Franciszka (Kudlicka) Raczkiewicz Krasnicka Died

One of the exciting things that is happening as I share family history is that some of it is “unfolding” right now. Some of it I have learned in the past year and a half but there are still many unanswered questions. One question was recently partially answered--whatever happened to my grandpa’s oldest brother Jan who was the first of the siblings to come to Grand Rapids, Michigan? I looked through every resource I knew of and as I learned of new resources I checked them also. I knew Jan and his wife were in Grand Rapids as late as 1921 but then there is no trace of him or his wife. There were several false leads such as a Jan Raczkiewicz in Detroit, Michigan but they all fell through. I enlisted the help of several Polish genealogy Facebook groups and even though some volunteers really looked, they couldn’t help. One of them even found my Facebook page and blog and referred me to it! On April 23, there was a breakthrough! I received an email from Andrzej Dubieil (my newfound 2x cousin.) He had just met with Mieczysław Raczkiewicz (father of Tomasz & Jacek Raczkiewicz) and had found out that Jan had returned to Poland. He first lived in Gniezno and later lived in Lublin where he had died. I asked about when he died and if his wife had returned with him. I decided to go back through the previous leads that I had and found that I had a reference to a possible death record of his wife. I held on to it because the parents’ listed were right but when she died she had a new last name and it was in Lublin, Poland which at the time did not make sense. I asked on April 24 for this death record to be translated and found out that Frances HAD been married to my Grandpa’s brother. Andrzej was able to contact the cemetery he thought Jan would be buried in and there WAS a Jan Raczkiewicz from the right time frame. Unfortunately, the parents and wife listed did not fit. Hopefully, his death information will be found. ---------------------------------------------- This happened in Lublin on the 29th of April 1945 at 13:00 (1:00 p.m.). Adults Zofia Wierzchowska and Anna Michałowska appeared, hospital attendants of Lublin, and stated that yesterday at 2:00 a.m. died in Lublin Franciszka Kraśnicka, first marriage Raczkiewicz, age 58, wife of an official/clerk of Lublin, coming from Tomaszów Lubelski, daughter of Konstanty and Maria nee Kudlicka, the married couple Kudlicki, leaving behind a husband, Piotr Kraśnicki. ********** Cemetery: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cmentarze_przy_ul._Lipowej_w_Lublinie Photo: kuba13 / fotopolska.eu, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons