The Story of Jan Raczkiewicz

We don’t have a picture of Jan Raszkiewicz (my great grandfather.) He was born on November 7, 1864 in Sabaudia, Poland at 8 o'clock in the morning. His father was Antoni Raszkiewicz, 23, a peasant farmer and his mother was Maryanna née Grabek, 20. They were living in Sabaudia, a small village community that is five miles north of the town of Tomaszów. Jan’s parents had been born and raised as peasants in Majdan Gorny and their family was there for at least four generations back to the 1750s. Majdan Gorney is a small village about four miles east of Tomaszów. They had moved and were peasants in Sabaudia at this time. The witnesses who helped report the birth were Jakób Herda, 32, and Jan Skorcz, 30, peasant farmers from the same area. Jakub was the father’s brother-in-law. Jan was baptized the next day and his Godparents were Jakób Herda and Magdalena Bendrowa. His birth record is #280 and during this time period, many of the family records have their last name written as Raszkiewicz (with an “s”) rather than Raczkiewicz (with a “c.”) ***** One of the first translations that I received when I started learning family history was the marriage record of Jan Raczkiewicz and Katarzyna nee Kaszucka (my great grandparents.) Jan and Katarzyna Kaszucka were wed in Tomaszów Lubelski on November 15, 1885, when she was 16 years old according to the record, but actually 14 and ½ years old, according to her actual birth record. Jan was 21 years old. Katarzyna was born in the town of Tomaszów Lubelski. Parents of the bride were Jozef Kaszucki and Paulina nee Kurkiewicz. Her father was a burgher (a citizen of a town or city, typically a member of the wealthy bourgeoisie) in the town of Tomaszow and worked as a furrier. Witnesses for the wedding were Katarzyna’s father Jozef Kaszucki, 50, and Jan Skurcz, 50, a farmer in the village of Sabaudia. ***** Earlier, Jan had inherited land which later made it possible for him to marry. The information about his will was provided by Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz, his 2x great grandson. On November 4, 1882, Michał Raczkiewicz (my 3x great grandfather) died. He was Jan’s grandfather. Michałl had three sons who died in childhood, Marcin had died at age 25 and Jan’s father Antoni had died at age 26. That left the oldest son Jan and his son Jakub to potentially inherit his farm. Jan, age 57, was already farming land in Majdan Gorny, possibly from his wife’s family. Jakub had moved to Jezernia, where the family of his wife Katarzyna Kedrak lived. That left grandson Jan to be named in the will. Three years later Jan married. ***** His wife, Katarzyna Kaszucka (my grandfather’s mother) was born 21 April 1871 in the town of Tomaszow Lubelskie to Jozef Kaszucki and his second wife Paulina nee Kurkiewicz. Jozef was 41 when she was born. His first two children with his first wife died in infancy or early childhood. Paulina was 34 years old when Katarzyna was born and she was their fifth child together. The previous four children had died in infancy or early childhood. The death notices do not include cause of death but in their area of the world from 1850 to 1900 there were struggles for democracy and the effects of overpopulation. There were cholera and smallpox outbreaks during the years two of them died. One of Katarzyna’s godparents was Szymon Kubka.. The other one was Julianna Niedźwiecka. (the 2x great grandmother of new found 4th cousin Curt Wolf– who originally put me in touch with Tomasz Raczkiewicz, the first connection I made in Poland.) Curt mentioned that our families are therefore spiritually linked as well as geneticallyrelated. ***** When Kataryna’s father Stefan Jozef died (date unknown), he did not make a will since Katarzyna was his only remaining relative. He had two wives and seven children. Only Katarzyna made it to adulthood and both wives were deceased when Stefan Jozef died. ***** Jan and Katarzyna lived in Sabaudia and their nine children were born there. Their births were: Jan (1888), Jozef (1891), Antoni (1893), Stanislawa (1895), Piotr (1897), Mary (1899), Paulina (1901), Franciszek (1904), and Boleslaw (1906). Some stories have emerged about Jan related to his children. Eugeneniusz remembers, “My father told me - he (Jan) built the first Christmas tree in Savoie (Sabaudia) and taught his sons rhymes - wishes for Christmas and the New Year. I also made these wishes while walking on the so-called "stilts". Thanks to hearing about this memory, I asked Andzej Duebiel about it and he explained that, “during Christmas, boys went from house to house and wished everyone all the best. They carried oat's grains and dotted it. They were called "szczudraki".” Jan encouraged his oldest sons to go to the United States. He had contacts with various groups in the community in order to help figure this out and in 1910, Jan left and in 1912, Jozef and Antoni left. ***** Besides being a farmer, Jan provided transportation to Lviv, using carriages in the summer and sleighs in the winter. According to Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz, “My Grandfather Jan transported "gentlemen" - that's what my father used to say. He took them, among others, to Lviv at different times of the year. At the same time, he had a decision (oath) that he would not drink alcohol. Father said he swore to himself. I cannot answer in what form this promise was and to whom.” ***** A courier from Lviv (Ukraine) described Tomaszów Lubelski in October 1913 which he traveled by car instead of cart or carriage. I have summarized his description and the link (below) goes to the full version. From the month of May until the end of September, an automobile went twice a day on a route through Tomaszow and to Lublin. There were white stones along both sides of the road for driving at night. The route passed a Russian customs stop where the people in charge spoke Polish. The Cossacks had a building there, serving as border guards. The Cossack’s attire was described as “disgustingly colored” and they “make an unpleasant impression” with “wild expressions on their faces.” Seeing them reminded the author of bloody descriptions of post-partition martyrdom. The author reflected sadly that it wasn’t long before there were no more border guards. ***** The author described his impression of Tomaszow mostly negatively. He saw what he described as the “hideous, green painted towers” of the Orthodox church as he approached the city of Tomaszow. The city was full of shops, stalls and mud. A horse pulling a cart struggled in the black mud. There was an obelisk in the square in memory of the reign of Nicholas II. Tobacco products were sold freely which amazed the author since as a Galician, he said he was used to a government monopoly on cigarettes. The people in the streets spoke Polish and were dressed from an earlier time. The Catholic church, there for 500 years and made of larch (a type of conifer) was blackened with age and neglect. ***** He ended with “Some young people go to America for bread.” It is true that Jan had gone earlier and only a year later than these remarks, my grandfather Anthony and his brother Joseph arrived in the U.S. https://www.historiaregionu.org/tomaszw-lubelski ***** What was happening in the world around him when Jan died? The death record does not give the cause of his death so there is no way for me to know for sure why he died at the early age of 50. World War 1 was happening and “in the summer of 1914 fierce battles raged around Tomaszow Lubelski and a fire broke out there, destroying many houses. In the summer of 1915 the area was conquered by the Austrians and the Germans.” Austria was in the middle of a cholera epidemic. There was an outbreak of typhus that had just started in Russia.. So was it related to the war or the illnesses that caused the death of Jan? More answers were provided by Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz, his grandson, on March 9, 2022. ***** The work he did transporting “gentleman” was likely difficult for Jan. “It was very cold during one of the trips. The "gentlemen" warmed up with alcoholic beverages, Grandpa did not drink and then he caught a cold and fell ill with pneumonia. Soon he died. He was buried in the cemetery in Tomaszów during the First World War. Soon the cemetery was dug, burying the fallen soldiers, and then my grandfather's grave was lost.” Jan’s death record was not available to me online since it happened only a little over 100 years ago. Andrzej Dubiel was able to get it from a Polish archive and shared it with me. I learned from Act 53 of the death record of 1915, that Jan died on March 8 (or February 23 Julian/Russian calendar) at 5:00 in the evening. Jan was 50 years old and his death record reported that he was born and living in Sabaudia, he was the son of Antoni Raczkiewicz and Katarzyna Grabek and he left behind widow Katarzyna Kaszucka. The next day at 10 o'clock in the morning. Marian Skurcz, 50 years old, from Sabaudia, and Walenty Liskiewicz, 59 years old, townsman from Tomaszów went and declared the death. ***** When Jan died, the six remaining children in Poland were between nine and 20 years old. The youngest child, Boleslaw, would have been nine years old (he is the grandfather of Tomasz and Jacek Rączkiewicz.) Their second youngest child Paulina would have been 14 years old (she is the grandmother of Andrzej Dubiel.) The oldest child of Jan and Katarzyna was also named Jan. He had left for the United States five years earlier and the next two children Anthony (my grandfather) and Joseph had left three years earlier. Jan, the son, had just been shot in front of his house in Grand Rapids, Michigan a month before his father died. I wonder if the relatives in Poland heard about the shooting? I also wonder how and when the three brothers in the U.S. heard that their father had died in Poland but Eugeniusz said his father never mentioned it to him. ***** Katarzyna lived another 29 years after her husband Jan died but did not ever remarry. Neither Jan nor Katarzyna had living siblings but they both had a lot of cousins. Katarzyna died March 11, 1944 in Sabaudia as a 73 year old widow. Reporting the death was her son Bolesław, a 37 year old farmer and Bronislaw Skurcz, a neighbor. When she died her son Franciszek had been killed the year before in the Rotunda in Zamosc and her three oldest children had lived in the U.S. for several decades. Stanislawa, Piotr, Paulina and Boleslaw lived in the area and were raising families of their own. ***** This picture came from Andrzej Dubiel (my 2nd cousin.) He got it from Anna (another 2nd cousin) who has these pictures . Anna is a granddaughter of Paulina Dubiel (my great aunt.) Her father and Andrzej’s father were brothers. Paulina lived with Anna's parents. Andrzej doesn’t know when the pictures were taken but thought Katarzyna looks old in it, so estimated about 1940. Based on the clothing and background, it seems like it could be older. What are your guesses?