Who Were the Burghers In the Family

Burghers were immigrants and free citizens that worked as bankers, craftsmen, tradesmen, and merchants which the noble could not do by law. While almost all the men on the Kaszucki side worked in these areas, only a few were referred to as burghers in the birth, marriage and death records. **********One was Andrej Kaszucki (my 3x great grandfather), who in 1885 when he was 53, was listed as a burgher in the city of Tomaszów Lubelski. He would have been a minor burgher, as he worked in the middle class as a furrier, carrying on the tradition of his father who came from Uhnow, Galicia, Austria from a family of furriers. **********Andrzej Kurkiewicz (my 2x great grandmother Paulina’s brother) was considered a burgher in 1867 at age 26 as a shoemaker. His brother, Ignacy Kurkiewicz was listed as a minor burghur in his death record at age 53 in 1851.**********Grzegorz Niedźwiedź (related to Curt Wolf), age 31, was also considered a burgher from Tomaszow Lubelski. They were listed this way in the birth record of Jozef Kasucki’s daughter Jozefa. **** **********Adam Eifler from Rognozno was considered a “burgher”. He was a shoemaker and so was his father. This means that he likely lived in town and was anything from lower middle class to middle class. His great grandfather had been one of the colonists from Germany that was given land and other belongings in return for payments to Zamoyski to settle the area. His grandmother was a single parent.************ Here is a story from Curt Wolf about him: Story from Curt Wolf: Adam’s land Busha’s father Adam was considered a “burgher”. This term means that he likely lived in a town and was anything from lower middle class to middle class. There were only 3 social strata back then which were peasant, burgher, and nobleman. Given what I learned, I would put Busha’s family of origin in the lower middle to middle class given the land they owned and his business as a shoemaker… but more research has to be done to confirm this. According to Uncle Frank, Pauline and Josef Niedzwiedz had about 6 acres of land in the Tomaszow area before they moved to America. It was not clear if this land came from the Niedzwiedzki side or Eifler side. But I saw the land that Adam’s family owned. It is near the center of Tomaszow with government buildings including a school on top of it. I do not know how Adam’s family of origin obtained this land because they were leasing land in the village of Roguzno from the time their ancestors came in 1784. Image by 13smok from Pixabay

Peasant farmers

Most of the records on the Raczkiewicz side give the occupation as Komornik, peasant farmer. Lukasz Grabek (3x great grandfather) who dies tomorrow (in 1861) was a peasant farmer. A peasant may be a farmer who: Kmiec: worked enough land to support his family and owned two or more cows, horses, sheep oxen, goats, and pigs as well as several buildings on the farm. Potrolik: worked a half-sized farm. Zagrodnik: owned a farmhouse, out buildings, animals and a vegetable garden. Many peasants had no crop land. Chalupnik: lived in a small cottage. Komornik: was a tenant farmer, or day laborer. Image: https://picryl.com/media/a-forest-edge-with-peasants-and-a-village-in-the-background-verso-landscape-c967d0 Metropolitan Museum of Art

Social Classes in “Old” Poland

Social classes in “old” Poland included magnates, nobility (szlachta), peasants, burghers, intelligentsia and “loose people.” Magnates owned castles and entire villages. They made their income by charging peasants to live and farm on their property. They didn’t pay a lot of taxes which bothered the nobility. They had the most control of life in Poland and it was to their advantage to prevent the peasants and burghers from having much power in society. The nobility were also landowners. A -ski or -cki at the end of their name denoted noble birth at one time but eventually the peasants living on their land took on the same name even if not related. Their role was to protect Poland but many were under the control of the magnates. Common occupations were soldier, gentleman farmer, scholar, priest, public official, or administrator of a higher noble’s estate. Zamoyski is the name of the Polish noble that was in the area of Tomaszow Lubelski. This family had a major political role and were Counts and Countesses. Jan Zamoyski was a chancellor and started their estate. His son Tomasz Zamoyski was also a chancellor and the city of Tomaszow was named for him. Many descendants continued in politics.(These nobility were NOT related but would have impacted the lives of my family in the past.) Peasants formed the largest group in Poland. There were different levels of wealth and status from an extremely poor day laborer to ownership of some things with the requirement still there to do work for their lord. Burghers were immigrants and free citizens that worked as bankers, craftsmen, tradesmen, and merchants which the noble could not do by law. Professionals (“intelligentisia”) developed in the middle of the 18th century. They were usually members of the burgher or gentry social classes. Common occupations were doctors, scientists, scholars, priests, teachers, lawyers, architects, artists and writers. Loose people could originate from any social class and had no possessions. They might be criminals, prostitutes, gypsies or runaway serfs Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamoyski_family https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Poland_Social_Life_and_Customs Source: Chorzempa, Rosemary A. Polish Roots = Korzenie Polskie. Pages 58 - 62. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., c1993. (Family History Library INTL Book 943.8 D27c). Picture credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jelita.jpg#/media/File:Jelita.jpg By Zmf4 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78880564

Grave digger “grabarz”

Digging graves is definitely an essential service but a low status job. After being a potter, my 4x great grandfather Blazej Wisniewski worked as a grave digger. He also was a farmer. His father Mateusz also was a grave digger. Traditionally, this might have been one of the tasks of the church sexton but they may also have used temporary help. If done as part of the sexton’s duties, landscaping of the cemetery and interacting with the mourners may have also been part of the job. The graves were dug before heavy equipment was available. To hand dig a grave, a wooden frame is usually placed over the intended area. A spade would be used to remove the top layer of sod following this outline. Shovels and picks might also be used. A nearby box would be used to hold the removed soil and be covered and left there until after the burial. While in our present day, machines may have replaced a lot of the labor involved, crowded cemeteries often require the continued use of hand digging. The job of grave digger may never be gone but the need lessens over time. In 2005, only 46% of the people in Poland indicated that they would prefer burial upon their death. Check out the Eastern Europe grave digger competition: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/10/slovakian-brothers-crowned-fastest-gravediggers-central-europe-trencin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravedigger https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235917983_Burial_rituals_and_cultural_changes_in_the_polish_community_-_a_qualitative_study Picture credit: Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wealthy in Uhnow

Uhniv had several philanthropists that contributed to the community. Learning about them helps me understand a little about the community that Andrzej and his brothers left behind. These improvements happened after they lived there. We know his mother was alive and still living when he married in Tomaszow Lubelski and probably there were siblings there too. Stepan and Pelagia Zhukovsky became wealthy in the cattle and lumber trades. A local priest suggested they support various causes. They expanded and remodeled the local church in 1855 to 1857. In 1872 they built a dormitory for “Ruthenian Students” for the boys of Uhniv., a chapel at the cemetery. They left part of their property to the church when they died in 1875 (Stepan) and 1879 (Pelagia.) After World War 1, in 1924, the dormitory was converted into a convent for Ukrainian Catholic nuns. Maxim Lysiak’s estate went to the construction of a church belfry. Flisovsky built a house for people who were indigent. https://www.historiaregionu.org/uhnow Theodore Reshetylo "Welfare Foundations in Uhniv" Photo credit: https://www.historiaregionu.org/uhnow?lightbox=dataItem-ipd0jfe7

Working at a Faience Factory

As I had birth, marriage and death records translated, it was interesting to note that often the occupations of the participants were noted. Many expected occupations were mentioned like shoemakers and farmers. There was one that originally tripped up the volunteer translator -- garncarz -- or potter. As more translations were done, the word faience, or a type of pottery was mentioned. I thought it was an interesting occupation and hoped to someday learn more about it. Slowly pieces came together. I learned from one new found “cousin” that Zamoyski was the name of a baron who owned the lands in the area. Then I saw something about Zamoyski starting a faience factory. I started looking more earnestly for information about Polish pottery. It seemed worthwhile to know more since two of the four 4x great grandfathers--all born in the late 1700s on my Anthony’s maternal side were potters, one was even a foreman at a faience factory. Blazej Wisniewski (and his brother-in-law Bartlomiej Szczesnicki) and Maciej Wiciejewski (and his father Jakub Wiciejewski) were all potters. A third 4x grandfather was a shoemaker but potters were witnesses at major family events so they knew them at least. The 4th of the group was a furrier Within the Lublin region in the 18th century until the mid-19th century, there were factories in four areas that were established by Polish magnates, including in Tomaszów Lubelski. They were built to compete with imported products. The factories started out making imitations but then they hired artists that created original designs. A popular color was blue. Different factories produced different products such as pottery, porcelain dishes and stoneware. In Tomaszów Lubelski, in the Zamość Estate, a faience and porcelain factory was begun in 1794 by Alexander August Zamoyski, age 24 and a ceramist, Franciszek Mezer. They established a contract where a square and buildings were signed over to the business. “The manufactory buildings were located on Lwowska Street - it was the only paved road in the city - on both sides. In the period of its greatest prosperity, 50 employees were employed here. For the first 12 years, until 1806, only earthenware was produced”. Local forests were available for the fuel and the clay was brought in from Wolowska, near Lviv, approximately 150 miles away. The local clay was useful only to produce faience, not porcelain. Faience is “fine tin-glazed pottery.” A glaze was developed that allowed for decorative painting to be added which was a major innovation in the history of pottery. It required a kiln producing temperatures above 1,830 degrees F (1,000 C.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faience In 1806, the factory began to produce porcelain and their profits increased yearly until 1809. Utensils, vases and items for pharmacy use were among the products manufactured. They were famous for their artists creating cups with pictures of famous historical and contemporary figures. The products were sold widely in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Moldavia. Things began to change after The Duchy of Warsaw was created in July of 1807. By October, Tomaszow Lubelski was located within the Duchy as the boundaries of the country were changed. The raw clay was now located behind a border requiring an additional border tax which added to the cost of the clay and transportation. Additionally, markets that were available for sales became unavailable. Franciszek Mezer left the company and his brother-in-law Tadewusz Zianski and son Karol became the managers. By 1810 the value of the products was further reduced and continued to decline. According to family records, Blazej Wisniewski was a foreman of a faience factory, likely this one. His father, Mateusz, was a grave digger and it looks like this was a better opportunity for Blazej. Later records indicate he was a grave digger like his father so the demise of the faience industry in Tomaszow Lubelski likely had an effect on his career. Blazej’s brother-in-law Bartlomiej Szczesnicki was also a potter and fellow potters Filip Zawalski, Jan Lisikiewicz and Stefan Okopcinski were witnesses for his marriage. Maciej Wiciejewski(4x great grandfather) and Jakub Wiciejewski, his father (5x great grandfather) were also potters and Maciej was referred to as “renowned” in an 1819 record. Maciej Glowacki was a potter who was a declarant for the birth of one of Antoni Kurkiewicz’s (another 4th great grandfather) children. By 1827, the factory was no longer in operation. A few examples of the faience and porcelain made in Tomaszow still exist in a museum in Tomaszów Lubelski, as well as a few other museums and a private collection. Check out Polish Family History for images of the location and links (they don't work in this blog.)

The story of Valentine Wiciejewski--Including his 2nd marriage on 22 Nov 1824

I am trying to mainly share stories of the direct descendants--but some of their brothers and sisters have good stories to share also. Today (November 22) is the anniversary of the second marriage of Valentine (Walenty) Wiciejewski, my 4th great uncle. At his birth on 9 Feb 1824 at 4 a.m., his father, Maciej Wiciejewski was already 54 years old and had been a renowned potter. His mother, Marianna nee Metalska was 37. Maciej was born in their house #207 in Tomaszow. The witnesses were Maciej Wyszynski, 50, a cooper and Michal Kudlicki, 45, a shoemaker. His parents had nine children--Valentine was the youngest and his sister Salomea was the oldest. Salomea married Andrzej Kaszucki, (my 3x great grandparents) the year before Valentine was born. Their first born Nikolaj was born two months after Valentine’s birth in her father’s house so there would have been two newborns living there. Valentine’s mother died when he was nine and his father died when he was 15. He likely lived with one of his older brothers or sisters. Valentine’s first marriage was to Helena Jozefko on 16 Jul 1843. He was 19 and his father was already deceased and Helena was 22. She was born in Komodow but was working in Tomaszow as household help. Her parents were farmers in Komodow. The witnesses were both shoemakers: Mateusz Rubacka, 29 and Tomasz Kaminski, 36. When Valentine married for the second time, at 3pm, his bride Miss Ewa Tarczylo was 22 years old and he was 35. He was working as a spoon maker and his parents were deceased. Her father Jan was deceased and she was living in Tomaszow Lubelski with her mother Petronella (Bukawski) Tarczylo. They were shoemakers. The witnesses were Antoni Romanowicz, 48 and Tadeusz Tyndar, 46, both shoemakers. It sounds like in his life he had various jobs. He started out as a shoemaker and became a spoon maker. He then was a peasant farmer and an innkeeper in the village of Para. When he married Ewa he was back to being a spoon maker. He died at age 50.

Shirley's Work Life

Shirley worked her first job at a parking garage in downtown Grand Rapids. Her boss was good to her and sometimes gave her a ride home so she didn’t have to take the bus in the dark. The 'new' Wurzburg's of 1951 was a collection of several older buildings,as well as a "Parking Pavilion" across Ottawa Avenue NW. She found out from her sister-in-law Ceil, a surgical nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan that an x-ray course was being offered. She was one of three students accepted. When the three students took their final exam, (probably downtown at Ferguson Hospital), all three of them flunked. Shirley was the only one who retook the exam and she passed and continued at St. Mary’s. Shirley was nervous and said she “shivered” around Dr. Benson, who would stop to grill them on how many bones in a part of the body or the name of a bone.She also remembers his kindness in letting her go for a week to Pennsylvania when her cousin Eileen Schlosser married Ted Marchibroda, a quarterback in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Cardinals who was later a coach for the Baltimore Colts and Indianapolis Colts. At one point he told her to come in at 9am instead of 8am because she was tired since she still worked at the parking garage. Dr Benson also gave the students meal punch cards when he discovered fellow student MaryJane from Mount Pleasant who lived in an apartment downtown, was bringing mayonnaise sandwiches to work. Unlike Shirley who continued to work at the parking garage, Mary Jane wasn’t working. Receiving a meal card was fair though since they were already working as part of their internship. During the time she was at St. Mary’s, Shirley was dating Paul Plasman. Paul and Roy Longwell had a sailboat and met around Lake Michigan since Shirley visited her sister Lorraine and her husband John often at their boat slip on Lake Michigan. Paul was in a serious car accident and Shirley remembers Roy taking her up to see him at the hospital. Sometime after that (and we don’t hear any of the details!), Shirley and Roy were dating, with Paul’s blessing. Paul recovered and went on to marry someone else and started “Bill and Paul’s Sporthaus” with a friend in 1961. Shirley continued to work at St. Mary’s until after she was married and once she discovered she was pregnant. Because there was little in the way of protection from radiation, she often wondered if daughter Paulette’s left undeveloped optic nerve was a result. While gloves and gowns and meters were introduced when Dr. Shay joined the staff, she still remembers carrying a bucket of radium up to surgery when she was pregnant. While the eye nerves develop early in utero, possibly before Shirley knew she was pregnant and quit, first pregnancies and low maternal weight gain are other possibilities among many. A pregnancy related practice at that time according to Shirley was for the expectant mother to limit their weight gain. She would go with a friend for a malted milkshake AFTER her weigh in and complained she was starving during her pregnancy. Her return to work in the early 1970’s was a surprise to everyone. She had not been looking for a job or interviewing. A former co-worker who had remained a friend, recommended her for the x-ray technician job at Alpine Medical Center when he was moving on to another position. Her job necessitated a second car for the family. Daughter Paulette was in high school so the three girls were old enough to stay alone. She worked until eventually the medical practice contracted out their radiology. She remains friends with many of the co-workers from this job and attends their regular luncheon get-togethers. Shirley worked for a few years after that at Michigan Bulb until she retired.

What Jobs Did My Family Do in Poland?

(This image is from: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/45548-a-group-of-russian-peasants-and-children Occupations are often listed in birth, death and marriage records. I have been able to see what time of work relatives were doing. Anthony Raczkiewicz’s father side predominantly had one line of work: peasant farmer (wloscianin), going back as far as I could discover with people who had been born as early as 1753. Anthony’s mother’s side (Katarzyna Kaszucka) was more varied. Her father’s family were furriers (kuśnierz), all the way back to 1742 in Ulnow, Galicia (now Ukraine.) Many of them moved to Tomaszow Lubelski and continued to work as furriers. On both her family’s sides, there were many potters (garncarz)--working in a factory making faience (a type of metal fired pottery) and porcelain. Besides ceramics, many of them made other things for a living. Some were considered master craftsmen (majster), and others were apprentices. A lot of them made shoes (szewc), others made fabric ( tkacz), wheels (stelmach), and barrels (bednarz). Some women were listed with occupations --often the same occupation as their husband-- or as a servant (sluzacy) or midwife (położna.) Some of the other occupations seen were: carpenter (stelmach), mason (mularz), grave-digger (grabarz), farmhand (robotnik rolny), farmer (rolnik) and soldier (zolnierz). https://www.polishpod101.com/polish-vocabulary-lists/20-common-words-for-occupations/