Walter Skrobot Died November 25, 1944

Walter Skrobot (my mother’s grandfather on her mother’s side) died on November 25, 1944, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the age of 72, and was buried there. My mother Shirley was 8 years old at the time and she remembers the funeral visitation being in their living room. ***** Shirley’s parents Anthony and Pauline Raczkiewicz often had relatives living with them and renters in an upstairs apartment. In the Grand Rapids, MI 1930 census (reported on April 11), Anthony’s brother Joseph lived with them as well as Pauline’s 61 year old father, Walter S, Skrobat. The rest of the Walter Skrobot family was in Oil City, Pennsylvania. Walter was also listed in the Pennsylvania census that same year living with his wife Anna and three of their children -- Joseph, Matthew and Jenny. It appears Walter visited his daughter Pauline and her husband Anthony in Grand Rapids and didn’t return. There is a lot of speculation on the reasons but we may never know since so many years have passed. ***** Walter Eugene (Wladyslaw) Skrobot was born on June 27, 1872, in Gorlice, Małopolskie, Poland, the son of Agnes and Jozef. He married Anna Agnes Barszcz (Borover) on June 24, 1901, in Oil City, Pennsylvania. They had 13 children in 20 years. ***** This undated article from long ago was published in OIl City, Pennsylvania and recounts the story the family of Walter Skrobat believed of Walter’s history.

Lukasz Grabek marries Katarzyna Krawczyk 21 November 1823

Lukasz Grabek was 25 years old and working as a peasant farmer in Majdan Górny when he got married. His father, Walenty Grabek, had died when Lukasz was about 14 years old. His mother Teresa née Waławender remarried when Lukasz was about 15 years old. When Lukasz got married, he had been living with his mother and step father Grzegorz Lebiedowski, also a peasant farmer. The bride, Katarzyna Krawczyk, age 20, was from Łaszczówka, about four and a half miles away. This village is outside of the city of Tomaszow Lubelski to the southeast. Katarzyna was the daughter of Antoni Krawczyk and his first wife Dorota née Lokaj, peasant farmers, residing in the village of Łaszczówka. Her mother Dorota died four months later. Katarzyna’s siblings were 5 to 16 years old when Dorota died and their father remarried within two months of her death. The wedding of Lukasz and Katarzyna (my 3rd great grandparents) was 21 November 1823, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, in Tomaszów Lubelski. The banns were announced on 9 and 16 November, 1823. The witnesses were Marcin Walawender, 55, (Lukasz’ uncle), Jan Garbul ,30, Józef Litwin, 54 and Bartłomiej Krawczyk, 36 (Katarzyna’s uncle.) They were all peasant farmers. The first two were from Majdan Górny, the groom’s village and the other two were from Łaszczówka, the bride’s village.

Stari Baba

I never know where there might be some link to Polish . . . today I wanted to put some eucalyptus in a vase on a shelf too high to reach. When I told my husband I needed the ladder, he teased my decorating and called me a “stari baba.” It turns out, he remembered this from 50 or 60 years ago! When his Mother remarried, the family moved to Gary, Indiana. His step father was Polish. There were many Polish people in the area because of the steel mills. He thinks he must have heard it from his friends. “Old lady! -- thanks a lot! By Unknown author - Source of the file, original source of the photo is Politika of 2 July 1929, page 8 [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80868962

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church Tomaszow Lubelskie

Very early on, one of the translators on the Facebook page Genealogical Translations, provided me with information about the Catholic church in Tomaszow Lubelski. ***** "Whilst scrolling through Lubgens found the name of the church for Tomaszow parish church - As it's more than likely that it is the church where your relatives baptisms marriages and funerals took place as this particular building has been there since 1727 !!!" https://zabytek.pl/en/obiekty/tomaszow-lubelski-zespol-kosciola-par-pw-zwiastowania-nmp ***** Besides the 5 pictures, check out the 9 page document on the bottom that includes architectural drawings of the church.

Boleslaw Raczkiewicz born November 25, 1906

1906/421 ***** Took place in the town Tomaszów on November 12th/25th,1906 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Appeared in person Jan Raczkiewicz, age 42, peasant, living in the village Sabaudia, and in the presence of witnesses Antoni Kurkiewicz, age 23,resident of the town Tomaszów, and Lukasz Ważny, age 31, peasant, living in the village Sabaudia ,he presented to Us a child of male sex, stated that this child was born in the village Sabaudia on November 6th/19th,1906 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon to his lawful wife Katarzyna nee Kaszócka, 35 years old. At the Holy baptism performed on this day, this child was given the name Boleslaw in honor of King Boleslaw and his godparents were 1st witness and Jósefa Kendrowa. This act was read aloud to the illiterate present and signed only by Us. http://zamojskahistoria.pl/skany/jednostki_calosc_list.php?mastertable=spis_zespolow&masterkey1=88&masterkey2=639&masterkey3=0&orderby=asygnatura#&gid=1&pid=57 Here is line for Bolesław's act of birth. Under the number of this act you can see annotations about his death. Date 09-05-2001 and act number 220/01.

John Parkanzky was born November 19

Happy birthday John Parkanzky!

Pat (Szymanski) Shay

In May 2020, I reached out to Pat (Szymanski) Shay because we had some similar names in our family tree, we share DNA and she is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pat has an extensive tree and helped me learn some first connections. It turns out that our common relatives are Jakub Wiciejewska and Marianna Plebanska. Their daughter Justyna was Pat’s ancestor and their son Mariciej is my ancestor. It turns out we are also related through my 5th grandparents Lukasz and Justyna nee Kiszczynska. We are 5th cousins 1x removed.