Thursday, October 15, 2020

Celebrate Polish American Heritage Month by "Liking" Poland Related Sites on Facebook

 

File:Polish American flag.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

Discovering many Polish genealogy pages on Facebook, I started “liking” many of them and began to read.  By January, 2020, I reached out to Polish Genius - polish genealogy group 

Polish Genius - polish genealogy group. The woman who is the administrator for the Page  found that

Grandpa’s brother Jozef Raczkiewicz was baptized in 1891 in Tomaszów Lubelski and the parents

Jan Raczkiewicz and Katarzyna Kaszucka.  Of course, I can’t read Record #59:

https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/.../full/fP1MCdwILeZhBKTtX1xMkA so that was a little disappointing. 

 

On Feb. 29, 2020, I reached out to the Facebook page “Polish Genealogy” to try to find out

more about my Polish Ancestors.  At that point, I  mainly used Ancestry, Family Search and I sent

away for Antoni’s alien registration information from the National Archives.  I tried Genteeka but didn’t

know what I was doing and found some records of Raczkiewicz but couldn’t figure out if the people

were related (Kazimer, Bruno, Frances, all of Lublin--which was on one document. I asked them for

help with Antoni Raczkiewicz.  I knew from various records that: 

  • He was born in 1893, 1895, or 1896.  

  • I had found the location of him and some other relatives as Tomaszów Lubelski. 

  •  I knew his father was Jan Raczkiewicz from Zabaldy, Lublin Poland but couldn’t it on a map.  

  • I knew his 1rst wife was Klementyna Golboska;

  • They married  20 June 1916, in Grand Rapids, MI, 3.5 years after immigration.  

  • I knew she had died Apr 1918 after childbirth and their daughter Bronislawa died Jul 1918. 

  • I knew that he married Apolonia Skrobat (my grandmother), 6 Sept. 1920, in Grand Rapids.

 

Amazingly, I had found two other siblings of Antoni that had come to Michigan from Poland: 

  • John/Jan Raczkiewicz Jr., b. 21 June 1899, Sabaudia, Lublin, Poland.

  • My mother was unaware of this uncle.

  • Marion Raczkiewicz, 16 Dec 1902, Tomasov, Lublin, Poland, d. 30 May 1984, Muskegon, Michigan.

  • My mother remembers visiting her and a daughter near her age in Muskegon one time.

 

People on the Page helped and I found out that: 

  • Antoni’s parents Katarzyna and Jan married in 1885. 

  •  Katarzyna was born in 1871.  

  • My grandpa had a sister Pauline born in 1901.  

  • Katarzyna’s parents were Jozef Kaszucki and Marianna nee Grabek.  

  • Katarzyna’s last name was Kaszucka and her father’s last name was Kaszucki.  

I appreciated all the information but couldn’t read the records.  Luckily someone recommended the Facebook page Genealogical Translations, saying the demand for Russian translation is very high but there are lots of skilled people there who could help. I want to express my appreciation for the translators in that group.  My Grandma translated Polish and Russian for lots of people and now there are people translating these records for me.  I am sharing stories with my mother and it is bringing her lots of memories--and some fun surprises. 

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