Theresa (Kufta) Parkansky--A New Found Relative

I am very excited that I have found living relatives of my grandfather’s sister Marion who moved to Muskegon from Poland, a few years after her brothers came to Grand Rapids, MIchigan. Theresa (Kufta) Parkansky (my 1rst cousin 1x removed) was her youngest daughter. I will let her introduce herself: “My name is Theresa kufta Parkanzky. I am 85 years old and live in Van Wert, Ohio. I grew up in Muskegon, Michigan. I graduated from high school and went to college in Detroit. I graduated from Mercy College with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1957. I married in 1958 and had 6 children: Daniel, Marie Halloran, Karen Vogler, Connie Snyder! Paul David, and John. My husband Ernest passed away in 2011. I had 2 sisters, Wanda Kozicki and Irene Mastee -- both deceased. I remember as a child going to my uncle's home and as I recall his name was Tony and his brother was Joe? Nothing was ever discussed re my mother Mary’s background. My memory may be foggy and unfortunately my sisters are gone and may have had more information.” Theresa is my mother Shirley (Raczkiewicz) Longwell's first cousin. My Mom is also 85 years old and has some similarities in her story: She went to X-Ray school at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan and married in 1957. She and my Dad (Roy Longwell) had three daughters, me, Linda, and Lori. Shirley remembers visiting the Kufta house in Muskegon. She can only remember one time and has no idea how she got there since her parents did not have a car. She remembers going to a baseball game with their family. She recently remembered that Frank and Mary came to her wedding.

Walenty Grabek Died March 19 1812

Walenty Grabek (my 4th great grandfather) died 19 March 1812 at 6:00 in the evening. He was only 44 years old. He died in Górno in house number 11. He was married but his wife's name is not listed in the death record. But one of the witnesses -- Marcin Walewender -- was her brother. The other witness was Jan Prsybysz. They were both his neighbors. I have only found two children for him and his wife Teresa Walawender -- Lukasz (my 3rd great grandfather) and Zofia. Eleven month 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.

Joseph Raczkiewicz (my great Uncle) celebrated his name day on March 19

Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji imienin. (HAPPY NAME DAY) My great uncle Joe didn’t really know when his birthday was so he celebrated his name day on March 19. (It turns out his birthday was February 18.) My Mom remembers that it was celebrated on this day. The Michigan Death Index listed the March date since that is what the people reporting the death would think it was. I never knew this but apparently if you celebrated St. Joseph’s Day as your name day, there was a special dispensation for this. The normal Lent prohibitions were suspended for the celebration. Image credit: By Guido Reni - http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/reni/2/joseph_i.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1813919

Sabaudia youtube

Anthony Raczkiewicz (my grandfather) and his siblings were born in Sabaudia, near the city of Tomaszów Lubelski. This video will give you a glimpse of the village: “The very name of the village of Sabaudia reminds us exceptionally European. No wonder, because apart from Poles, it was also founded by foreigners, five Germans and a Dane. Until today, some residents have retained foreign-sounding surnames and remember their ancestors who came to this area in 1840 looking for their place. Today's inhabitants praise their town very much. They have good access to the city, beautiful views and a school. The Tomaszów Lubelski commune has made many investments for them: a new road or lighting are just two of many examples of investments, which often use European Union funds. It is also thanks to them that the Polish countryside develops, becomes more friendly to its inhabitants and more attractive to tourists and new settlers. While traveling through the Tomaszów Lubelski Commune, we will visit every town in this commune. We will show people who create it, the traditions that are cultivated there, monuments worth visiting and the quiet, idyllic life of the inhabitants of this wonderful region.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgJ50bNX5rw

Laszczow Used to Have Many Jewish Inhabitants

My Mother’s DNA included 4% Jewish which means it could be anywhere between 1 and 6%. If there is a relative or more that was Jewish, I have not yet found that out. Because Laszczow had such a large population of people who were Jewish, I wondered if there was any connection. There is a list of over a hundred Jewish households from this time period that lived in Laszczow and I do not recognize any of the names as surnames in our family. . http://chelm.freeyellow.com/laszczow.html ----------------------------- Laszczow had a large Jewish community, They made a living in trade of grain and craft and lived in the Market Square. There was a Jewish printing house. The Jewish population increased over the 19th century from 826 people in 1827 to 1,621 ipeople n 1897. At that point, Jews were over 90% of the population. In the 20th century, Laszcow was mainly Jewish. The area suffered many times from attacks from various sources. A Jewish surgeon, Alfrons Brawstedt opened a 30 bed hospital that treated men wounded in the November Uprising (1830-1831.) In 1920, the Russians attacked the town, harming and killing many people. Many fled and those that remained lived in poverty. In 1939 the Nazis occupied the town and over the next several years sent the inhabitants to slave labor and death camps. Few survived. On Christmas Eve, 1942, 75 Poles were murdered in retaliation for an earlier confrontation between several villagers and four armed German police officers. In 1944 the Ukranian Insurgent Army burnt down the village. -------------------------------------------- http://iajgscemetery.org/eastern-europe/poland/laszczow https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/l/713-laszczow/99-history/137619-history-of-community Image: Tomasz Zugaj, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons https://www.historiaregionu.org/posty-autorstwa-slawomira-litkowca?lang=pl article about 1942 75 Poles killed

Kazmierz Krawczyk (my 5th great grandfather) died March 16, 1823

Kazmierz Krawczyk (my 5th great grandfather) was a 75 year old widower when he died. He died March 16, 1823 at 1:00 in the morning. He was born in about 1748, His two sons, Wojciech and Bartłomiej, 30, went to report the death in Tomaszow Lubelski. They were both peasants. Kazmierz lived with his son Wojciech and Wojciech’s wife Rozalia when died in their house #10 in Łaszczówka. Kazmierz probably moved in with him some time after 1814 when his wife Rozalia (my 5x great grandmother) died in house #5, in the same village. Both his wife and his daughter-in-law were named Rozalia. Łaszczówka is a village about one mile east of Tomaszów Lubelski. It has about 1,000 residents. Family members lived there for several generations of Krawczyks. Image credit: http://niezalezna.pl/94988-samuel-laszcz-i-modna-fryzura-szlachty

Klementyna Gołębiowska (My Grandpa’s 1st wife) Was Born March 13 1896

Klementyna Gołębiowska (my grandpa Anthony Raczkiewicz’ first wife) was born 13 March 1894 at 8:00 in the morning. .She was born on the same day as her husband but two years later. Her death record has the wrong date but her husband was likely reporting it and the immigrants often didn’t know exactly when their birthday was. She was from the same area of Poland--she was born in the city of Tomaszów Lubelski and he was born in the nearby village of Sabaudia. Her father Wojceich, 35, was a blacksmith in the city. Her mother was 37 year old Katarzyna nee Roczniak. The witnesses were Ludwik Skibiński, 45 and Konstanty Kudlicki, 34, both from Tomaszow. Her Godparents were Ludwik and Antonina Roczniak. Her name is written various ways: Klementyna, Clementina

Jan Raczkiewicz Died March 8, 1915

Jan Raczkiewicz (my great grandfather) died March 8, 1915 at 5:00 in the morning in the village of Sabaudia. Jan worked as a peasant farmer. He was only 50 years old when he died. The record does not give the cause of death. What was happening in the world around him? 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.. Jan was the son of Antoni and Katarzyna (née Grabek) Raczkiewicz, who were both deceased. He left behind widow Katarzyna, née Kaszucka who was 44 years old at the time. “Marian Skurcz, 50 years old, Christian from Sabaudia, and Walenty Liskiewicz, 59 years old, townsman from Tomaszów, came and declared” the event to the officials. Their oldest child Jan, had left for the United States five years before and Anthony (my grandfather) and Joseph had left three years earlier. Jan had just been shot in front of his house a month before this in Grand Rapids, Michigan. . I wonder how and when the three brothers heard that their father had died. The six remaining children 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.) His wife Katarzyna lived another 29 years but did not remarry. As far as I can tell so far, Katarzyna had no living siblings. So far, I have only found one sibling of Jan and she was deceased by this time. But Katarzyna and her husband had a lot of cousins. This record was found and translated by Andrzej Dubiel 1/24/2021 https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol7_00237b.html

Looking Back at World War II

Rotunda's gate. The temporary camp for the prisoners of Security Police. ***** I asked Andrzej Dubiel (my 2nd cousin) about family history during WWII. “My father didn't talk about it. My mother sometimes mentioned that her aunt's house was burnt by Germans and they had to run off and had to hide. It was in Sumin, a village near Sabaudia, located about 10 kom north of Sabaudia on the way to Zamość.” ***** Between November 1942 and March 1943, the Germans forcibly removed Jewish people from the area around Tomaszow Lubelski. They were taken to a camp in Zamosc and from there it was determined if their next step was slave labor or a concentration camp. Children were separated from their families. ***** I asked Andrzej what he knew about the Jewish community within the area. He told me, . “When I was younger I didn't realize that there lived so many Jewish here. The Germans destroyed almost all evidence of their lives. The synagogue was torn down, the cemetery was devastated and people forgot about them.” ***** The link about this part of polish history is active on the Facebook Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_of_Zamojszczyzna_by_Nazi_Germany ***** Here is an interesting website about Jews in Tomaszów.(issues even before 1943) https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/t/51-tomaszow-lubelski/99-history/138161-history-of-community ***** Image: By Aung - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1998069

Franciszek Raczkiewicz (brother of my Grandpa) Was Shot By Germans in the Rotunda in Zamosc

My Mom has a memory about hearing what her fatherś family was experiencing in Poland. She told me, “There were letters that came back and forth from Poland. Occasionally the relatives in Poland would send mushrooms to my Dad. What I remember is my mom said that Dad’s brother got shot or killed stealing his own corn for food. They were under siege to the point they couldn’t take their own food. That is all I know, not sure what brother it was. My mom wasn’t telling me that -- I am not sure who she was talking to and I heard the story. I was a kid at the time.” ************************************** I was curious to see if this story could be verified but I did not really know how to go about it. Recently, I read this account on the family tree of Andrzej Dubiel: (Janina Bender's testimony - my grandmother's on August 25, 2010.) The people who had been settled in Savoie, called Czarnuchy or Romanians, were given their fields and Poles were not allowed to harvest them. She was in danger of dying for harvesting her crops. Franek and his wife left for Łaszczów. After some time he returned to silently take something from the field. According to aunt Wana (report of August 25, 2010) he went for apples, potatoes, maybe grain and loaded them onto a wagon. He was caught under the statue. And then the grandmother's story: Franek loaded the car in the evening and left in the morning, but MINKA (I DON'T KNOW IF THERE IS ANY PERSON, AS MUCH AS I REMEMBER THIS) caught him at the bend near Bogdan, just like the road, and was arrested. There was an investigation and he was asked who was with him, but Franek did not give up anyone, for which he ended up at the Rotunda. Further Wanda's account: My mother (Frank's sister) used to visit him in Zamość. They read him the death sentence. He bit his fingers out of fear. He was shot. ***************************** I asked Andrzej about this and he told me the story was from the grandmother of Tomasz Raszkiewicz. She was married to Boleslaw, the youngest brother of my Grandfather. Andrrzej didn't know about this story before. He told me: My mom often said something about "czarnuchach". They were called "czarnuchy" because of their uniforms, but they weren't German soldiers, they came in order to take farms here. **************************** Franciszek died in 1943 at the age of 45. His mother died the following year in 1944 at the age of 73. His brother, Anthony (my grandfather) was a machinist at the time, living at 501 Milwaukee NW. He was two years older than his brother Francis. I wonder how and when he found out about his brotherś death. ------------------------- I attempted to understand what was going on in this time period in order to understand Franciszek’s experience of being forced to steal his own crops to survive and being shot in the Rotunda in Zamosc for it. I found an article that is about the German invasion in the area my family was from. It is written from the Ukrainian perspective. It sounds like after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, German troops occupied the area. Ukrainian cultural activity did well under their regime and they resumed control of some churches which had become Roman Catholic,there was more use of their language and they had some positions of leadership. In 1942, the Polish underground fighters attacked the Ukrainians who retaliated. Whenever a country took over, they moved out many of the people living in the area and chose who would move in as settlers. “In 1943 the Germans began forcibly deporting the inhabitants of many Polish and Ukrainian villages in Zamość and Tomaszów Lubelski counties with the aim of resettling Germans there and undermining the popular base of the undergrounds.” The forcible deportations led to an increase in Polish resistance. **************** “On 3 September 1944 the Polish-Soviet authorities had signed an agreement in Lublin on the voluntary resettlement of Ukrainians living in Poland to Ukraine and of Poles living in Soviet Ukraine to Poland. The population transfer began in October 1944.” In this the Poles and Ukrainians were united in opposition but did not succeed.****************************************** From Wikipedia: 8000 people died in the Gestapo Rotunda camp in Zamość.[2] Nobody was judged for those crimes. During Generalplan Ost and Ethnic cleansing of Zamojszczyzna by Nazi Germany from Zamość Region Germans resettled 297 villages, about 110,000 Polish people, including 16,000 to Majdanek concentration camp, 2,000 to KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. 30,000 children were resettled. 4,500 Polish children from Zamosc Region deported to Germany in order to be Germanized[3] The gate which leads to the yard has the original doors with an inscription in German which reads: The temporary camp for the prisoners of Security Police. In German: Gefangenen-Durchgangslager Sicherheitspol. Last execution took place on 20 and 21 July 1944, when 150 people were shot[4]************************ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotunda_Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87 By Ziuteknowocz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66983474 Ziuteknowocz, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Ziuteknowocz, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons By Ziuteknowocz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66945992

Katarzyna Golebiowska Died February 20, 1820

Katarzyna Golebiowska (my 5x great grandmother) died at 6:00 in the evening on February 20, 1820. She died in house number 30 in Gorno. She was 80 years old and a widow. Her husband Franciszek also died in February, seven years earlier. Paweł Gołębiowski , son of the deceased ,24 and Jan Raszkiewicz ,36 , son in law of the deceased, reported her death two days later at 10:00 in the morning. They left Górny and went into Tomaszów Lubelski to do this.

Lorraine Raczkiewicz Married John Dykstra February 22 1941

Lorraine Raczkiewicz (my aunt) married John Dykstra. “When John was 18, he married his sweetheart, Lorraine Raczkiewicz, on February 22, 1941 at St. Aldabert’s in Grand Rapids. The newlyweds settled into an apartment by St. James Church and John later went into the family meat business, Dykstra Beef Co., where he became part owner along with his brothers Bob and Sib. John and Lorraine were later blessed with the birth of their only child, Sandra Ann born in 1943.” From John’s memorial: https://heritagelifestory.com/obituaries/john-dykstra.45081

Teresa (Walewander) Grabek married Grzegorz Lebiedowski 21 Feb 1813

Teresa (Walewander) Grabek (my 4x great grandmother) married for a second time on 21 February 1813. Her first husband (my 4x great grandfather) Jozef Grabicz (Grabek) died a few years earlier on 15 January 1811. Teresa married Grzegorz Lebiodowski, a 34 year old widower. She was 30 years old. None of the witnesses are familiar to me but I list them in case our Polish relatives recognize them: Ignacy Dzierży, Michal Srytrzyszyn, Marcin Trutwa and Andrzej Groch. They had one child Agnieszka two years later.

"Uncle Joe's" Birth Was Reported on February 19

Joseph Raczkiewicz (my grand uncle) was born February 18! The birth was reported on the 19th. This was a surprise to find in his birth record from Poland because he celebrated it on March 19. My Mother explained to us that he didn’t know when his real birthday was so he celebrated on the name day for St. Joseph. Even his US Social Security application lists March 19 as his birthday. The year is also wrong in this record since it lists 1894 but he was actually born in 1891. According to the birth record, Jozef Raczkiewicz was born at 3:00 in the afternoon on 6/18 February, 1891 in Sabaudia. (There are 2 dates in Russian records. The 1st date is the Julian calendar date which was used by the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church. The second is the Gregorian date -- used by the Polish, the rest of Europe and us today. In the 1800s, there was a 12 days difference between the dates.) Joe’s parents were Jan Raczkiewicz, a 26 year old peasant and Katarzyna nee Kaszucka, age 21. He was their second child. The oldest child Jan was two and a half years old when he was born. Joe was baptized 7/19 February in Tomaszow Lubelski. His Godparents were Wiktor Wiciewski and Jozefa Skurcz. “Uncle Joe” lived with my grandparents until his death so my sisters and I celebrated his birthday with him throughout our childhood. ********** Jozef immigrated with his brother Anthony (my grandfather.) On the manifest, I learned that 20 year old Antoni and his 22 year old brother Josef, were born in Zabaldy (Sabaudia) and were farm laborers who could read and write. While they were Russian citizens, they were Polish. Their father, Jan, of “Zabaldy” (Sabaudia), Lublin, Russia had paid their passage and Antoni had an additional $18 in his pocket. It is about 700 miles from Poland to Antwerp. The current train ride would be 23 hours. https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Antwerp/Tomasz%C3%B3w-Lubelski. ********** Here are the addresses I found for Joseph. In my childhood, he didn’t work and the explanation was that he was hurt in the military, that it had caused epilepsy. He did work for many years when he got to the U.S.: 1914 Tacker (Keifer Tanning) 946 Dayton 1916 Finisher 327 Gunnison 1921 Cabinet maker 315 Gunnison 1928 Cabinet maker 501 Milwaukee 1948 (no occupation listed) 501 Milwaukee ********** This picture was taken by Walter Filipkowski, an early photographer in Michigan. He was a furniture finisher in 1910 and had a photography studio at 346 (or 345 and ½ according to one record) from 1920 to 1922. Joe would have been between 29 and 31 years of age. According to his World War 1 draft registration three years before he was described as having light colored hair, blue eyes and a slender build. I asked my Mom if she knew anything about the pearl ring on Joe’s left hand. She didn’t but she said she remembers a very large picture of JOe with an ornate frame hung in his room. We don’t know where that picture might be. https://clements.umich.edu/files/tinder_directory.pdf

Jan Raczkiewicz Was Shot in 1915

Jan had a big year in 1915 for some reason. I thought it was the year he married France but that was actually at the beginning of 1916. I found out he worked as a shoemaker and that information might have been good or bad -- was he fired as a cabinet maker or was he trying out something he hoped would be an improvement? The bad news that year is that he was shot -- two times actually, on the same night. The past year (2020) in Grand Rapids has seen a sharp spike in shootings and in fact there were 35 homicides in 2020 versus 18 in 2019. The pandemic and racial inequities are the probable reasons. It makes me wonder what was going on in 1915 in Grand Rapids and how safe was the city to which Jan and his brothers had recently immigrated. ***** Reading in the Grand Rapids Herald article (thanks for finding the article, Lori Longwell Peterson!) that the argument started at a wedding nearby made me think that alcohol was probably involved in this crime. I have personally been to enough Polish weddings to know about the heavy drinking that occurs. It is hard to say who was at fault -- either Jan or the two alleged shooters. I am not sure if the convoluted story reported to the police and inability to answer questions was related to alcohol or the fact that Jan’s English was probably not yet that good even though he had been in the country for about five years at the time of the shooting. It also could have been some other factor such as an unwillingness to provide the details to the police. ***** So what was going on in Jan’s life at the time? The same year of the shooting was the only year that Jan worked as a shoemaker rather than a cabinet maker. Jan had been working as a cabinet maker for Phoenix Furniture Company the year before. The year of the shooting, he had a brief career as a shoemaker with Adolph Montrim. Then by the following year, he returned to making cabinets again for a different company -- Johnson Furniture. He remained at that company for the next several years until I can’t find any more traces of him. I don’t know if he was fired or let go or if he was involved in some sort of business venture. He married Frances 11 months after this so I don’t know if they knew each other. . My grandfather Anthony might have also attended the wedding because they probably knew many of the same people. He was likely nearby during the shooting since the two brothers lived in the same house at the time. ***** Like other immigrants, Jan moved around quite a bit during the first five years he was in the U.S.. The first address I have for him is 409 Stocking Ave in 1913. Then in 1914, before the shooting, I can verify that both Jan and Anthony were living at 122 Winter. Later in 1915, apparently after the shooting, Jan moved to 255 Olive SW but Anthony remained in the house where the shooting occured. Then Jan and his wife Frances (along with his brother Joseph for a while) moved to 327 Gunnison where the couple stayed for at least four years. All of these houses are in the same general neighborhood. ***** The article says the wedding was near First Street and Stocking Avenue. It was more likely the arguing began at the reception rather than the wedding. There were two halls in that area which are possibilities: the Taxpayers Hall and Swantek Hall. Taxpayers was on First St. just east of Stocking. It had German roots and eventually burned down. Swantek Hall was on Stocking at Second Street and was a privately owned facility. My mother remembers as a young girl walking to one of these halls from her house to buy potato chips. ***** Feb. 16, 1915 https://grpl.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16055coll9/id/96099/rec/1 For Raczkiewicz. Below is the transcription on that page as it is hard to read. JOHN RACZKIEWICE ATTACKED IN FRONT OF HOME BY TWO MEN. John Raczklewlcz, 26 years old, 122 Winter avenue, N.W., is in Butterworth hospital suffering from bullet wounds in his left chest and left hand, the result of being shot while in front of his home last night shortly after 10 o'clock. The wounds are not believed tb be fatal. The police could learn little about the shooting. Their first report was that Raczkiewicz had shot himself, but when taken to the hospital the wounded man said he was fired upon by two men with whom he had quarreled while attending a wedding on First street near Stocking Avenue last night. When questioned by the detectives, Raczklewlcz was unable to tell who the men were with whom he had quarreled, or what the quarrel was about. He said he believed the men had followed him home and laid in wait for him. The wounds were Inflicted wth a 22 caliber revolver. One of the bullets Iodged In the hand, while the other entered the left chest, taking a downward course and came out about the middle of the side. Detectives Youngs and Bllnston are investigating.

Jan Raczkiewicz Arrives in the U.S in 1910

“You can have more than one home. You can carry your roots with you, and decide where they grow.” Hanning Mankell ***** Jan Raczkiewicz (my grand uncle) arrived in the United States on February 18, 1910. When his mother Katarzyna (nee Kaszucka) said goodbye to 21 year old Jan, it was likely she was never going to see him again. A year and a half later, 16 year old Anthony (my grandfather) and 21 year old Joseph (my grand uncle) also left. As a mother, I am sure she was going to miss them but was concerned about their future. The economic, religious, and political reality for her sons must have seemed pretty bleak because of the events that were happening all around them. ***** Jan,, at age 22 and a farmer/day laborer, left from Hamburg, Germany on 3 February 1910 on the ship The Pennsylvania. Before sailing, he traveled over 700 miles from Tomaszow Lubelski to get to the ship. He traveled with three other men from the same area. One was Stanislaw Czarnopys, age 20 who left behind an uncle Jan and was going to his father Jozef, who was already in the U.S. The other two men were Moische Raische, 25 and Jozef Benko, 45. Fifteen days later, the ship arrived in New York. Everyone’s initial destination was Stanley Czarnopys’ father in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles away. By 1913, Jan was living at 409 Stocking Ave. NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was working as a cabinetmaker at the Phoenix Furniture Company, in the flourishing furniture industry. ***** General factors that drove Poles to leave Poland in the late 1800s to the early 1900s were poverty, a shortage of land, the military draft, political or cultural repression and religious discrimination. The factors that pulled them to the other countries were the promise of jobs, cheap farmland and chain migration--where migrants from a certain town follow others to a new location. Jan’s mother Katarzyna grew up in a family of furriers that had been marrying potters, weavers, shoemakers and other trades people. They were likely suffering economically because people would not have had much money to buy their goods and services. She married a farmer. It is unknown if Jan’s father owned his own land. In 1883, in the Russian area, the Peasant Bank was established to help some peasants buy farmland which kept some people in Poland. They would likely not have had enough land to pass it down to every son in their family. Her son's economic future staying in Poland probably did not look good. ***** It is hard to imagine the sacrifice and planning involved in having family members leave like this. Information was not readily available like it is now and people had to wait for a letter to arrive. Either their parents or they themselves needed to come up with the money for the ticket and the journey. The family would have still been raising Stanislawa, Piotr, Marion, Paulina and Boleslaw so there would have been a lot going on. ***** How did Jan know where to go in the United States and how to get there? This would be an example of chain migration -- there were already some people in Grand Rapids, Michigan from Tomaszow Lubelski before Jan arrived. Working with Curt Wolf (4th cousin), I found out that his relative Konstantine Eifler came to the U.S. in 1908. Konstantine’s sister Pauline would marry Joseph Niedzwiedz (my 1rst cousin 3x removed--and this name should be familiar to some since Eileen (Racczkiewicz grew up knowing her uncle Andy Nezwed--he is the son of Jozef Niedzwiedz and Paulina nee Eifler.) They would definitely have been some of the people that left Tomaszow Lubelski and ended up in Grand Rapids before Jan and could help him and others who came later. Joseph Niedzwiedz would have been Jan’s second cousin since their grandparents were siblings -- Jozef and Julianna Kaszucka. They would have been part of the welcoming community that helped Jan and his brothers to make this huge change. Later, I know my grandfather Anthony and his wife Pauline did that for other people, writing letters, letting them board in their house, sending money and providing other encouragement and material support. ***** Image: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Polish.Genealogy/permalink/10160733499088266 ***** Read “Why Did They Pick Grand Rapids As Their Destination?” on the Polish Family History blog at:

Emigration from Poland

Most of the emigration from Poland occurred in the late 1800s to early 1900s but there was a small amount before then. The very first Polish craftsmen arrived in the United States in 1608. They were admired for their work ethic. When the three partitions of Poland occurred (1772--1795) with other countries taking parts of Poland, small numbers of people left. They were not the peasants but rather gentry and nobles who fought against the invading countries and left for political reasons or because their land had been confiscated. After various uprisings against this situation in the 1830s, again some nobles, military officers and intellectuals left.********* Large numbers of Poles left the Prussian area in the 1850s and it was for economic reasons along with social discrimination, high taxes, forced conscription into a foreign army and epidemics of cholera. Polish peasants were free to leave their land beginning in the early 1800s but also then lacked support from the landowners. Also, the lack of industrial development by the invading countries resulted in poverty. Farming was the main way to support a family and there wasn’t enough land available for all the sons in a family to inherit. New laws required the use of Russian rather than the Polish language as well as conversion to Orthodox Catholicism and high taxes. A 1863 uprising in the Russian partition was done by nobility and peasants trying to restore cultural and religious freedom but was defeated. This resulted in many deaths, deportations to Siberia and many people emigrating. After the uprising, Russia began moving its factories out of Poland resulting in even more poverty. At the same time in the Prussian partition, elimination of the Polish culture and “Germanizing” the area was the goal. Landowners of large parcels were given support to improve farming which reduced the need for day laborers so many families left because they could not feed their family.********** In 1883, in the Russian area, the Peasant Bank was established to help some peasants buy farmland which kept some people in Poland but many still needed to leave. The government also encouraged workers to move to industrial centers in Russia such as Siberia. Practicing their religion was allowed in the Austrian area but in 1880 began the period known as “Galician Misery.” Small farmers lost their lands to more wealthy nobles and there were no large cities to go to for work. Military reasons to leave were also important. Military service was mandatory and the Polish were put in separate groups who were sent in first to battles and suffered the highest casualties.********** In the 1880s leaving from the Russian and Austrian partitions began to occur at a high rate. Younger sons who would not have any land was a frequent reason. If working on a large manor farm, the reduction of a need for workers due to the increasing use of farm machinery. Some left to earn money with the plan to return to buy land in Poland. Factors that drove them out in the late 1800s to the early 1900s were poverty, a shortage of land, the military draft, political or cultural repression and religious discrimination. The factors that pulled them to the other countries were the promise of jobs, cheap farmland and chain migration--where migrants from a certain town follow others to a new location. ********** After World War I things changed. Many Poles returned to Poland. Immigration to the United States was at a reduced rate. The United States established quotas on maximum numbers from each country in 1921. ************ From Szabados, Stephen. Polish Immigration to America: When, Why, How and Where. 2016, pp 1-18. (Image from Ancestry)

Martyna Maria & Julia Raczkiewicz Are 20 Years Old Today

Martyna Maria and Julia Raczkiewicz (my 2nd cousins 1x removed) are celebrating their birthday today. They are twin daughters of Tomasz Raczkiewicz and live in Poznan, Poland. Happy birthday!

Franciszek Golebioski died February 13, 1813

Franciszek Golebioski (my 5x great grandfather) died on February 13, 1813 at 10:00 in the morning. He was sixty years old when he died so he was born about 1753. Birth years of relatives in the 1750s is as far back as I have been able to find-- and I haven’t found their birth records. The birth year is assumed from the age in the wedding and death records. One declarant was his son Michal Golembioski, a 40 year old peasant farmer residing in Gurnia. On January 29, Michal had married for the first (or second?) time and his father passed away two weeks later. MIchal’s sister Apolonia is my 4x great grandmother. The other declarant was Jan Raszkiewicz, age 38 and a neighbor. Figuring out which “Jan Raszkiewicz” it likely was, is a process of determining what makes sense. He was 38 and it was the year 1813 so I know he was a Jan that was likely born around 1775. I have a 4x great grandfather that was born about 1775 so he is a possibility. This death record says that Franciszek died at home, in Gurnia at house number 20 so I needed to check if I know where each Jan Raszkiewicz lived. The house number is rarely seen in the records I am looking at but it turns out that Jan lived at #71 in the same village at this time. Also, Franciszek is his father-in-law so it is likely that it is him. Hopefully I didn’t lose you with this explanation but I wanted to give you a glimpse into how all the pieces of information are like a puzzle that can sometimes be put together. I do not need to “prove” the witnesses like I do with determining who the relatives are, but it is kind of nice to figure this out. ******************************** Tomaszów 1813 , 15th February Declarants- Michał Gołembioski, 40 , peasant farmer residing in Gurnia , son of deceased and Jan Raszkiewicz, age 38 , neighbour . Franciszek Gołembioski died 13th February 1813, 10 o'clock in the morning, age 60 . Died at home , number 20.

House numbers: Raczkiewicz side (Sabaudia, Gorno, Majdan Gorny & Laszczowka)

House numbers: Raczkiewicz side: I know addresses for houses in the villages my ancestors lived in are probably different now, but it is fun to look at those few records that give a house number where someone was born or died. By looking at them, I am trying to piece together some information about their lives. On the Raczkiewicz side, the villages that the ancestors were in were Sabaudia, Górno , Majdan Górny, and Łaszczówka. In the records that I have seen so far, actual house numbers were given for all of them except Sabudia. The relatives involved are the families of Golebiowski, Raczkiewicz, Dominik, and Grabek who seemed to go back and forth between Górno, Majdan Górny and Sabuadia. Also, the Krawczyk family who were from the half-Jewish community of Laszczowka. Górno and Majdan Górny: Majdan Górny. and Górno are 1.7 miles apart but 7 miles by road according to Google maps.. Majdan Górny is four miles east of Tomaszów Lubelski. Górno [ˈɡurnɔ] is 2 miles north of Tomaszów Lubelski. On this map you can see where Górno and Majdan Górny (and Sabaudia) are in relation to each other and to the city of Tomaszow Lubelski. Górno has 130 people living there currently. The house numbers mentioned in family records are: 11, 20, 100. (I wonder if #100 is a mistake and should be #10?) Families who had lived in Majdan Gorny and Sabaudia moved to Górno for part of their life. The first one was born in Majdan Gorny but went to Gorno after his children were raised. Franciszek Golebiowski (a 5x great grandfather) died in #20 in Górno in 1813. He had been born in Majdan Górny in approximately 1753 and was living there in 1783, when daughter Apolonia was born in Majdan Górny. He must have moved from Majdan Górny to Górno sometime after that since when he died at age 65, that is where he lived. Tomasz Dominik (my 4x great grandfather) was born in Majdan Gorny but was living in Górno in house number 100. His grandson Michael Raszkiewicz and wife Anna nee Dominik had their oldest son Jan in 1824 in this house. Jan was born at 8pm on December 26 so it is possible they were visiting for the Christmas holiday. Their other children were all born in Majdan Gorny after this. Walenty Grabek (a 4x great grandfather) died in house #11 in Górno in 1812. Fourteen years earlier he lived in Majdan Górny when son Lukasz was born. -------------------------- Majdan Górny has 1,300 people living there now. The village of Majdan Górny was founded at the beginning of the 18th century and takes its name from Górno. The house numbers mentioned in the family record are 30, 39 and 71. Franciszek Golebiowski’s wife Katarzyna (5x great grandmother) died in 1820 in house #30. She would have been in had Górno when he died seven years earlier. She likely moved near her daughter Apolonia and son Pawel after her husband died. Her daughter Apolonia (4x great) and husband Jan Raczkiewicz lived at #71 between 1813 and 1818. They then moved to #39 after 1821. This is documented after all their children except Jan were born in these two houses. Jan had been born in his grandparents’ Franciszek & Katarzyna Golebiowski’s house in Górno --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then in Laszczow: Łaszczówka is a village about one mile east of Tomaszów Lubelski. It has about 1,000 residents. The family members that lived there several generations of Krawczyk’s. The house numbers mentioned int he records are # 5 and 10. Rozalia Krawczyk (my 5x great grandmother) died in 1814 in #5. Five years later in 1820, her husband Kazmierez (my 5x great grandfather) died in house # 10. This was the house of his son Wojciech. Very likely Kazmierez went to live with his son after his wife died ---------------------------------------- Tangopaso, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons