The Story of Jozef Kurkiewicz

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. ***** Jozef was a 23 year old bachelor, living with his parents, when he married Ewa (Wiśniewska) Rachanska (my 3x great grandmother) on 30 July 1837. Witnesses to the marriage of Jozef and Ewa: Jan Recki and Antoni Lachowski, His parents were farming as well as repairing shoes in Tomaszów Lubelski. ***** Ewa was a 28 year old who had been widowed for six years. She was born in Tomaszów Lubelski to Błażej Wiśniewski and his wife Agnieszka nee Szczesnicki. Her mother was deceased at the time of this marriage and Ewa was living with her father on his farm. Her father had been a potter and also worked as a grave digger. Ewa’s first husband Wincenty Rachanski, had been a journeyman shoemaker. Wincenty and their only child Feliks both died in 1831, after Ewa and Wincenty had been married only about a year. Wincenty died during the time of the November Uprising which was November of 1830 to October of 1831. Wincenty and Ewa’s son Felix was born in October of 1830 and his father was still alive. When Feliks died in August of 1821, his father was deceased by this time. That year there were outbreaks of both cholera and influenza. ***** Together, Jozef and Ewa had five children– Paulina, Andrzej, Jakub, Franciszka, and Ignatious. Their oldest child Paulina (b. 1838) was my 2x great grandmother. Their youngest child Ignatious (b. 1851) is the 2x great-grandfather of Mike Liszewski. I “found” Mike as a DNA match on Ancestry and now collaborate regularly with his wife Connie. Like me, Mike was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ***** On December 30 in 1874, the death of Jozef was recorded in Tomaszów Lubelski. He died the day before. The declarants were Jan Kamiński, age 45, and Walenty Lisikiewicz,age 28, both farmers from Tomaszów Lubelski. Jozef was 60 years old when he died, and a shoemaker and a farmer, like his father. He left behind a widowed wife, Ewa. ***** Because records were recorded in Russian at this time, two dates were given -- December 30 and December 18. December 18 was from the Julian calendar, in use by Russia. The December 30 date is from the Gregorian calendar which Poland had been using and went back to using after 1917. It is the most commonly used calendar in the world. The difference between the Gregorian and Julian Calendars in the 19th century was 12 days.

The Life of Boleslaw Raczkiewicz

Bolesław Raczkiewicz (my great uncle) was born on November 19, 1906 at 2:00 in the afternoon. His parents, Jan Raczkiewicz, 42 and Katarzyna Kaszucka, 35, already had eight children ages two to eighteen years old when he was born. They were farmers in the village of Sabaudia. Six days after his birth, Jan and Lukasz Ważny, age 31, both from Sauadia and Antoni Kurkiewicz, 23, a resident of Tomaszów, went to the authorities and reported the birth. He was baptized that day and his Godparents were Antoni Kurkiewicz and Jósefa Kendrowa. He was given the name Bolesław, in honor of King Bolesław. King Bolesław was first a duke and then the first king of Poland and was known as “The Brave” and “The Great.” He expanded Poland and promoted Poland as a separate Catholic entity. ***** Bartosz Raczkiewicz related a story he heard from his father Eugeniusz about Boleslaw and his mother Katarzyna. When Boleslaw was young, he climbed up a tree and fell out of it. He broke his leg. At the hospital, the doctors wanted to amputate the leg. Katarzyna carried him on her shoulders and walked to the hospital in Lwów for treatment. Lwów is 120 kilometers away. She must have gotten a ride at some point since that is over 75 miles. The outcome is that Boleslaw kept his leg! ***** Boleslaw regularly saw his brothers and sisters who remained in Poland. For instance, Stanislaawa and her family lived on the same road where Boleslaw had his field so he visited her and her family often. Piotr lived a thirty kilometer horse-drawn cart ride away. The family would leave at dawn and return late at night, traveling over road bumps and through the forest. Boleslaw enjoyed going with Paulina to their parents’ apple and pear orchard. After 1921, Boleslaw’s oldest brother returned to Poland. Jan and his wife bought a farm in Gniezno, near Poznań. Despite a distance of 588 kilometers (365 miles), Boleslaw had a connection to him. When Jan died in 1928, Boleslaw was 26 years old. A year before Boleslaw married, his brother Franciszek was killed in the rotunda in Zamość by the Russian Army for taking food from his own farm. The army had laid claim to the property. Later, Boleslaw’s wife would tell this story and it was written down by her grandson Tomasz Raczkiewicz. A lot happened the year Boleslaw married. His mother Katarzyna died, at age 72, on March 11, 1944. Boleslaw was living with her. ***** He and Jozefa Janina Bender married in May of 1944 (exact date unknown--if anyone in Poland knows it, I would love to learn it!) He was 37 years old and she was 29 years old. Of Boleslaw’s eight siblings, the ones that likely attended the wedding were Stanislawa, Paulina and Piotr. His oldest brother Jan was deceased by this time (Jan’s wife Franciszka Kudlicka was remarried and deceased by April 1945 in Lublin, Poland.) Anthony (my grandfather), Joseph and Mary were still in the United States. Franciszek was killed the year before in the rotunda in Zamosc for attempting to “steal” his own corn. ***** Then two months later in July, their house was set on fire by the Russian army. This means that any photos they had were destroyed so any we have seen were shared by other people. Joanne (Raczkiewicz) created a painting of the house that was rebuilt. ***** A year after their marriage, Boleslaw and Jozefa’s son Eugenuisz was born (1945) and after that their son Miecyslaw was born (1947.) They are first cousins of my mother Shirley (1936.) ***** Bolesław was a locksmith by profession but worked most of his life as a farmer on a small farm. He had a horse and two to four cows and sold the milk in the city. Bolesław died in a hospital on May 9, 2001 He was 94 years old. He is buried in a cemetery in Tomaszow Lubelski. They had 7 grandchildren and now have 19 great grandchildren. ***** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boles%C5%82aw_I_the_Brave

The Story of Maria (Bielak) Dubowik

Maria Bielak (my 1rst cousin 1x removed) was born January 11, 1925. She was the fourth child of four children born to Jan Bielak and Stanislawa nee Raczkiewicz (my great aunt.) The family farmed in Sabaudia, Poland. Maria married Władysław Dubowik. Her husband was a police officer. They lived in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland. They had 3 children: Wiesław (1947), Waldemar (1955), and Janus (1960.) Maria was a beautiful seamstress as a hobby, making dresses, coats and other items. Stasia Woj shared, “Marysia sewed me some coats. She also made a wedding dress! Good seamstress!” She sewed Stasia’s dress in 1965. In 1978, Maria took a trip to visit her aunt Mary (Raczkiewicz) Kufta in Muskegon, Michigan, when she was 53 years old. Little is known about that trip. Two of Mary’s daughters, Wanda and Irene, also lived in the area and were only a little younger than Maria so they likely enjoyed the visit with their cousin from Poland. On November 5, 1991, Maria died at age 66. Her husband died on April 17, 2007.

The Life of Anthony John Raczkiewicz

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Anthony John Raczkiewicz (my grandfather) died at his residence on October 31, 1980, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His obituary indicated that he was 85 years old but after finding his birth record in Poland, he was actually 87 years old. He reposed at the Arsulowicz Brothers Mortuary, West on Stocking Avenue and a funeral Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of St. Adalbert. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. According to the obituary in the newspaper, he was survived by his wife, Pauline, son Anthony Jr. and wife Cecilia, son Ronald and wife Pamela, daughter Shirley and her husband Roy Longwell, John Dykstra, surviving spouse of his daughter Lorraine, as well as nine grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and his sister, Mrs. Frank (Mary) Kufta of Muskegon Heights. Additionally, he was survived by his youngest brother Boleslaw in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland but the writers of the obituary either didn’t know or remember this. XXXXXXXX When Anthony 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 (at least in Russian.) XXXXXXXX Anthony and his brother Joseph traveled to the United States for a better life in 1912. When Katarzyna said goodbye to 19 year old Antoni and his brother Joseph, it was likely that she was never going to see him again. Her oldest son Jan had left two years earlier. Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz explained that there is a figurine that was built in Sabaudia in 1909. “I believe that my Grandma Katarzyna said goodbye from this place and blessed her sons and daughter before the long journey. It used to stand at the end of the village. The figurine says: God bless these inhabitants.” The remaining six children were ages six to seventeen. Her husband Jan was still alive (and would be alive for three more years) and his sons had been encouraged to go by him and he helped with the cost and the planning. XXXXXXXX Anthony and Joseph sailed from Antwerp, Belgium on September 18, 1912 but first had 700 miles of travel, some by rail to get there from home. They sailed on the SS Mount Temple with the destination of Quebec, Canada, arriving on October 2, after 17 days on the ocean. They arrived by in the United States at Detroit, Michigan, on October 4, 1912 by train, entering as permanent residents. Their final destination of Grand Rapids, Michigan is where their brother Jan already lived. XXXXXXXX Anthony Raczkiewicz married his first wife Klementyna Gołębiewska in Grand Rapids, MI on June 20, 1916, about four years after he arrived in the U.S.,. 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 U.S. and was also from the same area in Poland. 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. XXXXXXXX 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, Michigan (where Klementyna had family) three days earlier, was taken to D.A. Blodgett Children’s Home for medical care. Bronislawa also passed away there in July from a congenital heart problem. XXXXXXXX When Anthony was 22 years old and registered for the World War I draft, his physical description was medium height, medium build, gray eyes, light brown hair and a deformed finger. At age 47 when he registered for the draft for World War II, his physical description was 5’5, 145 pounds, blue eyes, brown hair, and light complexion. His youngest brother Boleslaw resembled Anthony in appearance according to his son Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz. .”Po obejrzeniu zdjęć mojego Stryja Antoniego to tak jakbym widział swojego Ojca Bolesława.” “After seeing the photos of my Uncle Antoni, it is as if I saw my Father Bolesław.” XXXXXXXX Anthony married Apolonia Skrobot (my grandmother) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 6, 1920. The wedding was at St. Adalbert Church. Reverend C Skory performed the marriage and Joseph Raczkiewicz and J. (Juuie?) Sagauska are listed as witnesses. Joseph was Anthony’s older brother and I think J. Sagauska was “Jennie” who my mother remembered was a long term friend of Joseph. The record says he was 25 years old but I know he was 27 since I have now seen his translated birth certificate. Apolonia (Pauline) was 18 according to the records but with a birthdate of April 1904, she was actually 16 ½ years old. This might explain the later confusion where family members thought she would “lie” about her age and claim to be younger than she was. (In the 1930 census, she claims she was 17 when married. The marriage document indicates 18. Birth dates vary . . . XXXXXXXX At the time of the marriage, Anthony was a cabinet maker. Pauline traveled from Oil City, Pennsylvania to Grand Rapids with a friend to visit relatives. Her parents were Polish immigrants and she spoke Polish, Russian and English. She met and married Anthony while on the visit. Her wedding dress, veil and bouquet were very elaborate. She told her family the wedding gown was featured in the window of Wurzburg’s Department Store in downtown Grand Rapids. She bought and wore the matching shoes even though they were the wrong size and pinched her feet. When Anthony came to the United States in 1912, he was a farm laborer in Poland. During his first years in the U.S., he was a laborer, polisher and a tanner. In the earliest Polk Directory I could find that listed him (1914), Anthony is a laborer. In 1915, Anthony was a polisher. In June, 1916, when Anthony got married, he was a laborer/polisher and his fiance, Klementyna/Clementena, was a factory hand. When he registered for the WWI draft the following June,1917, Anthony (22) was a tanner at the tannery. In the 1920 census, he was still working at the tannery. XXXXXXXX Anthony tried to run a business for a few years. In 1921, Anthony left the tannery and was a clerk at Charles (Powlski) Powlowski’s Billiards at 612 Bridge St. NW. This location had opened in 1916 as the Buddy Theater, opened by the Buddy Brothers. Pool halls must have been a popular entertainment with 13 listed in the city that year. Charles Powlowski was from the same part of Poland, immigrated to Grand Rapids and married his wife the same year Anthony married Pauline. Charles also had a soft drink store at 511 Bridge St. NW. By 1922, the city had 30 billiard halls and Anthony (Radzkiewicz) was listed in the city directory as the owner. He had five competitors on Bridge Street alone. In 1923, he was co-owners with Mr. Czarnopis and there were 33 pool halls in Grand Rapids. This was likely Stanislaw Czarnopis who came to the US with Anthony’s brother Jan. The family legend is that Anthony made $100 a day and there may have been gambling happening on the premises. His daughter Shirley Longwell remembers hearing these stories but it was “before her time.” Interestingly, Grand Rapids had gone dry, at midnight, April 30, 1918 and the state soon followed with Prohibition voted in until it was repealed in 1933. It is unclear if gambling or alcohol contributed to the money made or the demise of his business. By 1924 the number of pool halls grew to 34 but sadly, Anthony was no longer running one of them and there was no longer a listing in the city directory. Anthony was again listed as a laborer. After his pool hall experience, Anthon went back to factory work and like everyone, was affected by the Great Depression. In 1928 Anthony was still a laborer and in 1929 Anthony was listed as a worker. In 1930, Anthon was listed as a tacker at Keifer Tannery and made $6500. “The early 1930's, of course, were the years of the Great Depression. With its onslaught in 1929 and its relentless persistence, the community of St. Adalbert's suffered many setbacks, beginning with the closing of the Polish-American Bank, located at the intersection of Bridge, Lexington, and Stocking. As a result of its closing, many parishioners lost a large share of their life's savings. The setbacks continued with the folding of small businesses and the slowdown of larger industries, resulting in layoffs and, at least, cutbacks in working hours.” http://www.mipolonia.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/St.-Adalbert_1881-1981_Grand-Rapids_MI.pdf XXXXXXXX Anthony worked 40 weeks in 1940 for a $1,000 annual salary continuing his work as a Lacquer at a tannery. He continued as a tannery worker and Lacquer through 1959. His daughter Shirley remembers him bringing home castoff pieces of leather and her sister Lorraine had some of them in her home. In 1942, when he registered for the WWII draft, Anthony was still working at Keifer Tannery at 240 Front St. NW which was owned by Irving Orr who lived at 915 Cambridge Dr. SE., a 3,000 square foot home newly built in the affluent nearby city of East Grand Rapids. XXXXXXXX Anthony was a member of St. Hyacinth, Polish Falcon Society and Polish National Alliance Society. Card parties, weddings, concerts, dances and beer drinking were common activities and were popular ways for people from Poland to socialize together. Grand Rapids had forty or fifty “halls” owned by private societies of different immigrant groups. There were more Polish ones than any other nationality and there were eight Polish ones on the West side. XXXXXXXX The Grandpa of my memory was a man who spoke little English, who made me feel like I was his favorite and layed on the couch or sat on the front porch, spitting out chewing tobacco into a coffee can. He proudly tended his roses and made sure his yard never had dandelions. Grandpa had a sweet tooth and a favorite holiday gift to give him were chocolate covered cherries. He would give me and my sisters Linda and Lori a quarter each to get lots of penny candy at the candy store around the corner on Bridge Street. He would walk us to the bakery for sour cream cookies, paczki, and rye bread.

The Story of Michal Raczkiewicz

Michał Raczkiewicz (my 3x great grandfather) was born around 1805 in Majdan Górny.Poland. His parents were Jan Raczkiewicz and Apolonia nee Gołębiowska. His father Jan was born in Łaszczówka and his mother in Majdan Górny. The family farmed in Majdan Górny. Michał was their oldest child out of nine children. Four of the five last children died young in the time period of 1841-1851. Their cause of death is not given. During this time period, the peasants were struggling against serfdom and there were famines as well as cholera and typhus outbreaks. XXXXX Michał was a 19 year old bachelor living with his parents when he got married on January 17, 1824 at 12:00 p.m. The banns were announced previously on January 4th and January 11. The witnesses were Marcin Kukiełka, 40, Józef Pyc, 35, Sobek Jaruzal, 35, and Piotr Sobek, 40, all peasants residing in the village of Maydan Górny. Anna was 18 years old and also never before married. She lived with her parents Tomasz Dominik and Regina Wójcik, who were peasants in the same village. XXXXX Michał and Anna had eleven children between 1824 and 1850: Jan, Marianna Herda, Agnieszka Szynal, Marcin, Katarzyna Rekolicz/Reholicz, Jakub, Błażej, Antoni, Alexander, Andrzej, and Anna. The last four died as infants. They all remained as farmers in Majdan Górny or Sabaudia except for Jakub who ended up in Jezernia. Their son Antoni (my 2x great grandfather) moved to Sabaudia within two years of his marriage to Marianna Grabek who was also from Majdan Górny. XXXXX When he was about 64 years old, his wife Anna died on June 23, 1869 at the age of 63. Around six months later on January 16, 1870, Jan remarried at the age of 67. The bride was Katarzyna Szczepnaik who had been widowed five years earlier. She was 47 years old and was born in the village of Sznury to Łukasz Krawczyk and Marianna Bucior (my 5x great grandparents) from Łaszczówka. She was living in Rudka/Rutka. The witnesses were Marcin Raczkiewicz, 48, one of Michał’s younger brothers from Majdan Górny and Jan Skurcz, 30, from the village of Sabaudia. XXXXX Katarzyna died on February 1, 1878 at the age of 50 in the village of Sabaudia, leaving behind her widowed husband Michał. The death was reported by Jan Skurcz, 40 (again) and Tomasz Kędra, 38, both peasants from Sabaudia. Tomasz was the second husband of their daughter-in-law Marianna Grabek since Michał’s son Antoni (my 2x great grandfather) had died ten years earlier. XXXXX Michał died in the village of Sabaudia on November 4, 1882. He lived to the age of 80. The witnesses were both 45-year-old farmers from Sabaudia. One witness for the third time was Jan Skurcz. The other witness was Jakub, the sixth child of Michal and his wife Anna.