Anthony Raczkiewicz marries his first wife June 20 1916

Around four years after Anthony Raczkiewicz (my grandfather) arrived in the U.S., 1912, he married his first wife Klementyna Golabiewska in Grand Rapids, MI (June 20, 1916.) Anthony’s brother Joseph was one of the witnesses. The other was Catherine Nadwornik (spelling?), who was on the ship with Klementyna when she came to the US and was also from the same area in Poland. ***** Klementyna had family in Bay City, Michigan and the priest in Grand Rapids that married her and Anthony, had been in Bay City before coming to Grand Rapids. Pastor Joseph Kasminski who performed the wedding, had been an assistant priest at St. Stanislaus in Bay City for four and a half years after his ordination. On February 1, 1914 he became the pastor at Sacred Heart in Grand Rapids, which had been started in 1903 after many Polish people on the Westside wanted another church besides St. Adalbert that was closer to their homes. Klementyna was born November 23, 1897 in Tomaszów Lubelski. Her parents were Wojciech Golebiowski, 35, a blacksmith and Katarzyna (nee Roczniak), 37. The witnesses were Ludwik Skiginski, 45 and Konstanty Kudlicki, 34 and her Godparents were Ludwik Skiginski and Antonina Roczniak. (An interesting side note is the Roczniak name--I have connected with Joan Kessler and Susan VandenBerg. They are related to Andrzej Dubiel on his Dubiel side when a great great aunt of his married a Roczniak and moved to Michigan.) ***** As you know from previous posts, Anthony and Klementyna were married for less than two years when she passed away on April 4, 1918 from complications of childbirth. Their daughter Bronislawa, who was born in Bay City three days earlier, was taken to D.A. Blodgett Children’s Home for medical care. She passed away there in July of a congenital heart problem. ------------------------------------- There are various spellings of her name (Klementyna, Klementona) (Golebiowska, Geleheski, Golbaska) and Antoni went by Anthony by this time. On the marriage record, Clementena’s father is listed as Albert Golbaska and her mother is listed as unknown (on her immigration record her father is listed as Wojciech Golebiowska.)