Surname PERNAL

I recently had some old family photo's passed down to me, and this has gotten me iterested in tracing my Polish roots on my fathers side.

I checked 1998 census records, and it appears there are less than 500 Pernal's in Poland, so it appears my surname is not a common one.

Most information I have is verbal from family members through the years. Supposedly my paternal grandparents came from the Krakow area (at the time of their emmigration from Poland, it was the region Galicia). Any relatives I had here in the states, who would know any of our history in Poland, are long deceased, so I'm pretty much on my own trying to track down family history that goes back to the families days in Poland before their immigration.

My paternal grandfather was Floryan Martin Pernal. He was born 02 May, 1894. Records appear to indicate birthplace of Kraków, Lodzkie, Poland.

According to Ellis Island immigration records, his last residence in Poland was Kopytowka. He came to the United States on 20 August, 1913. From there, he moved to and lived in Chicago until his death in 1964.

Only info I have on him is his fathers name: Martin Pernal. I do not have his mothers name.

My paternal grandmother, Marya (wife of Floryan Pernal) immigrated in 1914. Her surname (maiden name) was Sendor. Ellis Island records appear to say Przylasek as her last residence in Poland. She listed her fathers name as Jan Sendor from Przylasek also. She had an uncle in the Chicago area, so that was how she ended up in Chicago. I know she had a brother Andrew/Andrzej Sendor. He was a member of the Polish Army and died young (possibly at Katyn according to some verbal history). I have a few old photo's of him in his army uniform. Unfortunately, no dates were provided on the photo.

I had an email which unfortunately I lost that had some brief history from a contact I had years ago from a Canadian Pernal. I'm probably not spelling this correctly, but he mentioned that there was, or used to be, a village in southern Poland's mountain region that went by the name "pernakowa", that is somehow associated with the family name Pernal. I tried tracking this down on the web, but had no luck.

A couple years ago, I received an email from Marek Pernal, whom either at the time, or previously, was the Polish Ambassador to the Czech Republic. He had only asked some basic info, which I responded to, but I never heard back from him. But, at least I know there is someone in Poland who has the same name as myself!

So, to make a long story short, I'm trying to find out any info possible on the family surname Pernal, and Sendor, if any one knows.

Thank you.