Birth/christening

“Neighbors and friends began to visit the mother immediately . . . the people of the household invited guests to the chrzciny (celebration after the christening.) It was also a custom that no neighbor or friend came with empty hands. Each brought what she could --bread, eggs, bacon, sometimes a bit to drink--and they put all this under the pillow, under the mother’s head. This raised the pillow so high that the mother was no longer lying in bed but sitting up,” “The christening party usually lasted up to three days, with fun, joyful singing, chatting . . . “After her delivery and the christening, the mother got out of bed after a week at most and went back to her usual work and was in good health. It did sometimes happen that her health failed, and she even died--particularly during the christening, immediately after the birth, when guests came freely and enjoyed themselves loudly without any regard for the sick mother, and vodka was being passed around, even served to the mother.” from Jan Slomka’s book: Memoirs of a Peasant: From Serfdom to the Present Day

Happy Siblings Day! April 10

Konstancja (Wiciejewska) Nitka Died in Rybnica

The Konstancja who was a twin (my 3rd great aunt, born a Wiciejewska and married a Nitka) died in Rybnica in 1897. The area belonged to the Zamość estate. It included 90 acres of land, a mill and a water sawmill. The town was named after a large fish pond. The area included pine forests and the legend is that during the Tatar attacks, the whole town fled into these forests. Because the soil is sandy and the town was a great distance from the larger cities, the inhabitants were poor. Besides agriculture, many people were involved in smuggling alcohol. Image credit: Jakub Kruczek, licencja: CC BY 3.0, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rybnica_(wojew%25C3%25B3dztwo_lubelskie)&prev=search&pto=aue

Babcia

Midwives were often involved in the delivery of babies but they don’t usually show up on the birth record. In my family history, there are a few cases where they do. Instead of the father, they were the first declarant when the mother wasn’t married. Konstancja Kurkiewicz had five children when she wasn’t married and the midwife is listed. Marianna was born in 1856 and the declarant was midwife Agnieszka Jajkowska, 29, from Tomaszów Lubelski. Franciszek was work in 1858 and the informant was Marianna Zubawiecka, 50, a laborer and “babiąca” --a woman who assisted at births , not an official midwife. Karolina was born in 1863 and Marianna Zubawiecka again assisted but this time she was called “akusierka” or midwife. Marianna Wiciejewska had a child when she was unmarried. In 1874 Wladyslaw was born. Agnieszka Umińska, 52, from Tomaszow, assisted with the birth. ******************** What is interesting about finding these two separate single mothers who had midwives report their children’s birth is there was some sort of connection between them. Konstancja Kurkieiwicz married the father of her children in 1866. His name was Alexsander Umiński. Eight years later when Marianna Wiciejewska had her child, the midwife had the same last name as Alexsander. I am sure there was a connection between the two families. I looked at a few of the Polish records but without having them translated, I can’t be sure where they are connected. --------------------- Part 2 Here is some information about women who delivered babies from Jan Slomka’s book: “In those days, no one had heard of midwives who had passed examinations. In every village there were only so-called babki (literally, grandmothers, old women), who helped during delivery on the basis of their own experience. As soon as a child came into the world, one of the babka’s first actions was to heat enough vodka with honey and lard to fill two small glasses or mugs. The babka drank one of them, and gave the second to the other, urging her with the words, :Drink, drink, let this fill the empty spot where the little one lay--you’ll feel better right away.” “The christening party usually lasted up to three days, with fun, joyful singing, chatting --and the happies was the babka, who as a rule loved to drink most of all. After all, for several days of assistance to the sick woman, she received very little money, a gulden at most; and sometimes what she ate and drank was her only pay. The older folks called her ‘neighbor’, the young ones called her ‘grandmother’ and she called everyone who was there at the birth ‘neighbor’, and she called the children ‘grandchildren.’” ---------------- info Granted a dispensation for the first degree affinity from the Apostolic Capital on 29th October 1866 , above number 1784 , below number 141 . The married couple confirmed that they had children together before their marriage, Antonina and Maryanna. This marriage record on the strength of the above dispensation and according to Article 291 and Civil code of the Kingdom of Poland, status and rights of the children are recognised by law. ***** Image Credit: Autorstwa Georgios Jakobides - Nieznane, Domena publiczna, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1302386

A Tale of a Young Maid

Most of the genealogy searching is finding names and dates related to relatives from a previous generation. Occasionally, from these dry facts a story emerges that triggers my imagination and leads to more questions than answers. The story of Konstancja (Connie) is one of those stories. Many of the families experienced infant mortality and early deaths of spouses with quick remarriages--probably out of necessity. Her family story clearly demonstrates that but there is a twist with her own life. Here is her story: ***** I asked for a record of a Marianna Kurkiewicz to be translated, I thought she was a different Marianna Kurkiewicz--there are at least seven different ones in my tree already. I was interested to see that Konstancja was listed as the mother but no father was listed. I decided to look for more records related to Konstancja to try to figure out if she had ever married. Having Marianna out of wedlock though is not what is unusual about her story. ******* Before I learned anything about her, the only person who appeared to be a single parent was my fourth great aunt , Anna Eifler. She was from the Rogozno colony and Curt Wolf is one of her relatives also so I had learned alot about her story from him. I am sure single parenthood occurred but this was only the second time I saw it. ***** Here is a little background on Konstancja and her family. Be prepared, there is alot of death and quick remarriage but this was apparently common for the time period. Konstancja’s stepmother Aniela Weisberger had been previously married to Piotr Miller in Zamosc in 1805. They had a daughter Brigda but when she was five years old, her father died. ***** Walenty Kurkiewicz married the widowed Aniela and together they raised Brigda and their children Wojciech, Marianna, Tomasz and Jozef. HIs wife Aniela died in 1817 and son Jozef in 1819. Walenty remarried when his children and stepdaughter were between the ages of one and 13. He married Katarzyna Wiciejewska, my 5th great aunt. Together they had Anna, Francis, Jan (died in infancy), Agnieszka, Konstancja and Marcin. Before Konstancja was born, her half sister Brigid got married. When Konstancja was 4 years old, her mother Katarzyna passed away. ***** When Konstancja was 17 years old, her sister Francis married widower Jehosphaphat Romanowicz. He died three years later and widow Franicis married widower Aleksander Uminski in 1849, the same year his wife and their only child died. Francis and Aleksander live in Ruda Wolowska. They had one child together and Francis died six years later in 1855, the same year that Konstancja and Francis’ father Walenty died. ***** The death of her sister seemed to be a pivotal event. Over the span of ten years, Konstancja had five children. After her sister died, Konstancja had her first child, Marianna in 1856. Konstancja was single and a maid in Tomaszow. Two years later, her son Franciszek was born. The following year, her daughter Marianna died and the next year, her daughter Antonina was born. In 1863, her daughter Karolina was born, Her son Franciszek died two weeks before Karolina was born. In 1866, a daughter she also named Marianna was born. ***** The same year that the last child was born, finally, on 25 November 1866, she married Aleksander Uminski. He had been widowed by her sister for 11 years. It turns out, the five children were fathered by him. As part of their marriage record, they were granted a dispensation related to their children being born illegitimately. Another reason a dispensation might be granted would be for permission to marry a blood relative. The marriage confers legitimacy on her children and the priest amends their birth records to indicate that. They were “granted a dispensation for the first degree affinity from the Apostolic “Capital.” In other words, the children were already his by birth but now would be recognized by the marriage. The record read, This marriage record on the strength of the above dispensation and according to Article 291 and Civil code of the Kingdom of Poland, status and rights of the children are recognised by law.” ***** Besides being his sister-in-law, how did Alex know Konstancja? She was probably his maid in his shoemaker shop. The story here is probably similar to the other single mother I learned about --Anna Eifler. Anna was a maid for a shoemaker and that is who fathered her child. Konstancja was a maid -- probably for her brother-in-law Aleksander, a shoemaker in Tomaszow. Once her sister died, she had five children--which he legally recognized when he married Konstancja eleven years later. The mystery is: why did they wait so long to get married? ***** Image credit: http://www.metmuseum.org/

Anthony registers April 7, 1942 for the WWII draft

On April 7, 1942, Anthony Raczkiewicz (my grandfather) and his brother Joe registered for the World War II draft in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They were 49 and 51 years old.There is no record of their brother Jan/John registering in Kent County and I can’t find him anywhere after the early 1920s. Brothers Piotr, Frank and Boleslaw were living in Poland and may have had to register or serve because September 1, 1939 World War II began with the Germans invading Poland. A few years later, their brother Frank would be shot by the Germans. At the time of the draft registration, Anthony lived at 501 Milwaukee Ave. N.W. and his phone number was 8-0958. Frank Polaski at 1817 Turner was a reference who would always know where to find him. Anthony was 5’5’ and weighed 145 pounds with brown hair, blue eyes and a light complexion. His brother Joseph indicated he was unemployed. The person he gave that would know how to locate him was Mrs. Pauline Zelinski at 502 Milwaukee Ave. He had brown and grey hair and blue eyes and was 5’8” and weighed 146 pounds, with a ruddy complexion.

TWINS!

At 6 a.m. on 7 April 1819, twins were born. The "renowned" Maciej Wiciejewski and his wife Maryanna (nee Mitelski) was aged 36. He worked as a potter. The parents were my 4x great grandparents. Wojciech and Konstancja were the 7th and 8th of nine children. Their first born, Salomea (my 3x great grandmother) was 15 years old when they were born. Witnesses for the birth were Kazimierz Cyronski, 50, a spoonmaker & Rafal Lusawicki, 40, a carpenter. What happened to the twins when they grew up? Konstancja married at age 22 to Jan Nitka. Her father was deceased. Jan was a 46 year old widower of the Greek Catholic rite from Rusianow, Galicia, Austria. Konstancja died as a widow at age 77 in the village of Rybnica. She likely moved there when she was married. Wojciech married at age 30 to Victoria Melin from Dabrowa. He was an apprentice blacksmith at the time. He married Anna Makar from Majdany Jozefow. Her parents were deceased and she was working as a maid in Tomaszow Lubelski. Wojiech died at age 50 before his wife. The dates of the marriages are a little confusing because it appears that he married Victoria a year before he died but his death record lists his wife Anna. Maybe the second wife wasn’t recognized or remembered by whoever was reporting the death. Several of my (new found) second cousins have twins: Tomasz Raczkiewicz from Poznan, Poland (his grandparent was Bolesaw.) Andzej Dubiel from Sabaudia, Poland (his grandparent was Paulina.) Paul Parkanzky from Newago, Michigan (his grandparent was Marianna). David Mastee from Texas, US (his grandparent was also Marianna.) Twins run in families but only the mother’s genes control this. A background of twins matters only if it is on the mother’s side. Based on that, I think that even though there are at least four sets of twins in this generation, that twins do not run in our family. https://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/twin-genetics#:~:text=This%20is%20why%20fraternal%20twins,is%20on%20the%20mother's%20side.