Happy birthday Sandy Spruit

My first cousin

Happy birthday Rachel Spencer

She is my 1rst cousin 1x removed.

Happy birthday to Erica Beitel

She is my 1rst cousin 2x removed.

Anna Kurkiewicz Born 23 July 1884

This birth record is cool because it shows that just a few generations back our families hung around together. It is for the birth of Anna Kurkiewicz whose parents were Ignacy Kurkiewicz and Antonina Czarnopyś. I have connected with Mike Liszewski (my 3rd cousin 1x removed) and these parents are his great grandparents. My relative Jozef Kaszucki (2x great grandparent) is one of the godparents. So just a few generations ago, my family hung out with Mike’s family. ***** Also the witness Maciej Janusz is connected to Christina Bregg who matches my DNA. We have been in touch and I am working on figuring out where we connect. Her father, Stanley Sochanek was born in Tomaszow, Lublin, Poland. He escaped after World War II and settled in Grand Rapids. ***** Jozef Kaszucki had been a furrier but was at this point listed as a church sexton. Maciej Janusz was also a church sexton. A sexton is a church official who is responsible for the building and graveyard of the church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravedigger ‘Digging graves has also been one of the traditional duties of a church's sexton. In municipal and privately owned cemeteries, gravediggers may be low-paid, unskilled and temporary labourers, or they may be well-paid, trained and professional careerists, as their duties may include landscaping tasks and courteous interactions with mourners and other visitors.’ I am not sure if grave digging was one of Joseph's church sexton duties. ***** It happened in Tomaszów on 15/27 July, 1884 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Appeared Ignacy Kurkiewicz, 30 years old, living in Tomaszów , and in the presence of witnesses Józef Koszucki, 50 years old, and Maciej Janusz, 56 years old, both church sextons, living in Tomaszów, he presented to Us a child of female sex stating that it was born in Tomaszów 11/23 July of current year at 9 o'clock in the evening to his lawful wife Antonina née Czarnopys, 30 years old. At the Holy Baptism administered on this day this child was given the name Anna, Godparents: Józef Koszucki and Marijanna Czarnopys. This document was read aloud to the illiterate present and then signed only by Us.

Marcin Kurkiewicz & His Wife Died on the Same Day-- A Year Apart

Franciszka (Rzeczycki) Kurkiewicz (my 5th great grandmother) died 16 July 1829 at 3:00 in the morning. One witness was Antoni Kurkiewicz (my 4th great grandfather) , her 44 year old son who was a shoemaker. The other witness was Jan Bratkiewicz, a 32 year old farmer. Franciszka was 80 years old and a native of Tomaszów Lubelski. Her husband Marcin Kurkiewicz died exactly one year earlier on 16 July 1828, also at the age of 80. Jan Bratkiewicz, (Marcin’s son-in-law) a 31 year old furrier, and Antoni Kurkiewicz, (his son) a 42 year old shoemaker, reported the death. He was from Mościsk. Maybe someone from Poland can determine which of these possibilities it could be? ***** Mościska kolonia Dorohusk chełmski lubelskie 0102628 -cisk Mościska wieś Rudnik krasnostawski lubelskie 0897734 -cisk mościski Mościska wieś Sosnowica parczewski lubelskie 0108312 -cisk mościski Mościska wieś Kąkolewnica radzyński lubelskie 0013310 -cisk mościski

Bronislawa Raczkiewicz Died July 12, 1918

Anthony Raczkiewicz (my grandfather) and his first wife Klementyna Golabiowska lost their daughter Bronislawa on July 12, 1918, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when she was less than a year old. She was born on April 1, 1918, in Bay City, Michigan. I think her mother had family there. Within three days, they were back in Grand Rapids and Klementyna had died of complications of childbirth. By the middle of June, Bronislawa was in Blodgett Children’s home, a type of children’s hospital at the time. Minne Blodgett almost lost her own child so she became interested in children’s health issues. She established services to reduce infant mortality, clinics for feeding and a home for orphaned children. After a month there, Bronislaw died at the age of three months 12 days. She died of congenital heart disease. ***** picture of blodgett children’s hospital https://images.app.goo.gl/U3vmhyiRBC4vj5Ts5 ***** Article about Blodgetts: https://hsmichigan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Family.pdf

Some Funny Things & GR History

https://www.facebook.com/TwistedTwigsGenealogy/posts/38675238299795709 ***** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42TqMZNrjTw10 ***** https://www.facebook.com/groups/407494112747727/permalink/198172786865766911 ***** https://www.facebook.com/TwistedTwigsGenealogy/posts/3893128550752431