The LIfe of Maria (Bielak) Dubowik

Maria Bielak (my 1rst cousin 1x removed) was born January 11, 1925. She was the Youngest child of four children born to Jan Bielak and Stanislawa nee Raczkiewicz (my great aunt.) The family farmed in Sabaudia, Poland. Maria married Władysław Dubowik. Her husband was a police officer. They lived in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland. They had 3 children: Wiesław (1947), Waldemar (1955), and Janus (1960) and six grandchildren. Maria was a beautiful seamstress as a hobby, making dresses, coats and other items. Stasia Woj shared, “Marysia sewed me some coats. She also made a wedding dress! Good seamstress!” She sewed Stasia’s dress in 1965. In 1978, Maria took a trip to visit her aunt Mary (Raczkiewicz) Kufta in Muskegon, Michigan, when she was 53 years old. Little is known about that trip. Two of Mary’s daughters, Wanda and Irene, also lived in the area and were only a little younger than Maria so they likely enjoyed the visit with their cousin from Poland. On November 5, 1991, Maria died at age 66. Her husband died on April 17, 2007.

The Story of Jan Raczkiewicz (appx. 1778 - Jan. 1, 1853)

Jan Raczkiewicz (my 4x great-grandfather) died January 1, 1853, at 9:00 in the evening. Two of his children , Wojciech, 42, and Marcin, 33, confirmed their father’s death with the authorities. He was a widower because his wife Apolonia nee Golebiowska died nine years earlier in 1844. Jan was born approximately in 1778 since he was 75 years old when he died. Jan was the son of Paweł and Franciszka Raczkiewicz, peasant farmers from Łaszczówka. Jan and his wife Apolonia lived as peasant farmers in Majdan Górny, where his wife was born. Jan and Apolonia had nine children, possibly ten: Michal (1805), Piotr (1809), Wojciech (1813), Katarzyna (1815), Szymon (1818), Marcin (1821) Jakub (1824), Marianna (1828), and Agnieszka (1831.) Pawel is the possible 10th child. He died in 1811 at age 1. I have not found a birth notice for him and his death notice only lists Jan Raczkiewicz in Majdan Gorny in house #90 but not his mother, so I haven’t been able to verify if he was one of their children. Michal (my 3x great-grandfather) married Anna Dominik from Majdan Górny and moved to Sabaudia. He remarried at age 67. Piotr married twice and both women were from Majdan Górny. Wojciech married once and lived in Majdan Górny. Katarzyna married a widower from Majdan Górny and Szymon married a widow from Łaszczówka, Marcin’s first wife was a widow from Ruda Wołoska, his second wife was from Majdan Górny, and his third wife was from Wieprzowe Jezioro. Jakub married Rozalia Grabek, Her parents: Łukasz Grabek & Katarzyna Krawczyk, my 3x great grandpa. The last two children, Marianna and Agnieszka died young in 1829 and 1832. The record doesn’t indicate the cause of death but there was a huge outbreak of cholera in Europe which was brought to Poland by Russian soldiers.

The Story of Jozef Kurkiewicz

It is very likely that Jozef Kurkiewicz (my 3rd great grandfather) was baptized but the birth record does not reflect it. Most of the records list the birth and baptism dates as well as the Godparents except those I have found between 1810 and 1826. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was initiated according to the Code of Napoleon on May 1rst, 1808. After Russia gained control in 1815, this practice continued. Priests were responsible for civil registrations from 1808 to 1825. After 1826, the civil records reverted to church records but kept the same format. ***** Jozef was born at 5 o’clock in the evening on September 8, 1815. His parents were Antoni, 32 and Marianna nee Kiszczynski, 28. He was born in house #60 in Tomaszow like his sister Jagnieska, who was born there three years earlier. The witnesses were Maciej Wyszynski, 42 and Maxym Zawalksi, 43. Jozef was the third child of 12 born to his parents. At least seven of their children did not survive to adulthood. Jozef’s father was a shoemaker, his mother came from a family of shoemakers and eventually Jozef himself would become a shoemaker. ***** Jozef was a 23 year old bachelor, living with his parents, when he married Ewa (Wiśniewska) Rachanska (my 3x great grandmother) on 30 July 1837. Witnesses to the marriage of Jozef and Ewa were Jan Recki and Antoni Lachowski, His parents were farming as well as repairing shoes in Tomaszów Lubelski. ***** Ewa was a 28 year old who had been widowed for six years. She was born in Tomaszów Lubelski to Błażej Wiśniewski and his wife Agnieszka nee Szczesnicki. Her mother was deceased at the time of this marriage and Ewa was living with her father on his farm. Her father had been a potter and also worked as a grave digger. Ewa’s first husband Wincenty Rachanski, had been a journeyman shoemaker. Wincenty and their only child Feliks both died in 1831, after Ewa and Wincenty had been married only about a year. Wincenty died during the time of the November Uprising which was November of 1830 to October of 1831. Wincenty and Ewa’s son Felix was born in October of 1830 and his father was still alive. When Feliks died in August of 1821, his father was deceased by this time. That year there were outbreaks of both cholera and influenza. ***** Together, Jozef and Ewa had five children – Paulina, Andrzej, Jakub, Franciszka, and Ignatious. Their oldest child Paulina (b. 1838) was my 2x great grandmother. Their youngest child Ignatious (b. 1851) is the 2x great-grandfather of Mike Liszewski. I “found” Mike as a DNA match on Ancestry and now collaborate regularly with his wife Connie. Like me, Mike was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ignatius was born in Tomaszów on 18th July 1851 at 5 o'clock in the morning. Ignatius was a 53-year-old “petty-bourgeois” when he died. ***** On December 30 in 1874, the death of Jozef was recorded in Tomaszów Lubelski after he died the day before. The declarants were Jan Kamiński, age 45, and Walenty Lisikiewicz,age 28, both farmers from Tomaszów Lubelski. Jozef was 60 years old when he died and left behind a widowed wife, Ewa. Because records were recorded in Russian at this time, two dates were given -- December 30 and December 18. December 18 was from the Julian calendar, in use by Russia. The December 30 date is from the Gregorian calendar which Poland had been using and went back to using after 1917. It is the most commonly used calendar in the world. The difference between the Gregorian and Julian Calendars in the 19th century was 12 days. —----------------------- “ If your neighbor owns a small shop, she's a member of the petite bourgeoisie. According to Karl Marx, the political theorist who popularized this French term in the nineteenth century, the petite bourgeoisie is made up of capitalists who operate on a modest scale. In French, the phrase means "little townsfolk." https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/petite%20bourgeoisie ***** See “Who were the burghers in the family?” at https://polishfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/.../who-were...

The Story of Maciej Wiciejewski

garncarz = potter Born in the 1760s, Maciej Wiciejewski and Blazej Wisniewski (two of my four great grandfathers on Anthony Raczkiewicz’ mother’s side) worked as potters in the factory in Tomaszow Lubelski started by a Polish magnate Alexander Zamoyski and a ceramist. The company successfully made and sold faience--a type of tin-glazed pottery – and eventually the more-coveted porcelain. Unfortunately political changes occurred that doomed the factory and by 1827, the factory had closed. Maciej, who had risen to a foreman position, went back to grave digging – the occupation of his father. ***** Maciej was born to Jakub Wiciejewski and Marianna Plebanski. His father also had worked as a potter at the faience factory located on Lwowska Street. They lived in house #201 but no street name is given and the numbering of houses has changed since Marianna, his mother, died there in 1811. ***** Maciej Wiciejewski married Marianna nee Metalska and they had children who were born between 1814 and 1824 in houses 106 (the home of Maciej Mirowski, a shoemaker), 160, 206, and 207. Four of the six records are in house #206. By 1827, the records say Maciej and Marianna lived in 27. ***** Maciej and his wife had nine children: Salomea, Malgorzata, Marianna, Józef, Agnieszka, Antonina, Wojciech, Konstancja, and Walenty Józef. Marianna and Jozef died young. I can’t find any records for Agnieszka other than her birth. It is pretty fascinating to be able to trace back the occupation of relatives many years ago. The daughters married a furrier, a spoon maker, a shoe maker, and a carpenter. Two of them had occupations listed – day laborer and shoemaker/cobbler. One son became a blacksmith and the other son did a lot of things including being a spoon maker, being an innkeeper in Para as well as being a peasant farmer there. ***** Their oldest child Salomea (my 3x great grandmother) had her first born in 1824, in house #27 - - her father’s house. She had married Andrzej Kaszucki, a furrier, the year before. Her parents had their last child (Walenty) two and a half months earlier so there would have been two newborns in the house along with six of Maciej and Marianna’s other children. ***** Daughter Małgorzata Wiciejewska married Marcin Ceronoski, an apprentice spoon maker, and she was a day laborer when she died. Daughter Antonina married Mateusz Bulewicz, a shoemaker/cobbler and she was listed as one herself at her death twenty years later. ***** TWINS! Wojciech and Konstancja were the 7th and 8th of the nine children. The father was listed as the "renowned" Maciej Wiciejewski, was aged 36 and still worked as a potter. Their first born, Salomea was 15 years old when they were born. What happened to the twins when they grew up? Konstancja married Jan Nitka, 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 Victoria Melin from Dabrowa. He was an apprentice blacksmith at the time. He later married Anna Makar from Majdany Jozefow whose parents were deceased and she was working as a maid in Tomaszow Lubelski. Wojiech died at age 50 before his wife. ***** Maciej and Marianna’s youngest son Walenty Jozef married Helena Józefko, from Komadów but residing in Tomaszów, working as a home helper. Walenty worked as a spoon maker, innkeeper in Para, and peasant farmer in Para, His second wife Ewa Tarczulowna, was the daughter of shoemakers. ***** In 1817, after Maciej and Marianna had six children, he was a witness for his sister Katarzyna’s wedding. She lived with him, since their parents were deceased. He was also a witness for the marriage of two other younger sisters. Since they were younger, it is possible, but the record doesn’t say, that they lived with him also. All three sisters married in their late 20’s. ***** Maciej Wiciejewski died in Tomaszów on December 23, 1839 at 4 o'clock in the evening. He was 76 years old and left behind a widowed wife Maryanna née Metelski. On the next day (Christmas Eve), two declarants, Grzegorz Nazareswicz, 51 and Łukasz Nazareswicz, 41 both blacksmiths in Tomaszów Lubelski, verified his death for the officials. I do not know who they were except that one of his sons also worked as a blacksmith. .

The Life of Jan Dubiel Jr.

Jan Dubiel was born December 3 1926 in Rogozno, Poland. (He would have been my mother’s cousin -- my 1rst cousin 1x removed.) Jan’s parents were Jan Dubiel and Paulina nee Raczkiewicz. Jan was 37 and Paulina was 25 when their son Jan was born. Jan was the third of their six children. The others were Leokadia, Bronislawa, Jozefa, Edward and Halina. (The youngest child Halina is still alive.) Jan worked as a truck driver and as a farmer. He and his wife Józefa (Pankiewicz) are the parents of Jerzy Dubiel (deceased), Maria Wawrzusiszyn and Andrzej Dubiel, Jan died on May 29, 1991 at the age of 64. Eugeniusz Raczkiewicz wrote, “ Rest in eternal peace!” His wife Jozefa died ten years later on July 19, 2009.

The Life of Irene (Kufta) Mastee

Irene Kufta (my 1rst cousin 1x removed –my mother’s cousin) was born on April 20, 1928, in Muskegon, Michigan. She was the second born of three daughters of Frank Kufta and Mary nee Raczkiewicz (my great aunt). Irene Kufta married Albert “Al” Mastee on September 4, 1948. Al and Irene were members of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church. They had two children, Diane Murphy and David Mastee and five grandchildren. They enjoyed traveling and sitting outside on their porch. Granddaughter Anna Marie Flores remembers that “Muskegon always had that small town charm. They were very hard workers.” Like most of us, she regrets not knowing more about their stores and remembers they were private about the past. Irene died on December 9, 2019. Her daughter-in-law Mastee shared, “Our prayers are with her. Always in our hearts.”

The Life of Mieczysław Raczkiewicz

Mieczysław Raczkiewicz (my 1rst cousin 1x removed –my mother’s cousin) was born December 13, 1947 in Rogozno, Poland. He is the youngest of two sons born to Boleslaw Raczkiewicz (my grandfather’s youngest brother) and Jozefa Janina Bender. ***** I will let his son Tomasz introduce him by sharing what he wrote to me in October of 2020: “My grandfather Bolesław is really your grandfather's brother. He lived in Savoie (Sabaudia) and died in a hospital in Tomaszów Lubelski at the age of 97. He is buried in the cemetery in Tomaszów Lubelski. He was a locksmith by trade, but worked most of his life as a farmer. He had two sons - the elder Eugeniusz, an engineer, and my father Mieczysław, who was a doctor of infectious diseases. My mother, Stanisława, spent most of her life working with people with intellectual disabilities and created several learning, care and work centers for them.” “I am 47 years old, I live in Poznań and by profession I am an opera singer and actor. I work at the Grand Theater in Poznań and other theaters. I have two brothers - Marcin who died 4 years ago and Jacek, who is an IT specialist and lives in Stockholm. Jacek lived and worked in Boston for several years. I also have a sister, Magdalena, who lives near Warsaw and is a psychologist.”