Jan Raczkiewicz & Katarzyna nee Kaszucka Wed November 5

One of the first translations that I received when I started learning family history was the marriage record of Jan Raczkiewicz and Katarzyna nee Kaszucka (my great grandparents.) On November 15 (Gregorian calendar) or November 3 (Julian calendar) 1885, Katarzyna Kaszucka and Jan Raczkiewicz were wed in Tomaszow. 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. Katarzyna was born in the town of Tomaszów Lubelski. Parents of the bride were Jozef Kaszucki and Paulina nee Kurkiewicz. Her father was a burgher in the town of Tomaszow at this point so must have had some standing within the community. They worked as furriers. Jan was born in the nearby rural, agricultural area of Sabaudia. 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 their family was there for at least four generations back to the 1750s. They had moved and were peasants in Sabaudia at this time. 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 for the wedding were Katarzyna’s father Jozef Kaszucki, 50, a burgher in the town of Tomaszow and Jan Skurcz, 50, a farmer in the village of Sabaudia. Jan and Katarzyna lived in Sabaudia and their nine children were born there -- including my grandfather, Antoni Raczkiewicz -- along with Jan, Jozef, Stanislawa, Piotr, Mary, Paulina, Franciszek and Boleslaw.