The Story of Stefan Józef Kaszucki & Paulina Kurkiewicz

Major events have been happening in the United States during the past several years. It will be interesting to see how those events are viewed in the future -- 10, 50, 100 years from now. In the same way, many major events happened in Poland during the lives of many family ancestors. What was their involvement in those events or what impact did the events have on them? Rising civil unrest in Poland, including in the immediate area around Tomaszów Lubelski, occurred during the Fall of 1862 into the winter of 1863, leading up to the January Revolution. Add normal personal family events to what was happening and it makes for some possibly challenging times. This time period was personally eventful for Józef Kaszucki (my 2nd great grandfather.) He was an adult during this period, living in the city of Tomaszów Lubelski. ***** His father Andrzej had moved from Ulnow, Galicia, Austria (now Ukraine) for a better life where he met and married Salomea (née Wiciejewska) in Tomaszów. Her family were potters and his family were furriers. After their marriage, Andrzej and Salomea had their son Stefan Józef and his siblings in Tomaszów Lubelski. Stefan Józef was born on August 10, 1832 at 11 o'clock at night. When he was born, his father was a 36 year old furrier and his mother was 24. The witnesses were Onufry Stopczynski 36, a watchmaker, and Szymon Hladeszywicz, 50, a shoemaker. The Godparents were Onufry Stopczanski and Małgorzata Kukiełkowicz. She was my 3x great aunt whose parents were Maciej Wiciejewski and Marianna Metalska (my 4x great grandparents) who were potters. ***** Stefan Józef was baptized and confirmed on August 12 in the Greek Catholic church. His father was of the Greek Catholic faith. Stefan Józef and his five brothers were all baptized in that faith. His mother was of the Roman Catholic faith. Andrzej’s two sisters were baptized in the Roman Catholic faith. Seven of the eight “branches” of the family of Anthony Raczkiewicz were predominantly Roman Catholic. The exception was the Kaszucki family who originated from Uhnów (Ulanów) which was part of Galicia and now is part of Ukraine. They were Greek Catholic as far back as the records are available – to the 1750’s – the 4x great grandparents and the 3x great grandparents. By the 2x great grandparents – Józef Kaszucki married his second wife Pauline Kurkiewicz, a Roman Catholic. Their daughter Katarzyna Kaszucka (my great grandmother) married John Rackziewicz, a Roman Catholic. While most of the Kaszucki men married Greek Catholic women, when they or others in the family had an inter-faith marriage it was men who were Greek Catholic marrying Roman Catholic women. ***** Stefan Józef married his first wife Katarzyna (nee Szokalowicz) on February 9, 1851, when he was 18 years old. Witnesses to their Greek Catholic marriage included Wojceich Janusz, a weaver (related to Patrice (Szymanski) Shay) and Szczepan Czarnopys, a shoemaker (Mike Liszewski’s second great grandfather.) Józef and his family were furriers and Katarzyna’s family were farmers. Their wedding included a prenuptial agreement, prepared by notary Michał Celejawski in the Circuit of Tomaszów at Number 23, on February 1, 1851. Prenups were rare at this time but were used to protect a family’s property, as they are now. A prenuptial agreement lays out the division of property of a couple who are marrying, in case of death or divorce. There are NO prenups on the Raczkiewicz side back many generations – probably since they were peasant farmers. On the Kaszucki side, there are six prenuptial agreements between 1832 and 1851 that were prepared by a notary in the County Circuit of Tomaszów. ***** Their marriage only lasted eleven years before Katarzyna and both of their children were deceased. Józef and Katarzyna had at least two children. Their oldest son Jan passed away in 1859, at the young age of six months old. In the Fall of 1862, family tragedy struck several times. On October 25, four-year-old daughter Joanna, who had been baptized and confirmed through the rites of the Greek Catholic church, passed away. Reporting the death with Józef was Grzegorz Niedźwiedź (Curt’ Wolf’s relative.) Only a month later, on November 24, Katarzyna also died, at age 30. This time, Marcin Halkieiwicz, a shoemaker (Mike Liszewski’s third great uncle) went with him to report the death. Then on December 14, 1882, Józef ’s Uncle Theodore Kaszucki passed away. Józef was a declarant for this death indicating that they were probably close knit. A month and a half after he was widowed, plans forJózef to remarry were revealed when first banns were announced on January 11th, and then the second ones on January 18th. Normally, there is a rush to remarry if there are young children involved but both of their children were deceased. ***** Unfortunately, during Józef ’s entire life, Poland was in turmoil and under the control of outside forces. An internal revolution was brewing, especially centered around the larger cities, but it made its way to the small town in which he lived. Shortly after the second banns were announced, on January 24, 1863, Henryk Gramowski, with his small ten-person band of insurgents, broke into the Russian cossack station in Józefów, about 17 miles west of Tomaszów Lubelski. With the horses and guns they obtained, and volunteers from nearby towns, they formed a poorly equipped 60 person troop. This was part of a bigger battle. On the next day, January 25, 1863, after being widowed for two months, Józef married Paulina Kurkieiwcz (my 2x great grandmother.) ***** Paulina had been born 25 years earlier. When she was born on June 27, 1838, in Tomaszów Lubelski, the witnesses were Jakób Pal , “ex traditional captain, “ age 50 and Tomasz Krotki, age 58, a writer in the Customs Office in Tomaszów, both residing there. The godparents were Jakób Palm and Tekla Orzechowka. Her father, Józef Kurkiewicz was 22, and her mother, Ewa Wiśniewska, was 29. Her mother Ewa had been previously married to Wincenty Rachanski in the parish of Łabunie, Krynice, 16 kilometers north of Tomaszów Lubelski. Ewa and her husband likely experienced something similar to Józef and his first wife with an uprising impacting their lives. Both her husband and their son Feliks died in 1831. Wincenty was a likely casualty of the November Uprising. After their deaths, Ewa moved back to Tomaszów and lived with her father. She married Józef around six years later, on July 30, 1837 and Paulina was their firstborn, born around a year later. Paulina had three brothers and one sister including Ignacy Kurkiewicz (Mike Liszewski’s great grandfather) who married Antonina Czarnopys. ***** While Józef (Kaszucki) was of the Greek Uniate faith, his new bride-to-be was from the Latin church and the couple married in the Latin church. Paulina’s parents were shoemakers in Tomaszów and it is possible the furriers provided leather for the shoemakers, so the families might have known each other. Unlike his first marriage, there was not a prenuptial agreement for this marriage. Marcin Halkiewicz who had been a declarant for the sad occasion of his first wife Katarzyna’s death, was there to help him celebrate the new marriage. Marcin was no longer a shoemaker but had become a farmer. Szymon Zolkiewski, another shoemaker, was a witness at both events also. (I haven’t figured out yet how he is related.) ***** Five days after the marriage, on January 30, the local trouble began. The Russians, who were located in Tomaszów Lubelski, became aware of planned local resistance so they sent their customs money to Zamość and used a few guards to confine their 150 cossacks to their barracks. They were attacked the following night by Gramowski’s group. Both groups suffered casualties but the Russians retreated to Żdanowie, 24 miles north (near Zamość) on the next day, February 1. The small opposition group went into Tomaszów Lubelski and declared a Polish national government. Their victory was short-lived because on February 5, the Russians returned and the “Bloody Day” in Tomaszów Lubelski happened. Two loud cannonballs were the only warning. Doors and windows were broken and fires were started. The people living there left their houses attempting to save their belongings and were killed. Around 80 people died. ***** What was this unsuccessful January Insurrection (Uprising) that occurred from 1863 to 1864 that resulted in more control by Russia of Poland? Many attempts to restore Poland’s independence occurred during the years of partition. When the Russians suffered financial and political defeat in the Crimean War, around 1860, demonstrations began to occur. The resistance groups were very loosely structured and were characterized by the “red” – the common people who wanted more rights – and the “whites” – led by Andrzej Zamoyski, a Polish noble who wanted to see Poland restored to the period before 1830’s constitution, created for the Kingdom of Poland. This constitution still favored the nobility but increased freedom of speech and religious tolerance. It was ignored by the Russians, leading to the unrest in 1830, known as the “November Uprising.” ***** Demonstrations in February, 1861, in Warsaw, were held to commemorate a battle from 1831 (the one during which Paulina’s mother’s first husband and son died.) Some protestors were killed by Russians and even more repressive policies were implemented. Demonstrations over the next year were met with more deaths and deportations to Siberia. There were plans for a massive uprising by 1863 which the Russians tried to prevent by forced conscriptions into the Russian Army. This had the reverse effect and actually increased opposition, resulting in many battles over the next year and a half. The insurgents were poorly equipped and small in number. The Russians deported 80,000 Polish people to Siberia by April of 1864 and killed hundreds of people. The rebellion was unsuccessful and Russia exerted more control over Poland – ending institutions, stopping the teaching of the Polish language in schools, placing Russians in official positions, and seizing land from gentry, impacting both them and the peasants who worked their land. While the results were not positive at the time, there is continuing pride at the resistance efforts that occurred. ***** During all this, Józef and Paulina were starting a family. They had five children together and the boys were baptized and confirmed in the faith of their father, according to the Eastern rite and the girls were baptized in the faith of their mother, according to the Roman rite. Four of the five children did not live past early childhood. Jan (1864- 1864) lived six months, Piotr (1865 - 1866) lived six months, Józef a (1867 - 1868) lived one and a half years, and Anna (1869 - 1870) lived nine months. Katarzyna, the youngest child, (1871 - 1944) married Jan Raczkiewicz and had nine children. ***** While it is impossible to truly comprehend what the experience of the January Revolution was like for Józef and his family, one possible impact is that they had five children from 1858 until 1869 who all lived died in early childhood, until Katarzyna (my great grandmother) was born in 1871. She is the only one I have found from this family that survived to adulthood. While it is true that infant mortality was high in general, for comparison only a few of the eight children in Józef ’s parents’ family died before adulthood. So for some reason, this family experienced a higher than normal infant mortality rate. These experiences probably had a deep impact on Józef and his family that would continue for generations. ***** Family History: Skan - Szukaj W Archiwach. Marriage of Stefan Jozef Kaszucki and Katarzyna Szokalewicz. (n.d.). https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/skan/-/skan/3d4c7b889f68626afffd3fc67721c8ca68fb67436834de46396b73a131111113 Skan - Szukaj W Archiwach. Death of Katarzyna (Szokalewicz) Kaszucka. (n.d.). https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/skan/-/skan/af45712a3015350a9fe2076261c0ce25a462b2e3238176e27bfcc89996134210 Skan - Szukaj W Archiwach. Birth of Paulina Kurkiewicz). (n.d.). https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/skan/-/skan/d5c10d4993351785a12d2cfc25a94d796b7bc4a174a389142c1c1d476b551ac7 Skan - Szukaj W Archiwach. Death of Felix Rachanski. (n.d.). https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/skan/-/skan/b955f07030f3e26bd57a20845807d226b4801538beb72fed039232c0030b0d14 Skan - Szukaj W Archiwach. Marriage of Stefan Jozef Kaszucki and Paulina Kurkiewicz (n.d.). https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/skan/-/skan/1b31b9606f6a3f9ecc5fec6091119573856d1f5effa0abc7967e1a481bd74abf Skan - Szukaj W Archiwach. Death of Paulina (Kurkiewicz) Kaszucka. (n.d.). https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/jednostka/-/jednostka/10504982 ***** Polish History: Historie Z regionu. historiaregionu. (n.d.-a). https://www.historiaregionu.org/historie-z-regionu?lang=pl The January Uprising (1863-64): The largest, longest Polish insurrection against Imperial Russia. The January Uprising (1863-64) | The Largest, Longest Polish Insurrection Against Imperial Russia. (n.d.). https://www.inyourpocket.com/warsaw/the-january-uprising-1863-64_75398f Log into Facebook. Facebook. (n.d.). https://www.facebook.com/216532571884064/photos/a.225763764294278/790735797797069/ Powstanie Styczniowe W Regionie. historiaregionu. (n.d.). https://www.historiaregionu.org/powstanie-styczniowe-w-regionie?lang=pl S.A, T. P. (n.d.). Rocznica Krwawego Dnia W Tomaszowie Lubelskim. lublin.tvp.pl. https://lublin.tvp.pl/41150235/rocznica-krwawego-dnia-w-Tomasz%C3%B3wie-lubelskim