Katarzyna Kaszucka & Jan Raczkiewicz Married Today in 1885

On November 15 (Gregorian calendar) or November 3 (Julian calendar) 1885, Katarzyna Kaszucka and Jan Raczkiewicz were wed in Tomaszow. Katarzyna was born in the town of Tomaszow while Jan was born in the nearby rural, agricultural area of Sabaudia. While the wedding record indicates Katarzyna’s age as 16 when she married 21 year old Jan Raczkiewicz, she was actually only 14 and a half years old when you look at her birth record. Parents of the bride were Jozef Kaszucki and Paulina nee Kurkiewicz. Her father was a burgher in the town of Tomaszow Lubelski at this point so must have had more money and standing in the community. They worked as furriers. Parents of the groom were Antoni Raczkiewicz and Marianna nee Grabek. Jan’s parents had been born and raised as peasants in Majdan Gorny and were peasants in Sabaudia at this time. His family had been peasant farmers in Majdan Gorney for at least four generations back that I could trace to the 1750s. Majdan Gorney is a small village about four miles east of Tomaszow and Sabaudia is an even smaller village about five miles north of Tomaszow. Witnesses were her father Jozef Kaszucki, 50, a burgher in the town of Tomaszow and Jan Skurcz, 50, a farmer in the village of Sabaudia. They must have then lived in Sabaudia because their nine children were born there--including my grandfather, Antoni Raczkiewicz.