Apolonia Travels From Pennsylvania to Michigan and Loses Her Citizenship

While their home was of modest value, Anthony and Pauline Raczkiewicz (my grandparents) took pride in the contributions they made in the development and continuation of their church and in helping family and friends. Pauline helped others in the Polish American community to get needed benefits, arrange emigration from Poland and solve problems of daily living for people of little means and a language barrier. She lent money, wrote letters, read documents for people and even went to court with them. At least once, she needed to go to court for her own interests. Pauline’s trip to court for herself was to regain her US citizenship that she lost without ever leaving the United States. ***** Pauline was born a United States citizen. “Apolonia“ was born on April 23, 1904, in Oil City, Pennsylvania, to Anna Agnes Barsch, age 21, and Walter Eugene Skrobat, age 30. Her parents had both been born in Poland but she was born after they came to the United States. Appallonia (spelling on the document) was baptized at the Church of Saint Joseph, 35 Pearl Avenue, Oil City, PA on April 24, 1902 after being born the previous day. Her sponsors were John Barzzcz and Anna Szczepanik. John was probably related to her mother. ***** Pauline never traveled outside of the United States and in fact the farthest trip she made was from Pennsylvania to Michigan. She traveled when she was a young woman from Oil City to Grand Rapids with a friend and never went back home. Pauline met and married Anthony Raczkiewicz while on the visit. The short version of the story is that her mother was difficult to get along with and expected her to take care of the family’s many children. I recently learned that Pauline’s parents had 13 children. At least five of them have never been heard of by a current relative that lives in Oil City so they likely didn’t live past childhood. Pauline’s mother was still having children with her sister Jane being born on June 3, 1922, in Oil City, Pennsylvania, while Pauline was already married and had one child. Knowing more about this trip to Grand Rapids and how Pauline and Anthony met would also make for a good story. ***** So how could a woman born in the United States and who never left the United States lose her citizenship? The answer lies in a little known law. American women who married between 1907 and 1922 lost their American citizenship if they married an “alien” even without leaving the United States. This was because of the Act of March 2, 1907. Women became the citizens of the country of their husband – obviously this was during a time when women did not have a lot of rights. Since Anthony was an “alien” when he and Pauline married in 1920, she lost her citizenship due to the then current law which didn’t change for many years. Anthony began the process of applying for citizenship October 7, 1921 and was at the stage of “First Papers.” (There is no evidence that he ever completed the process. When I requested his naturalization paperwork from the National Archives, the only item I received was his registration as an “alien” in September, 1940.) ***** An attempt was made to give American women who married foreigners back their rights. The Cable Act of September 22, 1922 was repealed so anyone married after that point would not lose their American citizenship by giving women equal citizenship and nationality rights. Unfortunately, this didn’t solve the issue for women previously married like Pauline. Another revision in 1931 corrected more problems. The Act of June 25, 1936 allowed widowed or divorced women to repatriate -- all others still had to go through the entire naturalization process if they wanted to regain their citizenship. Again, this version did not help Pauline since she was married to her husband and he was still alive. Finally, the Act of July 2, 1940 changed things again so that all women who had lost citizenship by marriage could repatriate regardless of their marital status. An Oath of Allegiance was all that was required with no need for a no declaration of intention. ***** On March 30, 1943, Pauline took the “Oath of Allegiance to the United States under the Act of June 25, 1936, as Amended and Form of Such Oath” in the Western District of Michigan (Southern Division) Court of the US in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At the time Pauline and her husband still lived at 501 Milwaukee NW and Pauline was a 40 year old housewife who had not been a citizen for the previous 23 years. (As those of you who knew my Grandma’s tendency to change her age, I had to calculate her age several times before I could make this statement!) ***** Because Pauline had married in 1920, she lost her citizenship. Many women were unaware of this situation and there is no way to know how or when my Grandmother figured it out. They did receive an English and Polish newspaper regularly and participated in activities at the social halls for Polish Americans. It wasn’t until 1940 when the laws had changed that she would have been able to fix it. This helps to solve the mystery of why among the small amount of family records I found, that there was an Oath of Allegiance to the United States signed by my U.S, grandmother. It didn’t make sense to me why she needed to take an oath when I found it. This was one of the early stories that really hooked me into learning more about my family history. ***** Information about Oath of Allegiance (Act of June25, 1936): Act of July 2, 1940 provided that all women who had lost citizenship by marriage could repatriate regardless of their marital status. ● They only had to take an Oath of Allegiance--no declaration of intention was required. https://www.archives.gov/files/calendar/genealogy-fair/2014/handouts/session-3-presentation-handout-hacker.pdf

Katarzyna Grabek died 28 March 1853

Katarzyna (Krawczyk) Grabek (my 3x great grandmother) died 28 March 1853 at around 50 years old. The cause of death is not given. There was The Great Famine in Galicia from 1853 to 1855. The witnesses were Jakob Raczkiewicz, 29 and Josef Sidor, 36. Katarzyna was born in Laszczowka but had lived in Majdan Gorny for the previous 31 years after she married her husband Lukasz Grabek. They had six children at least and three of them died young. Their youngest was ten years old when Katarzyna died but it doesn’t appear her husband remarried. Her parents were Antoni and Dorota Krawczyk. The image is of a funeral in Galicia in 1882.

Antoni Dominik Died as a Beggar

A beggar died at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night in the village of Majdan Górny on March 29, 1854. His name was Antoni Dominik (my 3rd great uncle.) He died at the young age of 40 in the village in which he was born. No cause of death is given in the record. Going on at the time in 1854 there was cholera in Galicia and famine from 1853-1855 in Galicia -- the Great Famine. Antoni was a widower. His wife Barbara died 12 years early. When he married at age 24 he worked as a peasant but for some reason was not able to work in that capacity when he died at age 40 and was listed as a beggar (zebrak.) “Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public places such as transport routes, urban parks, and markets. Besides money, they may also ask for food, drink, cigarettes or other small items.” Four days after he died, the informants, Marcin Karwan ,33 and Jakub Ziamek, 47, both peasant farmers from Majdan Górny, went to Tomaszow Lubelski on Wednesday and registered the death at 8 o’clock in the morning. His parents were Tomasz and Regina Dominik, who were deceased. They had been peasant farmers in Majdan Górny. One of his sisters –Rozalia Dominik– died when she was 12 in an accident involving earth on a farm. His sister Magdalena Stonik who also lived in Majdan Gorny was widowed the same year that Antoni died. She worked as a day laborer and died the following year. His sister Anna Raczkiewicz (my 3x great grandmother) was living in Sabaudia with her husband Michal and had 11 children, four who died young.

Doroata Kozrya Krawczyk Died & Antoni Krawzyk & Barbara nee Probola marry

Doroata (Kozrya) Krawczyk (my 4x great grandmother) died 22 March 1824. She was 45 years old. The death was reported by Antoni Krawczyk, 42, her husband and Jozef Litwin, 60, a neighbor in Laszczowka where they lived. Her death information was in the record for her husband's remarriage two months later to Barbara Probola. A year ago I was speculating the remarriage was likely because there were young children in his home even though his oldest daughter Katarzyna (my 3x great grandmother) was married November 1823, four months before her mother died. It turns out the couple had six children besides my 3x great grandmother. Two died young but the other four – ages 6 to 13 were still at home when their mother died and their father remarried. Antoni and Barbara then had four additional children.

Antoni Jozef Kurkiewicz Died March 20 1852

The record of the death of Antoni Jozef Kurkiewicz (my 3x great grandfather) is interesting to me for several reasons. He is only the 2nd person with a middle name that I had found by that point. Also, his son Jozef (my 2x great grandfather) signed the record and there are very few records signed by anyone other than the priest. Also, when I originally received this record, I found out his parents' names so it helped me work one more generation back in that line. There are 16 people in this generation and I have found parents for eight of them. Antoni Jozef Kurkiewicz died March 20 1852 at 7:00 in the morning in Tomaszów Lubelski. The cause of death is not given. A cholera outbreak was going on in Poland at the time. He was 67 years old and his wife Marianna (nee Kiszczynska) had died six years earlier. He worked as a shoemaker. Antoni and Marianna had 12 children, at least seven of which died in childhood. When Antoni died, three of his children were still alive – Jozef, Katarzyna Roczniak, and possibly Marianna Kamienska. He was the son of Marcin Kurkiewicz and Franciszka nee Rzeczycki. His parents were from Mosciska but they died in Tomaszów Lubelski and were “ławników" (jurors) of the town of Tomaszow. Antoni Jozef’s son Jozef, age 37 and his son-in-law Jan Kaminski, age 23, both farmers from Tomaszów Lubelskie. went two days later to report the death.

Walenty Grabek Died March 19 1812

Walenty Grabek (my 4th great grandfather) died on 19 March 1812 at 6:00 in the evening. He was only 44 years old. He died in Górno in house number 11. He was married but his wife's name is not listed in the death record. But one of the witnesses -- Marcin Walewender -- was her brother. The other witness was Jan Prsybysz. They were both his neighbors. I have only found two children for him and his wife Teresa nee Walawender -- Lukasz (my 3rd great grandfather) and Zofia. Łukasz married Katarzyna Krawczyk and moved to Majdan Górny. Zofia married Michał Kozyra and also moved to Majdan Górny. ***** Eleven months after his death, his widowed wife Teresa re-married (to Grzegorz Lebiedowski.) Her husband’s death is listed in this marriage record except he is called Jozef -- not Walenty -- and the death is reported as January 1811 --not March 1812. Someone made an error in this record because later records when his children get married are clear that his name was Walenty. Teresa (my 3rd great-grandmother) and her second husband Gregorz Lebediowski had one child Agnieszka. Agniezka married Jan Steciuk in Grodek.

Kazimierz Krawczyk died March 16, 1823

Kazimierz Krawczyk (my 5th great grandfather) was a 75 year old widower when he died. He died March 16, 1823 at 1:00 in the morning. He was born around the year 1748. His two sons, Wojciech and Bartłomiej, 30, went to report the death in Tomaszow Lubelski. They were both peasants. Kazimierz lived with his son Wojciech and Wojciech’s wife Rozalia when he died in their house #10 in Łaszczówka. Kazmierz probably moved in with them some time after 1814 when his wife Rozalia (my 5x great grandmother) died in house #5, in the same village. Both his wife and his daughter-in-law were named Rozalia. Łaszczówka is a village about one mile east of Tomaszów Lubelski. It has about 1,000 residents. Family members lived there for several generations of Krawczyks. Kazimierz and his wife Rozalia had at least four children: Bartlomiej, Antoni, Lukasz and Wojciech. Antoni is my 4x great grandfather. Image credit: http://niezalezna.pl/94988-samuel-laszcz-i-modna-fryzura-szlachty

Klementyna Gołębiowska (Grandpa’s first wife) Was Born 13 March 1896

Guess who was born on the same day as her husband -- only two years later? Klementyna Gołębiowska (my grandpa Anthony Raczkiewicz’ first wife) was born 13 March 1894 at 8:00 in the morning. .She and her future husband had the same birthdate one years= apart. Her death record has the wrong date but her husband was likely reporting it and immigrants sometimes didn’t know exactly when their birthday was. They were both from the same area of Poland--she was born in the city of Tomaszów Lubelski and he was born in the nearby village of Sabaudia. Her father Wojceich, 35, was a blacksmith in the city. Her mother was 37 year old Katarzyna nee Roczniak. The witnesses were Ludwik Skibiński Skibiński, 45 and Konstanty Kudlicki, 34, both from Tomaszow. Her Godparents were Ludwik and Antonina Roczniak. Her name is written various ways: Klementyna, Clementina

Anthony Raczkiewicz born March 13 1893

When Anthony John RACZKIEWICZ (my grandfather) was born on March 13, 1893, in the village of Sabaudia, his father, Jan, was 28 and his mother, Katarzna (nee Kaszucka), was 24 years old. Jan was a peasant farmer and his wife had come from a family of furriers from the city. Their family already consisted of five-year-old Jan and four-year-old Jozef. Mikołaj Roczniak, 30 years old, and Andrzej Lisikiewicz, 23 years old accompanied Jan to report the birth of his son in the city of Tomaszów Lubelski. His Godfather was Mikolaj and the Godmother’s name hasn’t been deciphered in the record, which is written in Russian. The document was read out loud, and signed by the priest, because they could not read or write. Maybe someone can decipher the Godmother’s name?

Katarzyna (Kaszucka) Raczkiewicz died March 11, 1944

Katarzyna (Kaszucka) Raczkiewicz (my great-grandmother) died March 11, 1944, in Sabaudia as a 73-year-old widow. Her husband Jan died 29 years earlier of pneumonia. She lived with her son Boleslaw. Reporting the death was her son Bolesław, a 37-year old farmer, and Bronislaw Skurcz, a neighbor. Her son Franciszek was killed the year before in the Rotunda in Zamosc and Jan died 16 years earlier in Gniezno of pneumonia. Jozef, Antoni, and Mary had lived in the U.S. for several decades. Stanislawa, Piotr, and Paulina lived in the area and were raising families of their own.

Jan Raczkiewicz died March 9, 1915

What was happening in the world around him When Jan Raczkiewicz (my great grandfather) died? The death record does not give the cause of his death so there is no way to know for sure why he died at the early age of 50. World War 1 was happening and “in the summer of 1914 fierce battles raged around Tomaszow Lubelski and a fire broke out there, destroying many houses. In the summer of 1915 the area was conquered by the Austrians and the Germans.” Austria was in the middle of a cholera epidemic. There was an outbreak of typhus that had just started in Russia.. So was it related to the war or the illnesses that Jan died March 9, 1915 at 5:00 in the morning in the village of Sabaudia? Jan worked as a peasant farmer. He was the son of Antoni and Katarzyna (née Grabek) Raczkiewicz, who were both deceased. Jan left behind widow Katarzyna, née Kaszucka who was 44 years old at the time. “Marian Skurcz, 50 years old, Christian from Sabaudia, and Walenty Liskiewicz, 59 years old, townsman from Tomaszów, came and declared” the event to the officials. The oldest child of Jan and Katarzyna was also named Jan. He had left for the United States five years earlier and the next two children Anthony (my grandfather) and Joseph had left three years earlier. Jan, the son, had just been shot in front of his house in Grand Rapids, Michigan a month before he died. I wonder if the relatives in Poland heard about the shooting? I also wonder how and when the three brothers in the U.S. heard that their father had died in Poland When Jan died, the six remaining children in Poland were between nine and 20 years old. The youngest child, Boleslaw, would have been nine years old (he is the grandfather of Tomasz and Jacek Rączkiewicz.) Their second youngest child Paulina would have been 14 years old (she is the grandmother of Andrzej Dubiel.) Katarzyna lived another 29 years after her husband Jan died but did not ever remarry. Neither Jan nor Katarzyna had living siblings but they had a lot of cousins. This record was found and translated by Andrzej Dubiel 1/24/2021