Teresa Lebiodowska Died Sept 23, 1840

Teresa Lebiedowska (my 4th great grandmother) died on September 23, 1840 at 1:00 a.m. at the age of 70 in the village of Grodek, Poland. Her husband Grzegorz, along with Lukasz Grabek, 45, a peasant from the village of Podhorce reported the death in Tomaszow on the next day. Lukasz was her son from her first husband Jozef Grabek. Teresa was born as Teresa Walawender in approximately the year 1777. She married Walenty Grabek, a peasant farmer. They had at least two children: Lukasz (my 3x great grandfather) and Zofia. Walenty died on March 19, 1812 at the age of 44 in Górno, in house number 11. Teresa, age 30, remarried on February 21, 1813 to Grzegorz Lebiodoski, age 34, a peasant farmer in the village of Majdan Górny. They both had been widowed. Together they had one child named Agnieszka who was born in Gorno in Grzeogorz’s house number 12 on March 11, 1815. Teresa’s son Lukasz was 25 and living with his mother and step father when he married Katarzyna Krawczyk, 20 from the village of Łaszczówka. On February 10, 1833, Teresa and Grzegorz’s daughter Agnieszka married Jan Steciuk, who was a peasant farmer from Podhorce. Teresa and Grzegorz lived in Podhorce at this time. Seven years later Teresa died. Grzegorz remarried in September of 1842 to Agnieszka Grandas, a widow of a farmer from Podhorce.

Jozef Kurkiewicz born September 8, 1815

It is very likely that Jozef Kurkiewicz (3rd great grandfather) was baptized but the birth record does not reflect it. Most of the records list the birth and baptism dates as well as the Godparents except those I have found between 1810 and 1826. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was initiated according to the Code of Napoleon on May 1rst, 1808. After Russia gained control in 1815, this practice continued. Priests were responsible for civil registrations from 1808 to 1825. After 1826, the civil records reverted to church records but kept the same format. Jozef was born at 5 o’clock in the evening on September 8, 1815. His parents were Antoni, 32 and Marianna nee Kiszczynski, 28. He was born in house #60 in Tomaszow like his sister Jagnieska, who was born there three years earlier. The witnesses were Maciej Wyszynski, 42 & Maxym Zawalksi, 43. Jozef was the third child of 12 born to his parents. At least seven of their children did not survive to adulthood. Jozef’s father was a shoemaker, his mother came from a family of shoemakers and eventually Jozef himself would become a shoemaker. Image: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=207371