their lineage extends to both Poland and Lithuania.

Military Research

Large-scale HTML-based archives were compiled for Martin J. Flanagan's (great-grandfather) service during World War I with the 23rd Engineers in France and Michael S. Byczek (grandfather) in World War II with the 81st Division Wildcats in the Pacific.

Chicago Research

A 242-page documentary was compiled about the Rooney, Talbot, and Flanagan families in Chicago through their entries in the City Directories (1839-1928). An HTML-based collection of real estate documents is also available.

Online Genealogy Trees

The decision to submit a DNA test in the autumn of 2024 was not for genealogy, but to intervene as an attorney.

His ancestry.com profile has the username "byczek" with a tree identified as Michael E. Byczek Lineage. The genealogy for this account is DNA-verified for as many generations back as genetic data was available for comparative analysis.

All genealogy and social media platforms pose a risk of cyber-bullying, intimidation, identity theft, fake images/documents (i.e. AI-generated), scams, "bait", social engineering, trolling, slander/libel, misinformation, and other inappropriate online user conduct. Numerous instances of inaccurate or deceptive genealogy were found. In the most egregious circumstances, steps were taken for immediate removal.

Substantial contributions were made to familysearch.org under the username "michaelbyczek". However, the Family Search platform is community-based where only one profile is allowed per deceased individual. This model allows anonymous third-parties to delete, edit, and modify accurate information (i.e. disruptive editing). Users are advised to carefully review information to verify and validate details, such as reviewing the timestamp activity log for usernames. At this time it was proposed that direct descendants assume shared responsibility for monitoring accuracy of these community-based genealogical profiles.

There is an antiquated view that the dead don't have rights. Legal advice about the digital afterlife and ways to protect the deceased are available at byczeklaw.com/digital_afterlife.html. A four minute video was uploaded to the Byczek Law YouTube Channel with username @byczeklaw.

The proposed direct-descendant administered genealogy framework is a good solution to protect the rights of deceased common ancestors.

Each deceased individual has a unique profile on Family Search with an assigned identifier, such as:

Michael S. Byczek (GRRG-GMV) and Marie C. Flanagan (G5C8-1C2)

Roman J. Bykowski (GRG3-BXS) and Antoinette A. Murzynowicz/Marynowski (GRRG-XBB)

As an accurate source of data, a Pedigree Resource File (GEDCOM format) was uploaded to Family Search titled "Michael E. Byczek Lineage" (username of michaelbyczek) to show an outline of his direct-blood ancestors. This information cannot be modified by other users, but the content is displayed in accordance with Family Search parameters (i.e. not all details are publicly visible). The tree can be accessed by searching for the Submission ID: 2:2:2:MMKK-J2F under the option for user-submitted genealogies.

Grave Memorials

The online platform findagrave.com is dedicated to burial memorials with a model that is similar to Family Search. Only one memorial is allowed per deceased individual. However, the platform grants only one user with administrative control. As a result, this model is also susceptible to anonymous third-parties (i.e. cyber-squatting). Extensive efforts were taken to create over 100 memorials and gain family administration of nearly two dozen that were under third-party control.

His Find a Grave profile provides a link to all memorials under his administration.

Military Memorials

The fold3.com platform is dedicated to military records with memorials for deceased veterans. Profiles were created for Michael S. Byczek (Grandfather - World War II) and Martin J. Flanagan (Great-grandfather - World War I).

Observations

Michael E. Byczek, as an attorney, is who he says he is and means what he says he means. He is fiercely loyal to the direct bloodline (past, present, and future) and fully understands the intersection of law and technology as it relates to genealogy. It took an attorney with a professional background in computer engineering to find and implement a solution.

The Byczek family proudly honor their ancestral legacy through accurate and verified historical chronicles. Where uncertainty exists, such conclusions are based on balance of probabilities, whether it is more likely than not, and highly plausible to be true. The narratives are also evaluated with logic, reasonableness, and common sense in the context of reliable historical analysis.

Genealogy platforms have become AI-driven DNA-based spider webs that interweave content, true and fake, from any source into a centralized repository that links all direct descendants of a common ancestor without consent or knowledge. These sites have limited data science functionality. The ancestry.com DNA test generated about 10,000 genetic cousins. It was virtually impossible to determine relationships due to lack of meaningful information to make an informed assessment, such as degree of kinship. An example of unreliable DNA test results is a distant Swedish origin in the lineage. Michael E. Byczek does not recognize the accuracy of this conclusion without more information. The Swedish "deluge" of the 17th century into Poland was a painful historical event to the Polish identity. There is a possible bias in the AI-driven analysis that may mistakenly identify those of Polish descent as having trace amounts of Swedish DNA.

A series of facts and events must reconcile to be true. Mistaken identity and coincidences are common in genealogy. Just because records may exist with the same or similar names, does not mean these families are the same people. A perfect example is Adalbert Byczek and Catherine Czarny (2x-great-grandparents) from Osobnica in southeastern Poland near Jaslo. There were two families living in the same village, with the same names, including maiden, that were both married at the same church one year apart. Their children were born in Osobnica and members of both families later settled in Chicago. At first glance, documents from both Osobnica and Chicago would appear to refer to a single family. Acute attention to detail revealed that these were, in fact, two different families without any known blood relationship.

Michael E. Byczek and his parents did not regularly participate on the user-uploaded side of genealogy websites prior to the autumn of 2024. They did their own research posted to personal websites under their complete administrative control, and even declined to undergo DNA testing as it was not a suitable substitute for analysis of actual records. Suspicious activity was then detected that raised a concern such websites needed to be thoroughly reviewed.

It was shocking to discover the number of third parties and relatives who uploaded false genealogy. At the same time, the greatest accomplishments of particular ancestors were ignored. There are certain vital facts and events in a person's life that any such omission is an instant red flag. Likewise, there are documents that are so easy to find (transcription and/or digitized) that an absence would appear intentional. For instance, obituaries are one of the most important, easy to find, and go-to sources for genealogy. A large percentage of false claims were instantly refuted simply with obituaries. The Flanagan, Talbot, and Rooney lineages were particularly hard hit in ways that would never withstand scrutiny when compared against easy-to-find actual records.

Direct blood descendants must always take precedence over third parties without exception. Online genealogy can be viewed as the difference between authorized/official and unauthorized/unofficial biographies. Furthermore, just because a biography is authorized (direct blood) does not mean it's accurate. Emphasis must be placed on the risks of AI, which is often unable to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Genealogy sources are being used to train AI models and irreversible damage could take root. A legal perspective was important to protect family history. It would have been a breach of ethical responsibility for an attorney to ignore defamation against the deceased. Genealogy is about family, not an opportunity to rewrite history or test the limits of online free speech with pure fiction.

The only genealogy that is approved by Michael E. Byczek and his parents is the content on their own personal family websites, and what is verified to have originated from them on user-uploaded platforms. His father is Michael M. Byczek ("Mick"), mother is Betty A. (Bykowski) Byczek, and sister is Katherine S. Byczek ("Katie"). Messages may be sent to michael@byczek.pro for genealogy.

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