Getting to the Atlantic Ports
Overland train routes from Poland to the departure ports on the Atlantic (click map for larger view)
The highlighted routes are possible routes chosen by our ancestors. This is purely speculation on my part, but seems plausible.
The yellow route begins in West Prussia where the Zielinski's and Lewandowski's originated from. The Zielinski's would have followed this route across the continent all the way to Hamburg for their departure. The Lewandowski's sailed from Antwerp and would have changed to the blue route in Berlin.
The Jankowski's, after first making their way from Charlub to Schroda (32 km away), would have taken the orange and yellow routes to Berlin. From there, all except Albert would have taken the red route to Bremen/Bremerhaven. Albert sailed out of Antwerp, so would have taken the blue route from Berlin.
The Brodzinski's would have taken the green route from Skrwilno, the yellow route to Berlin, then changed to the red route for those who sailed out of Bremen/Bremerhaven, or the yellow route for those who sailed out of Hamburg.
We'll never know for sure which route they followed. Regardless, it would be a long, grueling journey. The cheapest trains were slow and made many stops along the way. It was not unusual for the trip to take 24 hours. Those departing from Antwerp would have had an even longer journey. Add to that the certain feelings of melancholy associated with leaving behind their homeland and the unknown lying ahead. And this was just the beginning of a very long journey!