The Story of Marianna Grabek

“Presented himself Łukasz Grabek, a peasant from Majdan Górny, age 45 and in the presence of witnesses Tomasz Krawczyk, age 28 and Andrzej Typek, age 41, both peasants from Majdan Górny and showed us a female child born in Majdan Górny on 10th of this current month and year at 3 o'clock in the morning from his wife Katarzyna née Krawczyk, age 40. This child during Holy Baptism today was given the name Maryanna and the Godparents were the above-mentioned Tomasz Krawczyk and Katarzyna Krawczyk.” (Genealogical Translations FB page, 5/18/2020 Dorothy Woloszczuk ) This is how the translated record reads of Marianna Grabek (my 2x great grandmother) who was born in Tomaszów on February 10, 1843. ***** The Godparent, Tomasz Krawczyk, was her uncle. The Godmother had the same name as her mother but was her mother’s sister-in-law. . Marianna’s mother came from Laszczowka and moved to Majdan Gorny when she married her husband Lukasz. Marianna’s parents were married for twenty years before they had her, the youngest in the family. Two of her five siblings made it to adulthood. ***** The nineteen year old girl from Majdan Gorny married 20 year old Antoni Raczkiewicz, who also was born there but was living in Sabaudia. The marriage was on November 16, 1862, in Tomaszow. The groom’s parents, Michal Raczkiewicz and Anna Dominik were also born in Majdan Gorny but were peasant farmers in Sabaudia. ***** Antoni was the 11th of 13 children born to their family. His youngest sister Anna was born in Sabaudia, dating the family's arrival there to approximately 1850. Antoni’s older brother Marcin Raczkiewicz, 40, was one of the witnesses. The second one was Jakub Herda, 45, a peasant farmer from Gorno, who was married to Antoni’s older sister Marianna. ***** Antoni and Marianna had two children together: Jan (1864) and Marianna (1867). Marianna’s husband Antoni died on July 1, 1868, at the young age of 26. Their daughter Marianna died a month later. Her son Jan (my great grandfather) was four years old when his father passed away. ***** Marianna (Grabek) Raczkiewicz (my 2x great grandmother) married her second husband, Tomasz Kędra, on February 13, 1871, about two and a half years later. Tomasz was born and lived in the village Jeziernia. He was the 20 years old son of Michał Kędra and Anastazja nee Król, both already deceased. Katarzyna’s parents were also already deceased. The witnesses were Jan Skurcz, 38 years old, and Michal Bender,35 years old, both peasants, living in the village of Sabaudia. Marianna was 25 years old and was living in the village of Sabaudia when she married Tomasz. Her son Jan was seven years old. Tomasz had never been married before and had no children. ***** Tomasz and Marianna had two children – Jozef (1871) and Katarzyna (1873). On February 15, 1881, Marianna died. Surviving her were her husband and children Jan, age 17, Jozef, age 10, and Katarzyna, age 8. Her 34 year old husband reported the death along with Jan Raczkiewicz, age 45. ***** A few months later, Tomasz married again, this time to Anna Raczkiewicz, age 19, on May 8, 1881. This was the second marriage for both of them. Anna was the daughter of Jan Raczkiewicz and Katarzyna nee Pisarczyk from Gorno. (So she would have been the niece of Marianna’s deceased husband Antoni Raczkiewicz.) This couple would be my step great grandmother and step great grandfather. ***** What happened to the children of the original couple, my 2x great grandparents Antoni Raczkiewicz and Marianna Grabek? Their daughter Marianna died as a one year old right after her father Antoni died. Jan (my great grandfather) was 18 years old, and four years away from being married himself. The children of Marianna and her second husband Tomasz were eight eight years old (Katarzyna) and ten years old (Jozef.) Katarzyna later married Wojciech Typek of Majdan Gorny and was a widow when she died at age 45 in 1918. Jozef married Jozefa Skurz in 1905 at the age of 35. He was already married in Austrian Galicia and this act registered the children they had – Katarzyna (b. 1897) and Wladyslawa (b. 1901) – were legitimized by this act. The explanation in the record is that the delay was for an external reason, independent of their will. ***** I am unsure if Tomasz and Anna went on to have their own children but they likely did.