New Found Relative: Patrice (Szymanski) Shay

Kazmierez Szymanski is my third cousin three times removed. He was born 19 February 1874 in Tomaszow Lubelskie. He married 22 year old Antonina Petryna in Tomaszow in 1900 when he was 26 years old. Their first four children were born in Poland. Their next three children were born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I learned about him from a DNA match Patrice (Szymanski) Shay. After reaching out to her in May, a DNA match Patrice (Szymanski) Shay shared information about other DNA matches. She had a pretty extensive tree in Ancestry so I was pretty sure where we were connected. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As I am locating distant relatives, it is kind of interesting to think of all the people that I was probably near growing up in Grand Rapids that had some kinship to me of which I was unaware. Whenever I leave GR and come back, I have this vague feeling that “these are my people” since so many look vaguely familiar. Patrice told me that she often was told she was related to many people that she met and said, I always took remarks like that from my dad with a grain of salt because we were taught to all every older person we ever knew as "uncle" or "Aunt" so an so and I never really knew who was family and who wasn't until I started genealogy research.” Patrice’s father Andrew Szymanski was born in Grand Rapids 2 November, 1915. That year Anthony lived on Winter NW and was a polisher. Lukasz and Justyna Kiszczynski are Patrice’s fourth great grandparents on her father's side. They are my fifth great grandparents on my mother’s side. Their daughter Marianna Kiszczynska (1787-1846) is my fourth great grandmother and their son relative Jakob' Kiszczynski’s (1793-1840) is her third great grandmother. Both her grandfather Kazmierez Szymanski and my grandfather Antoni Raczkiewicz came to Grand Rapids, Michigan in roughly the same time period. Her Grandfather is 20+ years older than mine.