A news item involving Brian Kobilka was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 11 October 2012.
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Latest comment: 11 years ago3 comments3 people in discussion
Just because his ancestors came to America from Prussia does not mean he's in any way German. There was no Poland as a state then and there were Prussian, Austrian and Russian parts of former Poland. See Partitions of Poland for more info. Do you have a source for his being German? And where did the source of his Polish-immigrant family of bakers come? There is no reference any more in the article. Kowalmistrz (talk) 09:47, 11 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
Moreover, the family names "Kobilka" and "Medved" sound rather like Czech family names than Polish ones. In fact, "kobylka" means "little mare", "medvěd" is "bear" in the Czech language. Maybe there is some better information on the ancestry of the new Nobel prize winner somewhere. --Zbrnajsem (talk) 14:19, 12 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
FYI... If you lived in Prussia, you were "German" and not "Polish". Prussia was never settled by Poles. Prussia had been around for over 500 years. Before that, it was an area with native Prussian tribes and Germans arriving later. Today's Poland is actually 1/2 Prussian land with 80% of it being Prussian land since atleast 1600. After WWII, Prussia was annexed by Poland and Russia with Germans/Prussians forceably removed to Germany or Siberia. Königsberg was the capital, contained 95% German/Prussian Lutherans, but only Russians live there now. I'm not talking "ethnically" and the borders did shift alot as Kowalmistrz says above.
But, this is all moot. His family is from Austria... sort of. Here is his grandfather's (Felix J.) 1900 census page. Name is 2nd from the top. His parent's 1900 census record (they are at the bottom) say that Felix's parents arrived in the US in 1880. Felix's grandparents were born in Austria. All of 1890's census records were destroyed. 1880 census contains no "Kobilka".. it was taken in early April and the family most likely arrived after March 1880.
However, the Minnesota 1885 and 1895 census records (only can see if registered) say Felix is from Bohemia.
Bohemia was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, so saying Austria and Bohemia would both be correct. German was the dominant language with alot of ethnic Germans (until they were too forceably removed after WWII), so the "Kobilka" most likely spoke German. Bgwhite (talk) 09:52, 11 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
