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.