Help Reading Census Handwriting / Script

Question

I'm looking for help to read just one part.  Something was added to birth location for the Shapiro family after "Russia" and I'm not able to make it out.  

"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MVVK-7FK : accessed 22 April 2018), Jacob Shapiro, Wilmington Ward 6, New Castle, Delaware, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 39, sheet 5B, family 121, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 147; FHL microfilm 1,374,160.

 

Answer 1

It looks like the first letter is a P and there is a dot over an i and the last letter could be an h. So, my guess is that the word is Polish.

Comments

I agree with Frank "Polish"

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I think you're quite right, thank you!

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I'm not clear why it says Polish. Does it mean that they spoke polish or did it have some other meaning?

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No, it's not "iron curtain" -- that concept didn't exist until after the Second World War, and the 1910 census is before the First World War.

In 1910, there was no such country as Poland. Parts of the modern country were ruled by Germany, parts by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and parts by Russia. The census indicates that the Shapiro family was from that last area.

Answer 2

Many of the 1910 census records say Russia-Lithuania or Russia- Pol....  often it meant that the people were from Russia in the area that was formerly Lithuania or Poland.  See the history of Poland timeline here[[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17754512]]