The Story of Walenty Grabek & Theresa Walawender

The tradition of naming children based on the name days of saints was common in Poland. Walenty is often used for sons born on or near the Feast Day of St. Valentine. The Latin version Venentinus led to some records calling the boy Valentine. I have a few examples of Walenty/Valentine in my family tree. Walenty Grabek (my 4x great grandfather) was born in 1768 approximately. I don’t have access to his birth record to see if he was born on February 14. Walenty Wiciejewski (a 3x great uncle on the maternal side) was born February 9, 1824. Walenty Kupka was born February 14, 1822. He was the husband of my 5th cousin Katarzyna Kiszczynska. Other Walentys include Kurkiewicz, Gdańsk, Kowal, Przybysz, Kwiatkowski, and Gogulski. I have only found two children for him and his wife Teresa nee Walawender -- Lukasz (my 3rd great grandfather) and Zofia. Łukasz (abt. 1798) married Katarzyna Krawczyk from Łaszczówka and farmed in Majdan Górny. Zofia (abt. 1799) married Michał Kozyra and also farmed in Majdan Górny. Walenty Grabek died on March 19, 1812 at 6:00 in the evening in house #11 in Górno. He was only 44 years old. One of the witnesses -- Marcin Walewender -- was his wife’s brother. The other witness was Jan Prsybysz. They were both his neighbors. Eleven months after his death, his widowed wife Teresa re-married to Grzegorz Lebiedowski. Her husband’s death is listed in this marriage record except he is called Jozef -- not Walenty -- and the death is reported as January 1811 --not March 1812. Someone made an error in this record because later records when his children get married are clear that his name was Walenty. Teresa (my 3rd great-grandmother) and her second husband Gregorz Lebediowski had one child Agnieszka (1815) . Agniezka married Jan Steciuk/Styciuk in Grodek. Teresa died on September 23, 1840 in the village Grodek, at the age of 70. Her husband Grezegorz and her son Lukasz reported the death. Grzegorz died 14 years later on April 18, 1854 in Podhorce. His son-in-law Jan Styciuk and Antoni Knop, another peasant farmer. He must have remarried since he left behind a widowed wife Marya.