The Life of Mary (Raczkiewicz) Kufta

I don’t remember knowing as a child that my Grandpa Tony Raczkiewicz had a sister who ended up living in Muskegon, Michigan. While researching family history, I had the pleasure of getting to communicate with Mary’s daughter, Theresa Parkanzky (my 1rst cousin 1x removed.) Theresa wrote: “I remember as a child going to my uncle's home and as I recall his name was Tony and his brother was Joe? Nothing was ever discussed regarding my mother Mary’s background.” Shirley (Raczkiewicz) Longwell (my mother) remembers visiting Mary and her husband Frank’s house one time (maybe she went more) and that they went to a baseball game while she was there. Frank and Mary attended Shirley’s marriage to Roy Longwell in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1957. ***** It turns out that Mary played an important role in keeping connections with family in Poland alive. It was pretty common for relatives in Poland and the United States to write letters to each other. After Mary moved to the U.S., she wrote letters regularly to family in Poland, updating the family with news and sending pictures of her family. “Polish immigrants were prolific letter writers to their relatives in Poland. . . Their letters were about their new life, encouragement to family members to join them, directions and recommendations on how to get to the port, what to avoid, how to survive, etc. Money for the voyage was often sent.” (Emigration from Poland. Stephen Szabados) ***** That connection ended though, almost 40 years ago. The memories and stories about her letters lingered though so when I made my first contact with the Raczkiewicz family in Poland, Tomasz Raczkiewicz knew about the relative Mary because of letters written to his grandfather Boleslaw, though he didn’t know about Anthony and Jan who also moved. Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz, remembered Mary’s letters to his father Boleslaw who was Mary’s youngest brother. Amazingly, when I shared a baptismal picture of Theresa with Eugeniusz, he told me had seen it before and also remembered pictures of Theresa in her nurse’s uniform when she graduated from college. Mary’s youngest daughter Theresa also remembered the letters. ***** MARY’S BIRTH: When I first learned about Mary, it appeared that May 29, 1892 was her birthday. There are many reasons for this: some immigrants celebrated their name day instead of their birthday or maybe didn’t really know their own birthdate and there is also more than one “Mary Kufta.” I had December 16, 1902 and May 29, 1892 as possibilities until fairly recently. Her birth record is not in the database I am using but Andrzej Dubiel (2x cousin) found it through the archive. It turns out her birthdate is December 16, 1899. ***** Here is a translation of the record: 1899/385 “Took place in the town Tomaszów on December 21st,1899/January 2nd,1900 at 11 o'clock in the morning. Appeared in person Jan Raczkiewicz, age 35, peasant, living in the village Sabaudia< gmina Tomaszów Lubelski>, and in the presence of witnesses Marcin Matej, age 30, and Tomasz Kendra, age 55,both peasants living in the villages Sabaudia and Podhorce ,he presented to Us a child of female sex, stated that this child was born in the village Sabaudia on December 4th/16th,1899 at 6 o'clock in the afternoon to his lawful wife Katarzyna nee Kaszócka, 28 years old. At the Holy baptism performed on this day, this child was given the name Marianna in honor of Saint Mary Cleophas and her godparents were 1st witness and Marianna Skurcz(?).This act was read aloud to the illiterate present and signed only by Us.” ***** You will notice that there are two dates listed -- one is from the Julian calendar and the other from the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was used by the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church. All births, marriages and deaths were registered by the churches. During the time period of 1868 to 1917, since Russia had control of the area in which my ancestors lived, the priests were required to write the records in Russian. During this time that Poland was occupied by Russia, the use of Polish in the schools and in civil records was prohibited. Poland (and the rest of Europe) had previously been using the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar in use worldwide today. After 1917 the records returned to being written in Polish and the use of the Gregorian calendar was resumed. So when there are two dates listed, the second one is the one that would fit our current calendar. ***** https://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/Poland/Questions.htm?fbclid=IwAR0-qOyOzvUNtD40zc7STCLkvz7AqGqLxotH4sQ1IkvwfDB2VeLfP4hJX-0#q7 ***** Mary was the sixth of nine children and one of three girls born to Jan Raczkiewicz and Katarzyna Kaszucki. For some reason there was a delay of seventeen days before her father Jan and the witnesses went to Tomaszów Lubelski to report her birth. Most times it is donw the same day or within a few days but no reason was given for the delay. Maybe there was a lot of snow or maybe they were busy with a new baby and their other five children who were ages two to 11. At the baptism, she was given the name Marianna in honor of Saint Mary Cleophas, one of the women named Mary who were present at the tomb of Jesus. She was known later in life as Mary or Marion. When Mary was 2 years old her sister Paulina was born, when she was 5 years old, her brother Franciszek was born and when she was seven, her brother Boleslaw was born. ***** IMMIGRATION When Mary was eleven years old, her oldest brother Jan left Poland for the United States. Then when she was thirteen years old, (1912) Anthony (my grandpa) and his brother Jozef left for Canada with a final destination of Michigan in the U.S.. ***** Eleven years later (1923) she left for the U.S. Mary was 22 years old according to what was written on the manifest but was actually 24. She was single, working as a farm laborer, and could read and write. She was 5’1’ tall, with a medium complexion, fair hair and gray eyes. Her father was deceased. Mary left behind her mother Katarzyna and siblings Stanislawa (28), Piotr (26), Paulina (22), Franciszek (19) and Boleslaw (17.) Her brother Piotr was listed as her contact in Poland and he paid her fare so I assume he also accompanied her to the port from their home. They lived in Sabaudia (near Tomaszów Lubelski). I later learned that Zibaldy is how the agents were writing “Sabaudia.” ***** Mary departed from Southampton, England which is almost 1200 miles from her place of birth. Earlier, Jan had traveled from Hamburg to New York and Anthony and Joseph had traveled from Antwerp to Quebec. Each of these three trips commenced from different ports. It is impossible to know why the immigrants chose different ports. Gdynia, the newly constructed Polish seaport was available for only a few months before Mary traveled. It might not have been an option when the trip was booked or could have been more expensive. Mary’s port was a few hundred miles closer than traveling from Antwerp but it added about 300 miles to her trip compared to leaving from Hamburg. The Hamburg Uprisings were occurring in Hamburg during the time she traveled so that may have been a factor. ***** Mary left Southampton England on the ship SS Melita to Quebec, Canada, traveling third class. This ship had 550 cabins and 1,200 third class beds. She arrived in Quebec, Canada on October 5, 1923. ***** From Quebec, she took a train to Detroit like Anthony and Joseph had done before her. ***** Mary had $30 when the manifest was completed for her train ride for Quebec to Detroit Michigan. This is worth a little over $450 in today’s dollars. Upon arrival in Quebec, Mary would have met both Canadian and U.S officials since her ultimate destination was the United States. She would have been issued a certificate of admission which was later shown when the train crossed the border into the United States. The train ride from Quebec to the border would have taken several days. Once at the border, Detroit was very close. At this point it is unknown how Mary traveled from Detroit to Grand Rapids. Anthony, her brother, never had a car but maybe the help of someone else was enlisted. Possibly, she took a train the rest of the way. ***** Mary was going to her brother Anthony Raczkiewicz (my grandfather), who lived at the time at 208 Lexington NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan with his second wife Pauline. They lived there about two years at that time and would soon be moving to a house on Milwaukee Avenue. At the time Anthony owned a pool hall on Bridge Street on the Westside of Grand Rapids. He did that for a few years but then went back to working in a tanning factory. Anthony and Pauline’s two oldest children were Lorraine, who would have been about five years old and Anthony Jr., who would have been about one years old. Joseph (their brother) may have been living with them since he often did. Jan was back in Poland, near Poznan. ***** FAMILY LIFE: After Mary had been in the U.S for three years, she and Frank Kufta were married on April 15, 1926. Frank’s age was 32. Mary’s age was given as 23 but she would have been 26. It was common that immigrants didn’t have their birth certificate with them, so they didn’t always know their exact age. Father Casmimir Skory, the pastor of St. Adalbert Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, presided over the wedding. Witnesses were Joseph Raczkiewicz (my great uncle) of Grand Rapids, and Helen Kufta, (Frank’s sister) of Muskegon. ***** Frank was born in Poland and immigrated in 1909 and had already been in the United States for at least 15 years. When they married, she was a factory worker in Grand Rapids living with her brother and his family and he lived and worked in Muskegon, 42 miles away. I don’t know how they met but there was an interurban train between Grand Rapids and Muskegon at the time. ***** Frank and Mary had their daughter Wanda in 1927 and their daughter Irene in 1928. By 1930, Mary and Frank lived at 729 6th St. in Muskegon Heights, MI, and their house was worth $4,000. Frank was 37 years old, worked in an iron foundry and could speak English. Mary was 28 and could not speak English. Wanda was age three and Irene was age two. Frank and Mary had their daughter Theresa in 1935. By 1940, they were in the same house and it was worth only $3,000. Frank had a 6th grade education and was in the process of becoming a citizen. Mary had a 3rd grade education and was still an alien. Wanda was 13, Irene was 12 and Teresa was four years old. ***** On May 19, 1943, Mary was naturalized as a citizen of the United States. ***** MARY’S DEATH AND THE LAST LETTER: As Mary got older, her daughter Theresa helped her mother more in her letter writing to family in Poland. Theresa helped with this duty by going to the post office often and even helped address the envelopes for her mother. The last letter to Poland was written by Theresa to Boleslaw, informing him of Mary’s death. Mary died April 15, 1989 at the age of 89, almost 90, in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. She was almost 90 years old. Eugeniusz remembered his father Boleslaw receiving the last letter and Eugeniusz said, “I recall that Father after receiving the news of his sister Maria's death said: May God give her heaven!.” ***** —------------------------ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4GT-HDP : 29 July 2019), Teresa E Kufta in household of Frank Kufta, Ward 2, Muskegon Heights, Muskegon Heights City, Muskegon, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 61-57, sheet 14B, line 51, family 314, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1796. ***** Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 15 December 2019), memorial page for Frank Kufta (unknown–9 Mar 1972), Find A Grave Memorial no. 110691638, citing St. Mary's Cemetery, Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan, USA ; Maintained by St. Mary (contributor 47982892) . ***** "Michigan Death Index, 1971-1996," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZTT-VT7 : 4 December 2014), Mary Kufta, 15 Apr 1989; from "Michigan, Deaths, 1971-1996," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 1998); citing Muskegon, Muskegon, Michigan, death certificate number 22865, Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records, Lansing. ***** Image: By uploaded by Nickpo - Private collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7562509 ***** (This wonderful picture was recently sent to me by Mary’s daughter Theresa (Kufta) Parkanzky. My grandfather and grandmother are in the second row--2nd and 3rd. My great uncle Joe is next to the bride. Frank’’s sister Helen Kufta is seated to the groom’s left. My aunt Lorraine is the child seated in front. I think the oldest brother Jan and his wife are back in Poland by this time.)